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Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law
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Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 26395

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Benedict Sheehy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Canberra Law School, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT 2617, Australia
Interests: corporate social responsibility; corporate law; law and society; business and society

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As Guest Editor of this Special Issue on "Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law", I invite contributions that provide new theoretical insights, applied work and case studies that illuminate the challenging, hopeful and conflicted relationships between business, sustainability efforts and law.

Sustainability has individual, organizational and society wide implications for the ecology as a whole; however, it is ultimately human behavior which will sustain or destroy the capacity of the ecology to support life. The challenge is that while industrialization has allowed humans to thrive by the same token, it has created a significant negative impact on the functioning of the ecology. Human interaction with the ecology, however, is regulated by law, from soft law such as international public law and industry-led codes to hard law passed by governments. Accordingly, the claim is made that law is able to lead to sustainable social practices (Sheehy, 2017b).

Aim: This Special Issue aims to connect the two distinct disciplinary research streams: business and legal literatures on business sustainability or ‘corporate social responsibility’ (Sheehy, 2015). Each of these literatures progresses on its own path with only minimal acknowledgement of the other. Yet, if there is to be a real success in terms of sustainability it will depend on collaborative research in the two disciplines and improved practice.

Focus: This Special Issue is focused on how business norms and law either contribute to or undermine sustainability in business where sustainability is understood as “the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”  Although some disciplines consider ‘economic sustainability’ a core to the discussion, arguably, the core problem is the economic model promoting accumulation of financial wealth without due regard for other types of ‘wealth’ including the natural environment (Sheehy, 2017a).

Scope: This special issue invites submissions that investigate efforts by businesses, citizens groups and law reformers/ practitioners to improve the sustainability performance of business organisations. Submissions may range from investigations of peasant-farmers’ norms, to national and even global social and environmental programs such as those focused on implementing United Nations norms. Methods of all disciplines are welcomed including, in particular, institutionalism and law.

Sheehy, B. (2015). Defining CSR: Problems and Solutions. Journal of Business Ethics, 131(3), 625-648. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2281-x

Sheehy, B. (2017a). Conceptual and Institutional Interfaces among CSR, Corporate Law and the Problem of Social Costs. Virginia Law & Business Journal, 12(1), 95-145.

Sheehy, B. (2017b). Private And Public Corporate Regulatory Systems: Does CSR Provide A Systemic Alternative To Public Law? UC Davis Business Law Journal, 17, 1-55.

Dr. Benedict Sheehy

Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Sustainability Law
  • Sustainable Development Goals
  • Soft-law
  • Organizational Policy
  • Corporate Sustainability
  • Corporate Law
  • Law and Society

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 3207 KiB  
Article
Trends and Development of the Directors’ Duty of Loyalty in China: A Case Analysis
by Shuangge Wen and Jingchen Zhao
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8589; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13158589 - 01 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2660
Abstract
Covering a central theme in corporate law development, this paper discusses the pragmatic utility of the common-law-originated duty of loyalty of company directors in the civil law context of China. The reception of legal transplantation in a host environment remains a contentious theme, [...] Read more.
Covering a central theme in corporate law development, this paper discusses the pragmatic utility of the common-law-originated duty of loyalty of company directors in the civil law context of China. The reception of legal transplantation in a host environment remains a contentious theme, and it seems to be an opportune time to study relevant cases that have been adjudicated since China’s statutory inauguration of the directors’ duty of loyalty in 2005, in the sense that more than 10 years of practice has resulted in ample evidence on the practical effects of this transplanted duty. Through an analysis of 526 cases on the basis of eight attributes, we discovered some commendable features, including increasing accessibility of the law and a differentiation of various types of directors’ duties of loyalty. Meanwhile, the selective adoption norm customary to Chinese culture has to a certain extent compromised the intended goals of greater legislative clarity, judicial consistency and in turn balanced and sustainable businesses, demonstrated in several incompatibilities between transplanted duties and domestic legal institutions. Reshaping the conventional transplantation ideal that commercial laws are easily transferable, the paper suggests the construction of a broad collateral regime for greater congruence between laws and existing institutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law)
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17 pages, 697 KiB  
Article
Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Corporate Sustainability: What Is the Difference, and Does It Matter?
by Benedict Sheehy and Federica Farneti
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 5965; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13115965 - 25 May 2021
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 20705
Abstract
The terms “corporate social responsibility” (CSR), “sustainability”, “sustainable development” and “corporate sustainability” (CS) are critical terms for developing, analysing and evaluating public and private policy goals. These terms are used to make decisions about investment, policy development, and strategy creation. The terms emerged [...] Read more.
The terms “corporate social responsibility” (CSR), “sustainability”, “sustainable development” and “corporate sustainability” (CS) are critical terms for developing, analysing and evaluating public and private policy goals. These terms are used to make decisions about investment, policy development, and strategy creation. The terms emerged in different fields of endeavour at different points in time. Accordingly, they have different meanings; however, over time they have come to be used interchangeably mixing up policy agendas, confusing managers, regulators, activists and the public at large. We demonstrate that CSR is the best term for focusing on individual business organisations, “corporate sustainability” is an organisation level environmental policy, “sustainable development” is a public policy, and “sustainability” is the broadest term encompassing global local and organisational levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law)
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22 pages, 350 KiB  
Article
The Impact of the Amendment of Taiwan’s Certified Public Accountant Act in 2007 on Large Accounting Firms
by Chung-Cheng Yang, Jianxiong Chen and Wen-Chi Yang
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1229; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13031229 - 25 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2135
Abstract
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission of the Executive Yuan promulgated the fully amended Certified Public Accountant Act in 2007, which directly led to significant changes in accounting law. From the perspective of the economic theory of law, this study investigates the amendment of the [...] Read more.
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission of the Executive Yuan promulgated the fully amended Certified Public Accountant Act in 2007, which directly led to significant changes in accounting law. From the perspective of the economic theory of law, this study investigates the amendment of the Certified Public Accountant Act resulting in an increase or decrease in the overall revenue and different revenue shares of accounting firms, and puts forward measures that should be taken by accounting firms and stakeholders. We focus on large accounting firms and divide the sample period into before and after 2008. This study uses the translog revenue function and revenue share functions of the public accounting industry, and based on the 1989–2017 Survey Report of Audit Firms in Taiwan, and we find that the amendment of the Certified Public Accountant Act has had a positive effect on overall revenue, increasing overall revenue and the overall management advisory services shares, and in reducing the overall accounting and auditing shares and tax services shares of large accounting firms. Additional analyses provide regulators with public policy implications and provide accounting firms with managerial information. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Law)
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