How Global are Global Norms of Business Behavior? Insights from the Diversity of Capitalism Approach

When: Thursday 21st November 2024, 15.00-17.00

Location: Graduate Centre GC101, Mile End Road, London, England, E1 4NS

Speakers: Petia Koleva (Université Paris Cité) and Eric Magnin (Université Paris Cité)

Based on an analytical grid combining organizational and economic theories, this paper contributes to research on global initiatives for environmental, social and ethical responsibility in business activities and their local embeddedness. Taking the example of the United Nations Global Compact and its local networks in Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States, we discuss the relevance of dichotomous theoretical frameworks such as explicit/implicit CSR to understand the initiative’s dynamics in various geographical contexts. The theoretical affinity between explicit/implicit CSR distinction and the variety of capitalism approach is critically assessed in the light of the five models of capitalism typology elaborated by Amable (2003). We show in what way the dissemination of the UNGC by its local networks contributes to the emergence of differentiated hybrids, reflecting the diversity of national institutional arrangements of CSR and the underlying model of capitalism. The uniform and globalizing character of the UNGC has therefore not erased the national differences which are indeed present in the local UNGC networks. This is reminiscent of the idea that the globalization of goods and capital has not led to the disappearance of nations and national specificities. From a theoretical point of view, this observation merges with one of the founding ideas of Régulation theory, the diversity of national trajectories in time and space.