Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility

This article is published in a peer-reviewed section of the Utrecht Law Review

Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility:

Do Conflicts Affect a Company’s Corporate Social

Responsibility Policy?

Cristina A. Cedillo Torres,

Mercedes Garcia-French,

Rosemarie Hordijk,

Kim Nguyen, Lana Olup*

1. Introduction

1.1. Background and objectives

This article will discuss the different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues that emerged within

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four multinationals (Apple, Canon, Coca-Cola and Walmart). There is no clear definition of CSR. In

Corporate Social Responsibility, Legal and semi-legal frameworks supporting CSR Lambooy gives an

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­ verview of several definitions of CSR.1 The European Commission defines CSR as ‘the ­ esponsibility

of enterprises for their impacts on society’.2 This is the definition which is the most suitable for the

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­ ontext of the article’s research question. As this article will focus on companies from the US and Japan,

the authors also provide an overview of the focus on CSR from the US and Japanese perspective. In the

US there is no governmental regulation regarding CSR or business best practices. Instead, according

to findings from Bennett American, companies have a marked tendency to use codes of conduct.3 The

American CSR perspective could be described as following a principles-based approach, with codes of

conduct that prescribe values and principles which company members as a whole should aspire to follow.

In contrast, Japanese companies prefer to focus on areas where their contributions can be statistically

measured. Interest in social aspects of CSR is significantly less pronounced than in other industrialized

countries.4 In Japan there are no specific provisions regulating CSR. However, the 1988 law that promotes

specific non-profit activities is of major significance in this context.5

Early notions of CSR on an academic level can be traced back to the 1960s. In 1991 Carroll presented...