Questioning Organizational Legitimacy: The Case of U.S. Expatriates
Journal of Business Ethics 47 (3):269 - 293 (2003)
| Abstract | It has been estimated that U.S. companies with global business operations can reduce their U.S. tax bill by up to 10 percentage points if they reincorporate in a zero or low tax offshore jurisdiction. But this activity, at a time of national crisis following the September 11 terrorists' attacks and recent spate of corporate scandals, has received a less than sympathetic response from the U.S. media, ordinary taxpayers, shareholders and politicians as concerns are raised about the reduction of the tax base and the lack of oversight and regulation in offshore centres. Offshore reincorporation has been condemned as immoral, unconscionable, dishonest and unpatriotic, accusations that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the companies concerned. In question is their right to conduct business in the U.S. and in particular, their right to still be viewed as American. Their legitimacy once bestowed so readily by the company's shareholders is now being questioned not only by shareholders but also the media, politicians, government regulators, pension funds and labour unions. Expatriate companies have been slow to respond to questions of their legitimacy, viewing their offshore move as a financial decision needing only the consent of their shareholders. However, times have changed and corporate legitimacy is now in the hands of all the company's stakeholders. Companies will need to explicitly consider the determinants of their legitimacy and the implications of the implied social contract under which they operate, to remain relevant in the days ahead | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJon Garthoff (2010). Legitimacy is Not Authority. Law and Philosophy 29 (6):669-694.
Guido Palazzo & Andreas Georg Scherer (2006). Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework. Journal of Business Ethics 66 (1):71 - 88.
Louis Logister (2007). Global Governance and Civil Society. Some Reflections on NGO Legitimacy. Journal of Global Ethics 3 (2):165 – 179.
Xiaohua Yang & Cheryl Rivers (2009). Antecedents of CSR Practices in MNCs' Subsidiaries: A Stakeholder and Institutional Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 86:155 - 169.
Dorothea Baur & Guido Palazzo (2011). The Moral Legitimacy of NGOs as Partners of Corporations. Business Ethics Quarterly 21 (4):579-604.
Brad S. Long & Cathy Driscoll (2008). Codes of Ethics and the Pursuit of Organizational Legitimacy: Theoretical and Empirical Contributions. Journal of Business Ethics 77 (2):173 - 189.
Adele Santana (2012). Three Elements of Stakeholder Legitimacy. Journal of Business Ethics 105 (2):257-265.
Martin Mueller, Virginia Gomes dos Santos & Stefan Seuring (2009). The Contribution of Environmental and Social Standards Towards Ensuring Legitimacy in Supply Chain Governance. Journal of Business Ethics 89 (4):509 - 523.
Cyrlene Claasen & Julia Roloff (2012). The Link Between Responsibility and Legitimacy: The Case of De Beers in Namibia. Journal of Business Ethics 107 (3):379-398.
Robert A. Phillips (2009). Private Security Companies and Institutional Legitimacy. Business Ethics Quarterly 19 (3):403-432.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads4 ( #178,585 of 549,068 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,068 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
