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Responsible Care: An Assessment
Abstract
Responsible Care is a voluntary code of conduct developed, enforced, and monitored by the Chemical Manufacturers Association. Voluntary codes could be designed and enforced by regulators, nonprofit groups, industry associations, and individual firms. They could vary in their scope, focusing on firms around the globe, in a given region, within a country, or in a given industry. This article focuses on Responsible Care’s self-regulatory services that pertain to establishing, monitoring, and enforcing industry-wide environmental, health, and safety standards. Employing insights from the club theory, stakeholder theory, institutionalist theory, and the corporate social performance perspective, it examines the demand and supply sides of voluntary codes. Finally, it discusses theoretical implications and the key challenges faced by Responsible Care in the future.
... Επίσης, το συγκεκριµένο πρόγραµµα βασίζεται σε δέκα αρχές που αναπτύχθηκαν αποκλειστικά για τις ανάγκες των µελών των ενώσεων της χηµικής βιοµηχανίας. Οι κώδικες καλύπτουν θέµατα για τη βελτίωση της πληροφόρησης της τοπικής κοινωνίας για της κατάστασης της περιβαλλοντικής ποιότητας, που εξασφαλίζουν την ασφάλεια στη διαδικασία παραγωγής και εγγυώνται την ασφαλή διανοµή, τη µείωση των προβληµάτων Υ&Α των υπάλληλων και την παροχή υψηλής ποιότητας για τη διαχείριση των χηµικών προϊόντων (Prakash, 2000). ...
... Εκτός από τα περιβαλλοντικά και τα οφέλη στον τοµέα της Υ&Α, η υιοθέτηση των ΠΥΦ στοχεύει να πείσει την κοινωνία για την πιθανή αρµονική συνύπαρξη της χηµικής βιοµηχανίας µε το φυσικό περιβάλλον (Givel, 2007). Η καθιέρωση και η Τµήµα Περιβάλλοντος, Πανεπιστήµιο Αιγαίου 20-22 Ιουνίου 2008 159 από 269 επικύρωση αυτού του προγράµµατος από τις ενώσεις χηµικών πολυάριθµων κρατών µπορεί να µειώσει τις δαπάνες συναλλαγής λόγω του χαµηλότερου κόστους των πληροφοριών που µοιράζονται, τη δηµιουργία οικονοµιών κλίµακας και την διάχυση τεχνογνωσίας µεταξύ των µελών διαφορετικών ενώσεων (Prakash, 2000). Ο Hemphill (1992) υποστηρίζει ότι οι συλλογικά αναπτυγµένοι κώδικες µπορούν να οδηγήσουν στα προβλήµατα όπως είναι του 'τζαµπατή' (free rider) που υπονοεί ότι ένα µέλος της ένωσης δεν συµµορφώνεται πλήρως µε τους κώδικες, λαµβάνοντας τα οφέλη από τις προσπάθειες των άλλων µελών που έχουν συµµορφωθεί. ...
... Πράγµατι, οι επιδράσεις αυτής της καταστροφής ώθησαν την ένωση των καναδικών χηµικών παραγωγών (CCPA) να αναπτύξει και να προωθήσει ΠΥΦ µεταξύ των µελών του (Mannan et al., 2005). Αυτό το πρόγραµµα περιλαµβάνει µερικούς βασικούς κώδικες για την κοινωνική ευαισθητοποίηση και την πρόληψη της ρύπανσης, τη µεταφορά και αποθήκευση των χηµικών ουσιών, την Υ&Α και τη περιβαλλοντική διαχείριση προϊόντων (Prakash, 2000). Ο κύριος σκοπός αυτού του προγράµµατος είναι να διευκολυνθεί η χηµική βιοµηχανία για να µειώσει ή να αποτρέψει τις επικίνδυνες περιβαλλοντικές επιδράσεις της. ...
Περίληψη
Η παγκοσμιοποίηση, η καινοτομία και η τεχνολογική πρόοδος έχουν συμβάλει στις
παγιωμένες και οργανωμένες αλλαγές, στον κλάδο των χρηματοοικονομικών
υπηρεσιών σε όλες τις χώρες. Αυτές οι αλλαγές έχουν ενδεχομένως σημαντικούς
υπαινιγμούς για περιβαλλοντικά θέματα και στην αγορά κεφαλαίου. Οι κυρίαρχοι
άξονες της παγκόσμιας χρηματοοικονομικής αγοράς είναι σε θέση να επηρεάσουν
τα περιβαλλοντικά πρότυπα των αναδυόμενων αγορών. Όταν οι καθοδηγητικοί
μεσάζοντες (Χρηματοδότες, Χρηματοοικονομικοί πράκτορες) χρησιμοποιούν
ομοιόμορφες περιβαλλοντικές εκτιμημένες τεχνικές, έχουν την πιθανότητα να θέσουν
παγκόσμια πρότυπα για την εκτίμηση του περιβαλλοντικού κινδύνου και την
αναγνώριση της περιβαλλοντικής ευκαιρίας προβάλλοντας τη σημαντικότητα των
περιβαλλοντικών θεμάτων στη επενδυτική απόφαση. Αυτό που απομένει είναι να
δούμε, πώς οι αλλαγές στην παγκόσμια και εγχώρια χρηματοοικονομική αγορά θα
επηρεάσουν την περιβαλλοντική απόφαση στις χρηματοοικονομικές υπηρεσίες, αφού
οι επιχειρησιακές πολιτικές σε διαφορετικές δικαιοδοσίες εμφανίζονται να
καθοδηγούνται από ποικίλες σκέψεις.
... However, far less focus has been paid to multi-plant emergency response preparation in chemical sector areas. In such manufacturing areas, in addition to the business where the large accident takes place, other factories and surrounding neighbourhoods may be affected [9,10]. The Community Recognition and Emergency Response (CAER) Code of Safe Care Management Practices was established in 1984 by the Canadian Procedures Association to guide the efficient and collective response coordination of chemical plants in industrial areas. ...
... The Community Recognition and Emergency Response (CAER) Code of Safe Care Management Practices was established in 1984 by the Canadian Procedures Association to guide the efficient and collective response coordination of chemical plants in industrial areas. The CAER Code specifies 'what' needs to be done for enforcement, and then leaves it to individual firms to assess 'how' to do it on the basis of their own decision of what constitutes an 'appropriate' answer [9,11]. It is essential to agree on the meanings and procedures applied in order to prevent misunderstandings within companies in a chemical cluster CONTACT Chinnakannu Jayakumar c_jayakumar73@yahoo.com; D. M. Reddy Prasad dmr.prasad@utb.edu.bn ...
There is a significant need in the current industrial scenario for methods to be formulated to treat dangerous chemicals most safely. Accidental release of toxic chemicals will result in emergencies. Hence an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) is inevitable. The most toxic chemicals in the water and wastewater sector are Chlorine & hydrogen sulphide, whereas Methane is a flammable gas. CAMEO software is used in this research to predict the region that toxic gas release impacts. This research deals with a sewage treatment plant ERP and control measures for Methane and chlorine gases. The affected area of hazard will depend upon the weather conditions and the time of the accident. Comparing two different seasons, the impacted distance is more significant in summer than in winter. It is observed that the night and early morning time is more dangerous than the afternoon and evening time as it shows the larger impacted distance.
... While these findings suggest that markets are creating opportunities for environment-friendly organizations, the majority of consumers still are not influenced by a company's proactive environmental practices. However, these same customers may be persuaded to change their purchasing decisions if a company violates environmental laws or emits high levels of toxins (Prakash, 2000). As a consequence, GSCM adoption may provide a vehicle for organizations to "signal" to market participants that their environmental strategies adhere to or exceed generally accepted environmental standards. ...
... The fourth section includes questions about factors affecting or motivating GSCM implementation. The GSCM pressures identified by the researchers (Andrews et al., 2003;Rao, 2002;Toke et al., 2012;Hoffman, 2000;Ginsberg and Bloom, 2004;Prakash, 2000;Ninlawan et al., 2010) are considered for evaluation in this study. The questions on these performance factors were answered by using a five-point scale, in which 1 -not at all important, 2 -not important, 3 -not thinking about it, 4 -important and 5 -extremely important. ...
Purpose
The main objective of this paper is to integrate a typology of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, performances, pressures and barriers with organizational performance theories. Also the aim of this paper is to investigate the present statues of GSCM amongst Indian manufacturer.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a systematic review, the study identified 27 GSCM practices, 16 GSCM performances, 06 GSCM pressures and 15 GSCM barriers that were organized into categories according to their theoretical conception, organizational context and characteristics. The survey and interview methods are used for data collection and analyzed by five-point Likert scale.
Findings
The main finding of this paper is ranking of identified GSCM practices, performances, pressures and barriers. The study identified three organizational context dimensions (innovation, performance and management) and investigated the present status of GSCM. The main contribution of the study is the alignment of each category of GSCM practices, performances, pressures and barriers and organizational dimension with the selected theoretical lenses that can help future investigations to deepen the analysis of GSCM. Besides the theoretical contributions, the authors believe this contribution can also achieve practitioners.
Originality/value
The authors provide a comprehensive typology of GSCM practices, performances, pressures and barriers based on empirical evidence and conceptual arguments.
... External certifications have the effects of changing the logic of collective action and making enterprises take collective responsibility more seriously [41]. For example, in the environmental protection arena, when a company obtains green certification, it is equivalent to joining a prestigious club [42,43]. Independent third-party inspections increase corporate green behavior responsibility, reduce opportunistic behaviors, and enable companies to operate more actively in accordance with the certification's standard [43]. ...
... For example, in the environmental protection arena, when a company obtains green certification, it is equivalent to joining a prestigious club [42,43]. Independent third-party inspections increase corporate green behavior responsibility, reduce opportunistic behaviors, and enable companies to operate more actively in accordance with the certification's standard [43]. ...
Food safety has long been a major public concern in China. One question of the food processing industry’s emphasis on food safety social responsibility is whether a food processing company should pursue food safety certification for its products. As part of their corporate image, some food processing companies focus on food safety in their corporate mission statements. To enhance the legitimacy of a mission statement, as a guide for a firm, can provide food companies the legitimacy of perhaps pursuing food safety certification. However, we find that under different equity natures, the pressures on the normative legitimacy of the firm are different and the impact of mission statements on the acquisition of food safety certifications is also different. By analyzing the mission statement of companies in the Chinese food industry, we find that firms with a mission focusing on food safety concerns are more willing to pursue food safety certification. Moreover, compared to the firms with more distributed shareholder ownership, in firms where a majority shareholder has substantial control, the relationship between mission statements and the possession of food safety certification is stronger; compared to non-state-owned enterprises, in state-owned enterprise (SOEs), the relationship between firm mission statements of and the acquisition of food safety certification is stronger.
... This would cause free ride problem whereby the implementation of the program by the company only appeared on paper but not being properly implemented. However, recommendations for using independent third parties in the Responsible Care appraisal system have been implemented, but this system is not implemented by all involved companies (Prakash, 2000). ...
... The responded signatory companies stated that product stewardship code was vague causing it difficult to be implemented. Product stewardship code encompasses the management of a chemical product throughout its lifecycle and focuses on the implication of a product on the environmental, health and safety along the product chain (Prakash, 2000). Therefore, to ensure the product safety along the chain, signatory companies have to share the responsibility with stakeholders namely employees, suppliers, contract manufacturers, distributors and customers. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers and challenges faced by chemical industries in Malaysia causing to the low participation in Responsible Care program. Also, this paper aims to propose a solution to address the issues in implementing Responsible Care by introducing a Simplified and Integrated Management System for Responsible Care.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was distributed to 132 Responsible Care signatory companies in Malaysia, and they were given a week to return it via e-mail. Combining the inputs from the survey and document analysis, a Simplified and Integrated Management System for Responsible Care (SIMS-RC) was proposed.
Findings
Responsible Care signatory companies faced barriers in implementing product stewardship code and they also faced challenges in getting employees’ commitment from all levels. Taking the inputs received from Responsible Care signatory companies and document analysis, an SIMS-RC was proposed as a closed-loop process which consists of quality, environmental, health and safety management system.
Research limitations/implications
Some of the chemical companies were unable to share their thoughts in the survey due to the companies’ confidential reason.
Originality/value
Abundant literature has discussed about the limitation of Responsible Care that needs to be improved. Therefore, several elements and procedures of the program need to be revised and innovated to help the signatory companies to continuously improve their performances and encourage more participation in Responsible Care program. The findings will add value to the current body of knowledge and Responsible Care signatory companies which seek to improve Responsible Care implementation through an integrated management system approach. The proposed SIMS-RC is a simple, integrated, holistic and process-oriented management system in which it blends Responsible Care into quality, environmental, health and safety management system.
... The consequence being that sustainability could be differentially framed within the same organization as a competitiveness strategy, as regulatory pressure, or as an ethical responsibility (Bansal & Roth, 2000). Other internal organizational features such as the role of leadership values (Egri & Herman, 2000), managerial attitudes (Cordano & Frieze, 2000;Sharma, 2000), and historical environmental performance can also influence how managers perceive stakeholder pressures and their response (Prakash, 2000), and the visibility of the firm. Therefore, differences in adoption of sustainability tourism practices reflect not only different levels of institutional pressures but also differences in organizational characteristics, since internal organizational dynamics act as moderating factors that magnify or diminish the influence of institutional pressures. ...
... Finally, a firm's historical sustainability performance influences how managers perceive stakeholders' pressures and how to respond to them. This means that managers in firms whose reputation has suffered, such as in the case of the Dubai Report in 2015, may be more sensitive to sustainability issues than those in other companies (Prakash, 2000). ...
Outbound tour operators are key actors in international mass tourism. However, their contribution to more sustainable and inclusive forms of tourism has been critically questioned. Drawing from new institutional theories in organization studies, and informed by the case of one of the largest Scandinavian tour operators, we examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability work in large tour operators and the challenges faced in being more inclusive. On the basis of in-depth interviews with corporate officers, document analysis and media reports, we show how top-down coercive and normative pressures, coming from the parent company and the host society shape the ability of the daughter corporation to elaborate a more inclusive agenda. However, daughter companies do not merely comply with these institutional pressures and policy is also developed from the ‘bottom-up’. We show how the tour operator’s sustainability work is also the result of organizational responses including buffering, bargaining, negotiating and influencing the parent organization. By creating intra and inter-sectoral learning and collaborative industry
platforms, MNCs not only exchange and diffuse more inclusive practices among the industry, but also anticipate future normative pressures such as legislation and brand risk. Daughter organizations help shape their institutional arrangements through internal collaborative platforms and by incorporating local events and societal concerns into the multinational CSR policy, especially when flexible policy frameworks operate, and the corporate CSR agenda and organizational field are under formation. However, risks do exist, in the absence of institutional pressures, of perpetuating a superficial adoption of more inclusive practices in the mass tourism industry.
... In 1992, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) called 192 RC facilities to ask nine questions about their policies. Only 58% responded, of which only 17% answered all the nine questions (Prakash 2000). In 1996, the ACC introduced its Management Systems Verification (MSV) program, through which industry peers review each company's RC process at the headquarters and site level. ...
... 4 In 1998, PIRG's experiment was repeated. They found that only 25% of the facilities were willing and able to share information required by the RC program and it appears the peer review did not work as expected (Prakash 2000). This is not surprising as the peer-review system was not an audit of the company and did not identify non-compliance with regulations. ...
We explore whether the introduction of mandatory third party certification in 2005 under the Responsible Care program has reduced the probability and severity of accidents in participating facilities in the U.S. chemical industry. Using a sample of 10,315 observations from 1136 facilities owned by 566 RC and non-RC firms between 1996 and 2010, we estimate the average treatment effect of third party certification. We find that the difference-in-difference estimate of the average treatment effect is statistically insignificant. This result is robust to various model specifications including the potential endogeniety of third party certification due to a firm’s self-selection into RC.
... In much the same way the FSC figures prominently within the MSI literature, research on the drivers of BAI activity is concentrated on the chemical industry's Responsible Care (RC) program (Barnett & King, 2008;Conzelmann, 2012;Gamper-Rabindran & Finger, 2013;Gunningham, 1995;Hoffman, 1999;King & Lenox, 2000;Lenox, 2006;Prakash, 2000). A voluntary self-regulatory industry initiative, RC was initiated in Canada by the Canadian Chemical Producer's Association (CCPA) as an industry response to the Bhopal disaster in India, considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster on record. ...
... A business association, also known as an industry trade group or industry association, is a collaborative organization founded and funded by businesses or business owners and usually represents companies operating in an industry, e.g., National Restaurant Association, or across industries (also referred to as a "peak" association), e.g., National Association of Manufacturers or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Lenn 2008). With a few exceptions, e.g., the American Chemistry Council (Prakash 2000), "business associations have no authority to oversee, regulate, or commit an individual corporation . . . as the sovereign unit in American business is the firm (Werner and Wilson 2010: 262-263)." ...
A business association is a collaborative organization founded and funded by businesses or business owners and usually represents companies operating in an industry or across industries. Business associations often institute a code of ethics, code of practice, and/or code of conduct that guide member company policy and behavior. Specifically, the paper will thoroughly define codes of ethics, conduct, and practice; their relationship to each other is delineated and explained; examples of three business associations’ codes of ethics and/or conduct are explored; and the U.S. legal environment—focusing on antitrust considerations that governs their organizational use—evaluated for business association compliance enforcement. Given this exploratory and explanatory research foundation, managerial recommendations are offered in the discussion section to assist business associations, and by extension, their member companies, in effectively utilizing such association governance codes in both association and company planning, policy development, and operational management activities in domestic and global commerce.
... He further argues that law, ethics, politics and economics should not be viewed as separate entities in the context of governance (Sampford, 2010 (King & Lennox, 2000). Chemical companies committed themselves to the promotion of and compliance with higher health, safety, and environmental standards in order to avoid bad practices, regain their public trust, and ensure the long-term viability of the industry (Prakash, 2000). ...
This study explores the principles and practices of business ethics in commercial organisations in Singapore. It also addresses the potential of the concept, restorative justice as a feature of ethical practice in commercial organisations. Two research questions guided the study which were i) what are the principles and practices of business ethics in commercial organisations based in Singapore and ii) what is the potential of restorative justice in commercial organisations based in Singapore?
... 133-134). Corporate interests in fending off governmental regulation were part of the genesis of the chemical industry's Responsible Care programme (Prakash, 2000) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative created by the American Forest and Paper Association as a self-regulatory approach for sustainable management of US forests (Cashore et al., 2004, p. 91). ...
A range of private actors are positioning varied public and private policy venues as appropriate for defining standards governing the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI). Three ideal-type pathways – oppose and fend off; engage and push; and lead and inspire – describe distinct sets of corporate and civil society motivations and actions that lead to distinct roles for, and relations between, private actors and states in AI governance. Currently, public-private governance interactions around AI ethical standards align with an engage and push pathway, potentially benefitting certain first-mover AI standards through path-dependent processes. However, three sources of instability – shifting governance demands, focusing events, and localisation effects – are likely to drive continued proliferation of private AI governance that aim to oppose and fend off state interventions or inspire and lead redefinitions of how AI ethics are understood. A pathways perspective uniquely uncovers these critical dynamics for the future of AI governance.
... Tentu saja, jika produk hijau lebih murah dari produk lain, harga premium mereka tidak akan menjadi masalah bagi konsumen. Prakash (2000) berpendapat bahwa tantangan utama bagi pemasar adalah untuk memahami apakah konsumen melihat pengukuhan perusahaan / produk sebagai faktor pendorong (kehadiran mereka mendorong konsumen untuk membeli produk tertentu; ...
Abstrak Selama beberapa dekade terakhir, kelestarian lingkungan telah meningkat di puncak agenda politik internasional dan telah diakui sebagai pendorong utama inovasi. Akibatnya, jumlah perusahaan yang mengembangkan produk hijau telah berkembang pesat dan konsumen telah menunjukkan minat yang meningkat terhadap produk ini. Pemasaran produk hijau memerlukan pendekatan yang berbeda daripada memasarkan produk non-hijau (mis., Untuk melawan prioritas konsumen untuk kepentingan pribadi dan fokus pada jangka pendek vs. jangka panjang). Dengan demikian, memahami karakteristik utama produk hijau, mengidentifikasi faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi harga dan kesediaan konsumen untuk membayar lebih banyak untuk mereka, saluran penjualan dan alat promosi (4Ps pemasaran hijau) akan sangat berguna bagi perusahaan yang bertujuan merancang, mengembangkan dan memasarkan. produk hijau Untuk alasan ini, sangat memahami Green Marketing akan mendorong, di satu sisi, menghasilkan lebih banyak produksi melalui pengembangan produk hijau dan, di sisi lain, konsumsi berkelanjutan melalui pemasaran yang sukses di dalamnya. Pekerjaan saat ini mencoba menyoroti pentingnya adanya komitmen perusahaan yang benar untuk melindungi lingkungan di balik komunikasi hijau yaitu, kesadaran ekologis harus menjadi salah satu nilai yang menentukan budaya organisasi. Kata kunci: Pemasaran hijau, 4P, Green marketing mix , Insentif
... This finding is in contrast with prior studies criticizing business networks that might actually be less inclusive and act like clubs where the big ones write the rules and do not pay attention to the needs of other, smaller members of the business environment [88]. Additionally, the international business associations were criticized due to weak child labor protection and prevailing non-specific content of their codes of ethics [89]. ...
This study aims to contribute to the understanding of unethical practices in business and asks whether certain types of organizations are considerably more exposed to unethical business practices than others are. Drawing from the tenets of institutional theory, the paper investigates the occurrence of unethical practices in different organizational “fields”, namely the industry sector (with focus on Finance and Construction), company membership in professional networks, company ownership (public/private), and company age. The method of stratified random sampling by proportional allocation is used to establish the sample (n = 1295), composed mostly of company owners and higher managers. Results show that, in general, the industry sector, membership in professional networks, and company age are associated with significant variance in the perceived incidence of unethical practices, whereas company ownership has no significant effect in this regard. More specifically, the construction sector is significantly more exposed to unethical practices than other sectors in the sample, while the finance sector is not. Companies with membership in professional networks report a significantly lower occurrence of unethical practices. Young companies are significantly more exposed than their more mature counterparts; however, here the effect of company size must be accounted for. The research was conducted in one of the former CEE block countries—Slovakia. Given their common communist past and comparable peripeties with the transition process, these findings might be useful for understanding business ethics issues in a wider context of the CEE region.
... Although the CMA is one of the oldest trade and industry associations in the United States, some of its principles and codes of conduct are relatively new. By establishing a voluntary code of conduct for participants in this industry called 'Responsible Care', those volunteering to participate accept the code's policies and rules of behaviour and subject themselves to regulation that includes monitoring and enforcement by the CMA (Prakash 2000). Such industry-level initiatives serve the common good by engaging citizens' groups in their development, minimising the adversarial nature of government intervention and legal action (somewhat distrusted by both corporations and citizens), and by providing firms greater flexibility to channel private interests toward achieving broader societal objectives in a manner from which all can benefit. ...
... Voluntary environmental programs have been conceptualized as clubs in the sense proposed by Buchanan (1965). As noted by Prakash (2000) and Potoski and Prakash (2005), these programs aim at modifying members' behavior in order to produce public benefits. Although belonging to the club entails some costs, it also renders some excludable and nonrivalrous benefits to participating companies, such as affiliation with the club's positive brand name, particularly, when they are signaled with a certification (see also Potoski and Prakash, 2009). ...
The effectiveness of voluntary environmental programs and certifications to render social and private benefits depends on how aware consumers are, so that they can consider such initiatives when making their decisions. Consumers’ awareness has been mostly addressed in developed countries, although the benefits of companies’ environmental actions also take place in developing countries. This study is conducted in a developing country, such as Costa Rica. Using a large sample (n = 1191), consumers’ awareness of environmental certifications is studied at a general level (being able to name some environmental certification or program) and at a specific level (ability to name certified firms). The results show that consumers who are younger, with higher household income, with a university or technical degree and those participating in environmental or community groups are more likely to be aware of environmental certifications on both levels. Moreover, aware consumers tend to be more willing to pay for a certified coffee or a coffee produced by a certified company.
... Whether Responsible Care had an impact on environmental performance is debatable (A. King & Lenox, 2000;Prakash, 2000), but the chemical industry sought to create change through a program, which can be assessed. Thus, industry activity, not just location, is also a basis of collective action for social impact. ...
Are corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives providing the societal good that they promise? After decades of CSR studies, we do not have an answer. In this review, we analyze progression of the CSR literature toward assessing the performance of CSR initiatives, identify factors that have limited the literature’s progress, and suggest a new approach to the study of CSR that can overcome these limits. We begin with comprehensive bibliometric mapping illustrating that although social impact has infrequently been its explicit focus, the CSR literature has measured outcomes other than firm performance, especially in the current decade. Thereafter, we conduct a more fine-grained analysis of recent CSR studies. Adapting a logic model framework, we show that even the most highly cited studies have stopped short of assessing social impact, often measuring CSR activities rather than impacts and focusing on benefits to specific stakeholders rather than to wider society. In combination, our analyses suggest that assessment of the performance of CSR initiatives has been driven by the availability of large, public secondary data sources. However, creating more such databases and turning to “big data” analyses are inadequate solutions. Drawing from the impact evaluation literature of development economics, we argue that the CSR field should reconceive itself as a science of design in which researchers formulate CSR initiatives that seek to achieve specific social and environmental objectives. In accordance with this pursuit, CSR researchers should move toward “small data” research designs, which will enable studies to better determine causation rather than just identify correlation.
... RC is perhaps the first environmental club sponsored by an industry association. The Chemical Industry Association of Canada launched Responsible Care® in 1985(Hoffman, 1997Prakash, 2000). Soon after, in 1988, the American Chemistry Council (previously known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association) also adopted RC. ...
Environmental clubs have proliferated across sectors and issue areas. We examine the diffusion of the chemical industry’s Responsible Care® (RC) program. Much of the work on the diffusion of clubs has focused on the demand side: why firms join these clubs despite the costs of doing so. There is some work focusing on the supply side: why actors establish or create a new club. However, there is virtually no work examining why national-level industry associations decide to subscribe to an existing global environmental club in order to make it available to their members.
Industry organizations in 17 lower and middle-income countries have joined RC, comprising 25 percent of RC members. We ask, in the context of developing countries, what motivates national associations to join RC? Drawing on an original dataset of RC global diffusion in 195 countries (1985–2017), we estimate a Cox proportional hazards model of the risk of joining RC. We find that RC adoption is more likely when a country exports chemicals to other countries that have joined RC (the California effect) and is unaffected by the total volume of its chemical trade. Thus, while exposure to global markets per se may not influence RC adoption, incentives change considerably when countries’ key importers signal their support for these environmental practices. This is because importing firms often realize that because they have joined Responsible Care, NGOs and stakeholders expect them to demand that their overseas suppliers adopt the same sort of environmental policies and work place safety practices. In addition, peer pressure and learning matter: RC adoption is more likely when countries in close physical vicinity (e.g., within 500 miles) have joined the club. Finally, domestic factors play a role as well: both the level of democracy and the size of the economy encourage national associations to join RC.
... The literature abounds with examples of business-led selfregulatory institutions introduced without a direct intervention of the state. The classical example is the trade-association-sponsored Responsible Care programme launched by the chemical sector in 1985 (King and Lenox, 2000;Prakash, 2000). This and other similar initiatives (such as Valdez Principles) represent "a new set of institutional constraints on companies and thus another instance of going outside the states system to institutionalise guidelines for widespread and transnational behaviour" (Wapner, 1997: 82). ...
... This is a voluntary industry-led code of conduct aimed at improving workplace safety standards in chemical industry supply chains. This initiative was created following the 1984 Bhopal disaster and other widely publicized events in the early 1980s that led to increased public and government pressure for the chemical industry to take greater responsibility for its impact (Prakash, 2000). More recently, the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh was a catalyst for unions and NGOs to pressure multinational clothing brands to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh aimed at strengthening workplace safety standards in Bangladesh's garment manufacturing industry (Schuessler et al., 2018). ...
... One well-known example is the Responsible Care initiative that emerged from the chemical industry after the infamous explosion in 1984 at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. Whether Responsible Care had an impact on environmental performance is debatable (King & Lenox, 2000;Prakash, 2000), but the chemical industry sought to create change through a program, which can be assessed. Thus, industry activity, not just location, is also a basis of collective action for social impact. ...
Are CSR initiatives providing the societal good that they promise? After decades of CSR studies, we do not have an answer. In this review, we analyze progression of the CSR literature toward assessing the performance of CSR initiatives, identify factors that have limited the literature’s progress, and suggest a new approach to the study of CSR that can overcome these limits. We begin with comprehensive bibliometric mapping illustrating that although social impact has infrequently been its explicit focus, the CSR literature has measured outcomes other than firm performance, especially in the current decade. Thereafter, we conduct a more fine-grained analysis of recent CSR studies. Adapting a logic model framework, we show that even the most highly cited studies have stopped short of assessing social impact, often measuring CSR activities rather than impacts, and focusing on benefits to specific stakeholders rather than to wider society. In combination, our analyses suggest that assessment of the performance of CSR initiatives has been driven by the availability of large, public secondary data sources. However, creating more such databases and turning to “big data” analyses are inadequate solutions. Drawing from the impact evaluation literature of development economics, we argue that the CSR field should reconceive itself as a science of design in which researchers formulate CSR initiatives that seek to achieve specific social and environmental objectives. In accordance with this pursuit, CSR researchers should move toward “small data” research designs, which will enable studies to better determine causation, rather than just identify correlation.
... Moreover, the positive public image in the favour of green manufacturing helps the firm to increase the sales volume and revenue (Ginsberg and Bloom 2004). In addition, consumers may change their preference, if the firm does not pay heed to environmental issues and/or break the environmental laws (Galbraith et al., 2007;Prakash, 2000). Thus, based on the aforesaid reasons, 'Green manufacturing' name is appropriately taken as one of the green-labels to examine consumer preference. ...
... The creation of the programme signified recognition by the industry that improved performance among chemical companies was crucial to public acceptability and viability. A series of major chemical accidents, most notably the 1984 disaster in the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, reinforced a perception that the chemical industry was unable to carry out its operations without harming human health and damaging the environment (Prakash 2000). For this reason, companies were keen to demonstrate eco-efficiency measures; however, companies were faced with a situation which could be said to have been characterised by a degree of 'wickedness'. ...
... In 1984, the Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Code of Responsible Care Management Practices was developed by the Canadian Procedures Association to guide the chemical plants in industrial areas to have effective and mutual response planning. The CAER Code determines "what" must be done for compliance but leaves it to individual companies to decide "how" it should be done based on their own judgment about what constitutes an 'appropriate' response (Prakash, 2000;Howard et al., 1999). …. ...
Emergency response planning for major accidents in the chemical industry is essential to protect the public and workers’ health and safety, to reduce the environmental impacts, and to accelerate the resumption of normal operations. So far, much attention has been given to developing and implementing emergency planning in single chemical plants. However in chemical industrial areas – also known as chemical clusters – which consist of a number of different plants, less attention has been given to multi-plant emergency response planning. This paper is aimed at developing a multi-plant emergency response decision tool for chemical clusters in case of major accidents so that not only plant emergency levels but also respective response strategies can be determined. This way, a crisis situation within the chemical cluster can be handled in a much faster way than is the case today.
... Literatura jest bogata w przykłady samoregulacji przedsiębiorstw, które zostały ustanowione bez interwencji państwa. Jednym z najbardziej znanych przykładów jest program wdrożony w 1985 r. w przemyśle chemicznym "Odpowiedzialność i troska" (King, Lenox 2000;Prakash 2000). Jednakże przykłady samoregulacji często występują nie tylko na poziomie całych sektorów gospodarki, ale również na poziomie poszczególnych przedsiębiorstw oraz ich łańcuchów produkcji (Bartley 2007;Neilson 2008). ...
The existing literature concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been predominantly focused on the relationship between CSR and corporate economic performance as well as on the ethical foundations of corporate behavior. The societal and environmental effects of corporate voluntary activism remain largely ambiguous and unknown. As a consequence, the critics of CSR argue that it is of a symbolic and ritual character, and brings very little, if any, positive effects for society. This paper attempts to verify the influence of CSR on the level of CSR emissions. The analysis follows an institutional approach, where CSR is treated as one of the institutional determinants of corporate environmental performance, apart from national environmental regulations, environmental taxes and subsidies, and tradable permits. The econometric analysis has been conducted with the use of Eurostat data from 29 European countries. The study findings show that CSR, next to the national environmental regulations and subsidies, has a significant impact on the level of C02 emissions in the selected sectors. The findings suggest that voluntary actions taken by enterprises, motivated by CSR, can be a significant source of positive social and environmental effects.
... Most notable is Responsible Care, the chemical industry's voluntary commitment to enhanced chemical safety and product stewardship. Though it may not have contributed much to improving sustainability performance in developed countries, its impact in emerging economies and developing countries appears to be more relevant (Conzelmann 2012;Prakash 2000). The European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry has committed itself to a set of sustainability goals that include increasing recycling rates and enhancing energy efficiency at PVC production facilities through VinylPlus, a private-sector partnership. ...
Global plastic production is continuously increasing and reached 322 million tonnes
in 2015, generating revenues for plastic manufacturers of about US$ 750 billion.
However, adequate waste collection systems are lacking in many countries. As a con-
sequence, discarded plastic often ends up in the environment, where it can cause
health and other problems. Every year between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plas-
tic end up in the ocean. There, it endangers sea life, breaks down into ever smaller
pieces and can wind up in the food chain with unknown consequences. These plastic
pieces spread across the globe, creating a transnational problem with high costs for
economically important sectors such as tourism and fishing. Although public aware-
ness of the problem has grown in recent years, international efforts to limit plastic
pollution have so far failed to successfully address the problem. Most approaches
have concentrated on the oceans, although the majority of plastic waste does not
originate there, whereas a legally binding international treaty that deals with hazard-
ous waste on land, the Basel Convention, is hardly applicable to plastic waste.
To fill this gap and to address the transnational problem of plastic pollution, we
propose to commence negotiations on a global plastics convention. Such a conven-
tion should be built on five pillars. First, a clear and binding goal is needed to elimi-
nate plastic waste discharge into the ocean as a top-down mechanism. Second, each
country should propose, in a bottom-up manner, an action plan containing specific
measures based on a toolbox. Third, implementation of these action plans should
be fostered by a supporting structure and other capacity development measures,
including a financing mechanism. Fourth, the success of this framework will need to
be assessed through a stringent follow-up and review mechanism. Fifth, the involve-
ment of non-governmental stakeholders from civil society, business, and academia
is vital both for launching negotiations on such a convention and for making it an
effective instrument for curbing plastic pollution.
A coalition of stakeholders could take up the call and begin campaigning for
a global plastics convention, negotiations on which could be launched by the UN
Environment Assembly or the UN General Assembly. In addition, existing frame-
works could be strengthened to further prevent marine dumping and other sources
of plastic pollution at sea. Although the international community currently tends to
prefer voluntary measures to legally binding treaties, the plastic pollution problem
is global, costly, and will keep growing. This represents a strong case for overcoming
the treaty fatigue in global politics and writing a new chapter in international envi-
ronmental governance.
... The sponsors of voluntary programs include governments, business groups, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We conceptualize voluntary programs as clubs (Prakash 2000a), drawing on the theoretical insights proposed by Buchanan (1965). Clubs promulgate standards of conduct targeted to produce public benefits by changing members' behaviors. ...
Voluntary programs have become widespread tools for governments and nongovernmental actors looking to improve industry's environmental and regulatory performance. Voluntary programs can be conceptualized as club goods that provide nonrival but potentially excludable benefits to members. For firms, the value of joining a green club over taking the same actions unilaterally is to appropriate the club's positive brand reputation. Our analysis of about 3,700 U.S. facilities indicates that joining ISO 14001, an important nongovernmental voluntary program, improves facilities' compliance with government regulations. We conjecture that ISO 14001 is effective because its broad positive standing with external audiences provides a reputational benefit that helps induce facilities to take costly progressive environmental action they would not take unilaterally.
... However, the implementation of the general concept of sustainability requires a novel cognitive and behavioral approach that integrates environmental, social, and economic elements, but that is difficult to break down into its fundamental parts. The successful implementation of more sustainable processes, therefore, dictates a modus operandi based equally on a rational use of physical resources that yields efficient processes and prevents and/or reduces the discharge of harmful effluents to the environment and on the responsible design and operation of the process, integral to which is cooperation between people, i.e., nonphysical resources (Prakash 2000;Druckrey 1998). ...
Sustainability is a service that should be produced and delivered in any process that generates tangible or intangible values and that should be incorporated into each phase of the value chain. Moreover, sustainability should also be an essential part of value co-creation, the process of which eventually recruits the customer as a provider of sustainability to current and future generations. In so doing, the value co-creation process and subsequent propagation of sustainability can mimic the cyclic and evolutionary aspects of nature.
From the 1970s, a number of tools, initiatives, and approaches (TIAs) have been developed to foster and implement sustainability. These have evolved from purely “end-of-pipe” solutions (which are usually costly and inefficient) towards whole-system approaches, by changing products, processes, services, and systems, so that waste is minimised and resources used more efficiently and effectively, in almost closed loops. Twenty-four TIAs have been widely used and researched. These can be divided according to their focus on (1) operations and production (circular economy (CE), design for the environment (DfE), eco-efficiency, Factor X, green chemistry, industrial ecology, and life cycle assessment); (2) management and strategy (corporate citizenship (CC), corporate social responsibility (CSR), (more) sustainable business models (SBMs), sustainable/socially responsible investment (SRI), the natural step (TNS), and the triple bottom line (TBL)); (3) supply chain (eco-labelling, sustainable marketing (SM), sustainable livelihoods (SL), and sustainable supply chains (SSC)); and (4) assessment and reporting (environmental and social accounting (ESA), environmental management systems (EMS), integrated management systems (IMS), and sustainability reporting (SR)). The majority of the TIAs have focused on the economic and environmental dimensions and on technocentric and managerial ploys. The TIAs have been limited in addressing all the system elements of organisations, since they have neither been selected nor used explicitly to address the governance, organisational systems, service provision, or change management system elements. Each TIA has advantages with respect to the sustainability dimensions and contribution to an organisation’s system elements, but it also has limitations in its scope and reach. Relying on one initiative can result in a limited and narrow contribution to sustainability and curtail overall coverage of the company’s system, while using too many tools wastes resources and energy due to duplication in tasks. None of the TIAs, on its own, covers the full organisation system, or the four dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental, social, and time). Therefore, a combination of TIAs is needed, which capitalises on synergies and address the sustainability dimensions and the organisation’s system elements.
Purpose
The Responsible Care programme was first introduced in Canada in 1985 and now is implemented worldwide as one of the chemical industries' commitments to improve the industries' public image as well as their performance in health, safety and environmental aspects. In Malaysia, the Responsible Care programme has been implemented since 1994 with a current total of 148 companies pledged to implement it in their company; however, the effectiveness of the programme remains unknown. Hence, this paper aims to assess the effectiveness of the Responsible Care programme in improving performance in the environment, health and safety in terms of documentation, training, selection processes and stakeholders' engagement for the sustainability of chemical industries.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to the Responsible Care signatory companies in Malaysia. Of these, a total of 132 member companies either produced or provided services related to chemical products.
Findings
The majority of signatory companies agreed that the Responsible Care programme did improve their performance in the environment, health and safety. Besides that, the signatory companies were also keeping up their commitment to ensuring documentation, training, selection process and stakeholders' engagement run smoothly in line with Responsible Care's mission.
Originality/value
After more than two decades of implementation in Malaysia, it is important to assess the Responsible Care programme's effectiveness. As an increasing number of chemical firms, without good management, it will possibly pose a danger to the environment and human health and safety. Through assessment, advances in Responsible Care management practices will considerably increase programme effectiveness in terms of environmental health and safety.
Emergency response planning for coping with domino effects at chemical and process plants is essential to protect the public and workers’ health and safety, reduce the environmental impacts, and accelerate the resumption of normal operations. The need for domino effects emergency response becomes even more critical in the case of chemical industrial areas (chemical clusters) since a primary fire or explosion at a single plant may trigger external domino effects and impact the entire cluster. So far, much attention has been addressed to developing and implementing emergency planning in single plants with very little attention to multiplant emergency response planning in chemical clusters. This chapter is aimed at developing a multiplant emergency response decision support system for coping with domino effects at chemical clusters. In this way, a primary fire or explosion within the chemical cluster can be effectively handled before it evolves as a domino effect.
Institutions are fundamental aspects for driving tourism and hospitality globally. They are the socio-economic "rules of the game" that serve to shape and constrain human and organisational interactions. This book is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of institutional theory in a tourism and hospitality context. The complexity and multiple scaled nature of the institutional environment plays a crucial role in the development and formation of tourism destinations, attractions, organisations, and businesses, as well as influencing the activities of individuals. Institutional theory therefore provides a means to understand the complexity and processes of change at different scales of analysis and provides insights into the organisational and political basis of tourism policy development and implementation. Chapters introduce and expand on institutional analysis in tourism and hospitality, institutional theory in the social sciences, methodological issues, and future directions in institutional analysis in tourism and hospitality, making use of case studies throughout. This book will appeal to students of tourism, hospitality, leisure, and events, as well as other social science disciplines. Providing a comprehensive overview of and guide to the application of institutional theory, this book will serve as a complete reference to institutional theory in a tourism and hospitality setting for years to come.
The development of chemical industries in Malaysia has raised the need to strengthen the chemicals management to avoid incidents which could put the environment, health and safety at risks. Responsible Care program was launched in 1994 to promote sustainable management of chemicals throughout the product chain as a commitment to build trust in the chemical industries. Although Responsible Care program was developed to restore public’s trust toward chemical industries, there are issues debated particularly on the effectiveness of its self-regulatory program whether could achieve the objective of practicing sustainable chemical industry management. In this chapter, a concept of integrating Responsible Care through quality, environmental, health and safety management system for chemical industries is laid out, taking Malaysian chemical industries as a case study. Considering the challenges faced by the signatory chemical companies, a simplified and integrated management system for Responsible Care has been developed by incorporating ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 with Responsible Care program. The simplified and integrated management system for Responsible Care is expected to assist chemical companies in enhancing the implementation of Responsible Care program and promoting more participation of chemical companies in Responsible Care program for the sustainability of chemical industries.
Green revolution, going green, environmental protection, sustainable life style, sustainable development, protecting our earth and many more has become a natural phenomenon in our everyday life. Green marketing is a tool used by many companies in various industries to follow this trend. There has been a lot of literature review on green marketing over the years, this paper analysis the impact of green marketing strategies on customer satisfaction and environmental safety using comprehensive literature review. As a result, this paper can be used by researchers who need to find out the impact of green marketing on customer satisfaction and environmental safety. Green marketing is a phenomenon which has developed particular importance in the modern market. This concept has enabled for the re-marketing and packaging of existing products which already adhere to such guidelines. Additionally, the development of green marketing has opened the door of opportunity for companies to co-brand their products into separate line, lauding the green-friendliness of some while ignoring that of others. Such marketing techniques will be explained as a direct result of movement in the minds of the consumer market. As a result of this businesses have increased their rate of targeting consumers who are concerned about the environment. The paper identifies the particular segments of green consumers and explores the challenges and opportunities businesses have with green marketing.
Crisis Communication in a Digital World - edited by Mark Sheehan April 2015
We analyze whether third‐party certification has been successful in improving the performance of voluntary pollution abatement in the Responsible Care (RC) program which made certification mandatory from 2005 onward. We use facility‐level panel data from 821 plants between 1996 and 2010, and exploit the change in the program requirements to estimate the causal impact of third‐party certification on participating facility emissions compared to non‐RC plants in the U.S. chemical industry. We address endogenous selection into RC via instrumental variables, and explore heterogeneity in the treatment effect. We find that, on average, there is no statistically discernible effect of third‐party certification on facility emissions, and that this result is robust to a variety of models that correspond to different assumptions related to identification. (JEL Q53, Q58, L60)
A survey with an embedded experiment was conducted to test how residents would respond to a commitment by oil and natural gas producers to conduct nearby fracking operations in a manner that is more protective of health and the environment than existing state and federal regulations. The experiment specifically assessed how the use of independent third-party certification of operations coupled with "beyond compliance" practices would influence local public support for oil and gas development. The state of Colorado was chosen due to its long history of oil and gas development, its leadership amongst states in advancing fracking, and the current local-level conflicts surrounding oil and gas development. A public opinion survey (N = 390) of a representative sample of Colorado residents found that "green certification" of a production company's activities led to substantially increased levels of support for a hypothetical nearby oil and natural gas project. Our findings suggest that oil and gas developers can obtain greater public support for their projects by voluntarily engaging in practices that are more protective than current state and federal regulations together with third-party certification of those practices. In effect, these coupled actions serve as a mechanism that promotes a firm's "social license to operate".
Previous research has emphasized corporate lobbying as a pathway through which businesses influence government policy. This article examines a less-studied mode of influence: private regulation, defined as voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior. We argue that firms can use modest private regulations as a political strategy to preempt more stringent public regulations. To test this hypothesis, we administered experiments to three groups that demand environmental regulations: voters, activists, and government officials. Our experiments revealed how each group responded to voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) by firms. Relatively modest VEPs dissuaded all three groups from seeking more draconian government regulations, a finding with important implications for social welfare. We observed these effects most strongly when all companies within an industry joined the voluntary effort. Our study documents an understudied source of corporate power, while also exposing the limits of private regulation as a strategy for influencing government policy.
We develop a competitive contingency model of the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance, focusing on the moderating effects of industry-based factors. We conceptualize corporate social performance as a form of strategic differentiation and predict that the positive link between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance is strongest when a firm competes in an environment that is not conducive to corporate social performance. Analyses of data from roughly 2500 publicly traded firms between 2002 and 2009 support the moderating effects of industry munificence and social orientation. We discuss the implications of our contingency model for firms seeking a competitive advantage through corporate social performance.
The market is witnessing a trend where consumers are shifting from the habits of purchasing and using chemical based or synthetic based cosmetics to herbal cosmetics. The present research paper was exploratory in nature and investigated the buying behaviour of women consumers on herbal cosmetics in Kolkata district of West Bengal. Herbal cosmetics are gaining popularity in the world, and India is not an exception to that. The Indian herbal cosmetics market is growing every year and hence, the competition between existing players is also in the upward direction. At the same time, various local brands are entering the Indian herbal cosmetics market. To sustain and peform in the competitive market, understanding the basic relationships between various demographic and socioeconomic factors of the consumers is important. The study was based on primary data captured through a structured questionnaire and was administered to a total of 187 respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to find out the significance of association between the demographic and socioeconomic attributes and frequency of buying herbal cosmetics. Factor analysis was considered appropriate to find out the factors underlying the buying behaviour of herbal cosmetics. The findings of the study showed a significant relationship between age, household income, and education with frequency of purchasing herbal cosmetics. The results suggested that Promotion, Attributes, Worth of Purchasing, and Demonstration Effect influenced the buying behaviour of herbal cosmetics.
“Responsible lobbying” is an increasingly salient topic within business and management. We make a contribution to the literature on “responsible lobbying” in three ways. First, we provide novel definitions and, thereby, make a clear distinction between lobbying and corporate political activity. We then define responsible lobbying with respect to its content, process, organization, and environment, resulting in a typology of responsible lobbying, a conceptual model that informs the rest of the paper. Second, the paper provides a thematic overview of the current literature underpinning lobbying and the responsible firm, and the underlying paradigms informing this literature. Third, the paper makes specific suggestions for a future research agenda, ending with a consideration of methodological implications of such research.
Commercial and academic communities use private rules to regulate everything from labor conditions to biological weapons. This self- governance is vital in the twenty- first century, when private science and technology networks cross so many borders that traditional regulation and treaty solutions are oft en impractical. Self- Governance in Science analyzes the history of private regulation, identifies the specific market factors that make private standards stable and enforceable, explains how governments can encourage responsible selfregulation, and asks when private power might be legitimate. Unlike previous books that stress sociology or political science perspectives, Maurer emphasizes the economic roots of private power to deliver a coherent and comprehensive account of recent scholarship. Individual chapters present a detailed history of past self- government initiatives, describe the economics and politics of private power, and extract detailed lessons for law, legitimacy theory, and public policy.
Scientists face increasing demands to integrate practices of ‘responsibility’ into their working lives. In this paper, we explore these developments by discussing findings from a research project that investigated how publically funded scientists perceived and practiced responsibility. We show that, though the scientists in this study mostly viewed policy discourses such as Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) as irrelevant to them, they articulated and practiced a range of ‘bottom-up’ responsibilities, including for producing sound science, taking care of employees, creating ‘impact’ and carrying out publically legitimate science. The practice of these responsibilities was often shaped by wider dynamics in the governance of knowledge production, such as academic capitalism and the marketisation of universities. Based on these findings, we suggest that RRI scholarship should, first, work to develop a shared language of responsibility with scientists, and, second, more actively address the political context of contemporary scientific research.
European Union law is not the only source of influence and inspiration in the international arena regarding chemical management. There are several important tools and initiatives regarding chemical management on the global level. The main aim of this chapter is not to comprehensively explore all conventions, treaties and initiatives dealing with chemicals. This is not possible due to large area covered. This chapter rather introduces the main aspects of the most important tools including the Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention and Stockholm Convention which are introduced in separate chapters. Other important instruments and initiatives, such as the Aarhus Protocol, Responsible Care or Safe Planet are introduced as well. This chapter is descriptive in its nature, exploring the material nature of chemical regulation at the international level which might be, next to the EU, other source of influence on the countries outside the EU. It helps to distinguish between Europeanization and globalization as it presents instruments on the global level.
There are many implications of REACH, both practical and theoretical. Adoption of REACH in the EU influenced international trade with chemicals and introduced new normative rules and principles on the international level. Thus REACH has normative implications for other countries, especially countries trading with the EU and practical rules for companies within non-EU member states. This normative dimension may be considered a supporting factor of adoption REACH-like regulation in the country trading with the EU. Is there a direct link between the chemical export and reflection of REACH? How can we measure the impact of REACH? In the next section practical implications of REACH are presented and evaluated. In the Sect. 10.2 theoretical implication are considered.
The review of the CSR literature in this paper revealed certain gaps in available knowledge. Thus, there is uncertainty regarding the actual spread of CSR activities; disagreement on the value of business case for CSR; and controversy over what drives firms to voluntarily adopt a CSR practice. This situation calls on researchers to investigate the actual policies and practices used by managers when addressing their companies’ social and environmental responsibilities. This section seeks to develop a theoretical framework that will enable this study to empirically scrutinize theory and produce findings that advance existing knowledge on the topic.
Ansätze der kulturalistischen Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik und der politikwissenschaftlichen
Forschung der Internationalen Beziehungen zusammenführend argumentiert
der Beitrag, dass sich die unternehmerische Verantwortungsübernahme nur
angemessen vor dem Hintergrund des historisch gewachsenen Wandels von Staatlichkeit
konzeptualisieren und analysieren lässt. Die These wird anhand einer Drei-Phasen-
Heuristik veranschaulicht, die die Entwicklung transnationaler unternehmerischer
Selbstregulierung parallel zum Wandel von Staatlichkeit seit den 1970er Jahren nachzeichnet.
Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
This article extends earlier research concerning the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance, with particular emphasis on methodological inconsistencies. Research in this area is extended in three critical areas. First, it focuses on a particular industry, the chemical industry. Second, it uses multiple sources of data-two that are perceptual based (KLD Index and Fortune reputation survey), and two that are performance based (TRI database and corporate philanthropy) in order to triangulate toward assessing corporate social performance. Third, it uses the five most commonly applied accounting measures in the corporate social performance and corporate financial performance (CSP/CFP) literature to assess corporate financial performance. The results indicate that the a priori use of measures may actually predetermine the CSP/CFP relationship outcome. Surprisingly, Fortune and KLD indices very closely track one another, whereas TRI and corporate philanthropy differentiate between high and low social performers and do not correlate to the firm's financial performance.
Ecological problems rooted in organizational activities have increased significantly, yet the role corporations play in achieving ecological sustainability is poorly understood. This article examines the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations. It articulates corporate ecological sustainability through the concepts of (a) total quality environmental management, (b) ecologically sustainable competitive strategies, (c) technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and (d) reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems. It examines the implications that these concepts have for organizational research.
Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach was first published in 1984 as a part of the Pitman series in Business and Public Policy. Its publication proved to be a landmark moment in the development of stakeholder theory. Widely acknowledged as a world leader in business ethics and strategic management, R. Edward Freeman’s foundational work continues to inspire scholars and students concerned with a more practical view of how business and capitalism actually work. Business can be understood as a system of how we create value for stakeholders. This worldview connects business and capitalism with ethics once and for all. On the 25th anniversary of publication, Cambridge University Press are delighted to be able to offer a new print-on-demand edition of his work to a new generation of readers.
Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
Companies in many countries complain of the unfairness of having to compete against foreign rivals facing more lenient environmental regulations. In this article I examine the competitive conditions for firms in such a position. I outline the development of ct new pollution-reduction paradigm centered on lowering costs by reducing pollution and, using twelve scenarios of international differences in environmental regulatory regimes faced by first movers and imitators, make propositions on which factors are important to the maintainability of these advantages.
This paper traces the evolution of the corporate social performance model by focusing on three challenges to the concept of corporate social responsibility: economic responsibility, public responsibility, and social responsiveness. It also examines social issues management as a dimension of corporate social performance. It concludes that the corporate social performance model is valuable for business and society study and that it provides the beginnings of a paradigm for the field.
Introduction - Robert O Keohane and Elinor Ostrom PART ONE: THEORETICAL PUZZLES The Problem of Scale in Human/Environment Relationships - Oran R Young The Politics of Scope - Duncan Snidal Endogenous Actors, Heterogeneity and Institutions Heterogeneity, Linkage and Commons Problems - Lisa L Martin PART TWO: EVIDENCE FROM THE LABORATORY Heterogeneities, Information and Conflict Resolution - Steven Hackett, Dean Dudley and James Walker Experimental Evidence on Sharing Contracts PART THREE: EVIDENCE FROM THE FIELD Constituting Social Capital and Collective Action - Elinor Ostrom The Conditions for Successful Collective Action - Gary D Libecap Self-interest and Environmental Management - Kenneth A Oye and James H Maxwell Heterogeneities at Two Levels - Ronald B Mitchell State, Non-state Actors and Intentional Oil Pollution
To compare and contrast institutional theories used in organizational analysis, the theoretical frameworks and arguments of leading contributors to institutional theory are reviewed and recent empirical studies using institutional arguments are examined. Both approaches reveal considerable variation in the types of concepts and arguments employed, and it is argued that further improvement and growth in institutional theory is dependent upon analysts dealing more explicitly with these differences. In addition, the relation between institutions and interests is explored to show that institutional features of organizational environments shape both the goals and means of actors. Attention is called to the two primary types of actors shaping institutional environments in modern societies- the state and professional bodies-and to the way in which their interests and mode of action shape institutional patterns and mechanisms.
Imagine trying to change the direction of a herd of mastodons rushing headlong toward a primeval tar pit— and certain death. If you can imagine that then you have some idea of what the chemical industry is trying to do with its Responsible Care initiative, a costly, ambitious and unique program to change the culture of a large and diverse enterprise. According to Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) chairman Frank Popoff, Dow's chairman and chief executive officer, "Responsible Care is [the chemical industry's] strategy for survival." And if it functions as intended, it will "fundamentally change the way the industry sees its role in society. It will fundamentally change the way industry deals with society," explains Jon C. Holtzman, CMA's vice president for communications. The initiative, coordinated by CMA, is designed to alter industry's performance, its commitments and decision-making processes, and its relationship with the public. "It has earned us a place at the table in ...
Chemical makers have always been safety conscious. By the nature of the trade, they've had to be. Over the years, the chemical industry has prided itself on its safety record. But today the industry is under sharply increased pressure to redouble its efforts to protect both its workers and its neighbors. At the same time, further improvements in chemical process safety are proving to be laborious, costly, and difficult for the public to track. Propelling this greater emphasis on safety are two federal initiatives. One concerns the impact of chemical releases beyond the plant fence line, the other the release of hazardous substances within the workplace. In addition, a system to track plant safety performance under the Responsible Care program of the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) is being finalized and may be in place as early as next year. The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed risk management rule, published last month in the Federal Register , addresses ...
In the five years since the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) adopted its Responsible Care program, the initiative has been gaining momentum in the chemical industry. As a condition of membership, CMA's 178 members have pledged through a process of continual improvement to fully implement Responsible Care's six codes of management practice, which are aimed at improving the industry's performance in health, safety, and environmental quality in concert with the public. CMA has been busy spreading the Responsible Care gospel to non-CMA companies as well. Many smaller companies that not only manufacture, but also package, transport, store, dispose of, or sell chemicals are embracing the initiative by signing on as Responsible Care partner companies or through their membership in one of 16 partner associations. For example, in 1990, the program gained the endorsement of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA), which represents a large number of small companies—73% of its 145 manufacturing members generate sales ...
Workers and their trade union representatives are neither widely involved in nor well informed about the chemical industry's Responsible Care initiative, according to a survey published last week. Responsible Care commits companies to environmental, health, and safety responsibility in managing chemicals. The survey was conducted during 1997 by the Brussels-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which claims to represent some 20 million workers around the world. The ICEM survey covered more than 29 unions in 21 countries. Survey results show that "35% of respondents were not even aware of the Responsible Care program." According to ICEM officials, awareness and involvement follow a decided geographic pattern. Unions that were "both aware of and in some way involved in Responsible Care were mainly in Japan, Scandinavia, and northwestern Europe," the survey says. But it finds that the ability of U.S. workers and their union representatives to get involved "in a formal ...
Ecological problems rooted in organizational activities have increased significantly, yet the role corporations play in achieving ecological sustainability is poorly understood. This article examines the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations. It articulates corporate ecological sustainability through the concepts of (a) total quality environmental management, (b) ecologically sustainable competitive strategies, (c) technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and (d) reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems. It examines the implications that these concepts have for organizational research.
Historically. management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm-a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the man- agement literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumen- tal power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the man- agers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institu- tion (with multiple constituents) rather than attorneys for the stockholders.
An emerging subfield of strategic management is that dealing with the natural environment as it affects corporate strategy. To analyze this we organize the literature on environmental regulations and corporate strategy into a new managerial framework. Next we develop a resource-based view of the interaction between firm-level competitiveness and environmental regulations, including the conditions for the use of green capabilities. Finally, we analyze the green capabilities of multinational enterprises within a standard international business model, using firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs). We then use this FSA/CSA configuration to explore hypotheses on environmental regulations, competitiveness, and corporate strategy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article defines corporate social performance (CSP) and reformulates the CSP model to build a coherent, integrative framework for business and society research. Principles of social responsibility are framed at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels; processes of social responsiveness are shown to be environmental assessment, stakeholder management, and issues management; and outcomes of CSP are posed as social impacts, programs, and policies. Rethinking CSP in this manner points to vital research questions that have not yet been addressed.
Criticism of the analytical validity of public utility pricing ‘rules’ has resulted over a period of years in the introduction of successive modifications to the original simple (though not unambiguous) marginal-cost ‘rule’, culminating in advocacy of the two-part tariff and of the ‘club’ principle.2 While these pricing rules have been regarded with scepticism as practical guides to public utility pricing policy,3 however, there has perhaps been a less general appreciation of the cumulative weight of the theoretical objections to all such rules; there is still interest in the discovery of a ‘right’ rule, and in the estimation of the ‘marginal’ or other costs of particular public utility enterprises.
Stakeholder theory development has increased in recent years, in part because of its emphasis on explaining and predicting how an organization functions with respect to the relationships and influences existing in its environment. Thus far, most researchers have concentrated on dyadic relationships between individual stakeholders and a focal organization. Using social network analysis, I construct in this article a theory of stakeholder influences, which accommodates multiple, interdependent stakeholder demands and predicts how organizations respond to the simultaneous influence of multiple stakeholders.
Examines the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time. Institutions are separate from organizations, which are assemblages of people directed to strategically operating within institutional constraints. Institutions affect the economy by influencing, together with technology, transaction and production costs. They do this by reducing uncertainty in human interaction, albeit not always efficiently. Entrepreneurs accomplish incremental changes in institutions by perceiving opportunities to do better through altering the institutional framework of political and economic organizations. Importantly, the ability to perceive these opportunities depends on both the completeness of information and the mental constructs used to process that information. Thus, institutions and entrepreneurs stand in a symbiotic relationship where each gives feedback to the other. Neoclassical economics suggests that inefficient institutions ought to be rapidly replaced. This symbiotic relationship helps explain why this theoretical consequence is often not observed: while this relationship allows growth, it also allows inefficient institutions to persist. The author identifies changes in relative prices and prevailing ideas as the source of institutional alterations. Transaction costs, however, may keep relative price changes from being fully exploited. Transaction costs are influenced by institutions and institutional development is accordingly path-dependent. (CAR)
The article deals with the role of companies in the social market economy. An example of a successful international self-regulatory initiative and its implementation in German chemical industry is discussed.
This paper examines why US firms are lukewarm towards ISO 14000 while the US chemical industry has enthusiastically adopted Responsible Care. It also briefly explores why European and Asian firms are eagerly adopting ISO 14000. Employing a new-institutionalist framework it argues that firms have incentives to adopt beyond-compliance voluntary programs only if they perceive excludable benefits exceeding excludable costs. Institutions, the central conceptual pillar in a new-institutionalist framework, are important in shaping perceptions of benefits and costs and the extent of their excludability.US regulators can encourage adoption of ISO 14000 by granting attorney–client privileges and enhancing levels of regulatory relief. Firms, in turn, need to appreciate the political constraints of the EPA on this issue. They could relax these constraints by addressing the apprehensions of EPA’s key constituents. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
This article applies the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes. The article offers a typology of strategic responses that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation. Ten institutional factors are hypothesized to predict the occurrence of the alternative proposed strategies and the degree of organizational conformity or resistance to institutional pressures.
This paper uses a stakeholder framework to review the empirical literature on corporate social performance (CSP), focusing particularly on studies attempting to correlate social with financial performance. Results show first that most studies correlate measures of business performance that as yet have no theoretical relationship (for example, the level of corporate charitable giving with return on investment). To make sense of this body of research, CSP studies must be integrated with stakeholder theory. Multiple stakeholders (a) set expectations for corporate performance, (b) experience the effects of corporate behavior, and (c) evaluate the outcomes of corporate behavior. However, we find that the empirical CSP literature mismatches variables in terms of which stakeholders are relevant to which kind of measure. Second, only the studies using market-based variables and theory show a consistent relationship between social and financial performance, particularly those showing a negative abnormal return to the stock price of companies experiencing product recalls. Although this paper shows that the CSP construct is not yet well-specified enough to produce stronger results, recent research suggests that much progress is being made both empirically and theoretically in developing valid and reliable measures of corporate social performance.