The Capitalist Economy and CSR: Contradictions and Inconsistencies: From CSR to Business in Development

Abstract

In 1996, Life Magazine (Schanberg, 1996) carried a front cover showing a picture of a 12 year-old Pakistani boy called Tariq hand-stitching a Nike football. The article claimed that, for his work he would be paid the equivalent of 60 US cents. Over the followings months and years, more and more allegations came to light that manufacturing firms, especially in the clothing and apparel sector, were responsible for labour abuses in developing countries. For example, a 1997 survey of sports shoe manufacture in China (CorpWatch, 1997) found that, ‘all categories of the companies’ Codes of Conduct — health and safety, freedom of association, wages and benefits, hours of work, overtime compensation, non-discrimination, harassment and child labour are being violated’. The resulting public outcry, combined with legal and other threats led to the adoption of CSR policies and labour codes by many apparel and other companies. Nike, for example committed itself to ‘engage with civil society, governments, and the private sector to affect systemic change to labour and environmental conditions in countries where we operate’ (Nike, 2010).