Resolving Environmental and Social Conflicts: Responsible Innovation in Small Producers' Clusters in Northern Vietnam *

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder analysis have increasingly become part of business operations as built-in, self-regulating mechanisms through which businesses monitor and ensure their adherence to the law, ethical standards and international norms. The idea of responsible business originated in the UK, Europe and the USA in the nineteenth century out of a sense that business inherently involves relationships between people and between people and resources. ¹ Early academic writing on CSR and stakeholder analysis reflected concerns about the duty to respect direct stakeholders’ environmental and social interests. These often focused around issues such as labor conditions and housing or funding local events, scholarships and cleanup campaigns. ² However, until the 1990s, CSR and the stakeholder approach had only a limited influence on the private sector and relatively few business actors actually followed such practices.