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This research investigates the influence of corporate–NGO collaborations on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure measured in three different ways (i.e. extent, level and quality) in low-income developing economies. Additionally, it examines the moderating effect of corporate profitability in the relationship between corporate–NGO collaborations and CSR disclosure.

This research uses multivariate regression analysis based on data collected from 201 non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE).

The findings reveal that corporations with NGO partnerships are more likely to disclose CSR information and provide high-quality information regarding workers, the environment and community-related issues. Further, corporate profitability positively moderates the corporate–NGO collaborations and CSR disclosure relationship.

Research limitations are presented in the conclusion section.

The findings underline the crucial significance of NGOs and their associated normative isomorphism logics for CSR disclosure in low-income countries with weak law enforcement and relatively ineffective state institutions, which were previously believed to lack such institutions.

While some research has suggested that companies in developing countries perceive significant pressure from NGOs to adopt social disclosure, no study has specifically explored how internally driven corporate–NGO collaboration (as opposed to external NGO activist pressures) promotes CSR disclosure specifically in developing economies.

The acronym and neologism “VUCA” is employed by management and some scholars to denote the unpredictability of the modern world and its impact on business. The VUCA approach suggests that a rational firm’s response should be to: protect against volatility by engineering-in redundancy and slack, gather information to reduce uncertainty, develop expertise to make complexity computable, and learn heuristically to reduce ambiguity. We combine a critical perspective on the VUCA approach with the global factory model, popularly used to describe the flexibility sought by advanced economy multinational enterprises (MNEs) within the global value chain. Both VUCA and the global factory would seem to account less well for the expansion of emerging multinational enterprise (EMNEs) abroad, particularly the preference for equity-based control and inflexibility when seeking strategic assets. Also, both approaches fail to incorporate behavioral principles toward risk. Using International Business theory, we propose a research agenda that may help to make VUCA more tractable, the global factory more useful, and the internationalization of EMNEs more comprehensible.

The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the extent to which oil multinational corporations (MNCs) can be both money makers and peace makers in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, and to consider its implication for the role of business in conflict mitigation in resource-rich African countries.

The chapter presents a theoretical analysis based on secondary data and empirical research.

There is now an emerging consensus that business can be peace makers and money makers in developing countries as part of their social responsibility. However, the tendency to explore business-conflict linkage largely from a business perspective and to see conflict as an “incidence” that business has to respond to, as opposed to a “dynamic process” that is a function of the breakdown of stakeholder relationship, limits our understanding of the relationship between business and conflict. Focusing on the Niger Delta in Nigeria, it is argued that the contradictory tension inherent in the peace making efforts of oil MNCs and the nature of their core business activities (i.e., oil extraction) limits the incentives and undermines the capacity of oil MNCs to be peace makers.

The chapter contributes a critical perspective to the literature on business and conflict informed by nearly two decades of empirical research undertaken by the author in Africa. It analyzes how contextual factors in resource-rich African countries, previously neglected in the literature, influence both the willingness and ability of business to contribute to peace. It concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications for the role of business in conflict zones.

Bangladesh is home to one of the world's leading ship breaking and recycling industries. Whilst these industries are booming in Bangladesh, it is not safe for workers or the environment. According to International Maritime Organization's (IMO) regulations, Bangladesh is lacking in a number of areas such as having a safe recycling plan and environmental protections reviewed by a competent authority. There is a need to develop safer working conditions, more stringent regulation and corporate responsibility programmes towards protecting human health and the environment. Possible solutions require stakeholders (industry, governments and the IMO) to work together in order to develop sustainable practice. This research contributes by taking a step forward by focussing on the implementation of sustainable practices in the supply chain of global shipping industries in a developing country. Using stakeholder theory, this research offers insight into the need and barriers to implementing social sustainable initiatives.

This paper explores the issue of transferring western human resource management (HRM) practices to Algeria. Drawing on a case study of a large industrial company, the research identifies the motives for the transfer and examines the selection and implementation process of western HRM practices in Algeria. Evidence generated from the case study reveals that while management justifications for the transfer of western HRM practices capture the economic and technical rationale for western HRM practices, they fail to identify local conditions under which these HRM practices might be transferred. The applicability of western HRM is hindered by the unplanned and haphazard importation of western HRM practices.

Despite the relevance of firm size in the analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement, there is still much to know about the specific impact of firm size on CSR formalisation. Moreover, in order to better understand such a relation, the interaction effects of development strategies on which companies may base its growth, namely diversification and internationalisation, will be also taken into account. Specifically, this work contributes to shed light on these issues by combining theories related to external and internal drivers of CSR. Using a sample of Spanish listed firms, the results show that firm size affects positively CSR formalisation, and that this effect is stronger in the case of adopting a diversification strategy, while no evidence was found for the moderating effect of internationalisation strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of why subsidiary initiative opportunities face constant opposition, despite being essential to the competitiveness of international organizations. The paper also develops a detailed theoretical framework to showcase the conflicts and opportunities created by subsidiary initiatives, as most research in this field is descriptive and comparative.

The paper draws substantially on entrepreneurship, agency, contingency and institutional theories, and focuses on the conflict generated by subsidiary initiatives in the context of headquarters–subsidiaries relationships, including the impact of developed and emerging markets. Based on a thorough analysis of the literature, the paper’s conceptual approach aims to develop models of how MNC networks deal with subsidiary initiatives.

The findings indicate that subsidiary initiative opportunities face opposition from both the organization and its environment.

The paper builds conceptual models showing the network of opportunities and conflicts created by subsidiary initiatives.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not new in the industrial society, as every corporation has embedded the philosophy of doing good and doing well in its business ethics for different motives. Literature established that CSR policies, theories and practices differ across countries, cultures and civilisations. The globalisation wave forced on global corporations a unified understanding of theories and practice of CSR from the perspective of developed countries of America and Britain. Britain's exit from the European Union and America's egocentric national policies launched by President Donald Trump are evidence of an increased leaning toward isolationism, and strong cases of anti-globalisation have been established by these nations. The purpose of this theoretical research is to investigate within the raging Globalisation and Anti-Globalisation debates, the key factors that motivate corporations from different contexts to initiate CSR programmes and the focus of programmes. This research adopts a qualitative research method, leveraging previous scholarly works, working papers, case studies and relevant internet resources. Insightful information from afore-mentioned sources were critically discussed from which useful findings were derived to support the subject of inquiry (factors that motivate CSR programmes and focus of programmes). It was found that similar factors motivate corporations with globalisation and isolation mindsets to embrace CSR programmes, but the focus of CSR programs of corporations differ, yet the programmes oscillate around economic, social and environmental dimensions of CSR. The gap left by the chapter is for future researchers to carry out an empirical investigation on the research.

In recent decades many emerging markets (EMFs) have undertaken entrepreneurial transformations to adapt to institutional transition and industrial change. Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) provided EMFs viable ways to revitalize, reconfigure, and transform successfully with the dynamic environment. Although previous research examined government roles on EMFs' CE activities, little is known about the mechanisms of how government exerts influence on CE activities. To fully understand CE of EMFs, we propose a stage model to explore specific roles governments play that affect CE activities over time. In particular, we investigate how governments' grabbing hand, helping hand, and invisible hand roles affected Chinese auto firms' CE activities at different stages from 1980 to 2016. Government involvement is summarized and the advantages and disadvantages of these roles are analyzed.