International Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations

Abstract

The 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous not only in the United States but in the international community as a whole. A climate of confrontation developed between multinational corporations (MNCs) and the developing countries because of a series of blatantly illegal and unethical actions by MNCs in violation of the sovereignty of host governments and of the human rights of their citizens.¹

I am indebted to my colleague Bruce Kogut for alerting me to the relevance of civil society for my analysis; to my colleague Thomas Dunfee for enlightening me about the Caux Round Table; and to my two research assistants Mark Ford and Sang-Yoon Cha for library research and data processing. I am also enormously grateful to the following colleagues and friends who have read and commented on a draft of this paper: Ivar Berg, Nelson N. Foote, Geoffrey Garrett, Andrew Lamas, Abigail C. May, Franklin R. Root, Karl P. Sauvant, and Miriam Yevick. Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank my friend Clarence Walton for providing me with an opportunity to write this paper and calling my attention to several important issues and useful bibliographical references. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for any errors and for the views expressed in this paper.