Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a major focus of interest for development practitioners in recent years. While development NGOs have been critical of voluntary corporate initiatives, official development agencies have taken a more positive view and in some cases encouraged CSR. This article locates the growth of CSR in the context of global deregulation since the early 1980s, highlighting the key drivers that have led to its adoption by many leading transnational corporations. It then describes the factors that have led to the recent emphasis given to CSR by both bilateral and multilateral development agencies and the United Nations. A framework for analysing the links between foreign direct investment and poverty is developed focusing on the impacts on the poor as producers, consumers and beneficiaries of government expenditures. This framework is used to illustrate the limitations of CSR in terms of likely impacts on poverty reduction through each of the channels identified and also to point to areas in which CSR may have some positive benefits. Overall, the article concludes that it is unlikely to play the significant role in poverty reduction in development countries that its proponents claim for it.
About IDSThe Institute of Development Studies is one of the world's leading organisations for research, teaching and communications on international development. Founded in 1966, the Institute enjoys an international reputation based on the quality of its work and the rigour with which it applies academic skills to real world challenges. Its purpose is to understand and explain the world, and to try to change it -to influence as well as to inform.IDS hosts five dynamic research programmes, five popular postgraduate courses, and a family of worldclass web-based knowledge services. These three spheres are integrated in a unique combination -as a development knowledge hub, IDS is connected into and is a convenor of networks throughout the world.The Institute is home to approximately 80 researchers, 50 knowledge services staff, 50 support staff and about 150 students at any one time. But the IDS community extends far beyond, encompassing an extensive network of partners, former staff and students across the development community worldwide. Minimum IDS WORKING PAPER 281The Impact of China on Latin America and the Caribbean This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for teaching or non-profit purposes, but not for resale. Formal permission is required for all such uses, but normally will be granted immediately. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher and a fee may be payable. The Impact of China on Latin America and the Caribbean Rhys Jenkins and Enrique Dussel Peters SummaryThe rapid growth of China and its increased integration with the global economy is having both direct and indirect effects on the Latin American and Caribbean region. This report identifies the main channels through which China's growth is affecting the region and undertakes a preliminary analysis of the impacts that it is having on development. The direct effects are the result of the growth of bilateral trade which increased more than five-fold in five years and, on a much more limited scale, the increase in flows of foreign direct investment between China and the region. Indirect effects have arisen from the competition which Latin America faces from Chinese exports to third markets, possible diversion of FDI from the region to China, and the impact of China on the terms of trade between primary commodities and manufactures.The growth of China represents both opportunities and challenges for the Latin American and Caribbean economies and the paper suggests where, in terms of both countries and sectors, these are concentrated. Research on the impacts of China on other developing countries is still at an early stage and there remain a number of key areas where current knowledge is limited and these are identified. Preliminary results are presented to indicate the potential impacts on growth and the balance of payments of the Latin American countries, and the possible implications ...
This article uses a Chenery-type decomposition and econometric estimation to evaluate the impact of Chinese trade on production and employment in South African manufacturing from 1992 to 2010. The results suggest that increased import penetration from China caused South African manufacturing output to be 5 per cent lower in 2010 than it otherwise would have been. The estimated reduction of total employment in manufacturing as a result of trade with China is larger -in 2010 about 8 per cent -because the declines in output were concentrated on labour-intensive industries and because the increase in imports raised labour productivity within industries.
One of the anticipated gains from the trade liberalization policies adopted by many Latin American countries in recent years is improved export performance. In this article, the arguments on which this expectation is based are reviewed and the impact of trade liberalization on Bolivian manufactured exports analysed. The conclusion is that improved export performance is largely the result of a more realistic and more stable real exchange rate after 1985, while the trade policy reforms have had little impact. Certain deficiencies of Bolivia's export performance, such as the increased emphasis on primary and semi‐processed products, and the lack of diversification in terms of both products and markets, are also noted.
Economic relations between China and Latin America have grown rapidly over the past decade. The paper documents the growth of trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and other financial flows between China and Latin America and identifies the interests of China in the region as a source of raw materials, a market for exports of manufactured goods and an area of diplomatic competition with Taiwan. It points to the asymmetric nature of the relationship in terms of the relative importance of bilateral trade to each partner, the composition of trade flows, and the balance of FDI flows. It shows that these show many of the characteristics of centre-periphery relations. However China is far from becoming a new hegemonic power in Latin America and the latter's relations with the United States and Europe continue to be more significant than those with China.
Vietnam has undergone a significant change from a relatively closed economy as a result of the reform process initiated in the late 1980s. This has been accompanied by rapid economic growth and substantial poverty reduction during the 1990s. Since one of the main mechanisms through which greater openness is expected to lead to poverty reduction is via the labour market, the paper examines the impact which trade flows have had on employment in Vietnam since the early 1990s. Using a variety of different methods, the paper shows that the growth of exports has had a significant positive effect on employment, while increased import competition had a negative effect both directly and indirectly through rationalization of producers facing foreign competition. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The paper analyses the industrial performance of two East Asian (South Korea and Taiwan) and three Latin American (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico) newly industrializing countries. It argues that the better performance in East Asia is not due simply to differences in trade orientation or the degree of state intervention, but rather to the effectiveness of intervention. This is explained in terms of the relative autonomy of the state and the structuring of the state apparatus in the two regions. The historically determined class structure and the international context led to much greater state autonomy in East Asia than in Latin America. The last part of the paper shows a number of ways in which this greater relative autonomy has contributed to rapid industrial growth in East Asia in comparison with Latin America.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.