The title of the presentation is: Meeting responsibilities “on the stage” and claiming
rights “behind the scenes”: The re-casting of companies.
ABSTRACT
The debate on the ethical behaviour of companies has been driven by the corporate
social responsibility agenda. But this paper contends that behind the corporate social
responsibility 'stage' there is something else going on. This 'something else' is not yet
fully visible, but pressed 'behind the scenes', companies are claiming (or being
granted) additional rights in relation to their new social responsibilities- they are being
're-cast'. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the interrelationships
between what's 'on the stage' and what's 'behind the scenes': corporate responsibilities
and corporate rights.
These interrelationships are explored analytically and through the following three
cases: first, Nike and companies' rights to free speech; second, the granting to
companies of property rights to the atmosphere; and third, the right that companies are
assuming under the North America Free Trade agreement (NAFTA) to sue
governments over laws that harm them financially.
The consequences of extending the rights of companies are profound. The 'corporate
social responsibility' movement- in assuming that the responsibilities of companies
can be pressed without any corresponding extension in their rights- can be charged
with a certain naivety.
Brief biography Sue Llewellyn
Sue Llewellyn graduated in 1978 from the University of Manchester with a first class
degree in Econometrics and Political Theory. She entered academic life in 1989 at the
University of Stirling working on a project forecasting financial returns in the
property market; at the same time she also took an MSc in Applied Social Research.
She was appointed to a lectureship in 1991 at the University of Edinburgh (where she
completed her PhD), promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1995 and, subsequently, to
Professor in 1999. She currently has a Chair in Accountability at the University of
Leicester Management Centre. She has held visiting appointments at the following
universities: Adelaide and Macquarrie (in Australia); Queens (in Canada); Linköping
(in Sweden); and Otago and Auckland University of Technology (in New Zealand).
Her research interests are in the area of management control and accountability with a
focus on the boundary between professional and managerial discourses in healthcare.
Her work is mainly, but not exclusively, qualitative in nature.