India - Censorship for a Good Cause?

Information technology (IT) companies face significant censorship challenges in countries such as China and India. This case deals with the ethical issues associated with government censorship, and specifically whether corporations that comply with such censorship are complicit in violating basic human rights. The context is India, and the case provides a summary of relevant cultural and legal issues in this very turbulent country

A Social Connection Approach to Corporate Responsibility: The Case of the Fast-Food Industry and Obesity

Corporate responsibility for consumption-related issues has been on the business ethics agenda for several decades. However, some recent consumption-related issues, such as obesity, differ qualitatively from the traditional product liability cases. This study proposes an alternative responsibility concept, referred to as the social connection corporate responsibility (CR). A detailed conceptualization of a social connection CR is presented and subsequently contrasted with the liability approach to CR. Then, a social connection logic to the case of obesity is applied followed by an examination of how fast-food chains are socially connected to obesity, and of what kind of responsibilities such a social connection implies

Nokia Siemens Networks: Just Doing Business – or Supporting an Oppressive Regime?

This case study examines the relevance of taking social and political factors into consideration when a corporation is making a key business decision. In September 2009, Simon Beresford-Wylie, the outgoing CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), was reviewing the company’s achievements — while acknowledging the latest public criticism regarding NSN’s business relationship with the Iranian government. In the summer of 2009, NSN was accused of complicity in human rights violations linked to Iran’s presidential election. The company sold network infrastructure and software solutions to the Iranian government, which then used this technology to observe, block, and control domestic communications. Should NSN have acted differently? Students are asked to examine the economic and moral arguments for and against selling products to an oppressive regime that might then use those products to violate human rights. In such a case, does the corporation bear co-responsibility for human rights violations committed by an oppressive regime

Roche’s Clinical Trials with Organs from Prisoners: Does Profit Trump Morals?

This case study discusses the economic, legal, and ethical considerations for conducting clinical trials in a controversial context. In 2010, pharmaceutical giant Roche received a shame award by the Swiss non-governmental organization Berne Declaration and Greenpeace for conducting clinical trials with organs taken from executed prisoners in China. The company respected local regulations and industry ethical standards. However, medical associations condemned organs from executed prisoners on moral grounds. Human rights organizations demanded that Roche ended its clinical trials in China immediately. Students are expected to review the economic and ethical issues regarding the outsourcing of clinical trials to controversial human rights contexts, and discuss how to make business decisions when there are conflicts between making profit and ethical considerations. Was Roche complicit in the human rights violations that were related to its clinical trials? Future patients might benefit from these clinical trials. Do profit and the greater good, in general, trump morals

The Delimitation of Corporate Social Responsibility: Upstream, Downstream, and Historic CSR

The dissertation abstract and the reflection commentary present the work of Judith Schrempf. The dissertation examines the latest trends in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and advances a social connection approach to CSR to understand and explain those recent trends. The dissertation abstract provides an overview of the research questions and conclusions of the three-article dissertation. The reflection commentary discusses the author’s views of research process as a junior scholar (see Appendix)

Upstream Corporate Social Responsibility: The Evolution From Contract Responsibility to Full Producer Responsibility

The debate about the appropriate standards for upstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational corporations (MNCs) has been on the public and academic agenda for some three decades. The debate originally focused narrowly on “contract responsibility” of MNCs for monitoring of upstream contractors for “sweatshop” working conditions violating employee rights. The authors argue that the MNC upstream responsibility debate has shifted qualitatively over time to “full producer responsibility” involving an expansion from “contract responsibility” in three distinct dimensions. First, there is an expansion of scope from working conditions to human rights and social and environmental impacts broadly defined. Second, there is expansion in depth of this broader responsibility to the whole upstream supply chain without regard to contracting status. Upstream responsibility now includes all suppliers, including direct contractors and the chain of suppliers to such contractors. Finally, the change in CSR scope and depth has led to an evolution of CSR management practice

Why Corporate Success Requires Dealing With the Past

Customers, employees, and citizens expect companies to address historic transgressions and work toward a positive legacy. Businesses’ past involvement or complicity in atrocities and human rights abuses such as slavery and genocide is a pressing concern for stakeholders today. Managers who meaningfully engage with their companies’ past actions can address historic harms while simultaneously contributing to their companies’ future success. The authors examine the factors that are pushing companies to take action now, and they offer guidance to help leaders begin the process of moving forward

Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream and Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility

The debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the public and academic agenda for several decades. In general, CSR issues can be divided into production-related issues (along the supply chain - or how things are made) and consumption-related issues (towards the consumer and society at large - or how things are used). Following the terminology of Phillips and Caldweli, Z upstream CSR refers to the CSR debate along the supply chain, and downstream CSR refers to corporate responsibility towards consumers and society at large. The chapter examines current CSR issues, and proposes a social connection model to understand the most recent CSR demands up and down the corporate value chain. In the sweatshop debat

Ever Expanding Responsibilities: Upstream and Downstream Corporate Social Responsibility

The debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the public and academic agenda for several decades. In general, CSR issues can be divided into production-related issues (along the supply chain - or how things are made) and consumption-related issues (towards the consumer and society at large - or how things are used). Following the terminology of Phillips and Caldwell, upstream CSR refers to the CSR debate along the supply chain, and downstream CSR refers to corporate responsibility towards consumers and society at large. The chapter examines current CSR issues, and proposes a social connection model to understand the most recent CSR demands up and down the corporate value chain

Anticipating, Preventing, and Surviving Secondary Boycotts

Even the best stakeholder-managed firms can suffer when they become the targets of a secondary boycott, as recent headlines attest. A secondary boycott is a group’s refusal to engage a target firm with which the group has no direct dispute in an attempt to sway public opinion, draw attention to an issue, or influence the actions of a disputant. This article provides a new perspective and tools for both scholars and managers concerned with this phenomenon. Building on a stakeholder theory foundation, we examine possible actions managers can take to avoid being surprised by a secondary boycott, propose conditions that raise the probability of becoming the target of a secondary boycott, and develop four alternative approaches for managing stakeholder relationships in a world of secondary boycotts, consistent with the underlying stakeholder culture of the firm