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Conference news- Corporate social responsibilty and development: towards a new agenda?
Utting, Peter
Utting, Peter
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cn13e.pdf
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"During the past decade, CSR critics and supporters alike have been concerned with the difficulties of scaling up the number of companies actively engaged in voluntary initiatives, and problems of weak implementation of CSR norms. But, as Peter Utting (UNRISD Deputy Director and CSR Research Co-ordinator) explained, the debate about CSR has evolved considerably. While the polemic of the early 1990s between those who saw CSR as a win-win proposition and those who saw it as window-dressing or greenwash still persists, other issues have emerged. Some companies are more proactive about CSR and cognizant of the limits of corporate self-regulation. Critics are concerned not only about whether companies are doing what they say, but also about how they are doing it. And they question whether CSR can really make a significant contribution to development, even if many companies become more engaged. Country-level impacts Presentations by researchers from several developing countries revealed that a particular discourse and selected CSR initiatives have, indeed, taken off. They questioned, however, the number of enterprises seriously involved, the way CSR policies are often imposed on suppliers, and the fact that key development concerns in which TNCs are implicated are still largely ignored. South Africa David Fig (University of the Witwatersrand), explained that certain South African business sectors, mainly comprising large export or globally oriented corporations, are adopting CSR initiatives. But this agenda has not only been characterized by fairly weak implementation of CSR initiatives; it has also failed to address the real development issues . Attempts to deal with the overriding development question the social and economic exclusion of black South Africans through employment equity and black economic empowerment have often benefited those who already had access to skills and capital, and have not had significant impacts in terms of poverty reduction. Food security is another issue that has received little attention. CSR also takes place in a context of double standards where, for example, investment in nuclear energy, genetic modification (GM) technology and aluminium smelters contradict both government and corporate commitments to a sustainable development agenda. This situation, however, is not the sole responsibility of the corporate sector. It is facilitated by the state, which has shifted from a neo-Keynesian to a neoliberal strategy and has failed to enforce environmental regulations. And it is also partly explained by the fact that civil society activism in relation to certain issues is relatively weak."(pg 3)
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2003-11-17
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