This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Livesey, S. M. Articles by Kearins, K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Transparent and Caring Corporations?

A Study of Sustainability Reports by the Body Shop and Royal Dutch/Shell

Fordham University

Kate Kearins

University of Waikato, New Zealand

This article analyzes sustainability values reports published by The Body Shop International and bythe Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The authors show how corporate discourses expressed in these precedent-setting texts both reflect and influence sociopolitical struggle over the meanings and practices of sustainable development. Specifically, the authors examine metaphors of transparencyand care used to describe corporate rationales for increasing stake-holder communication, including reporting. Drawing on distinct discursive domains of business accountancyand personal ethics and sentiment, these metaphors promise to reconstruct the interface between the firm and society. Exploring the quite different assumptions on which each of these metaphors relies and their implications for corporate practices of sustainable development, the authors consider whether sustainability values reporting and the dialogue that it claims to facilitate can promote more democratic and socially and environmentally responsive corporate decision making, even as they impose new forms of managerial control.

Organization & Environment, Vol. 15, No. 3, 233-258 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1086026602153001


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Clark Williams Toward a Taxonomy of Corporate Reporting Strategies Journal of Business Communication, July 1, 2008; 45(3): 232 - 264. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. Berkhout and I. H. Rowlands The Voluntary Adoption of Green Electricity By Ontario-Based Companies: The Importance of Organizational Values and Organizational Context Organization Environment, September 1, 2007; 20(3): 281 - 303. [Abstract] [PDF]