This chapter examines whether the CSR concept and its emerging legal framework can become an allocative device allocating responsibility for certain aspects of development to business and channelling business conduct on development issues. CSR is a concept which often captures dimensions of the relationship between business and society in context. On the one hand, it covers aspects which focus on the mitigation of corporate impacts on a range of issues including environment, health, labour, human rights and corruption. On the other hand, it also covers the ability of corporations to contribute constructively to societal objectives in the above areas and beyond. Consequently, in a developing country context, CSR could be invariably linked to some development objectives such as optimal health, well-being, education, jobs etc…, because these objectives form the bedrock of capabilities which the individuals in these societies would like to achieve. Sen’s capabilities conception of development permits the consideration of institutions and frameworks including legal mechanisms geared towards human development objectives. Human development objectives also have a bearing on wider sustainable development goals. The chapter examines examples of emerging legal frameworks to reveal the potential and limitations of this perspective, which indicates how CSR can contribute to development.

Several sources of today’s pressure on managers operating in developing and emerging economies (DEEs) are arguably more associated with social issues than profit-making concerns. Managers are thus faced with understanding and embedding solutions to societal challenges in their core business strategies in order to be sustainable. Consequently, solutions that go beyond the traditional focus of the CSR discourse on philanthropy in DEMs have become much more imperative as companies strive to use CSR to re-engineer their value chain. As lack of adequate human skills remains a major problem to firms and society, the existing challenges of human capital in many DEMs present businesses (both small and big firms) with the opportunity to use CSR to increase the knowledge, skills and abilities of both their workforce and the society in general. A firm that is able to invest in human capital development across the entire spectrum of its several stakeholders is more likely to achieve a higher competitive advantage and sustainable growth. In this chapter, we present case studies of two different approaches to using CSR as a tool for human capital development in Africa and given the success of the companies, it is recommended that firms operating in DEMs should place emphasis on developing and utilizing CSR policies and strategies for human capital development.

This chapter builds on the institutional voids literature within institutional theory by highlighting the role that multinational corporations can play when policy voids are severe, as is the case in many developing countries. We utilize an in-depth narrative case study of Nestlé’s operations in Thailand to elucidate the institutional and policy voids and then to show how Nestlé worked to fill these voids. Specifically, this chapter documents the history of slavery and child labor in Thailand and how international and domestic policy efforts have failed to address these issues in a political environment that is rife with corruption and abuse. Instead, corporations like Nestlé are filling this policy void with efforts like the Seafood Task Force, which aims to alleviate human rights abuses by eliminating them at the source.

As a place that ‘plays to all the senses’,2 Soho has, throughout its history, been something of an abject space, maintaining a long-standing appeal as simultaneously alluring and threatening, exploiting many of those who work and consume there, while at the same time carefully nurturing its reputation as a place of bohemian indulgence, offering a warm embrace and a sense of belonging in the heart of an otherwise relatively anonymous urban environment. In his Foreword to Bernie Katz’s book Soho Society, Stephen Fry emphasizes this, highlighting how the area has always offered ‘outsiders’ a chance to be themselves: ‘Soho’s public face of drugs, prostitution and seedy Bohemia … has always hidden a private soul of family, neighbourhood, kindness, warmth and connection, and those qualities shine through doggedly.’ Yet Soho also has an enduring reputation for violence and exploitation.

The chapter draws on the legal, institutional and stakeholder perspectives to develop a septet framework that provides clarity to the concept of sustainable consumption and production and aligns consumer protection to sustainable development in developing countries. This contextualises the roles of consumers and corporations as institutional actors and consumption as an institution. The chapter uniquely unbundles the concept as consisting of six foundational components: sustainable consumption by proximate consumers for future generations; sustainable production for future generations; sustainable consumption by/for proximate consumers; sustainable production for proximate consumers; participation by proximate consumers; and CSR. The septet framework challenges conventional approaches to consumer vulnerability, disclosure regulation, contract law, consumer responsibilisation, stakeholder, corporate governance, institutional voids and international cooperation. The chapter’s interventionist consumer protection law approach includes public interest-oriented disclosure regulation, distributive justice-oriented contract law, resolution of business-to-consumer information asymmetry, credible corporate social reporting and certification standards, distributed/shared consumer responsibilisation, stakeholder enforcement rights, obligations and protection, independent stakeholder determination of standards, resolution of related agency problems through a stakeholder approach to corporate governance and international cooperation in regulatory standards and enforcement. It is also argued that a consumer protection approach to sustainable development can promote stakeholder engagement and meaningful corporate social responsibility.

CSR and sustainability practices play a significant role across diverse sectors of an economy. This chapter examines corporate social responsibility and sustainable development in the informal economy. Through the review of the literature, the chapter establishes that unregistered micro, small, and medium enterprises mainly dominate the informal sector particularly in developing and emerging economies. The low degree of formalisation and other specific attributes common to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the informal sector, influence their CSR approach and strategies. The chapter discusses the need to build social capital (trust, reputation and legitimacy) and culture as motivating factors that promote SMEs involvement in CSR practices, while legislation and institutional context are major drivers of sustainability practices. The chapter highlights how the informal economy, particularly in the context of SMEs, can be positioned to be more socially and environmentally responsible.

This chapter explores the importance of critical reflection on human experience. Critical reflection is not an innate human quality and so must be cultivated. What distinguishes critical reflection from simple reflection is the assessment of one’s assumptions, especially hegemonic assumptions, those deeply ingrained presumptions about existing power relationships in society. Critical reflection is important throughout all aspects of human learning, including the development of expertise and the incidental learning that happens every day, usually below our conscious awareness.

Deep learning changes one’s perspective on how the world works and, by extension, how one should be in the world. Thus, whenever new knowledge threatens to disturb the existing political equilibrium, learning becomes a political act. This chapter considers the work of Paulo Freire, Myles Horton, Michel Foucault, and John Dewey, and ends with four recommendations for making political dynamics more conducive to deep learning: identify existing systems of power relationships, surface hegemonic assumptions, speak truth to power, and cultivate procedural justice.

The informal economy is the source of livelihood for the teeming population of low-income earners in developing economies. Several studies have been conducted on the informal economy’s impact on Africa’s economic development and the neglect of the sector by the government in policy decisions. However, studies on social responsibility in businesses have largely neglected discourse on socially responsible practices in the informal sector, especially in Nigeria. In this regard, this chapter seeks to contribute to the limited extant literature on small business social responsibility in developing economies – specifically Nigeria – and how the exposition of such practices could contribute immensely to the sustainable development of the country. Employing the qualitative research methodology, the study explored how informal businesses conceive of socially responsible practice; what specific social responsibility they adopt; and how these practices could advance the sustainable development of the country. Findings from the study highlighted apprenticeship and credit sales as the major practices informal businesses engage in while also noting that such practices are integrated into the daily operations of informal businesses rather than as a separate department. The authors finally made some linkages between informal social responsibility and sustainable development and advanced some recommendations on the subject matter.