From Corporate Social Responsibility To Corporate Social Liability

This book provides a critical socio-legal study that brings together the latest scholarly advances on corporate social responsibility, and, at the same time, addresses the pressing issue of corporate liability for harmful acts across the supply and production chains. Corporations have seldom been held responsible and virtually never liable for the acts of their subsidiaries and subcontractors. Actors as different as workers, investors, individual consumers, and shareholder activists claim that corporations should accept greater responsibility for communities and environments affected by their activities. The book argues that a global value chain's head corporations remain immune to any liability because of the 'economically dependent-legally independent' relationships between core corporations and their periphery suppliers and subcontractors. To tackle this problem, globally, the author acknowledges that 'we' as a society need to reduce the economic dependence as described above – which is far too excessive – by ensuring a level playing field both economically and socially. More concretely, she argues that in order to realise transnational corporate liability, 'we' as lawyers need to find a way (or ways) to establish legally effective relationships between head corporations and their economically dependent entities. Readers of this book will be able to export the concept of corporate social liability, developed in the context of value chains, and apply it to other contexts involving corporate activities where they need to tackle unrestrained corporate freedom and make global businesses responsible and socially useful.

The book first discusses the concepts of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and provides a new framework to deal with these issues in the context of sustainability. It then explores the requirements of "an end state of global sustainability" and subsequently moves to a detailed analysis of the current governance regime, delving into the CSR-related liabilities and incentives at stake for both corporations and their directors. It concludes with a framework suggesting that there are four normative avenues for addressing environmental and social imperatives in company law, which helps reflect on how to tackle the "potentiality for a sustainability gap" in corporate governance and CSR. The author always discusses practical realities and incentives, at both the policy and corporate levels, in addition to theoretical aspects. The thesis on which this book is based received the distinction "Summa Cum Laude" and the 2023 Law Faculty Prize from the University of Lausanne. Dr Christophe George is a Research Associate at the Centre for Business Research in the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in Company Law and Management from the University of Lausanne, a Master of Law (LLM) from the University of Cambridge, a Master in Management from Harvard University, and a Master in Law and Economics from HEC Lausanne.

Corporations now face greater scrutiny regarding their environmental, social, and economic activities. Accounting firms and consultancies use increasingly sophisticated tools to verify corporate undertakings. Socially responsible investment funds screen corporate performance, and failure to perform even affects share price. By ignoring the legal context or viewing, CSR measures as merely voluntary, a corporation can expose itself to clear financial and legal liability. Corporate Social Responsibility - A Legal Analysis is the first comprehensive legal text on global CSR. It examines the hard and soft laws that ground CSR to show that responsible corporate behaviour has become a matter of important legal concern for virtually every corporation.

Here is the story of Corporate Social Responsibility---what it means, where it came from, where it is going, what it requires of business. Told in an eyewitness, I-was-there style by a pioneer of the study of CSR in the nation's business schools, it takes the reader through a half century of corporate scandals and fierce struggles over corporate ethics---from Ralph Nader's 1960s Campaign GM to today's white collar crimes at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and other Wall Street giants. It lays bare the values that drive corporate culture, explores the motivational depths of corporate strategy and policy, demonstrates how biological impulses can lead business decision makers astray, questions the relevance and ethical commitment of business school education, reveals the spiritual side of management life, and holds out hope that the New Millennium will see improvement in the ethical performance of business. William C. Frederick is one of the founders of the study of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States and initiated some of the key concepts and analytic categories. His books include Business and Society, Social Auditing, and Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation. He was president of The Society for Business Ethics and The Society for Advancement of Socio-Economics, and chaired the Social Issues in Management division of The Academy of Management. He conducted studies of management education in Spain, Italy, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Ecuador, Nigeria, and Australia, and designed and taught programs for executives in U. S. corporations. He was dean of the business schools at the University of Kansas City and the University of Pittsburgh. He received a PhD in economics and anthropology from the University of Texas. Corporation, Be Good draws on the author's half-century of thinking about the social and ethical responsibilities of the modern corporation.

The arrival of CSR has affected a whole array of issues in the debate about Corporate Governance, incl. the remit of boards and the role of ethics in the management of companies. More recently, the debate has started to move into new territory: the declaration and implementation of what can be called “Corporate Social Liability” or “CSL”. The new CSL goes beyond classical tort and company law and may result in vicarious liability of parent companies for subsidiaries and third - party business partners. Its main focus has been on human rights and the environment.The paper summarizes various legislative projects and court cases that have contributed to the recent rise of CSL. It distills the novel elements seen in these international developments and assesses them with a particular emphasis on their social efficiency implications. It concludes that the recent international attempts to shape new forms of CSL should not be dismissed entirely. If crafted diligently, CSL could contribute to the worthy causes of human rights and a sustainable environment. However, if rushed with idealistic fervor by either legislators or courts and without a view to social efficiency, they might produce too many counterproductive effects, incl. excessive liability, inefficient corporate structures or stymied corporate investment in third world countries.

This book proposes that the responsible business practices of leading companies are significant not only as isolated instances of self-regulation, but that they also contribute to a broader rule-making process which has been underway in the last decade and is aimed at making business more responsive to human rights and environmental concerns. The flexibility of existing laws as well as the emergence of new regulations relevant to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are highlighted. As CSR increasingly interacts with public policy, some insufficiently understood effects of CSR appear that can help us advance toward more systemic solutions in the business and human rights area. This study identifies variables that states can stimulate through a wide range of interventions ranging from capacity-building measures to policy to hard law so that responsible practices get diffused more broadly and deeply in the business community. The intended audiences are legal experts with an interest in enhancing the protection of human rights in developing countries, and CSR theorists and practitioners mindful of the broader social dynamics that surround the implementation of CSR commitments.

This volume presents corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a series of economic and political strategies that are currently shifting the focus of international human rights activism and signalling the rise of new forms of global governance. In as much as the work demonstrates the limitations of CSR and offers a critical perspective on corporate techniques of market domination, it also posits a future for CSR within the human rights movement.

A less-expensive grayscale paperback version is available. Search for ISBN 9781680923018. Business Law I Essentials is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in a streamlined manner, and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narrative and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions. Business Law I Essentials may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials, and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches.

Finally, a book that crosses the great divide between academia and practice a rare feat, especially in edited volumes with scholarly contributions. . . there is much to like about what the book does cover. Wayne Visser, Ethical Performance Mallin brings together academics and business experts to share a wide range of accounts from across the globe. Readers will find insights and guidance on how countries and companies have tried to balance the perceived needs of often disparate groups. James McRitchie, CorpGov.net Chris Mallin has put together a fine volume providing detailed insights into the global spread of CSR. It wonderfully showcases the diversity and dynamics of CSR in different countries, regions and key industries. It is an essential read for everybody interested in the dialectics of global homogenization and local adaptation of CSR-related management practices. Dirk Matten, York University, Toronto, Canada Professor Mallin has edited a remarkable range of studies, illustrating how companies across the world regard and respond to their social responsibilities. Her book will prove an invaluable source of information for everyone interested in comparative corporate social responsibility, aided by the admirable learning points and questions following each case study. It will also be turned to for guidance by investors concerned to promote corporate social values internationally. Sir Adrian Cadbury, Aston University Business School, Birmingham, UK Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an area of increasing global interest with companies taking CSR issues more seriously, devoting more resources to such issues and acknowledging the benefits of CSR activities. This insightful book provides a comprehensive analysis of the development of CSR in a diverse range of countries including the UK, Italy, Poland, Turkey, the USA, the Middle East, Australia, Japan and Korea. Christine Mallin has brought together leading experts from both academia and the business world to provide fully up-to-date accounts of developments in CSR from a range of legal, cultural and economic perspectives. This timely resource will serve as an invaluable teaching and resource tool for advanced students and academics and will provide insights and guidance to the wider business community.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Definition, Core Issues and Recent Developments offers a well-structured and thorough introduction to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Author Brent D. Beal introduces the basic concept of CSR, briefly discusses the challenges of defining it, and summarizes important conceptual models. CSR is examined in the context of the perfect competition market model, market failure, and social dilemmas. Three different types of CSR—systemic, strategic, and philanthropic—are highlighted. Finally, arguments both for and against CSR are outlined and several conceptual frames are proposed. Readers are encouraged to think about what businesses should be responsible for in society and how a society’s economic system should be structured, bounded, and ultimately, controlled. This text is appropriate for any business course in which the introduction of CSR would complement other course content.