Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Value Chains: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?

J Bus Ethics (2014) 123:11–22
DOI 10.1007/s10551-013-1796-x

Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Value Chains: Where
Are We Now and Where Are We Going?
Peter Lund-Thomsen • Adam Lindgreen

Received: 28 June 2013 / Accepted: 2 July 2013 / Published online: 10 July 2013
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract We outline the drivers, main features, and conceptual underpinnings of the compliance paradigm. We then use a similar structure to investigate the drivers, main features, and conceptual underpinnings of the cooperative paradigm for working with CSR in global value chains. We argue that the measures proposed in the new cooperation paradigm are unlikely to alter power relationships in global value chains and bring about sustained improvements in workers’ conditions in developing country export industries. After that, we provide a critical appraisal of the potential and limits of the cooperative paradigm, we summarize our findings, and we outline avenues for research: purchasing practices and labor standard noncompliance, CSR capacity building among local suppliers, and improved CSR monitoring by local resources in the developing world.
Keywords Compliance paradigm Á Cooperative paradigm Á Corporate social responsibility Á
Global value chains

P. Lund-Thomsen
Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, Copenhagen
Business School, Porcelænshaven 18A, 2000 Frederiksberg,
Denmark
e-mail: [e-mail]
A. Lindgreen (&)
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Aberconway
Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK e-mail: [e-mail]

Introduction
On Sept 11, 2012, more than 300 workers died in a fire in the Ali garment factory in the commercial hub of Karachi,
Pakistan. Workers were burned alive, succumbed to smoke inhalation, or died after trying to jump from the top floors of the factory building to escape the fire. Many of the windows and exit doors had been blocked by factory managers, preventing workers from escaping the

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