Abstract
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and value chain responsibility (VCR) have gained increasing importance for firms. The literature on these topics reports on CSR practices for established firms with existing technologies and stable value chains. This raises questions about the viability of CSR and VCR in the case of new technologies, where products, markets and even firms do not yet exist. In three case studies we investigate how responsibility in the firm and the value chain is handled when dealing with a new technology, namely nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a new technological field with many promising applications. The case study findings confirm that the expansion of the current CSR and VCR literature is sensible, since uncertainty and speculation about the development of the value chain changes the perspective on responsibility. On the other side of the spectrum, studies of ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) of (nano)technologies on the responsible embedding of nanotechnology could benefit from the approaches of CSR initiatives, to ensure that the knowledge gained here can also be applied when companies are actually developing new technological products and services.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bowen, H.R. 1953. Social responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper & Row.
Carroll, A.B. 1999. Corporate social responsibility: Evolution of a definitional construct. Business and Society 38(3): 268–295.
de Jong, W.H., B. Roszek, and R.E. Geertsma. 2005. Nanotechnology in medical applications: possible risks for human health. RIVM report. 265001002/2005. Bilthoven.
Dutch Corporate Governance Code. 2008. Principles of good corporate governance and best practice provisions. The Hague: Corporate Governance Code Monitoring Committee.
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). 2013. Frequently asked questions about REACH. Q&A unique ID: 0010. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
European Commission. 2013. European Commission website on REACH. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/chemicals/reach/index_en.htm. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Garriga, E., and D. Melé. 2004. Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics 53(1–2): 51–71.
ISO. 2010. Guidance on Social Responsibility - ISO 26000:2010(E). Geneva.
Kaplinsky, R., and M. Morris. 2001. A handbook for value chain research, 113. Ottawa: IDRC.
Luo, X., and C.B. Bhattacharya. 2006. Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and market. Journal of Marketing 70(4): 1–18.
McGinn, R. 2008. Ethics and nanotechnology: Views of nanotechnology researchers. NanoEthics 2(2): 101–131.
McWilliams, A., and D. Siegel. 2001. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. The Academy of Management Review 26(1): 117–127.
McWilliams, A., D.S. Siegel, and P.M. Wright. 2006. Corporate social responsibility: Strategic implications. Journal of Management Studies 43(1): 2–17.
Mylifetechnologies.nl. 2013. http://www.mylifetechnologies.nl/. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Philips. 2012. Royal Philips electronics, supplier sustainability declaration. CSO-BPOI-2012-005. Eindhoven. http://www.philips.com/shared/assets/company_profile/downloads/EICC-Philips-Supplier-Sustainability-Declaration.pdf
Philips.com. 2013a. Magnotech. http://www.business-sites.philips.com/magnotech/technology/index.page. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Philips.com. 2013b. EcoVision 4. http://www.annualreport2009.philips.com/pages/our_group_performance/sustainability/ecovision4.asp. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Philips.com. 2013c. EcoVision 5. http://www.annualreport2009.philips.com/pages/our_group_performance/sustainability/ecovision5.asp. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Phillips, R., and C.B. Caldwell. 2005. Value chain responsibility: A farewell to arm’s length. Business and Society Review 110(4): 345–370.
Pinkston, T., and A. Carroll. 1996. A retrospective examination of CSR orientations: Have they changed? Journal of Business Ethics 15(2): 199–207.
Porter, M.E., and M.R. Kramer. 2006. Strategy and society. The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review 84(12): 78–92.
Roache, R. 2008. Ethics, speculation, and values. NanoEthics 2(3): 317–327.
Sen, S., and C.B. Bhattacharya. 2001. Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research 38(2): 225–244.
Shelley, T. 2006. Nanotechnology: New promises, new dangers. London: Zed Books.
Snider, J., R.P. Hill, and D. Martin. 2003. Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century: A view from the world’s most successful firms. Journal of Business Ethics 48: 175–187.
Social and Economic Council of The Netherlands (SER). 2008. Advies Duurzame globalisering: een wereld te winnen. The Hague: SER.
Swierstra, T., and A. Rip. 2007. Nano-ethics as NEST-ethics: Patterns of moral argumentation about new and emerging science and technology. NanoEthics 1(1): 3–20.
Transparantie Benchmark. 2013a. (In English: Transparency Benchmark) about the Transparantie Benchmark. http://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/Over%20Transparantiebenchmark. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Transparantie Benchmark. 2013b. (In English: Transparency Benchmark) on the CSR transparency. List of companies. http://www.transparantiebenchmark.nl/bedrijven. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
Twente Solid State Technology. 2013. TSST.nl. http://www.tsst.nl. Accessed 18 Nov 2013.
van Heemskerk, F 2008. Brief van de staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken aan de Voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal [Letter from the State Secretary of Economic Affairs to the Chairman of the Parliament]. Den Haag, 22 Dec 2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bos, C., van Lente, H. (2014). Value Chain Responsibility in Emerging Technologies. In: Arnaldi, S., Ferrari, A., Magaudda, P., Marin, F. (eds) Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development. The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9103-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9103-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9102-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9103-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)