Corporate Social Responsibility: a convenient oxymoron Dr Crawford Spence School of Management University of St Andrews

The Development of Capitalism Emerged out of feudalism in the 14 th century Objects and Subjects How does humanity deal with ‘the other’

The emergence and development of the ‘corporation’ Corporate form first emerged as a force in 1600s Initially seen as a means to specific, publicly- defined objectives Unleashed a monster that outgrew public control –objectives have now changed

Corporate Social Responsibility Has its roots in the social pressures of the 1960s and 1970s Corporations recognised the need for them to be perceived as ‘good citizens’ CSR can be understood primarily as a strategy aimed at creating consent

The Logic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Not very social Profoundly irresponsible But it is corporate

1. Health and Safety Anglo American – one of the world’s largest mining companies Operates largely in South Africa Has a very well developed initiative to tackle HIV/AIDS

Anglo American “Report to Society 2005” “(ART) has proved extraordinarily effective both in terms of keeping HIV infected individuals healthy and free from AIDS and also in terms of reducing absenteeism and improving productivity.” “Results to date show that HIV/AIDS costs to Anglo companies would constitute 2% of payroll if ART was not available”

Company Strategy for HIV/AIDS

Health and Safety in General

Health and Safety in Context What is the primary motivation behind this? The objectification of human beings Human Resource Management

2. The Ecological Crisis

What Ecological Crisis? What Ecological Crisis?

Environmental Management Organisational attempts to manage environmental impacts –Reduce energy consumption –Reduce waste produced –Reduce resource use –Report on Environmental performance done primarily on a ‘per unit’ basis

The illusion of ‘eco-efficiency’

Environmental Management in Context What is the primary motivation behind this? The objectification of the environment A resource to be managed

Corporate Social Responsibility? The logic behind CSR is clear to see The actual CSR activities undertaken by corporations are driven by a ‘business case’ Nevertheless, an image of Responsibility is maintained

BP’s advertising in context Since leaving the GCC in 1997, BP have marketed themselves as ‘Beyond Petroleum’ However, investment in renewable energy is relatively slight BP has a commitment to expand its fossil fuel production by at least 3.5% per year, (though this figure is likely to top 5% during ).

CSR in summary ‘Corporate’ and ‘Social Responsibility’ –Can these two live together? Only through the objectification of human beings and of nature The suffocation of non-economic relationships

Respecting ‘the other’ Need to radically redesign forms of economic organisation –Primacy of ownership structures Different conception of humanity Different relation to nature