Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T04:22:12.664Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Voluntary Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations: Coordinating Duties of Rescue and Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Nien-hê Hsieh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which the voluntary adoption of codes of conduct by multinational corporations (MNCs) renders MNCs accountable for the performance of actions specified in a code of conduct. In particular, the paper examines the ways in which codes of conduct coordinate the expectations of relevant parties with regard to the provision of assistance by MNCs on grounds of rescue or justice. The paper argues that this coordinative role of codes of conduct renders MNCs more accountable for the performance of actions specified in a code of conduct than they would be without a code of conduct. This interpretation of the significance of codes of conduct is contrasted with the view that codes of conduct render MNCs accountable for performing actions specified in a code of conduct by grounding contractual obligations for the performance of such actions.

Type
Special Forum
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 119 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, D. G. 2004. “Libertarian Theories of the Corporation and Global Capitalism.” Journal of Business Ethics 48: 155–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashford, E. 2000. “Utilitarianism, Integrity, and Partiality.” Journal of Philosophy 97: 421–39.Google Scholar
Ashford, E.. 2003. “The Demandingness of Scanlon’s Contractualism.” Ethics 113: 273–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beitz, C. 1999. Political Theory and International Relations (originally published 1979). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
DeGeorge, R. T. 1993. Competing with Integrity in International Business. Oxford: oxford university Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1982. Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T.. 1989a. The Ethics of International Business. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T.. 1989b. “Moral Minimums for Multinationals.” Ethics and International Affairs 3: 163–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunfee, T., and Hess, D. 2002. “The Legitimacy of Direct Corporate Humanitarian Investment.” Business Ethics Quarterly 10: 95–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, K. A., and Freeman, R. B. 2003. Can Labor Standards Improve under Globalization? Washington: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
French, P. 1984. Collective and Corporate Responsibility. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, P.. 1985. “The Hester Pryne Sanction.” Business and Professional Ethics Journal 4: 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E. 1985. Protecting the Vulnerable: A Reanalysis of Our Social Responsibilities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gulick, W. B. 1992. “International Business and the Common Good: A Response to Manuel Velasquez.” Business Ethics Quarterly 2: 45–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, B. 2001. “The Scope of Moral Requirement.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 30: 227–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N. 2004a. “Global Justice and Transnational Corporations.” Paper presented at the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics Third World Congress, University of Melbourne, July 2004.Google Scholar
Hsieh, N.. 2004b. “The Obligations of Transnational Corporations: Rawlsian Justice and the Duty of Assistance.” Business Ethics Quarterly 14: 643–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, K. T. 1993. “Global Distributive Justice and the Corporate Duty to Aid.” Journal of Business Ethics 12: 547–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, M. 2002. “Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function.” Business Ethics Quarterly 12: 235–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaptein, M. 2004. “Business Codes of Multinational Firms: What Do They Say? Journal of Business Ethics 50: 13–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. C., and Gaumnitz, B. R.. 2003. “The Impact of Codes of Ethics on Decision Making: Some Insights from Information Economics.” Journal of Business Ethics 48: 365–79.Google Scholar
Leipziger, D. 2003. The Corporate Responsibility Code Book. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.Google Scholar
Merck, and Co., Inc. 2004. “The Story of Mectizan.” http://www.merck.com/about/cr/mectizan/home.html.Google Scholar
Murphy, L. 2000. Moral Demands of Nonideal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, T. 2002. Concealment and Exposure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, O. 2001. “Agents of Justice.” In Pogge 2001: 188–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pogge, T. 1994. “An Egalitarian Law of Peoples.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 23: 195–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pogge, T., ed. 2001. Global Justice. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pogge, T.. 2002a. “Moral Universalism and Global Economic Justice.” Politics, Philosophy and Economics 1: 29–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pogge, T.. 2002b. World Hunger and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1999a. The Law of Peoples. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, T.. 1999b. A Theory of Justice (revised ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, T.. 2001. Justice as Fairness, ed. Kelly, E.. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santoro, M. 2003. “Defending Labor Rights: On the Barricades and in the Boardroom.” The Brown Journal of World Affairs 9: 303–19Google Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. 1998. What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. 2001. “The Nature and Relationship between Corporate Codes of Ethics and Behavior.” Journal of Business Ethics 32: 247–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M.. 2004. “Effective Corporate Codes of Ethics: Perceptions of Code Users.” Journal of Business Ethics 55: 321–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sethi, S. P. 2003. Setting Global Standards: Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct in Multinational Corporations. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Silver, D. 2005. “A Strawsonian Defense of Corporate Moral Responsibility.” American Philosophical Quarterly 42(4): 279–93.Google Scholar
Singer, P. 1972. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1: 229–43.Google Scholar
Tan, K. C. 2000. Toleration, Diversity, and Global Justice. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Velasquez, M. 1983. “Why Corporations Are Not Morally Responsible for Anything They Do.” Business and Professional Ethics Journal 2: 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasquez, M.. 1985. “Commentary on French.” Business and Professional Ethics Journal 4: 35–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasquez, M.. 1992. “International Business, Morality, and the Common Good.” Business Ethics Quarterly 2: 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasquez, M.. 1995. “International Business Ethics: The Aluminum Companies in Jamaica.” Business Ethics Quarterly 5: 865–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasquez, M.. 2003. “Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13: 531–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenar, L. 2003. “What We owe to Distant others.” Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 2: 283–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werhane, P. 1985. Persons, Rights, and Corporations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2003. Global Development Finance: Striving For Stability in Development Finance. Washington: The World Bank.Google Scholar