Dilemmas of Corporate Responsibility in a Globalized World: Empirical Evidences from Global Football Industry

Abstract

During the last few decades, CSR initiatives have widely proliferated in response to global campaigns against poor working conditions in global production networks. In order to maintain their corporate image and avoid negative publicity, private governance has arisen as a response by global buyers. Consequently, plethora of codes of labour standard are introduced by retailers and brand-name firms, which have led to the associated growth of a multibillion social compliance industry involving social auditing and workplace monitoring. Based on empirical data gathered from global football industry, in this chapter we tried to illustrate the limits of top-down CSR approaches as a means of improving working conditions in developing countries like Pakistan. We argue here that effective CSR response requires bottom-up approaches and deeper investigation of broader institutional context that frames the governance of global sourcing from developing countries. Based on analysis of qualitative data, we conclude that currently top-down CSR responses and monitoring mechanisms are facade to avert criticism. We emphasize that in order to make CSR intervention effective and avoid unintended harmful consequences, unheard voices of weaker stakeholders, particularly informal homeworkers in developing countries, should be incorporated in existing frameworks. Admittedly, this is an uphill task in highly dynamic, neoliberal, capitalist global economy, which is marked with unequal power relations between capital and labour.