cso as stakeholders
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Civil Society and Business Ethics
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Civil Society as the ‘third sector’
State sectorGovernment
Market sectorBusiness
Civil society sectorIncluding NGOs, pressure groups,
charities, unions, etc
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Civil society organisationsCivil society organisations include a plethora of pressure groups, non-governmental organisations, charities, religious groups, and other actors that are neither business nor government organisations, but which are involved in the promotion of certain interests, causes, and/or goals
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Diversity in CSO characteristics
CSOs
ScopeIndividual
Grass-rootsLocal
RegionalNational
TransnationalGlobal
Activities Policy research Market research
Academic research Information Provision
Boycott co-ordination Protests and demos
Campaigning
TypeCommunity GroupCampaign group
Research organizationBusiness association
Religious groupTrade union
Technical body
FocusNatural environment
Social issuesDevelopment
Poverty alleviationHuman rights
Animal welfare
StructureInformalFormal
Co-operativeProfessional
EntrepreneurialNetwork
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Civil society organisations as stakeholders
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Civil society organisations as stakeholders
The stake hold by CSOs is largely one of:
• Representing the interests of individual stakeholders
• Representing the interests of non-human stakeholders
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Different types of CSOs
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Ethical issues and CSOs
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Recognising CSO stakes• Many of these groups tend to ‘self-
declare’ themselves as stakeholders in a particular issue (Wheeler et al. 2002)– Issuing statements– Launching campaigns– Initiating some kind of action towards the
corporation• Self-declaring does not necessarily lead
to recognition
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CSO tactics• Indirect action
– Provision of data, research reports, and policy briefings (Smith 1990)
– Provision of misleading information (Whawell 1998)
• Violent direct action– Illegal– Often generates the most publicity (Smith
1990)– Huntingdon Life Sciences– Is this action ‘civil’ at all?
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Non-violent direct action• Far more common approach for CSOs to
use (Smith 1990):– Demonstrations and marches– Protests– Boycotts– Occupations– Non-violent sabotage and disruption– Stunts– Picketing
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BoycottsA boycott is an attempt by one or more parties to achieve certain objectives by urging individual consumers to refrain from making selected purchases in the marketplace
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CSO accountability• CSO stakeholders might be said to include:
– Beneficiaries– Donors– Members– Employees– Governmental organisations– Other CSOs– General public (especially those who support
their ideals)The accountability of CSOs to their supposed beneficiaries that tends to raise the most debate
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Globalisation and civil society organisations
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Globalisation and civil society organisations
• Engagement with overseas CSOs• Global issues and causes• Globalisation of CSOs
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Global issues and causes• Problems that transcend national
boundaries– Global warming– Tropical deforestation– Marine conservation– Labour conditions– International marketing practices
• Much of the critique of globalisation itself been initiated, sustained and popularised by civil society actors
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Corporate citizenship and civil society
Charity, collaboration, or regulation?
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Charity and community giving
• Starting point for a consideration of business involvement in civil society involves charitable giving and other forms of corporate philanthropy
• One-way support – benefits communities and civil action but does not usually allow them much voice in shaping corporate action
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Business-CSO collaboration
• Closer and more interactive relations between civil society and corporations
• Sometimes called social partnerships• Limitations of business-CSO collaboration
– Difficulties of managing relations between such culturally diverse organisations (Crane 1998a)
– Difficulties of ensuring consistency and commitment (Elkington and Fennell 2000)
– Partnership appear to mask continuing hostility and/or power imbalances between the ‘partners’• The question of power imbalance• The distribution of the benefits of partnerships
• CSO independence
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Drivers towards business-CSO partnerships
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Civil Regulation• CSOs might even go beyond simply
collaborating with business to actually forming some kind of ‘civil regulation’ of corporate action (e.g. Bendell 2000; Zadek 2001)
• Key point to take away from this section is that civil society can act as a conduit through which individuals citizens can exert some kind of leverage on, or gain a form of participation in, corporate decision-making and action
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Civil society, business, and sustainability
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Towards participation and empowerment
“Organizations…that affect you and your community, especially when they affect the material foundations of your self-determination, must be able to be influenced by you and your community…What are required are new forms of democratic governance so that people can determine their own futures in a sustainable environment”
(Bendell, 2000:249)