IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rvr/journl/20119158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Better Model for Socio-economic Governance?

Author

Listed:
  • Jones, Bryn
  • Nisbet, Peter

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now actively promoted as a form of socio-economic governance between market forces and state controls; to solve problems of social disintegration and business hubris. Critical aspects of CSR practice in transnational food manufacturing corporations are examined here to test the wider suitability of CSR as a systemic remedy for the socio-environmental problems associated with market economies. This article asks particularly whether firms can apply CSR policies which maintain or improve the stakeholder interests of employment and socio-environmental integrity while simultaneously pursuing operational policies shaped by financialised business strategies. Although firms have advanced CSR policies, these are shown to have little impact on the rationalisation of their UK operations by the global shareholder-value strategies of the biggest global food multinationals. Investigation shows a bias towards external and brand-related, rather than internal priorities of job security and the social capital of workplace communities. The closure processes of two firms’ plants show, in particular, that opportunities to treat employees and related interest as stakeholders are incompatible with the prioritisation of shareholder value. The latter also means that CSR is moulded into a business strategy to support corporate brand image and reputation rather than to guide or manage business policies towards socially and environmentally sustainable operations and stakeholder partnerships.

Suggested Citation

  • Jones, Bryn & Nisbet, Peter, 2011. "A Better Model for Socio-economic Governance?," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 9.
  • Handle: RePEc:rvr:journl:2011:9158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://regulation.revues.org/9158
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://regulation.revues.org/pdf/9158
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald Dore, 2008. "Financialization of the global economy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(6), pages 1097-1112, December.
    2. repec:bla:obuest:v:62:y:2000:i:0:p:855-83 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Catherine Barnard & Simon Deakin & Richard Hobbs, 2004. "Reflexive law, corporate social responsibility and the evolution of labour standards: the case of working time," Working Papers wp294, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. Susanne Hartlieb & Bryn Jones, 2009. "Humanising Business Through Ethical Labelling: Progress and Paradoxes in the UK," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 583-600, September.
    5. Hunnicutt, Benjamin Kline, 1992. "Kellogg's Six-Hour Day: A Capitalist Vision of Liberation through Managed Work Reduction," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(3), pages 475-522, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Dieuaide, 2018. "Grey zones and triangulation of the employment relationship in globalisation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(3), pages 297-315, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lonnie Golden & Stuart Glosser, 2013. "Work sharing as a potential policy tool for creating more and better employment: A review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Jon C. Messenger & Naj Ghosheh (ed.), Work Sharing during the Great Recession, chapter 7, pages 203-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Loris Guery & Anne Stevenot & Geoffrey T. Wood & Chris Brewster, 2017. "The Impact of Private Equity on Employment: The Consequences of Fund Country of Origin—New Evidence from France," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 723-750, October.
    3. Anne Stevenot & Loris Guery & Geoffrey Wood & Chris Brewster, 2018. "Country of Origin Effects and New Financial Actors: Private Equity Investment and Work and Employment Practices of French Firms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(4), pages 859-881, December.
    4. Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2016. "Graduation and sell-out strategies in the Alternative Investment Market," Discussion Papers 4_2016, CRISEI, University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    5. Karyotis, Catherine & Alijani, Sharam, 2016. "Soft commodities and the global financial crisis: Implications for the economy, resources and institutions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 350-359.
    6. Marta Cominetti & Peter Seele, 2016. "Hard soft law or soft hard law? A content analysis of CSR guidelines typologized along hybrid legal status," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 127-140, November.
    7. Lillo, Felipe & Valdés, Rodrigo, 2016. "Dynamics of financial markets and transaction costs: A graph-based study," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 455-465.
    8. Muhammad Adil Rauf & Olaf Weber, 2021. "Urban infrastructure finance and its relationship to land markets, land development, and sustainability: a case study of the city of Islamabad, Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 5016-5034, April.
    9. Karla Rubio‐Jovel, 2023. "The voluntary sustainability standards and their contribution towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: A systematic review on the coffee sector," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1013-1052, August.
    10. Mariana Mazzucato & Caetano C.R. Penna, 2016. "Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 305-326, October.
    11. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    12. Gunther Tichy, 2019. "The Neglected Mass Saving. The Economic Consequences of Increasing Intermediation," WIFO Bulletin, WIFO, vol. 24(17), pages 153-166, December.
    13. Hannibal, Claire & Kauppi, Katri, 2019. "Third party social sustainability assessment: Is it a multi-tier supply chain solution?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 78-87.
    14. Shromona Ganguly, 2021. "Financialization of the Real Economy: New Empirical Evidence from the Non-financial Firms in India Using Conditional Logistic Model," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 19(3), pages 493-523, September.
    15. Ewa Karwowski & Mimoza Shabani & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2016. "Financialisation: Dimensions and determinants. A cross-country study," Working Papers PKWP1619, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    16. Brancaccio, Emiliano & Giammetti, Raffaele & Lopreite, Milena & Puliga, Michelangelo, 2019. "Monetary policy, crisis and capital centralization in corporate ownership and control networks: A B-Var analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 55-66.
    17. Giovanni Dosi & Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2016. "Financial regimes, financialization patterns and industrial performances : preliminary remarks," Post-Print halshs-01418040, HAL.
    18. Daniele Tori & Özlem Onaran, 2022. "Financialisation and firm-level investment in developing and emerging economies," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(4), pages 891-919.
    19. Sadovska, V., 2018. "Sustainable value creation in the agricultural sector. A literature review," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276984, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Giorgos Gouzoulis, 2021. "Finance, Discipline and the Labour Share in the Long‐Run: France (1911–2010) and Sweden (1891–2000)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 568-594, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    financiarisation; multinationales; relations sociales dans l’entreprise; responsabilité sociale des entreprises; ressources humaines; syndicats; financiarización; multinacionales; recursos humanos; relaciones sociales en la empresa; responsabilidad social de las empresas; sindicatos; corporate social responsibility; financialization; human resources; industrial relations; multinational firms; trade unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rvr:journl:2011:9158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Pascal Seppecher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://theorie-regulation.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.