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The purpose of this paper is to argue that corporate social responsibilities of international business can be defined in terms of human rights responsibilities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that corporate social responsibilities of international business can be defined in terms of human rights responsibilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is to draw from international law to examine whether these responsibilities can be defined in a precise way.
Findings
The paper finds that human rights responsibilities of business needs further refining.
Research limitations/implications
Research needs to be conducted from a law perspective on defining concepts such as “complicity”, “spheres of influence” or “respecting” human rights.
Practical implications
This paper calls upon international business and their stakeholders to use and pro‐actively manage their human rights responsibilities and further refine the existing managerial human rights tools.
Originality/value
In exploring the human rights responsibilities of business, this paper contributes to an important crossroads of international law and management.
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Keywords
Monique de Wit, Mark Wade and Esther Schouten
This case study paper has the purpose of showing that both processes of hardwiring and soft wiring together is essential for embedding corporate responsibility across a…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study paper has the purpose of showing that both processes of hardwiring and soft wiring together is essential for embedding corporate responsibility across a global organisation to achieve lasting change.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken in this paper is first to describe the experiences in the Shell Group in terms of tools and approaches. In Shell, governance and business processes are being aligned, “hardwired”, while communications, leadership development programmes and competency frameworks reach the “hearts and minds” of Shell people – “soft wiring”. Informal networks tap into the enthusiasm of people, developing intrinsic motivation. These experiences of Shell are then compared with the sense making model of Cramer et al.
Findings
The findings show a high level of alignment.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this finding is that hardwiring and softwiring processes appear to be a vital combination for changing the way business do things.
Originality/value
The value of this paper lies in making the business efforts of embedding corporate responsibility into business practice more effective by focussing on hardwiring and softwiring at the same time.
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Vinicius Brei and Mark Tadajewski
This paper aims to account for the crafting of the constellation of brand and consumer values around an everyday product, that of bottled water. This paper situates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to account for the crafting of the constellation of brand and consumer values around an everyday product, that of bottled water. This paper situates the exponential growth of this market in its historical and cultural context, paying particular attention to the fostering of the “social conditions of possibility” for this product in the French market. The socio-historical context and the interplay of stakeholders to the respondents’ understanding and uses of bottled water, highlighting the importance of a range of factors that made this market and product resonate with their requirements, are linked.
Design/methodology/approach
This account responds to the call for more engagement with social theory in marketing and consumer research (Brownlie and Hewer, 2011). It also connects with recent scholarly pleas for a displacement of the consumer from the center of our analytic attention (Askegaard and Linnet, 2011; Holt, 2012). It does so by using the social praxeology approach associated with Pierre Bourdieu to study the affirmation and sedimentation of the practices surrounding the consumption of bottled water in France.
Findings
Influential institutional actors invoked discourses of purity, nature and health, juxtaposing these with the risks of tap water consumption. These were cemented by the influence of pediatricians who encouraged changes in family drinking habits which translated into long-term shifts in consumer behavior. By contrast to studies of different contexts, our respondents were greatly enamored by the materiality of the products themselves, using these in innovative ways for aesthetic pursuits. The social praxeology approach uncovers how brand and consumer value have been constructed in the French bottled water market.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on the historical development and growth of the market for bottled water in France. It would be a valuable exercise to investigate other contexts to determine whether the strategies of symbolic competition, especially the use of expert intermediaries rich in cultural capital that can be identified, are reflected elsewhere.
Practical implications
Bottled water producers will have to confront the issue of the resource-intensiveness of their products. This feature stands in marked contrast to the symbolic capital and points of differentiation that producers have weaved around bottled water. Such contradictions will be exposed by actors in other fields (e.g. the environmental movement). This can be expected to have an impact on the consumption and viability of this market in future.
Originality/value
This paper uses a philosophical framework – social praxeology – to chart the development, affirmation and exponential growth of the bottled water market. Via a combination of historical re-construction and empirical research, it highlights the interactive relationships between government, producers and consumers, uncovering brand and consumer value creation.
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Esther van Asselt, Sjoukje Osinga and Harry Bremmers
The purpose of this paper is to simulate compliance behaviour of entrepreneurs in the Netherlands based on the Table of Eleven: 11 factors determining compliance (based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to simulate compliance behaviour of entrepreneurs in the Netherlands based on the Table of Eleven: 11 factors determining compliance (based on economic, cognitive, social and institutional factors).
Design/methodology/approach
An Agent-Based Model (ABM) was developed that could incorporate both individual and group behaviour and allowed to evaluate the effect of various intervention strategies. For this purpose, a case study on the compliance of pig farmers with antibiotics legislation in the Netherlands was used.
Findings
The effect of social factors (acceptance of legislation and social influence) on compliance levels was tested as well as the number of inspectors. This showed that the model can help to choose the most optimal intervention strategy depending on the input parameters.
Research limitations/implications
Further expansion of the model may be necessary, e.g. including economic factors, in order to reflect real-life situations more closely.
Practical implications
The model can be used by inspection services to effectively implement their control programme.
Originality/value
The developed ABM is a first attempt to simulate compliance behaviour and as such contributes to the current limited knowledge on effective intervention strategies.
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