Social Standards: Toward an Active Ethical Involvement of Businesses in Developing Countries

As a consequence of the changing conditions of doing business, we can observe the emergence of an increasing number of industrial and company-specific codes of conduct, as well as social and environmental standards. This paper considers these initiatives as being self-regulating governance mechanism...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Beschorner, Thomas (Author) ; Müller, Martin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2007
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2007, Volume: 73, Issue: 1, Pages: 11-20
Further subjects:B Dialogue
B Reflexivity
B reflexive modernity
B social accountability 8000
B Institutionalization
B Developing Countries
B accountability 1000
B social standards
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:As a consequence of the changing conditions of doing business, we can observe the emergence of an increasing number of industrial and company-specific codes of conduct, as well as social and environmental standards. This paper considers these initiatives as being self-regulating governance mechanisms, which are characterized by a process of voluntary adherence on the part of firms to certain mechanisms or principles that seek to promote a “good society.” Two specific internationally established standards are discussed: Social Accountability 8000 (SA 8000) and AccountAbility 1000 (AA 1000). These institutionalized approaches are described and then contrasted in relation to a number of different factors, particularly the degree to which they foster “reflexivity,” in terms of how businesses think about these issues, and “dialog,” in terms of how businesses interact with stakeholders. Such questions are relevant to the ways in which these standards might be introduced and implemented, and which of these institutionalized approaches are the most promising for international businesses in developing countries.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9193-3