Ans Kolk

Corporate Responses in an Emerging Climate Regime: The Institutionalization and Commensuration of Carbon Disclosure

This paper examines corporate responses to climate change in relation to the development of reporting mechanisms for greenhouse gases, more specifically carbon disclosure. It first presents some background and context on the evolution of carbon trading and disclosure, and then develops a conceptual framework using theories of global governance, institutional theory and commensuration to understand the role of carbon disclosure in the emerging climate regime. Subsequently, a closer look is taken at carbon disclosure and reporting mechanisms, with a particular focus on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Our analysis of responses shows that CDP has been successfully using institutional investors to urge firms to disclose extensive information about their climate change activities. However, although response rates in terms of numbers of disclosing firms are impressive and growing, neither the level of carbon disclosure that CDP promotes nor the more detailed carbon accounting provide information that is particularly valuable for investors, NGOs or policy makers at this stage. As a project of commensuration, carbon disclosure has achieved some progress in technical terms, but much less with regard to the cognitive and value dimensions.

Reviewing a Decade of Research on the 'Base/Bottom of the Pyramid' (BOP) Concept

In 1998-1999, Prahalad and colleagues introduced the base/bottom of the pyramid (BOP) concept in an article and a working paper. This article’s goal is to answer the following question: What has become of the concept over the decade following its first systematic exposition in 1999? To answer this question, the authors conducted a systematic review of articles on the BOP, identifying 104 articles published in journals or proceedings over a 10-year period (2000-2009). This count excludes books, chapters, and teaching cases. The review shows that the BOP concept evolved dramatically following Prahalad’s original call to multinational enterprises (MNEs). Deemphasizing the role of MNEs over time, published BOP articles portray a more complex picture, with wide variations in terms of BOP contexts, of BOP initiatives, and of impacts of the BOP approach. A simple framework for organizing the reviewed articles helps discuss findings, identify the gaps that still exist in the literature, and suggest directions for future research.

Global rule-setting for business: A critical analysis of multi-stakeholder standards

In the field of global rule-setting for responsible business behaviour, multi-stakeholder standards have emerged in recent years because of their potential for effective consensus-building, knowledge-sharing and interest representation. Proponents also hold that multi-stakeholder standards could address problems related to other forms of global rule-setting for business. Despite alleged advantages, however, analyses of multi-stakeholder initiatives, considering benefits and drawbacks, have been lacking. This article examines multi-stakeholder standards compared to other collaborative standards adopted in the past decade, and focuses subsequently on the peculiarities of multi-stakeholder standards regarding participation, governance and implementation. Multi-stakeholder standards, which involve business and NGOs, and sometimes also governments, are more specific and well-elaborated than other types of standards. But monitoring and implementation are rarely used as means for increasing participation from multiple stakeholders, including most notably those from developing countries. The article also discusses the implications of the current lack of specificity of the (multi-)stakeholder concept and suggests refinement of multi-stakeholder standards in terms of narrow versus broad inclusiveness.

Economics of Environmental Management

Plan of the Book. Introduction: Environmental Management.Part 1: BETWEEN REGULATION AND SELF-REGULATION.1. Business Perspectives on Regulation. 2. International Policy and Voluntary Initiatives. 3. Strategies and The Environment.Part 2: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE.4. Environmental Management Systems and Standards. 5. Environmental Reporting. 6. Environmental Management Accounting. 7. Conclusions: Dilemmas of Environmental Management. Bibliography. Index.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Drivers of Corporate Social Performance: Evidence from Foreign and Domestic Firms in Mexico

The literature on corporate social performance (CSP) is largely split between approaches that consider CSP to be extrinsically driven and those that consider it to be intrinsically driven. While the management literature has paid attention to drivers of both types, the relationship between the two remains largely unstudied, particularly in the international setting. Meanwhile, the international business (IB) literature has addressed the international dimension of CSP more directly, but focuses largely on extrinsic pressures. Our paper links the management and IB literatures by addressing intrinsic drivers (management commitment to ethics) in conjunction with extrinsic (trade-related) drivers for both foreign- and domestically-owned firms in a single-market setting. Using survey data from 121 auto parts suppliers in Mexico, we find that management commitment to ethics is a dominant driver of CSP among both foreign and domestic firms. More importantly, management commitment to ethics interacts positively with trade-related pressures in raising CSP levels.

Governing climate change transnationally: Assessing the evidence from a database of sixty initiatives

With this paper we present an analysis of sixty transnational governance initiatives and assess the implications for our understanding of the roles of public and private actors, the legitimacy of governance ‘beyond’ the state, and the North–South dimensions of governing climate change. In the first part of the paper we examine the notion of transnational governance and its applicability in the climate change arena, reflecting on the history and emergence of transnational governance initiatives in this issue area and key areas of debate. In the second part of the paper we present the findings from the database and its analysis. Focusing on three core issues, the roles of public and private actors in governing transnationally, the functions that such initiatives perform, and the ways in which accountability for governing global environmental issues might be achieved, we suggest that significant distinctions are emerging in the universe of transnational climate governance which may have considerable implications for the governing of global environmental issues. In conclusion, we reflect on these findings and the subsequent consequences for the governance of climate change.

Child Labor and Multinational Conduct: A Comparison of International Business andStakeholder Codes

Increasing attention to the issue of child labor has been reflected in codes of conduct that emerged in the past decade in particular. This paper examines the way in which multinationals, business associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations deal with child labor in their codes. With a standardized framework, it analyzes 55 codes drawn up by these different actors to influence firms’ external, societal behavior. The exploratory study helps to identify the main issues related to child labor and the use of voluntary instruments such as codes of conduct. Apart from a specific indication of the topics covered by the code, especially minimum-age requirements, this also includes monitoring systems and monitoring parties. Most important to company codes are the sanctions imposed on business partners in case of non-compliance. Severe measures may be counterproductive as they do not change the underlying causes of child labor and can worsen the situation of the child workers by driving them to more hazardous work in the informal sector. This underlines the importance of a broad rather than a restrictive approach to child labor in codes of conduct. The paper discusses the implications of this study, offering suggestions for future research.

Addressing the climate change: sustainable development nexus: the role of multistakeholder partnerships

While calls are being made to deal with the linkages between climate change and sustainable development to arrive at an integrated policy, concrete steps in this direction have been very limited so far. One of the possible instruments through which both issues may be approached simultaneously is a multistakeholder partnership, a form of governance with the potential to address existing regulatory, participation, resource and learning gaps as it harnesses the strengths of private, public, and nonprofit partners. There is some insight into partnerships for climate change, but largely limited to developed countries, and those in developing countries most often do not involve companies. To help fill this gap, this article explores the role of multistakeholder partnerships in addressing climate change and sustainable development in developing-country settings. It elaborates on the governance function of partnerships, on actor involvement, the gaps addressed, as well as synergies and trade-offs in the climate change-sustainable development nexus and how partnerships may help address them. As the number of such partnerships is still limited, we discuss seven illustrative partnerships and draw conclusions as to further conceptualizations and implications for research and practice.

Towards strategic stakeholder management? Integrating perspectives on sustainability challenges such as corporate responses to climate change

Purpose – The strategic management of corporate sustainability tends to be approached from one theoretical perspective in academic research and publications in mainstream journals simultaneously. In corporate practice, however, a sustainability issue has different dimensions that cannot be captured if only one such lens is taken. The purpose of this article is to develop a more integrated perspective, embedded in a stakeholder view.Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses climate change as an example to illustrate how institutional, resource‐based, supply chain and stakeholder views are all important to characterize and understand corporate strategic responses to one issue. This is subsequently linked to the climate strategies and related capabilities of companies, reckoning with societal and competitive contexts.Findings – What a corporate climate strategy looks like depends on the type of stakeholders that a company manages more proactively, which is in turn determined by the extent to which these ...

Multinationals and global climate change: issues for the automotive and oil industries

This chapter analyzes the strategic responses by U.S. and European multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the oil and automobile industries to the global climate change issue. We examine and attempt to explain the differences across regions, across industries, and the changes over time. Traditional economic drivers of strategy do not provide a satisfactory account for these differences, and the chapter focuses instead on the conflicting institutional pressures on MNEs and the implications for their climate strategy. The home-country institutional context and individual corporate histories can create divergent pressures on strategy for MNEs based in different countries. At the same time, the location of MNEs in global industries and their participation in “global issues arenas” such as climate change generate institutional forces for strategic convergence. It appears that local context influenced initial corporate reactions, but that convergent pressures predominate as the issue matures.