CSR, co-optation and resistance: the emergence of new agnostic relations between business and civil society

This article examines the theoretical implications of the changing relationships between NGOs and businesses that have emerged as a response to the evolving agenda around CSR and sustainable development. In particular, it focuses upon examining whether greater engagement from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in this area reflects a process of appropriation and co-optation of protest by the business community. To examine this process, the article considers two forms of appropriation—appropriation of language and appropriation via participation—as a basis for discussion. While co-optation pressures are identified within both areas, the article argues that co-optation is identified almost as an inevitable outcome of engagement without significant consideration of the ability of movements to identify and respond to these processes. In identifying an alternative approach, the article utilises Mouffe’s framework of agonistic pluralism. Mouffe’s framework, it is argued, provides an understanding of the way in which agonistic relationships are emerging between NGOs and businesses while highlighting the continuance of conflict between parties struggling to influence the contested interpretations of responsible business

Media Review: Research Handbook of Responsible Management [Review of: O. Laasch, R. Suddaby, R.E. Freeman and D. Jamali (Eds.) (2020) Research Handbook of Responsible Management]

The Research Handbook of Responsible Management is a veritable treasure trove of insights. It can be considered a definitive guide to the broad topics within the field of responsible management and closely related fields. For organizational scholars, it presents insightful applications of key organization and management theories within the context of ethics, responsibility and sustainability. For researchers in responsible management and related fields, it offers at least a few perspectives that you may not have considered before. For doctoral students, it provides an invaluable who’s who and what’s what guide. The handbook’s novelty is in putting the manager centre stage and identifying three themes that transcend theoretical domains (ethics, responsibility, sustainability), as well as levels of analysis (individual, job, group, organization, occupation, planet): (1) praxis, practices and processes; (2) learning, change and innovation, and (3) alternative management frameworks. In this review, we aim to critically reflect on the book’s contributions. While it is difficult to think of what such an extensive handbook might have missed, we humbly revisit some directions for future research

The state of international business, corporate social responsibility and development: Key insights and an application to practice

This chapter summarizes key themes and findings from research over the past decades, also considering its geographic foci (developed, developing, and/or emerging countries). Furthermore, noting that scholars are starting to explore the uptake of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by organizations in practice, frameworks are presented for understanding ways in which business (can) engage with the SDGs, elucidated by a case example. This chapter closes with reflections on the SDGs as part of the broader debate on development, offering suggestions for further research considering current “blind spots” and the added value of combining international business and other disciplinary perspectives

Exploring the formal and informal roles of regulatory intermediaries in transnational multi-stakeholder regulation

Research on regulation and regulatory processes has traditionally focused on two prominent roles: rule -making and rule -taking. Recently, the mediating role of third party actors, intermediaries, has started to be explored – notably by Abbott and colleagues in a dedicated special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The present special issue extends this line of research by elaborating the distinction between formal and informal modes of regulatory intermediation, in the specific context of transnational multi- stakeholder regulat ion. In this introduction, we identify two key dimensions of inte rmediation (in)formalism: officialization and formalization. This allows us to develop a typology of intermediation in multi-stakeholder regulatory processes: formal, interpretive, alternative and emergent. Leveraging examples from the papers for this special issue, we discuss how these four types of intermediation co-exist and evolve over time. Finally, we elaborate on the implications of our typology for regulatory processes and outcomes