Question

International Codes:

•The best starting point in the further development of standards for international business is self-regulation by business within the guidelines and standards that already exist.

•The UN Global Compact with business was proposed by the UN secretary-general in January 1999.

•The Compact challenges business to work with other companies, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to support and implement ten basic principles stated in the Compact.

• The basic principles deal with respecting human rights, labor standards, protecting the environment, and eliminating corruption.

•

•The ILO is a specialized agency of the UN that has set up principles governing labor standards.

•The Caux Principles were launched in 1995.

•These principles emerged from a series of dialogues among a group of European, Japanese, and American firms.

•The principles are rooted in two basic principles:

–the Japanese principle of kyosei (working together for the common good); and

–the Western notion of the dignity and value of each human person as an end and not simply as a means to be used by others.

THE QUESTION IS : Talk more about it and the role of multinational corporations with giving examples .

Answer 1

While most of the points are covered above, I will focus on the role that multinational companies are playing.

Every MNC has a separate wing or a department, that focuses on social responsibility. And it is called "Corporate social responsibility", More than a department its an activity that every corporate obeys.

This activity can be fulfilled in various forms - protecting the environment, partnering with NGOs and helping cottage industries sustain, adopting villages, adopting schools and providing poor students, study materials, etc

Example: A well-known technology company had adopted a village in one of the southeast Asian countries to protect a dying art. This form of art is rare and is existing for many centuries. They make handwoven clothes (pure cotton) and designer carpets The artist is trained within their respective family by their fathers and the knowledge flows in their generations. Most of them started migrating to city as there was no demand for the finished product they were producing, lack of awareness among the buyers, increase in the price of raw materials, high operating costs, people's interest was inclined towards looking at more machine produced fabric, branded products, and many such other reasons.

After careful research and talking to several people, the MNC tied up with an NGO and decided to go ahead and support the entire village which is the house for 250 artists and their families. The corporate entity initially sanctioned some funds for the artists, so that hey can buy raw materials and service their hand machinery so that they can work efficiently. The corporate laid a plan for promoting and marketing the products through various channels. By focusing on creating awareness among the buyers, the art re-lived to its legacy!

The corporate will not take any money from the revenue generated by the sales of products, as this is a part of CSR activity it focuses on what we can give back to society. Likewise another corporate adopted a vast piece of barren land and plated 10,000 saplings as a part of CSR activity. And there are numerous such examples from many companies who stand for the society, not just human beings but for nature as well.