IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbr/cbrwps/wp333.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

False dawn for CSR? Shifts in regulatory policy and the response of the corporate and financial sectors in Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Deakin
  • Richard Hobbs

Abstract

We present a model of CSR as a set of mechanisms for aligning corporate behaviour with the interests of society in reducing externalities and promoting a sustainable corporate sector. These mechanisms include voluntary action by companies to go above minimum legal standards, with the aim of enhancing competitiveness ('action beyond compliance'); interventions by regulators designed to promote self-regulation by industry ('reflexive law'); and steps taken by shareholders to put pressure on companies to make effective use of corporate assets (shareholder engagement). We then assess the degree to which the model is realized in current British practice. Focusing on the issue of working conditions, we find managerial resistance to the linking of CSR with internal employee relations, and obstacles to shareholder engagement on this issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Deakin & Richard Hobbs, 2006. "False dawn for CSR? Shifts in regulatory policy and the response of the corporate and financial sectors in Britain," Working Papers wp333, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp333
    Note: PRO-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp333/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. Paul Durrenberger, 2005. "Labour," Chapters, in: James G. Carrier (ed.), A Handbook of Economic Anthropology, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Ruth V. Aguilera & Cynthia A. Williams & John M. Conley & Deborah E. Rupp, 2006. "Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility: a comparative analysis of the UK and the US," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 147-158, May.
    3. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Suzanne J. Konzelmann, 2003. "Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance," Working Papers wp266, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Suzanne J. Konzelmann, 2003. "Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(3), pages 531-555, September.
    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. Mariusz Zieliński & Izabela Jonek-Kowalska, 2021. "Does CSR Affect the Profitability and Valuation of Energy Companies? An Example from Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez & José Antonio Folgado-Fernández & Francisco Hipólito-Ojalvo & Luis Enrique Valdez-Juárez, 2020. "Social Responsibility Attitudes and Behaviors’ Influence on University Students’ Satisfaction," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, January.

    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. Simon Deakin & Aristea Koukiadaki, 2008. "Governance Processes, Employee Voice and Performance Outcomes in the Construction of Heathrow Terminal 5," Working Papers wp368, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    2. Lukáš Marek, 2012. "Institutional Differences Between the British and German Economic Models: Corporate Sector and Labour Market [Institucionální odlišnosti britského a německého ekonomického modelu. S důrazem na fire," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2012(1), pages 25-38.
    3. Jeroen Veldman & Hugh Willmott, 2017. "Social ontology and the modern corporation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(5), pages 1489-1504.
    4. Labadi, Moufida & Nekhili, Mehdi, 2012. "Structure de propriété et partage de la valeur ajoutée : application aux entreprises françaises non financières du SBF120," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 12.
    5. Lippert, Inge, 2008. "Perspektivenverschiebungen in der Corporate Governance: Neuere Ansätze und Studien der Corporate-Governance-Forschung," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Knowledge, Production Systems and Work SP III 2008-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Barone, Elisabetta & Ranamagar, Nathan & Solomon, Jill F., 2013. "A Habermasian model of stakeholder (non)engagement and corporate (ir)responsibility reporting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 163-181.
    7. Neil Conway & Simon Deakin & Suzanne Konzelmann & Héloïse Petit & Antoine Rebérioux & Frank Wilkinson, 2008. "The Influence of Stock Market Listing on Human Resource Management: Evidence for France and Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 631-673, December.
    8. Stephen P. Ferris & Nilanjan Sen & Emre Unlu, 2009. "An International Analysis of Dividend Payment Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3-4), pages 496-522.
    9. Azimjon Kuvandikov & Andrew Pendleton & David Higgins, 2014. "Employment Change after Takeovers: The Role of Executive Ownership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(2), pages 191-236, June.
    10. Adegbite, Emmanuel & Amaeshi, Kenneth & Nakajima, Chizu, 2013. "Multiple influences on corporate governance practice in Nigeria: Agents, strategies and implications," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 524-538.
    11. Simon Deakin & Richard Hobbs & Sue Konzelmann & Frank Wilkinson, 2005. "Anglo-American corporate governance and the employment relationship: a case to answer?," Working Papers wp308, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    12. Ding, Yuan & Richard, Jacques & Stolowy, Hervé, 2008. "Towards an understanding of the phases of goodwill accounting in four Western capitalist countries: From stakeholder model to shareholder model," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 718-755.
    13. Stephen P. Ferris & Nilanjan Sen & Emre Unlu, 2009. "An International Analysis of Dividend Payment Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 496-522, April.
    14. Corinne Perraudin & Héloïse Petit, & Antoine Rebérioux, 2013. "Worker Information and Firm Disclosure Analysis on French Linked Employer–Employee Data," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 134-161, January.
    15. Rachelle Belinga & Blanche Segrestin, 2018. "Principals and stewards? An exploration of the role of institutional investors in corporate governance," Post-Print hal-01791931, HAL.
    16. Chris Rees & Michael Gold, 2020. "Re‐connecting capitalism: prospects for the regulatory reform of the employee interest in UK takeovers," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 502-516, November.
    17. Paul Bridgen & Marek Naczyk, 2019. "Shareholders of the World United? Organized Labour's Preferences on Corporate Governance under Pension Fund Capitalism in the United States, United Kingdom and France," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 651-675, September.
    18. 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.
    19. Patrizia Gazzola & Daniele Grechi & Paola Ossola & Enrica Pavione, 2019. "Certified Benefit Corporations as a new way to make sustainable business: The Italian example," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1435-1445, November.
    20. Suzanne J. Konzelmann & Frank Wilkinson & Neil Conway, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Employment Relations," Working Papers wp355, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate social responsibility; Shareholder engagement; Reflexive law; Labour standards;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cbr:cbrwps:wp333. 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: Ruth Newman (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk .

    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.