Responsibility in World Business

by BOMANN-LARSEN, LENE; Wiggen, Oddny

• ISBN13: 9789280811032
• ISBN10: 9280811037
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-01
• Publisher: United Nations Univ

Summary

This publication considers a range of issues relating to corporate responsibility, including how companies should deal with the harmful side-effects of their business operations and how to conduct business in a responsible manner in countries where human rights abuses are widespread, or where the environment is being degraded. It offers an approach to corporate decision-making based on the principles of 'just war theory', primarily the 'principle of double effect'. The proposed normative framework can be used both as a tool for performance evaluation, and as a set of guidelines for conducting business in an ethically responsible manner. It contains a number of case studies which highlight the usefulness of incorporating the 'principle of double effect' into corporate decision-making, and show how the proposed framework can help companies assume responsibility for the impact of their operations on multiple stakeholders.

Table of Contents

Foreword	viii
Georg Kell
Acknowledgements	x
List of contributors	xii
List of abbreviations	xiv
Part I: Introduction	1	(14)
1 Addressing side-effect harm in the business context: Conceptual and practical challenges	3	(14)
Oddny Wiggen and Lene Bomann-Larsen
Part II: Theoretical discussion	15	(88)
2 The idea of double effect - in war and business	17	(22)
Gregory Reichberg and Henrik Syse
3 Business is not Just War: Implications for applying the principle of double effect to business	39	(11)
G.J. (Deon) Rossouw
4 State responsibility, corporate responsibility, and complicity in human rights violations	50	(32)
Andrew Clapham
5 Reconstructing the principle of double effect: Towards fixing the goalposts of corporate responsibility	82	(17)
Lene Bomann-Larsen
6 The principle of double effect, revised for the business context	99	(6)
Oddny Wiggen and Lene Bomann-Larsen
Part III: Case-studies	103	(168)
7 The principle of double effect and moral risk: Some case-studies of US transnational corporations	105	(16)
Patricia H. Werhane
8 An object lesson in balancing business and nature in Hong Kong: Saving the birds of Long Valley	121	(17)
Robert E. Allinson
9 Shell in Ogoniland	138	(21)
Ogbonna Ike
10 Del Monte Kenya Limited	159	(16)
Florence J.A. Oloo
11 The "just war" for profit and power: The Bhopal catastrophe and the principle of double effect	175	(27)
Upendra Baxi
12 Dealing with harmful side-effects: Opportunities and threats in the emerging Polish market	202	(19)
Julita Sokolowska
13 The Orissa case	221	(24)
Heidi von Weltzien Hφivik
14 Child labour in the Brazilian citrus sector: The case of Cargill's double effect	245	(17)
Cecilia Arruda
15 A commentary on the principle of double effect	262	(9)
Chris Marsden
Part IV: Conclusion	271	(8)
16 Towards improved business practice: Implementing the principle of double effect	273	(6)
Oddny Wiggen and Lene Bomann-Larsen
Index	279