Combining insights from international relations theory with institutional approaches from organization theory and public policy, this book provides a complete explanation for the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR), showing how global norms influenced CSR adoption in the mining industry. Global normative developments have clearly had an important influence on major mining companies: by the mid-2000s, the majority had adopted sustainable development as a normative frame for their CSR policies and practices. However, there is significant variation between firms in terms of the timing, degree of commitment, and the willingness to assume a leadership role in promoting global standards for the mining industry. The author finds that attributes internal to the firm, including the critical role of leadership, and the way in which management responds to the institutional context and operational challenges faced in different countries are important influences on CSR adoption and important factors explaining variation.
• Asks how and why firms – in particular, mining companies – work with states and NGOs to promote certain global norms of behaviour • Provides a theoretical framework for understanding CSR adoption in the mining sector, as well as accounting for the role of major mining companies in shaping global regulatory standards affecting mining • The author's unique access to key corporate decision-makers within three major mining companies provides an extraordinary glimpse into what influences CSR policy and practices
Contents
1. Introduction; 2. Theoretical explanation of CSR adoption; 3. Major developments in the global mining industry; 4. Noranda Inc.; 5. Placer Dome Inc.; 6. Barrick Gold Corporation; 7. Global collaboration towards sustainable development; 8. Conclusion.
Reviews
'Hevina Dashwood provides a compelling explanation of forces behind the growing adoption of CSR norms among global mining firms in recent decades. Both theoretically grounded and empirically rich, The Rise of Global Corporate Social Responsibility highlights the roles of global norms and institutional factors that played a role in this important development.' Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo
'An important analysis of how global norms affect management decision-making. Dashwood offers a framework for understanding how to link changes in the global normative environment with developments in corporate behavior and applies this to one of the industries that on the surface would seem the least likely to change - the mining sector. Through three in-depth case studies of individual mining corporations, based on extensive interviews and research, she traces the processes by which these firms adopted more socially and environmentally responsible policies over time. This book provides us with insight and evidence on the significant changes that are occurring in the relationship between global corporations, and the global society within which they are embedded.' Virginia Haufler, Director, Global Communities, University of Maryland
'Hevina Dashwood's new book gets well beyond prejudice of either kind to make a powerful academic study of how and why CSR has been adopted in the mining sector … This is a thorough and very useful book that interprets the emergence of new mining norms from the heartlands of international relations theory.' International Affairs
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