21: Multi-national enterprises and CSR

The United Nations defined a multi-national enterprise (MNE) as one comprising entities in two or more countries operating under a system of decision-making permitting coherent policies and a common strategy. Over the years, growing attention has been paid to the role and social and environmental responsibilities of these entities. The origin of this attention dates to the 1970s, and the anti-sweatshop movement in the 1990s rekindled the debates with questions about the multinationals increased economic and social power fuelled by globalization. Facing the dilemma of outsourcing their operations at low costs in countries where workers rights violations and environmental degradation occur, Western MNEs’ buyers have increasingly adopted a range of voluntary social compliance programs in their supply chains seeking to fill governance deficits. These programs may include firm-specific policies such as supplier codes of conduct as well as multi-stakeholder initiatives. This entry pertains to key debates concerning corporate social responsibility and MNEs spanning literatures in international management, corporate social responsibility, global governance and organization studies identified by the author as a scholar working at the interface of these fields.