Responsible corporate governance: An overview of trends, initiatives and state-of-the-art elements. What sort of globalisation is sustainable?

Transnational corporations' (TNCs) economic operations cover numerous countriesand can be diverted between several continents. These units have reached a level ofsignificance, having not only economic, but also social and environmental implications. This justifies that they shall be treated separately as a social phenomenon,when considering strategies for the development towards sustainability.This paper presents the concept of Responsible Corporate Governance (RCG), asa strategy to govern TNCs. RCG is suggested as a stakeholder based policyinstrument, which aims at allocating responsibilities to societal actors aiming atcorporate accountability. RCG recognises that the process of societal change isstrongly based on what can be called as bottom up-processes. Learning processestake place through the interaction of the different societal members, whicheventually leads to macro changes. Therefore, governing TNCs towards sustainability improvements is considered to be a collective process including all stakeholders. Firstly, the paper places the concept of RCG in the ongoing debateof political modernization based on the fact that society develops overtime and thepolitical system must correspondingly modernize. In this context, politicaloverload developed as a consequence of increased resource interdependencies isexplained and as a resolution, network approach is discussed. Secondly, demands on the orientation of the TNCs in terms of accountability and innovative actionare brought forward. Here, the paper also lists down corporate elements (stakeholder empowered corporate governance, management and performanceevaluation systems, transparency enhancement and accountability verification), which need to be in place to attain an accountable orientation in the society.Following, using an analytical framework, the orientation and capabilities of each societal actor (environmental non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organisations) to affect improvements in the corporateresponsibility elements are investigated and recommendations for their effectiveorientation are listed. --

Sustainable Development and Collective Learning: Theory and a European Case Study. Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 7/2004

Network governance of collective learning processes is an essential approach to sustainable development. The first section of the article briefly refers to recent theories about both market and government failures that express scepticism about the way framework conditions for market actors are set. For this reason, the development of networks for collective learning processes seems advantageous if new solutions are to be developed in policy areas concerned with long-term changes and a stepwise internalisation of externalities. With regard to corporate actors’ interests, the article shows recent insights from theories about the knowledge-based firm, where the creation of new knowledge is based on the absorption of societal views. This concept shifts the focus towards knowledge generation as an essential element in the evolution of sustainable markets. This involves at the same time the development of new policies. In this context innovation-inducing regulation is suggested and discussed. The evolution of the Swedish, German and Dutch wind turbine industries are analysed based on the approach of governance put forward in this article. We conclude that these coevolutionary mechanisms may take for granted some of the stabilising and orientating functions previously exercised by basic regulatory activities of the state. In this context, the main function of the governments is to facilitate learning processes that depart from the government functions suggested by welfare economics

Responsible corporate governance : an overview of trends, initiatives and state-of-the-art elements ; what sort of globalisation is sustainable?

Transnational corporations' (TNCs) economic operations cover numerous countries and can be diverted between several continents. These units have reached a level of significance, having not only economic, but also social and environmental implications. This justifies that they shall be treated separately as a social phenomenon, when considering strategies for the development towards sustainability. This paper presents the concept of Responsible Corporate Governance (RCG), as a strategy to "govern" TNCs. RCG is suggested as a stakeholder based policy instrument, which aims at allocating responsibilities to societal actors aiming at corporate accountability. RCG recognises that the process of societal change is strongly based on what can be called as bottom up-processes. Learning processes take place through the interaction of the different societal members, which eventually leads to macro changes. Therefore, governing TNCs towards sustainability improvements is considered to be a collective process including all stakeholders. Firstly, the paper places the concept of RCG in the ongoing debate of political modernization based on the fact that society develops overtime and the political system must correspondingly modernize. In this context, political overload developed as a consequence of increased resource interdependencies is explained and as a resolution, network approach is discussed. Secondly, demands on the orientation of the TNCs in terms of accountability and innovative action are brought forward. Here, the paper also lists down corporate elements (stakeholder empowered corporate governance, management and performance evaluation systems, transparency enhancement and accountability verification), which need to be in place to attain an accountable orientation in the society. Following, using an analytical framework, the orientation and capabilities of each societal actor (environmental non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organisations) to affect improvements in the corporate responsibility elements are investigated and recommendations for their effective orientation are listed

Responsible corporate governance An overview of trends, initiatives and state-of-the-art elements

'Transnational corporations' (TNCs) economic operations cover numerous countries and can be diverted between several continents. These units have reached a level of significance, having not only economic, but also social and environmental implications. This justifies that they shall be treated separately as a social phenomenon, when considering strategies for the development towards sustainability. This paper presents the concept of Responsible Corporate Governance (RCG), as a strategy to 'govern' TNCs. RCG is suggested as a stakeholder based policy instrument, which aims at allocating responsibilities to societal actors aiming at corporate accountability. RCG recognises that the process of societal change is strongly based on what can be called as bottom up-processes. Learning processes take place through the interaction of the different societal members, which eventually leads to macro changes. Therefore, governing TNCs towards sustainability improvements is considered to be a collective process including all stakeholders. Firstly, the paper places the concept of RCG in the ongoing debate of political modernization based on the fact that society develops overtime and the political system must correspondingly modernize. In this context, political overload developed as a consequence of increased resource interdependencies is explained and as a resolution, network approach is discussed. Secondly, demands on the orientation of the TNCs in terms of accountability and innovative action are brought forward. Here, the paper also lists down corporate elements (stakeholder empowered corporate governance, management and performance evaluation systems, transparency enhancement and accountability verification), which need to be in place to attain an accountable orientation in the society. Following, using an analytical framework, the orientation and capabilities of each societal actor (environmental non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organisations) to affect improvements in the corporate responsibility elements are investigated and recommendations for their effective orientation are listed.' (author's abstract)Die wirtschaftlichen Aktivitaeten transnationaler Unternehmen (TNCs) erstrecken sich ueber zahlreiche Laender und koennen je nach Bedarf zwischen den Kontinenten verlagert werden. Somit besitzen diese Wirtschaftseinheiten mittlerweile eine Bedeutung, die Auswirkungen neben der oekonomischen auch die sozialen und oekologische Ebene umfasst. Aus diesem Grund sollten sie bei der Betrachtung von Strategien zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung als soziales Phaenomen behandelt werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund praesentiert das Arbeitspapier das Konzept der 'Verantwortungsbewussten Corporate Governance' (RCG), eine Strategie zur Fuehrung von TNCs. RCG ist als ein Stakeholder-basiertes, politisches Instrument zu verstehen, das den Anspruch besitzt, den sozialen Akteuren im Rahmen einer unternehmerischen Verantwortlichkeit Verantwortungsbewusstsein zuzuweisen. Das vorgestellte Konzept basiert auf der Annahme, dass sich der Prozess des sozialen Wandels nach dem bottom-up-Prinzip vollzieht. Lernprozesse vollziehen sich durch die Interaktion verschiedener sozialer Mitglieder, die eventuell zu Veraenderungen auf der Makroebene fuehren. Deshalb wird die Fuehrung von TNCs mit dem Ziel einer verbesserten Nachhaltigkeit als kollektiver Prozess verstanden, der auch die Stakeholder, die Teilhaber bzw. Interessengruppen, mit einschliesst. In einem ersten Schritt erfolgt zunaechst die Verortung des RCG-Konzeptes in die Debatte ueber die politische Modernisierung, die auf der Beobachtung basiert, dass sich Gesellschaften staendig weiterentwickeln und sich somit politische Systeme entsprechend modernisieren muessen. In einem zweiten Schritt gilt das Hauptaugenmerk der Ausrichtung von TNCs hinsichtlich einer Beruecksichtigung ihrer Verantwortlichkeit. In diesem Zusammenhang werden die massgeblichen Bestandteile der Unternehmenskultur eroertert, die bei der Umsetzung einer verantwortungsvollen Orientierung an der Gesellschaft entscheidend sind. Dazu gehoeren die Einbindung der Stakeholder, Evaluationssysteme fuer Management und Auftreten des Unternehmens, Verbesserung der Transparenz und Verifizierung der Verantwortlichkeit. In einem dritten Schritt werden Faehigkeiten der sozialen Akteure (nichtstaatliche Umweltorganisationen, Finanzinstitutionen, zwischenstaatliche Organisationen) bezueglich der Einflussnahme auf TNCs und deren Verantwortungsbewusstein untersucht. Dabei werden auch Moeglichkeiten fuer ein effektives Handeln genannt. (ICGUebers)German title: Verantwortungsbewusste Corporate Governance: Trends, Initiativen und State of the ArtSIGLEAvailable from Wissenschaftszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen Wuppertal Institut fuer Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH, Wuppertal (DE) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman