Comparative Corporate Social Responsibility/ Sustainability
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Code Content and Motivations for Adoption (Completed 2004) - Krista Bondy This project identified why the top 50 revenue generating companies in Canada, Germany and the UK adopted codes of conduct for dealing with their CSR/ sustainability commitments, using data from these 150 companies to identify trends in global operating principles amongst MNCs and national differences based on code content and stated motivations for adoption. Framed using National Business Systems theory, contributions highlight the fact that codes are adopted primarily for functional operational reasons that have little to do with CSR commitments, and that rather than acting as a tool for CSR governance, these codes more often than not are primarily used to govern traditional business issues and not CSR commitments. This data also supported the British NBS model as described in the literature, indicated some signs of convergence in the German model to a more Anglo-Saxon model, and the need for a distinct NBS to adequately cover the unique conditions in Canada. One of the practical implications of this research illustrates that key stakeholders such as governments and investors need to fully read the codes produced by companies before assessing their CSR performance, as the code may in fact have little to do with CSR. It also gives managers an idea of the justifications used by other large MNCs to rationalize their CSR efforts with key stakeholders such as the board and customers. Bondy K, Matten D, and Moon J. 2008. Multinational Corporation Codes of Conduct: Corporate Social Responsibility or Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance: An International Review. 16(4) 294-311. Click here for article Bondy K, Matten D, and Moon J. 2004. The Adoption of Voluntary Codes of Conduct in MNCs: A Three-Country Comparative Study. Business and Society Review. 109(4) 449-477. Click here for article |