Corporate Responsibility Standards

Abstract

This paper discusses so-called corporate responsibility standards (e.g., the Global Reporting Initiative and Social Accountability 8000) from the perspective of post-structuralist philosophy, in particular Derridian thinking. I introduce these different initiatives and contrast them against each other. Next, I offer a discussion of their limits in general, and their paradoxical nature in particular. I conclude with a variety of practical recommendation suggesting that, while corporate responsibility standards can potentially offer good managerial guidance they are also flawed in a variety of ways.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, sustainability, Derrida, global reporting Initiative, SA 8000, global compact