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Another version of this paper appears as a chapter in Ronnie Lipschutz with James Rowe, Globalization, Governmentality and Global Politics: Regulation for the Rest of Us? (Routledge 2005).

Download the Paper (240 K, PDF file) - January 1, 2005 Tell a colleague about it. Printing Tips: Select 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog if you have trouble printing.

ABSTRACT:
I argue that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), particularly the corporate code of conduct, has been one of global business’ preferred strategies for quelling popular discontent with corporate power. By “business strategy” I mean organized responses, through organizations like the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), to the threat public regulation poses to business’s collective self-interest. Attention to CSR’s historical development reveals it has flourished as discourse and practice at times when corporations became subject to intense public scrutiny. In this essay I outline two periods of corporate crisis, and account for the role codes have played in quieting public concern over increasing corporate power: 1) When developing countries along with Western unions and social activists were calling for a ‘New International Economic Order’ that would more tightly regulate the activity of Transnational Corporations (1960-1976); and 2) When mass anti-globalization demonstrations and high profile corporate scandals are increasing the demand for regulation (1998-Present).

SUGGESTED CITATION:
James Rowe, "Corporate Social Responsibility as Business Strategy" (January 1, 2005). Center for Global, International and Regional Studies. Reprint Series. Paper CGIRS-Reprint-2005-08.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgirs/reprint/CGIRS-Reprint-2005-08