‘Second Best’ Institutions and Global Sustainability

Ahen, Frederick

doi:10.1057/9781137007742_4

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Hence, to be labeled an eternal recipient of help/aid puts a host nation or community in a position (negative branding) that does not allow it to live up to its full potential [91]. Scholarships/grants or community empowerment programs constitute investments by firms, governments, and NGOs to foster education or research that will benefit everyone in the long run, including firms [148]. They are commendable investments, not costs.…”

Section: Emerging Proposition Of Level Playing Field For Trade/investmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Ahen

Amankwah‐Amoah

2018

Sustainability

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and conceptions vary across sectors and nations. However, there is a general tendency among academics and practitioners to present CSR in Africa as activities characterized by philanthropy due to the existence of institutional voids. This review of the current literature demonstrates that weak institutions lead to weaker bargaining powers designed through the historical and geopolitical institutional frameworks of international business and global governance systems. Accordingly, multinational corporations (MNCs) take advantage of such weaknesses to define CSR on their own terms by replacing the ideal responsible and sustainable innovations with ad hoc philanthropy that diverts the attention from the negative consequences of neoliberal 'structures of accumulation'. This is akin to aid that hardly contributes to structural changes, but rather leads to complacency, corruption, dependency, boutique projects, disguised exploitation, and the misuse of corporate political power to achieve corporate bottom lines. The implications of the results are vast, and they are generalizable to all weaker institutional settings. Thus, weaker institutions create the necessary regulatory, political, economic, and governance climate that perpetuates a pattern of abuses and ethical violations that are then masked with philanthropy. It is argued that the fundamental institutional and geopolitical contexts within which MNCs interact with nation states cannot be ignored in any comprehensive analysis that seeks to meaningfully shed light on the comparative differences of CSR practices. The neglect of the web of contextual, historical, and geopolitical issues in which CSR is entrenched and framed diverts attention from the origins of the socio-economic and environmental questions to philanthropy as a final solution, which has hitherto been perpetuated with undesirable outcomes.

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Section: Emerging Proposition Of Level Playing Field For Trade/investmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies

Ahen

Amankwah‐Amoah

2018

Sustainability

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…conventions, customs, norms of behaviour -cultural) which by and large influence the regulation and enforcement of economic activities (North 1990;Scott, 1995), Accordingly, institutions can be both informal and formal with the ability to facilitate interaction, influence uncertainty and information and transaction costs. Ahen (2012) suggests that institutions are not limited to the country level but extend to include international and regional agreements, regulations, norms and conventions. Ali, Fiess, & MacDonald (2010) therefore observe that institutions are created to reduce uncertainty associated with human interaction and provide societies with a predictable framework for interaction, without which there would be substantial uncertainties in economic exchanges.…”

Section: Institutions and Business Activities In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%