ABSTRACT
There is little doubt expressed when some extol the virtues of working within the guidelines of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Firms working in this way manage their staff carefully and they in turn respond by adhering to policies, ethically arranging new accounts and illustrate their personal well-being by lowering their turnover rate. The firm’s products or services are of high quality, made ethically and efficiently and thus customers and clients look to this firm to accept more of their business, hence profits grow, but not at the expense of the suppliers. Through transparent accounting and being able to view compliant declarations, the ethical investors will turn to the firm as it exhibits such good qualities. But dig deeper and we find the suppliers at the second and deeper tiers may be less perfect, and customers too may put the (ethical) products to darker uses. However, the world is not perfect. Once one deconstructs the euphoria about CSR it is possible to observe dissent. We are all products of our own cultural context and histories, which determine our identities and world view. Thus, by differing one with another we will not necessarily perceive matters in the same ways; we will even reject some behaviour as being inappropriate to our situation – to the surprise of others.
