Managing ethical standards: When rhetoric meets reality

From conspicuous to considered fashion: A harm-chain approach to the responsibilities of luxury-fashion businesses

“…While arguments about wealth disparities are not new, engendering good relationships with developing markets such as China and India is considered important to luxury fashion businesses, not just because they represent important consumer markets for the future. These countries are key manufacturing bases for the fashion industry, but ones where the rhetoric of responsibility commitments meets reality, and the limitations of the current CSR model for change have been exposed (Dhanarajan, 2005;Yu, 2008). It is true that in the past the luxury fashion industry was allowed some latitude when it demonstrated insensitivity towards political and social issues.…”

“…The fashion sector's response to the negative brand publicity that surrounds fashion businesses damaged by sweatshop scandals has generally been to isolate and condemn a single stakeholder (e.g. the factory owner) and revoke the contract (Dhanarajan, 2005;Iwanow et al, 2005;Yu, 2008). However, these strategies tend to fail both the employees, and the consumer (Harrison, 2009).…”

Benchmarking and Transparency: Incentives for the Pharmaceutical Industry’s Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Kallio (2007, p. 171) further cites Crook (2005, p. 4) on this matter, stating that on the intellectual level 'the corporate world has surrendered' and started to praise CSR, while at the level of action, 'when commercial interests and broader social welfare collide, profit comes first…[thus]…for most companies, CSR does not go very deep'. This difference is often referred to as corporate rhetoric versus reality of CSR practice and is the gap between actual corporate practices, and the ethical commitments they have made (Dhanarajan, 2005). This concept has been directly related to the 651 Benchmarking and Transparency pharmaceutical industry as he seeks to find the connection between core business practices and ethical standards (Dhanarajan, 2005).…”

Political and Economic Arguments for Corporate Social Responsibility: Analysis and a Proposition Regarding the CSR Agenda

“…For some initiatives, the argument is similar to general business conduct. However, business responsibilities regarding access to basic products and services, such as drinking water and essential drugs, are linked to market power and exclusivity (Dhanarajan, 2005). When the business strategy of a dominant MNE is to focus only on high-income markets or high-income groups within a market, access may be effectively denied to poor people.…”

“…This theoretical argument has strong implications for CSR policies. An important part of the policy debate on CSR concerns issues linked to the market power of MNEs and their control over global value chains (Dhanarajan, 2005;Utting, 2005Utting, , 2007.…”