Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:30:54.111Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global Justice and International Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Denis G. Arnold
Denis G. Arnold*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Little theoretical attention has been paid to the question of what obligations corporations and other business enterprises have to the four billion people living at the base of the global economic pyramid. This article makes several theoretical contributions to this topic. First, it is argued that corporations are properly understood as agents of global justice. Second, the legitimacy of global governance institutions and the legitimacy of corporations and other business enterprises are distinguished. Third, it is argued that a deliberative democracy model of corporate legitimacy defended by theorists of political CSR is unsatisfactory. Fourth, it is argued that a Rawlsian theoretical framework fails to provide a satisfactory account of the obligations of corporations regarding global justice. Finally, an ethical conception of CSR grounded in an appropriately modest set of duties tied to corporate relationships is then defended. This position is cosmopolitan in scope and grounded in overlapping arguments for human rights.

Keywords

base of the pyramidpovertylegitimacycosmopolitanismRawlshuman rightspolitical CSRethical CSRbusiness ethics
Type
Presidential Address
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 125 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arnold, D.G. 2003. Libertarian theories of the corporation and global capitalism. Journal of Business Ethics 48: 155–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:BUSI.0000004595.77613.ec.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.G. 2010. Transnational corporations and the duty to respect basic human rights. Business Ethics Quarterly 20(3): 371–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201020327.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.G., Audi, R., and Zwolinski, M. 2010. Recent work in ethical theory and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 20(4): 559–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201020438.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.G., and Valentin, A. 2013. Corporate social responsibility at the base of the pyramid. Journal of Business Research, in press.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.G., and Williams, L.H.D. 2012. The paradox at the base of the pyramid: Environmental sustainability and market-based poverty alleviation. International Journal of Technology Management 60(1/2): 44–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.2012.049105.Google Scholar
Beitz, C. 1979. Political Theory and international relations. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Blake, M. 2012. Global distributive justice: Why political philosophy needs political science. Annual Review of Political Science 15: 121–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-070209-162922.Google Scholar
Bowie, N.E. 1988. The moral obligations of multinational corporations. In Problems of international justice, ed. Luper-Foy, Steven New York: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Brenkert, G.G. 1998. Marketing and the vulnerable. Business Ethics Quarterly, The Ruffn Series 1: 7–20.Google Scholar
Brock, G. 2009. Global justice: A cosmopolitan account. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A. 2000. Rawls’s Law of Peoples: Rules for a vanished Westphalian world. Ethics 110(4): 697–721. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/233370.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A., and Keohane, R.O. 2006. The legitimacy of global governance institutions. Ethics & International Affairs 20(4): 405–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.2006.00043.x.Google Scholar
Caney, S. 2005. Justice beyond borders: A global political theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/019829350X.001.0001Google Scholar
Cohen, J., and Sabin, C. 2006. Global democracy? New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 37(4): 763–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.2006.00043.x.Google Scholar
Cragg, W. 2002. Human rights and business ethics: Fashioning a new social contract. Journal of Business Ethics 27: 205–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1006488202305.Google Scholar
De George, R.T. 1993. Competing with integrity in international business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Doh, J.B., Husted, W., Matten, D., and Santoro, M. 2010. Ahoy there! Toward greater congruence and synergy between international business and business ethics theory and research. Business Ethics Quarterly 20(3): 481–502. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201020331.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1991. The ethics of international business. Oxford: Oxford University Press Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Dunfee, T.W. 1999. Ties that bind: A social contracts approach to business ethics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Elster, J. 1989. Nuts and bolts for the social sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Google Scholar
Heath, J., Moriarty, J., and Norman, W. 2010. Business Ethics and (or as) political philosophy. Business Ethics Quarterly 20(3): 427–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201020329.Google Scholar
Held, D. 2002. Globalization, corporate practice and cosmopolitan social standards. Contemporary Political Theory 1: 59–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300001.Google Scholar
Hsieh, N. 2004. The obligations of transnational corporations: Rawlsian justice and the duty of assistance. Business Ethics Quarterly 14(4): 643–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200414437.Google Scholar
Hsieh, N. 2009. Does global business have a responsibility to promote just institutions? Business Ethics Quarterly 19(2): 251–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200919213.Google Scholar
International Labour Office. 2010. International labour migration: A rights-based approach Geneva, International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Karnani, A. 2007. The mirage of marketing to the bottom of the pyramid: How the private sector can help alleviate poverty. California Management Review 49(4): 90–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41166407.Google Scholar
Keohane, R.O. 2011. Global governance legitimacy. Review of International Political Economy 18(1): 99–109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2011.545222.Google Scholar
Kobrin, S.J. 2009. Private political authority and public responsibility: Transnational politics, transnational firms, and human rights. Business Ethics Quarterly 19(3): 349–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200919321.Google Scholar
London, T., and Hart, S.L. 2004. Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: Beyond the transnational model. Journal of International Business Studies 35(5): 350–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400099.Google Scholar
London, T., and Hart, S.L., eds. 2011. Next generation business strategies for the base of the pyramid: New approaches for building mutual value. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, Inc.Google Scholar
Makinen, J., and Kourula, A. 2012. Pluralism in political corporate social responsibility. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(4): 649–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201222443.Google Scholar
Matten, D., and Crane, A. 2005. Corporate citizenship: Toward an extended theoretical conceptualization. cademy of Management Review 30: 166–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2005.15281448.Google Scholar
Makinen, J., and Kourula, A. 2012. Pluralism in political corporate social responsibility. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(4): 649–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201222443.Google Scholar
McWilliams, A., and Siegel, D. 2001. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review 26(1): 117–27.Google Scholar
Muchlinski, P. 2012. Implementing the new UN corporate human rights framework: Implications for corporate law, governance, and regulation. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(1): 145–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq20122218.Google Scholar
Murphy, L.B. 1998. Institutions and the demands of justice. Philosophy & Public Affairs 27(4): 251–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.1998.tb00071.x.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. 1991. Equality and partiality. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. 2005. The problem of global justice. Philosophy & Public Affairs 33(2): 113–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.2005.00027.x.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. 2007. Human rights and capabilities. Harvard Human Rights Journal 20: 21–24.Google Scholar
O’Neill, O. 1996. Towards justice and virtue: A constructive account of practical reasoning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O’Neill, O. 2000. Bounds of justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O’Neill, O. 2001. Agents of justice. In Global justice, ed. Pogge, Thomas. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Palazzo, G., and Scherer, A.G. 2006. Corporate legitimacy as deliberation: A communicative framework. Journal of Business Ethics 61(1): 71–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9044-2.Google Scholar
Pettit, P. 1992. Institutions. In Encyclopedia of Ethics, vol. 1, ed. Becker, Lawrence C. and Becker, Charlotte B. New York: Garland Publishing,.Google Scholar
Pogge, T. 2002. World poverty and human rights. Malden, Mass.: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Pogge, T. 2005. Real word justice. The Journal of Ethics 9(1/2): 29–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10892-004-3313-z.Google Scholar
Prahalad, C.K. 2004. The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: Eradicating poverty through profits. Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing.Google Scholar
Prahalad, C.K., and Hart, S.L. 2002. The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Strategy+Business 26(1/4): 2–14.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1955. Two concepts of rules. The Philosophical Review 64: 3–32. http://dx.doi. org/10.2307/2182230.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A theory of justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1996. Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1999. Law of peoples. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reitberger, M. 2008. Poverty, negative duties, and the global institutional order. Politics, Phi-losophy & Economics 7: 379–402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470594X08095750.Google Scholar
Rugman, A.M., and Doh, J.P. 2008. Multinationals and development. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Sachs, J.D. 2005. The end of poverty. New York: The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Santoro, M.A. 2000. Profits and principles: Global capitalism and human rights in China. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Santos, N.J.C., and Laczniak, G.R. 2009. Marketing to the poor: An integrative justice model for engaging impoverished market segments. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 28(1): 3–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jppm.28.L3.Google Scholar
Scheffler, S. 2001. Boundaries and allegiances: Problems of justice and responsibility in liberal thought. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scherer, A., and Palazzo, G. 2007. Toward a political conception of corporate responsibility: Business and society seen from a Habermasian perspective. Academy of Management Review 32(4): 1096–1120. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2007.26585837.Google Scholar
Scherer, A., and Palazzo, G. 2011. The new political role of business in a globalized world: A review of a new perspective on CSR and its implications for the firm, governance, and democracy. Journal of Management Studies 48(4): 899–931. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00950.x.Google Scholar
Scherer, A., Palazzo, G. and Baumann, D. 2006. Global rules and private actors: Toward a new role of the transnational corporation in global governance. Business Ethics Quarterly 16(4): 505–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200616446.Google Scholar
Sen, A.K. 2005. Human rights and capabilities. Journal of Human Development 6(2): 151–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649880500120491.Google Scholar
Singer, P. 1972. Famine, affluence and morality. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(3): 229–43.Google Scholar
Singer, P. 2002/2004. One world: The ethics of globalization. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Suchman, M.C. 1995. Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review 20(3): 571–610.Google Scholar
Unger, P. 1996. Living high and letting die: Our illusion of innocence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises. 2006. Promotion and protection of human rights. United Nations Doc. E/CN.4/2006/97 (February 22).Google Scholar
United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises. 2008. Protect, respect and remedy: A framework for business and human rights. United Nations Doc. A/HRC/8/5 (April 7).Google Scholar
Wettstein, F. 2009. Multinational corporations and global justice: Human rights obligations of a quasi governmental institution. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Wettstein, F. 2012a. CSR and the debate on business and human rights: Bridging the great divide. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(4): 739–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201222446.Google Scholar
Wettstein, F. 2012b. Silence as complicity: Elements of a corporate duty to speak out against the violation of human rights. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(1): 37–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq20122214.Google Scholar
Whelan, G. 2012 The political perspective of corporate responsibility: A critical research agenda. Business Ethics Quarterly 22(4): 709–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201222445.Google Scholar
Windsor, D. 2006 Corporate social responsibility: Three key approaches. Journal of Management Studies 43: 93–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00584.x.Google Scholar
Wolf, M. 2004. Why globalization works. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank 2011. World development indicators 2011. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Young, I.M. 2004 Responsibility and global labor justice. Journal of Political Philosophy 12(4): 365–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2004.00205.x.Google Scholar
Young, I.M. 2006 Responsibility and global justice: A social connection model. Journal of Social Philosophy 23(1): 102–30Google Scholar