ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the idea of 'corporate social responsibility' that has emerged in recent years as part of a growing consciousness about the effects of globalisation on the developing world, about the degradation of the environment and about the role of companies in those things. The growth of concern about corporate social responsibility is really part of a political movement that is seeking to call 'big business' to account for its impact on the human and physical world around it. As a consequence of this growing awareness of corporate social responsibility ('CSR'), radical company lawyers have begun to shift their attention from the technicalities of United Kingdom company law or US company law to the impact of the activities of companies beyond the reach of those particular jurisdictions. Consequently, CSR is seen by such economists as being a waste of resources that ought to be applied to the generation of more profit by companies.
