Corporate Social Responsibility for International Business (original) (raw)

The recent proliferation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) codes and standards has been matched only by the boom in writings on the subject. 1 This paper will focus mainly on the interaction between these codes and formal legal requirements, at national and international levels. It starts from the perspective that the recent spate of voluntary corporate codes for TNCs must be understood in the context of the changing environment for FDI, including shifting patterns of national and international regulation. Hence, although corporate codes have a legitimate place, it suggests that they should be more firmly anchored within a broader regulatory framework which establishes obligations as well as rights for business. This could be based on new approaches to combining binding `hard ’ law with non-binding `soft’ law standards, notably through a Framework Convention. I. BUSINESS RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES International business in various forms has a long history, and even the curre...