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12 - Filling Institutional Voids in Thailand: the Case of Nestlé and the Seafood Coalition

from Part II - CSR and Sustainable Development Cross-Country Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2019

By
David Wesley ,
Luis Alfonso Dau  and
Elizabeth M. Moore
Edited by
Onyeka Osuji ,
Franklin N. Ngwu  and
Dima Jamali
Onyeka Osuji
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Franklin N. Ngwu
Affiliation:
Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria
Dima Jamali
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut
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Summary

This chapter builds on the institutional voids literature within institutional theory by highlighting the role that multinational corporations can play when policy voids are severe, as is the case in many developing countries. We utilize an in-depth narrative case study of Nestlé’s operations in Thailand to elucidate the institutional and policy voids and then to show how Nestlé worked to fill these voids. Specifically, this chapter documents the history of slavery and child labor in Thailand and how international and domestic policy efforts have failed to address these issues in a political environment that is rife with corruption and abuse. Instead, corporations like Nestlé are filling this policy void with efforts like the Seafood Task Force, which aims to alleviate human rights abuses by eliminating them at the source.

Keywords

Institutional VoidsSustainable DevelopmentCorporate Social ResponsibilityThailandNestléHuman Rights
Type
Chapter
Information
Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing and Emerging Markets
Institutions, Actors and Sustainable Development
 , pp. 232 - 257
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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