Collaborative Socially Responsible Practices for Improving the Position of Chinese Workers in Global Supply Chains

In this paper we evaluate three projects with the participation of 40 supplier firms in several Chinese coastal provinces representing multi-stakeholder efforts to provide alternative channels through which workers can voice their concerns. The supplier firms took on these projects to reduce worker dissatisfaction and employee turnover. The projects fill an institutional void in employer–employee relations within Chinese supplier firms as they provide alternative channels for workers to voice their concerns. The role of civil society organisations focusing on labour interests was a crucial feature of the projects, through capacity-building for workers and by providing independence. The supplier firms and their workers have benefitted as firms take measures to enhance worker satisfaction, while the reduced employee turnover positively impacted firm performance. We propose that these collaborative socially responsible practices are a potential way to strengthen the positions of workers and supplier firms in global supply chains.

Quelle: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/801

Greening the Field? How NGOs Are Shaping Corporate Social Responsibility in China

China’s state-led model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) does not seem to present a promising environment for the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Nevertheless, we observe recent examples of NGO involvement in CSR initiatives. Chinese NGOs are using the CSR platform to challenge the environmental practices of firms operating in China. We take a field-theoretical approach that focuses on the agency of actors. We show how an international NGO proposes a new standard and how Chinese NGOs use local environmental information disclosure laws to engage with firms in the textile supply chain. We find that NGOs leverage the power of brands to influence the practices of Chinese suppliers. However, we find differences in the framing and tactics employed by international NGOs versus their Chinese counterparts. Field analysis helps better understand the actors in the field of CSR, along with their motivations and their resources, and it offers a useful perspective on civil society development in China.

Quelle: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/800

Chinese NGO–Firm Partnerships and CSR from an Institutional Perspective

NGO–firm partnerships have been well studied in the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Marano and Tashman 2012; Dahan et al. 2010; Oetzel and Doh 2009). However, these studies have generally limited their focus to Western multinationals and Western NGOs and, moreover, not by-and-large examine in depth the institutional settings under which either the firm or the NGO operates Building on recent institutional approaches to CSR (Brammer, Jackson, and Matten 2012; Kang and Moon 2012; Matten and Moon 2008), this paper examines how the institutional dynamics of several partnerships between Chinese firms and NGOs affect the manifestation of CSR (e.g. “implicit” vs. “explicit”). The paper also looks into how CSR and NGO–firm collaboration plays out within a changing state-corporatist framework in Chinese context (Unger and Chan 1995, 2008; Hsu and Hasmath forthcoming). The paper then argues 1) that the involvement of an NGO in the partnership reflects a changing institutional setting in China, and 2) that type and level of involvement of Chinese government institutions affects whether a given firm takes an “implicit” or an “explicit” approach to CSR.

Quelle: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/799

Successes and Failures of Corporate Social Responsibility Mechanisms in Chinese Extractive Industries

China’s insatiable appetite for natural resources and energy to fuel its national growth is having an increasing impact on the domestic and global environment. Globally, China has turned to resource-rich regions in Africa and South America, at times engaging so-called “rogue states” to secure the resources it requires. Now is a critical juncture at which to encourage socially responsible behaviours in the Chinese extractive sectors, such as adopting the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). This analysis discusses the current corporate social responsibility (CSR) mechanisms in extractive industries and assesses the feasibility of socialising China towards adopting CSR global norms in the extractive industries. This article has three sections. The first discusses China’s environmental governance trajectory and ecological footprint in the domestic and global extractive industry. The second section discusses the factors contributing to the success and failure of various CSR mechanisms, with a specific focus on the EITI, and the final section expounds on the emerging challenges and issues and concludes with policy recommendations.

Quelle: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/798

The Shaping of Chinese Corporate Social Responsibility

Introduction to Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 4/2014: Corporate Social Responsibility: Global Norms and Chinese Forms

Quelle: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/797

Richard Aldrich (1937–2014)

10.1080/00309230.2015.995427
Ruth E. Watts

Quelle: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00309230.2015.995427?ai=z4&mi=3fqos0&af=R

Introduction: Rethinking China’s Soft Power

Journal Name: New Global Studies
Volume: 8
Issue: 3
Pages: 213-221

Quelle: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ngs.2014.8.issue-3/ngs-2014-0041/ngs-2014-0041.xml

The Politics of Affect in Confucius Institutes: Re-orienting Foreigners towards the PRC

Journal Name: New Global Studies
Volume: 8
Issue: 3
Pages: 353-375

Quelle: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ngs.2014.8.issue-3/ngs-2014-0039/ngs-2014-0039.xml

Jaesok Kim: Chinese Labor in a Korean Factory: Class, Ethnicity, and Productivity on the Shop Floor in Globalizing China

Journal Name: New Global Studies
Volume: 8
Issue: 3
Pages: 387-390

Quelle: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ngs.2014.8.issue-3/ngs-2014-0036/ngs-2014-0036.xml

New Public Diplomacy Meets Old Public Diplomacy – the Case of China and Its Confucius Institutes

Journal Name: New Global Studies
Volume: 8
Issue: 3
Pages: 331-352

Quelle: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ngs.2014.8.issue-3/ngs-2014-0029/ngs-2014-0029.xml