Jonathan P. Doh

Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Policy, and NGO Activism in Europe and the United States: An Institutional-Stakeholder Perspective

abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly pervasive phenomenon on the European and North American economic and political landscape. In this paper, we extend neo‐institutional and stakeholder theory to show how differences in the institutional environments of Europe and the United States affect expectations about corporate responsibilities to society. We focus on how these differences are manifested in government policy, corporate strategy, and non‐governmental organization (NGO) activism towards specific issues involving the social responsibilities of corporations. Drawing from recent theoretical and empirical research, and analysis of three case studies (global warming, trade in genetically modified organisms, and pricing of anti‐viral pharmaceuticals in developing countries), we find that different institutional structures and political legacies in the US and EU are important factors in explaining how governments, NGOs, and the broader polity determine and implement preferences regarding CSR in these two important world regions.

The Impact of Corruption on Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies

With globalization and the growth in emerging economies, multinational enterprises (MNEs) now frequently confront challenges associated with corrupt governments. Already, a growing body of research has demonstrated that corruption significantly reduces a countrys aggregate inflows of foreign direct investment through its effects on firm performance. We move the analysis of corruption from aggregate financial flows toward managerial theory and practice by examining how firms adjust their strategy for entering foreign markets in corrupt environments and how different types of corruption affect firms choices. Building on institutional theory, we predict that MNEs will respond to pervasive and arbitrary corruption in a host country by selecting particular types of equity and nonequity modes of entry. Using data on 220 telecommunications development projects in 64 emerging economies, we find that firms adapt to the pressures of corruption via short-term contracting and entry into joint ventures. We also find that the arbitrariness surrounding corrupt transactions has a significant impact on firms decisions, in addition to the overall level of corruption. In contrast to extant research, we show that MNEs use nonequity-entry modes or partnering as an adaptive strategy to participate in markets despite the presence of corruption.

Non-governmental organizations, shareholder activism, and socially responsible investments: Ethical, strategic, and governance implications

In this article, we document the growing influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the realm of socially responsible investing (SRI). Drawing from ethical and economic perspectives on stakeholder management and agency theory, we develop a framework to understand how and when NGOs will be most influential in shaping the ethical and social responsibility orientations of business using the emergence of SRI as the primary influencing vehicle. We find that NGOs have opportunities to influence corporate conduct via direct, indirect, and interactive influences on the investment community, and that the overall influence of NGOs as major actors in socially responsible investment is growing, with attendant consequences for corporate strategy, governance, and social performance.

Does the Market Respond to an Endorsement of Social Responsibility? The Role of Institutions, Information, and Legitimacy

A consensus has emerged in the burgeoning literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) that “virtuous” firms are often rewarded by the marketplace. Unfortunately, the mechanisms through which those rewards materialize are not well understood. Furthermore, it is difficult for managers and investors to know whether a company is actually engaged in responsible behavior. Thus, many stakeholders rely on institutional assessments of a firm’s social practices to inform their own judgments about that company’s CSR reputation. In this article, we draw on institutional theory and research on reputation and legitimacy to investigate the relationship between institutional endorsements (and repudiation) of CSR and firm financial performance. Our empirical results indicate that institutional intermediaries influence market assessments of a firm’s social responsibility and highlight the importance of the legitimacy-conferring function of expert bodies in understanding the relationship between social and financial performance. Our findings also illustrate the delicate interplay among different social performance assessments, reputation, and measures of financial and operating performance such that operating performance may serve as an advanced indicator of social performance and one type of social performance assessment may temper market reactions to another.

Nongovernmental organizations as institutional actors in international business: theory and implications

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged as major actors in international business. NGOs have assumed a particularly prominent role in influencing the interaction between business and governments over the terms of international business rules, norms, and practices, especially the conditions applied to international investment projects. In this paper, we argue that the rise of NGOs as important institutional actors requires new perspectives on state-firm interactions in an era of increasing globalization. Host governments and multinational corporations (MNCs) must now critically assess the potential impact of nongovernmental actors on investment plans and projects. Drawing from institutional, agency, and stakeholder theory, we develop a model to help organizations evaluate and assess the relative importance of NGOs to the stability and longevity of international investment projects and the emergent impact of NGOs on investment projects at different stages of the investment cycle. We use the specific circumstance of infrastructure privatization and state-owned enterprise restructuring to demonstrate the potential value of this perspective to MNCs and host governments. We suggest this approach is also useful in evaluating classes of other stakeholders, and in examining other situations in which governments, companies, and NGOs negotiate over the terms of international business exchanges.

The “Transmutation” of the Organization:: Toward a More Spiritual Workplace

In this article, we review, integrate, and extend extant research on workplace spirituality. Despite an extensive set of critiques and criticisms offered by scholars and practitioners, most modern organizations remain devoid of a spiritual foundation and deny their employees the opportunity for spiritual expression through their work. We describe some of the perverse and damaging costs associated with continued absence of spiritual elements in the modern workplace and propose a “transmutation” of the workplace, built on the foundation of spiritual ideals. We also detail some of the potential benefits to managers, workers, and society of a spiritually oriented workplace and propose some concrete action that managers can take to advance such a change in workplace values. We advance the position that for spirit in the workplace to be fully realized, organizations must enable the unfolding of each individual through his or her participation in the work of the organization.

Handbook on responsible leadership and governance in global business

Although commitments to leadership, ethics and social responsibility are evident, individuals and companies are falling short in combining these duties into policies and cultures that guide behaviour and decisions. This text provides the leading thinking on these issues.

Conceptual Issues in Services Offshoring Research: A Multidisciplinary Review

Offshoring has emerged as an important economic and social phenomenon that has generated intense interest from practitioners, the popular media, and policy makers. In addition, there is a nascent but rich research literature on offshoring developing in management, international business (IB), and related fields. In this review, we survey and integrate offshoring literature from several disciplines and draw implications of this review for management and IB research. We conclude that offshoring may challenge some aspects of established management and IB theory or require revision and/ or modification of those theories. We adopt a multilevel coevolutionary perspective as one potential integrative approach to offshoring research and identify important future areas for further enrichment of this emerging area.

Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility: How Non-Governmental Organizations Influence Labor and Environmental Codes of Conduct

Concerns over the potential negative spillovers from globalization have resulted in increasing demands for multinational corporations (MNCs) to adhere to international standards and codes of responsibility. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been important advocates for development and adoption of these standards and codes. In this paper, we provide a brief review of the emergence of NGOs and their influence on debates about globalization, and a specific assessment of NGO efforts to promote stronger labor and environmental policies of multinational corporations. We examine the role of NGOs in development and enforcement of twelve international agreements and codes of conduct addressing labor issues and environmental practices. We use findings from these cases and insights from international business and other managerial theory to develop propositions that explain the circumstances under which NGOs have more or less influence in developing and enforcing international codes.

The role of multinational corporations in transnational institution building: A policy network perspective

In this article, we provide a critique and re-specification of international business and institutional literature related to the interactions of multinational corporations (MNCs) and institutions. Drawing from research in economic sociology and political economy, we offer a novel perspective on MNCs’ influence on transnational institution building. We argue that MNCs seek to influence institutional development by creating or participating in policy networks within transnational social and economic systems. We describe different types of policy networks, the relative position that MNCs occupy within them, and the power MNCs yield by virtue of their position and influence within those networks. We provide examples to illustrate how MNCs exploit these network relationships to influence emergent institutions and to advance convergence in institutional policies. The policy network perspective is an effective and useful mode of analysis to understand the range of interactions among MNCs and the institutional fields in which they operate.