A social conscience in the global marketplace?: Labour dimensions of codes of conduct, social labelling and investor initiatives

Focuses on private-sector initiatives that address labour prac-tices in transnational enterprise operations, and comments on their effective-ness. Specifically, it examines codes of conduct, social labelling programmes and investor initiatives, drawing inter alia on a preliminary review of some 215 codes and 12 social labelling programmes. Codes and labels form part of a broader set of initiatives which seek to inform and influence consumers, business partners, investors and/or the media in regard to particular enterprises’ social goals or achievements. Investor initiatives, by contrast, are part of a range of activities aimed at influencing enterprise decision-making and, in this case, enterprise adherence to codes and labels. A review of the content and operation of these three types of initiative reveals the mixed reception they are given, not only by business, consumers and other interested private-sector actors, but also by those concerned with the public effects of this disparate, yet persistent pursuit of a private form of social justice for private gain. [author]