Corporate social responsibility: What is it good for?

In the 1990s, as a result of negative publicity about working conditions in factories in developing countries, many multi-national companies established corporate social responsibility programs. This researcher spent 2 weeks in China, interviewing an average of 12 workers and managers in each of 4 footwear factories of a famous brand, to evaluate the effect of the corporate social responsibility program. Two years later, in 2008, the researcher went to Vietnam to examine garment factories of the same famous brand and non-branded garment factories. The state of working conditions, ranging from quite good to abysmal, as well as the benefits and limitations of this approach to ensuring decent conditions for workers, will be discussed.