What drives indigenous corporations in the developing world to engage
in CSR as a management strategy?
Case study of the sugarcane and ethanol industry in the Cauca Valley,
Colombia
Isabella Mariño Rivera
August, 2010
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CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
II.
Conceptualising CSR
III.
Case study of the sugarcane and ethanol industry in the Cauca
Valley, Colombia
1.
Social, economic and political context of the industry
a.
Characterization of the industry and its socioeconomic
impact on the region
b.
Labour conditions of the workers in the industry
c.
2005 and 2008 strikes and the political context of the
sector
2.
History of CSR in the sector
a.
From corporate social awareness to corporate
responsibility
b.
Moving forwards: regional and enterprise-based efforts to
achieve corporate citizenship
i.
The Regional System of CSR and the Global
Compact
ii.
Riopaila-Castilla S.A. and Manuelita S.A.
iii.
Asocaña and the certification process with Better
Sugarcane Initiative
IV.
Discussion
1.
The “CSR System” in the sugarcane industry
2.
Key drivers of CSR management strategies
V.
Conclusions
2
“There can not exist a “healthy” corporation in a “sick” society”
Manuel Carvajal
I.
Introduction
Within the context of globalization, factors such as privatization, capital
mobilization, private foreign investment flow and trade liberalization have
propelled non-state actors like corporations towards great prominence
(Koenig-Archibugi, 2005). In the world today, 51 of the 1000 largest
economies are business enterprises, while only 49 are countries (Anderson &
Cavanagh, 2000). Hence, there has been a paradigm shift: today firms are
essential to the development and protection of Human Rights (HR), and are
expected to act as necessary partners to governments and international
organizations in their promotion and respect (IBLF, 2005).
Nevertheless, corporations are not legally compelled to act under
guidelines of the United Nations (UN) HR framework. This in turn, alongside
globalization, has created a governance gap in enabling a permissive
environment for wrongful acts by companies without proper sanctioning or
reparation. To this day, International HR Law has not been able to cope with
the challenge of overcoming its state-centric approach and the private-public
divide built under the Westphalia system (Alston, 2005).
Hence, the main objectives of the Business and HR predicament lie in
tackling theses deficiencies in the global order. The corporate HR movement
has debated between advocating for voluntary or regulatory regimes,
differentiating between corporate “responsibility” and “accountability”
(Clapham, 2006)
1
. Amidst this discussion, Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) has evolved as a tool of the voluntary regime, based on the
1
There is a current debate between voluntary and regulatory initiatives to control corporate
activity. For further reading see: International Council on HR Policy (2002); Chandler (2003);
Van der Putten (2003); Koenig-Archibugi (2005), Villiers, (2005) Weissbrodt & Kruger (2005);
McLeay (2006) and Corkin (2008).
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