How Firms Balance Social Responsibility with Surplus Value from Labor Inputs

Li-Hwa Hung
Additional contact information
Li-Hwa Hung: Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology

Chapter 3 in Capitalism and the Social Relationship, 2014, pp 36-53 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership and market-allocated resources. Market capitalism currently faces numerous threats that may disturb the foundations of capitalism. In the past 50 years, the world has experienced unprecedented economic growth, which is largely attributable to the global spread of market capitalism (Meyer & Kirby, 2012). Since the 1990s, re-engineering, subcontracting, and globalization have become the prevalent mainstream operation and management models. According to ‘re-engineering,’ business operations are examined from a technological perspective that ignores human needs. Because of globalization, businesses in developed regions can engage in subcontracting to outsource non-core business and direct manufacturing to developing countries and areas, enabling the businesses in developed regions to reduce the long-term burdens and responsibilities of their employees. Because the contracted businesses face substantial cost pressures, they endeavor to reduce labor costs as much as possible. Several businesses even believe that the ability to achieve lower labor costs is a competitive advantage for developing countries and areas. The operation and management models have faced a ‘double squeeze’ from humans’ greedy nature (e.g., neglecting human needs; subcontracting employee challenges and responsibilities) and the pressure of competition (e.g., businesses’ fear of losing contracts and profits).

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Supply Chain; Business Ethic; Social Responsibility; Supply Chain Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-32570-9_3

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137325709

DOI: 10.1057/9781137325709_3

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().