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NGOs: sharing and countervailing power for good
• Can NGOs move their attention from governments to companies as the most powerful actors in
society?
• How can NGOs, together or alone, move companies to adopt (proper) human rights standards /
practices?
• How can partnerships best take shape?
• What should the partnership portfolio of NGOs look like?
• Should one NGO focus on many companies / industry or target one particular front runner
company?
• If one company adopts standards do others follow?
• Under what conditions should non-profit labeling initiatives make themselves redundant?
Science: understanding power for good
• Can/should science remain independent from powerful business interests?
• What are the most important dimensions of corporate power that business schools need to
address?
• Can business schools / science be organized without power, and if no: how can power be
distributed evenly and productively?
• Can a ‘publish or perish’ organisation of science contribute to the production of societally relevant
knowledge?
• Can science help in effective transition processes towards a sustainable society? What issues
should be addressed first?
Bibliography
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Black, N.M. (2009). “Blood Money. A grounded theory of corporate citizenship Myanmar (Burma)
as a Case in Point” doctoral thesis, University of Waikato. Provides loads of relevant and interesting
insights.
Bleijenbergh, M. (2010) Do supermarkets put CSR on the Shelf? RSM: Master Thesis
A.G. Castermans, J.A. van der Weide, ‘The legal liability of Dutch parent companies for subsidiaries’
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D. A. Detomasi, ‘The multinational corporation and global governance’, Journal of Business Ethics,
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56 Fairhurst, G. (2010), The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership, Jossey-Bass
57
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