Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:54:40.452Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cross-Sector Alliance Learning and Effectiveness of Voluntary Codes of Corporate Social Responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Bindu Arya  and
Jane E. Salk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Firms and industries increasingly subscribe to voluntary codes of conduct. These self-regulatory governance systems can be effective in establishing a more sustainable and inclusive global economy. However, these codes can also be largely symbolic, reactive measures to quell public criticism. Cross-sector alliances (between for-profit and nonprofit actors) present a learning platform for infusing participants with greater incentives to be socially responsible. They can provide multinationals new capabilities that allow them to more closely ally social responsibility with economic performance. This paper examines learning facilitators in cross-sector alliances that enrich corporate understanding of stakeholder concerns. It suggests that these organizational learning experiments can translate into globally responsible practices and processes that improve the content and effectiveness of voluntary corporate codes.

Type
Special Forum
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 211 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, H. 1979. Organizations and Environments. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Anand, B. N. and Khanna, T.. 2000. “Do Firms Learn to Create Value? The Case of Alliances.” Strategic Management Journal 21: 295–315.3.0.CO;2-O>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashman, D. 2001. “Civil Society Collaboration with Business: Bringing Empowerment Back In.” World Development 29(7): 1097–1113.Google Scholar
Austin, J. E. 2000. “Strategic Collaboration between Nonprofits and Businesses.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 29(1): 69–97.Google Scholar
Austin, J. E. and Reavis, C.. 2002. Starbucks and Conservation International. Boston: Harvard Business school Publishing.Google Scholar
Barkema, H., Shenkar, O., Vermeulen, F. and Bell, J.. 1997. “Working Abroad, Working with Others: How Firms Learn to Operate International Joint Ventures.” Academy of Management Journal 40(2): 426–42.Google Scholar
Bondy, K., Matten, D. and Moon, J.. 2004. “The Adoption of Voluntary Codes of Conduct in MNCs: A Three-Country Comparative Study.” Business and Society Review 109(4): 449–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinkerhoff, J. M. 2002. “Government-Nonprofit Partnership: A Defining Framework.” Public Administration and Development 22: 19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, L. D. and Ashman, D.. 1996. “Participation, Social Capital, and Intersectoral Problem Solving: African and Asian Cases.” World Development 24(9): 1467–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buller, P. F. and McEvoy, G. M. 1999. “Creating and Sustaining Ethical Capability in the Multinational Corporation.” Journal of World Business 34(4): 326–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, R. and Li, M. 1999. “Strategic Alliances and New Product Development: An Empirical Study of the US Semiconductor Start-Up Firms.” Advances in Competitiveness Research 7(1): 35–61.Google Scholar
Chisholm, D. 1989. Coordination without Hierarchy: Informal Structures in Multiorganizational Systems. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christmann, P. and Taylor, G.. 2002. “Globalization and the Environment: Strategies for International Voluntary Environmental Initiatives.” Academy of Management Executive 16(3): 121–35.Google Scholar
Cohen, W. M. and Levinthal, D. A.. 1989. “Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D.” The Economic Journal 99: 569–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, W. M. and Levinthal, D. A. 1990. “Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35(1): 128–52.Google Scholar
Cohen, W. M. and Levinthal, D. A. 1994. “Fortune Favors the Prepared Firm.” Management Science 40: 227–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J. S. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap-Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cyert, R. M. and March, J. G.. 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Diller, J. 1999. “A Social Conscience in the Global Marketplace? Labour Dimensions of Codes of Conduct, Social Labeling and Investor Initiatives.” International Labour Review 138(2): 99–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, P. J. 1988. “Interest and Agency in Institutional Theory.” In Institutional Patterns and Organizations, ed. Zucker, L. G.. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, P. J. and Powell, W.W. 1983. “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields.” American Sociological Review 82: 147–60.Google Scholar
Dimitroff, T. 2004. “Addressing Human Rights Concerns in the Legal Regime of the BTC Pipeline.” Presented at the International Conference of Voluntary Codes of Conduct for Multinationals: Promises and Challenges, New York, May 12–15, 2004.Google Scholar
Doh, J. P. 2003. “Nongovernmental Organizations, Corporate Strategy, and Public Policy: NGOs as Agents of Change. In Globalization and NGOs: Transforming Business, Government, and Society, ed. Doh, J. P. and Teegen, H.. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. 1989. “What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits.” Harvard Business Review 67(4): 88–94.Google Scholar
Dussauge, P., Garrette, B. and Mitchell, W.. 2000. “Learning from Competing Partners: Outcomes and Durations of Scale and Link Alliances in Europe, North America and Asia.” Strategic Management Journal 21(2): 99–126.Google Scholar
Edwards, M. 1997. “Organizational Learning in Non-Governmental Organizations: What Have We Learned?” Public Administration and Development 17(2): 235–50.Google Scholar
Fiol, M. and Lyles, M.. 1985. “Organizational Learning.” Academy of Management Review 10: 803–13.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. S. 1985. “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness.” American Journal of Sociology 91(31): 481–510.Google Scholar
Gray, B. G. 1989. Collaborating: Finding Common Ground For Multiparty Problems. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Gunningham, N. 2001. Green Alliances: Conflict or Cooperation in Environmental Policy. Technical Report, ACEL.Google Scholar
Hagedoorn, J. and Narula, R.. 1996. “Choosing Organizational Modes of Strategic Technology Partnering: International Sectoral Differences.” Journal of International Business Studies 27: 265–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannan, M. T. and Freeman, J.. 1984. “Structural Inertia and Organizational Change.” American Sociological Review 82(5): 929–64.Google Scholar
Hardy, C., Phillips, N. and Lawrence, T. B.. 2003. “Resources, Knowledge and Influence: The Organizational Effects of Interorganizational Collaboration.” Journal of Management Studies 40(2): 321–47.Google Scholar
Harris, H. 2004. “Performance Measurement for Voluntary Codes: An Opportunity and a Challenge.” Business and Society Review 109(4): 549–66.Google Scholar
Hawley, A. 1950. Human Ecology. New York: The Ronald Press Company.Google Scholar
Hemphill, T. A. 2004. “Monitoring Global Corporate Citizenship: Industry Self Regulation at a Crossroads.” Journal of Corporate Citizenship 14: 81–95.Google Scholar
Hess, D., Rogovsky, N. and Dunfee, T. W.. 2002. “The Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives.” California Management Journal 44(2): 110–25.Google Scholar
Hulme, D. 1994. “Social Development Research and the Third Sector: NGOs as Users and Subjects of Social Enquiry.” In Redefining Social Development: Theory, Research and Practice, ed. Booth, D.. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Hulme, D. and Edwards, M.. 1996. Too Close for Comfort? NGOs, States and Donors. London: MacMillan and New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Inkpen, A. C. 2002. “Strategic Alliances.” In The Blackwell Handbook of Strategic Management, ed. Hitt, M. A., Freeman, R. E., and Harrison, J. S.. Cornwall: Blackwell Publishing, 409–32.Google Scholar
Jacobs, D. 1974. “Dependency and Vulnerability: An Exchange Approach to the Control of Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 19: 45–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kale, P., Singh, H. and Perlmutter, H.. 2000. “Learning and Protection of Proprietary Assets in Strategic Alliances: Building Relational Capital.” Strategic Management Journal 21(3): 217–37.3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalegaonkar, A. and Brown, L. D.. 2000. Intersectoral Cooperation: Lessonsfor Practice. Institute for Development Research Report, 16(2).Google Scholar
Kaufman, A., Tiantubtim, E., Pussayapibul, N. and Davids, P.. 2004. “Implementing Voluntary Labor Standards and Codes of Conduct in the Thai Garment Industry.” Journal of Corporate Citizenship 13: 91–99.Google Scholar
Khanna, T., Gulati, R.. and Nohria, N.. 1998. “The Dynamics of Learning Alliances: Competition, Cooperation and Relative Scope.” Strategic Management Journal 19(3): 193–210.Google Scholar
Kogut, B. 1988. “Joint Ventures: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives.” Strategic Management Journal 9(4): 319–32.Google Scholar
Kogut, B. and Zander, U.. 1992. “Knowledge of the Firm, Integration Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology.” Organization Science 3: 383–97.Google Scholar
Kolk, A. and van Tulder, R.. 2004. “Ethics in International Business: Multinational Approaches to Child Labor.” Journal of World Business 39: 49–60.Google Scholar
Kolk, A., van Tulder, R. and Carlijn, W. C.. 1999. “International Codes of Conduct and Corporate Responsibility: Can Transnational Corporations Regulate Themselves?” Transnational Corporations 8(1): 143–79.Google Scholar
Kostova, T. and Roth, K.. 2003. “Social Capital in Multinational Corporations and a Micro-Macro Model of its Formation.” Academy of Management Review 28(2): 297–317.Google Scholar
Lane, P. J. and Lubatkin, M.. 1998. “Relative Absorptive Capacity and Interorganizational Learning.” Strategic Management Journal 19(8): 461–77.Google Scholar
Lane, P. J., Salk, J. E. and Lyles, M.. 2001. “Absorptive Capacity, Learning and Performance in International Joint Ventures.” Strategic Management Journal 22(12): 1139–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsson, R., Bengtsson, L., Hendrikson, K. and Sparks, J.. 1998. “The Interorganizational Learning Dilemma: Collective Knowledge Development in Strategic Alliances.” Organization Science 9(3): 285–305.Google Scholar
London, T., Rondinelli, D. A. and O’Neill, H. 2004. “Exploring Learning Alliances between Corporations and Non-Profit Organizations.” Paper presented at the Academy of Management Meetings, New Orleans.Google Scholar
London, T., Rondinelli, D. A. and O’Neill, H.. 2005. “Strange Bedfellows: Alliances between Corporations and Nonprofits.” In Handbook of Strategic Alliances, ed. Shenkar, O. and Reuer, J.. Thousand oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Lyles, M., and Dhanaraj, C.. 2003. “Learning across Borders: Organizational Learning and International Alliances.” In Governing Knowledge in MNCs, ed. Mahnke, V. and Pedersen, T.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lyles, M., and Salk, J. E. 1996. “Knowledge Acquisition from Foreign Parents in International Joint Ventures: An Empirical Examination in the Hungarian Context.” Journal of International Business Studies 29(2): 154–74.Google Scholar
Madon, S. 1999. “International NGOs: Networking, Information Flows and Learning.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems 8(3): 251–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, J., Rothenberg, S., Briscoe, F., and Marcus, A. 1997. “Green Schemes: Corporate Environmental Strategies and their Implementation.” California Management Review 39(3): 118–35.Google Scholar
Melaville, A., and Blank, M.. 1993. “Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Pro-Family System of Education and Human Services.” Washington: US Department of Education.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. 2002. Building Partnerships: Cooperation between the United Nations System and the Private Sector. New York: UN Department of Public Information.Google Scholar
Nelson, R., Winter, S. 1982. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nooteboom, B. 1992. “Towards a Dynamic Theory of Transactions.” Journal of Evolutionary Economics 2: 281–99.Google Scholar
Oliver, C. 1990. “Determinants of Inter-Organizational Relationships: Integration and Future Directions.” Academy of Management Review 15: 241–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, C.. 1991. “Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes.” Academy of Management Review 16(1): 145–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Rourke, D. 2003. “Outsourcing Regulation: Analyzing Nongovernmental Systems of Labor Standards and Monitoring.” The Policy Studies Journal 31(1): 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, D., and Gaebler, T.. 1992. Reinventing the Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector.” Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Overdevest, C. 2004. “Codes of Conduct and Standard Setting in the Forest Sector: Constructing Markets for Democracy?” Industrial Relations 59(1): 172–95.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. L. 2003. Foreword. In Globalization and NGOs: Transforming Business, Government, and Society, ed. Doh, J. P., and Teegen, H.Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 1976. “Organizational Effectiveness and Change.” Academy of Management Review 1: 36–46.Google Scholar
Pinney, C. 1999. “Business and Civil Society Organizations: Toward a New Partnership.” In Promoting Corporate Citizenship, ed. Regelbrugge, L.. Washington: CIVICUS.Google Scholar
PWBLF Report. 2002. Getting Real: The Challenges of Sustaining Biodiversity Partnerships (August).Google Scholar
Radin, T. J. 2004. “The Effectiveness of Global Codes of Conduct: Role Models that Make Sense.” Business and Society Review 109(4): 415–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roche, C. 1995. Institutional Learning in Oxfam: Some Thoughts. London: Oxfam.Google Scholar
Rondinelli, D. A., and London, T.. 2003. “How Corporations and Environmental Groups Cooperate: Assessing Cross-Sector Alliances and Collaborations.” Academy of Management Executive 17(1): 61–76.Google Scholar
Sagawa, S., and Segal, E.. 2000. “Common Interest, Common Good: Creating Value through Business and Social Sector Partnerships.” California Management Review 42(2): 105–22.Google Scholar
Salk, J. E., and Arya, B.. 2005. “Cross-Sector Alliances as Platforms for Improving Corporate Social Performance by Multinational Corporations: Multinational Teaming Strategies, Social Capital and their Influence on Organizational Learning.” In Managing Multinational Teams: Cultural, Organizational, and National Influences, ed. Shapiro, D. L., Von Glinow, M. A., and Cheng, J. C.New York: Elsevier Press, 189–207.Google Scholar
Salk, J. E., and Simonin, B. L. 2003. “Beyond Alliances: Towards a Meta-Theory of Collaborative Learning.” In The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, ed. Easterby-Smith, M. and Lyles, M. A.. Cornwall: Blackwell Publishing, 253–72.Google Scholar
Samii, R., Van Wassenhove, L., and Bhattacharya, S.. 2002. “An Innovative Public-Private Partnership: New Approach to Development.” World Development 30(6): 991–1008.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. 1934. The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. P. 1979. “A Conceptual Framework for Environmental Analysis of Social Issues and Evaluation of Business Response Patterns.” Academy of Management Review 4(1): 63–74.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. P.. 1999. “Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations: An Idea whose Time has Come.” Business and Society Review 104(3): 225–41.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. P. 2002. “Standards for Corporate Conduct in the International Arena: Challenges and Opportunities for Multinational Corporations.” Business and Society Review 107(1): 20–41.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. P. 2003. Setting Global Standards: Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct in Multinational Corporations. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. P., and Sama, L. M. 1998. “Ethical Behavior as a Strategic Choice by Large Corporations: The Interactive Effect of Marketplace Competition, Industry Structure and Firm Resources.” Business Ethics Quarterly 8(1): 85–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, S., and Vredenburg, H. 1998. “Proactive Corporate Environmental Strategy and the Development of Competitively Valuable Organizational Capabilities.” Strategic Management Journal 19:729–53.Google Scholar
Simonin, B. 2000. “Collaborative Know-How and Collaborative Advantage.” Global Focus 12 (4): 19–35.Google Scholar
Sosnowchick, K. 2000. “Made in the Shade.” Green@work (September/October): 19–29.Google Scholar
Stuart, T. E. 2000. “Interorganizational Alliances and the Performance of Firms: A Study of Growth and Innovation Rates in a High-Technology Industry.” Strategic Management Journal 21(8): 791–811.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. D. 1967. Organizations in Action. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Tsai, W. 2000. “Social Capital, Strategic Relatedness and the Formation of Intra-Organizational Linkages.” Strategic Management Journal 21: 925–39.Google Scholar
Tushman, M. L. 1977. “Special Boundary Roles in the Innovation Process.” Administrative Science Quarterly 22(4): 587–605.Google Scholar
Vollman, T., and Cordon, C.. 1998. “Building Successful Customer-Supplier Alliances.” Long Range Planning 31(4): 684–94.Google Scholar
Waddell, S. 2000. Market-Civil Society Partnership Formation: A Global Status Report on Activity, Strategies and Tools 13(5). Boston: Institute for Development Research.Google Scholar
Waddock, S. A. 1988. “Picking Powerful Partners for Social Progress.” Business and Society Review 64: 20–24.Google Scholar
Waddock, S. A., Bodwell, C., and Graves, S. B. 2002. “Responsibility: The New Business Imperative.” Academy of Management Executive 16(2): 132–48.Google Scholar
Waddock, S. A., and Smith, N.. 2000. “Corporate Responsibility Audits: Doing Well by Doing Good.” Sloan Management Review 41(2): 75–83.Google Scholar
Wriston, W. B. 2003. “A Code of Our Own.” Wall Street Journal (January 16): A12.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, R. 1991. Between States and Markets: The Voluntary Sector in Comparative Perspective. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar