Responsible Enterprise

Spiesshofer

Responsible Enterprise

This fundamental work analyses the great variety of normative processes encompassed by the term ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) and subjects them to a systematic and critical examination. Domestic and supranational legislation, international law and transnational private law instruments – supplemented and superseded by soft law and informal steering by private and public organisations – are the ‘smart mix’ from which a global order for enterprise responsibility is emerging. The author relates these processes to fundamental considerations on the conception of enterprise, the justification and scope of enterprise responsibility and publicprivate governance. She reveals that the informalization of norm-creation and its transfer to the executive and private actors raises fundamental questions of national sovereignty, democratic legitimation and rule of law. A new conception of ‘law’ is also required.

The book links theory and practice and focuses, inter alia, on the following issues:


- Fundamentals of the CSR discussion

- CSR conceptions of the United Nations, the OECD, ISO, the EU and their interplay with national legal structures

- Sector-specific CSR-conceptions (mining, finance, textile, legal profession)

- New conceptions of enterprise and group responsibility

- Transnational public-private governance and innovative norm creation

- The new CSR world order – a ‘legal internet’?