The Significance of Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

du Plessis, J.J., Varottil, U. and Veldman, J. (2018) 'The Significance of Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)', in du Plessis, J.J., Varottil, U. and Veldman, J. (eds.) Globalisation of Corporate Social Responsibility and its Impact on Corporate Governance. Cham: Springer

21 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2018 Last revised: 25 Aug 2018

See all articles by Jean Du Plessis

Jean Du Plessis

Deakin University, Geelong, Australia - Deakin Law School

Umakanth Varottil

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Jeroen Veldman

Nyenrode Business university

Date Written: March 19, 2018

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been widely studied for a long time by, for example, management studies and political sciences (Carroll et al. 2012; Scherer and Palazzo 2011), but has for a long time only played a minor role in law and legal scholarship. One of the main reasons for this was that CSR was traditionally considered to be ‘above and beyond’ what companies are required to do by law. Characterised by a soft law approach voluntary CSR standards were typically developed by corporations, by NGOs and by international organisations. However, recurrent reports about human rights violations in global supply chains and the actions of companies in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis have questioned the soft law approach to CSR and has put a ‘hard law’ law approach on the agenda.

This book addresses the increasing overlap between CSR and law with a particular focus on company law and corporate governance. What is the impact of CSR on company law and corporate governance and, vice versa. How do these systems impact on CSR? Do they enable, require or prevent the socially responsible conduct of companies, for example, through corporate theory, directors’ duties or disclosure laws? What is the role of financial actors in the promotion of the interests and goals covered by CSR approaches?

In this first Part of the book, we provide summaries and basic overviews of all the chapters, organized in three sections. The first section looks at the conceptual frameworks with regard to CSR and stakeholders, the second section looks at the relation of these conceptual frameworks to board structure and accountability, while the last section takes a look at the evidence and experience that surrounds the legislation and implementation of these models.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law

Suggested Citation

Du Plessis, Jean and Varottil, Umakanth and Veldman, Jeroen, The Significance of Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (March 19, 2018). du Plessis, J.J., Varottil, U. and Veldman, J. (2018) 'The Significance of Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)', in du Plessis, J.J., Varottil, U. and Veldman, J. (eds.) Globalisation of Corporate Social Responsibility and its Impact on Corporate Governance. Cham: Springer, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3143384

Jean Du Plessis

Deakin University, Geelong, Australia - Deakin Law School ( email )

221 Burwood Highway
Burwood
Burwood, Victoria 3125, Victoria 3125
Australia

Umakanth Varottil

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law ( email )

469G Bukit Timah Road
Eu Tong Sen Building
Singapore, 259776
Singapore

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Jeroen Veldman (Contact Author)

Nyenrode Business university ( email )

Straatweg 25
P.O. Box 130
Breukelen, 3620 AC
Netherlands

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