TJSGA's commentary on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Southern countries: the other context

Pierre Hupperts

Presently, CSR criteria are typically defined in the North due to a yet incipient albeit growing participation of the South. The day when CSR acquires in the South a role at least equivalent to that already present in the North seems still distant. Yet, the incorporation of the South to the advancement of CSR is of utmost importance since many of the topics under discussion in the North have to do directly with the behaviour of its corporations in the South. Thus, it is indispensable for the South to state its views about the responsibilities of multinationals, from its own perspective, so that these are defined not just from the vision of the North's civil society.

Without a doubt, the clearest case of the incipient participation of the South in the development of CSR is the topic of living wages. It appears that a theme as critical for the South as the need for its workers to earn a living wage does not seem to receive enough attention in both the North and the South or to have a solution when, in reality, it does and it is viable in the specific context of each country. As Pierre Hupperts, an international consultant on CSR and the author of this commentary, rightly questions, what does CSR pretend but for those working to live in a dignified way from their work? This is the least that would be expected from a "good" CSR policy. For, what if not do the words "Responsibility" and "Social" refer to when speaking about CSR?