日本企業のCSRにおける行動規範に関する一考察

国連グローバル・コンパクトを中心に

抄録

This study investigates the significance of codes of conduct in corporate social responsibility （CSR）. In particular, it focuses on the United Nations Global Compact （hereinafter referred to as UN Global Compact）, the world’s largest initiative for sustainability. Although there are sometimes conflicts between firms, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations （NGO） due to the behaviour of firms from developed countries in developing countries, the relationship between firms and such organisations has partially changed in the global context. Firms have adopted voluntary codes of conduct for their CSR management drafted by international institutions and/or NGOs like the United Nations, International Standard Organization （ISO） and Global Reporting Initiative. Not only do firms adopt the codes and/or guidelines provided by these organisations, but they can also participate in the redaction process for each of these codes and work with other stakeholders to seek solutions regarding their CSR issues. Moreover, these codes have been constructed as part of the management environment in CSR, which is one of the most important agendas for firms with respect to their international management. Therefore, it is believed that firms need to actively participate in the new environment-making process. A lot of literature focuses on the positive side of the adaptation of codes. However, there are also negative sides to all of this, such as some firms being delisted because they fail to implement the guidelines requested by the UN Global Compact. Using the data of delisted participants, this study sheds light on features of Japanese firms through a comparative study. Japanese companies tend not to participate in the dialogue and projects, but most of them choose to not participate once they started participating, whereas many small and medium-sized enterprises tend to withdraw from the UN Global Compact.