Magdalena And Balthasar Essays - Steven Ozment, Biblical Magi

Magdalena And Balthasar Based upon evidence, fact, and logical reasoning, Steven Ozment explores the relationship of a sixteenth century German merchant and his wife. The piece talks about the hardships of long distance marriage, the Black Plague that swept through Germany, the death of their only child, and the business that helps bind the two lovers together. One of the tactics that Magdalena and Balthasar use to keep each other sane, is the writing of love letters back and forth. No matter where they may be just to make sure that their undivided love will never part. The nature of the relationship between Magdalena and Balthasar consisted of a very strong love for one another. They exchanged love letters whenever Balthasar had to go away on a business trip. The first place he wrote to his wife was from Lucca. Magdalena would receive his letter about three to four weeks later in their hometown of Nuremberg. Eight of the letters written were from Balthasar and three were from Magdalena. "Magdalena receives all Balthasar's letters with ?longing and heartfelt joy'. A letter from him at Christmas time becomes ?a true gift from the Christ Child'" (Ozment 28). With every written letter, a sense of love and devotion is seen. "I have at 12:00 this might received with great longing your letter of November 11. As I had carefully considered and calculated the mail delivery with which your reply to my letter must come, I waited with longing for a letter last Sunday" (28). This quote shows that Balthasar is devoted to his wife because he is willing to give up a good day's worth of trading just to hear from her. Besides all the love that was expressed between the couple in their letters, some tensions are seen. For example, Magdalena became angry with Balthasar because he did not write back to her as soon as he received her new letter. Something like this would worry most wives during this era due to the high death rate caused by germs, viruses, and the Black Plague. "Magdalena complains on December 1 that she has not heard from Balthasar for over two weeks and accuses him of giving his business mail priority over writing to her" (45). Magdalena is a prime example of most women because they both like to be put ahead of everything else in the world. Little Balthasar was the child of Balthasar and Magdalena in the story. He was born with a deformity in his neck that could not be cured. The old fashioned treatment that was given was a type of ointment called salve. Little Balthasar saw his father as a man with near-magical powers. Anything the young lad asked for, his father would try his hardest to get it to him. Otherwise, Magdalena would write in her letter how perfect of a child they had. "Magdalena is advocate and sentinel for her son, reminding the absent father of the boy's worthiness and encouraging paternal recognition and praise... ?You must have a satin purse made for little Balthasar'" (92). Magdalena devoted herself to little Balthasar's education and training. He was attending music lessons by the age of seven. His teacher was even praising him because she never had a pupil grasp the fundamentals so quickly. With the success of new talent, Magdalena insists that Balthasar ought to send his son something. "Balthasar treated gifts strictly as incentives for good conduct, using them to threaten the boy into behaving well" (94). In the reply letter from his wife, Balthasar instructs her to tell her son how he should be acting. "Magdalena is worried that Balthasar played too much upon the boy's emotions and did not realize the harsh impact his words and actions could have" (94). He also said that the "quality of their relationship upon his return would depend on his behavior during his absence" (94). Things like this would scare a child into being a perfect angel. Balthasar's plan wad to keep order in his house while he was on business. When little Balthasar was eight-years-old, he became ill with worms and dropsy. Neither doctor that looked at him could determine a remedy that would eliminate his pain. Everything from enemas, herbal purgatives, and stomach plasters diluted some of the pain, but not all of it. Magdalena wrote to her husband to come home immediately because she did not know when their son was going to die. Three days after sending the letter, little Balthasar passed away. Magdalena wept for a while and it is

Hibridity in Walcott poetry and drama

Hibridity in Walcott poetry and drama Introduction Walcott’s poetry harnesses the metaphorical play of resemblance in all his works to amplify the trans-racial relationship that existed between the black and white cultures in pre-colonial periods. The dramatic monologue offered the poem published in Omeros and Dream of Monkey Mountain offers paradoxically and objectifies the ideal embodiment of metaphoric conjuncture. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Hibridity in Walcott poetry and drama specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Following the description of physiognomy in Walcott’s characters, the poet reinforces the symbolic connection of racial and cultural consideration as Western colonial figures. Walcott struggles with race and discrimination and continues to search for his identity through the character of Achille. The thematic suggestion of conflict depicted in Achille’s relationship with Helen broaden’s the conflicts t hat stems from cultural contextualization of post-colonial period. Once again, Walcott uses the cultural predicaments to resolve his question about the correct expression of hybrid identity and uses Achille character to contemplate his African and British inheritances. In historical perspective, the poet literature celebrates the Caribbean culture and the same time tries to resolves the question of Western colonial figure by finding a common ground between the Africa and the British cultures which are not united in his identity. Walcott influential negritude in Omeros represent slaves inherent histories of excruciating pain, cruelty and abuse and his regional designation are reductive since he considers the assumption that Omero simply transports the classical Philoctetes among other types of Homeric types of the Caribbean in exemplifying the direction and polyvalence of his poetic discourse. Neither of the paragrims offers the definitive solution to the implicit question of Walcot t’s hybridity. It may be equally plausible to argue that the author complicates the relationships of the slavery descendants by oscillating between North and South, West and East, Europe, and the Caribbean. Ramazan argues that before we dwell on Walcott’s metonymic family we must first ask ourselves, â€Å"where does Philoctetes come from? (61).To answer this question, Ramazan describes Philoctetes as â€Å"they come from a rusty anchor, and the allegory, from slavery† (61). Advertising Looking for research paper on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In historical perspective, The P in Philoctetes is depicted to mean the origins of multiples. That brings us to the second question of whether the word comes from the wounded black body of the Afro-Carribean negritude, the Euromodernist, Caribean Caliban or the Greek Philoctetes. The poet regional designations are reductive in t he sense that they do not distinctively define the regions and exhibits the structural doubleness tht confuses the reader. A cultural analysis places the Caribbean Caliba to be coming from the West and the negritude developed from the inter-mixture of the dialectical reversal of Western colonialist stereotypes. Here, Walcott thickens the cultural hybridity by mixing the Caribbean and the European paradigrim. In his poet efforts, Walcott’s does nothing to purifying the dialect of the tribe but instead accelerates, complicates and widens the gap (Ramazan 61: Ramazani (b). 416) Another one of Walcott’s recurrent metaphors of cultural hybridity occurs where he uses â€Å"the scar† to represent the wound in comparing the cultural heterogeneity of the Antilles. He depicts black wounds to mean pain inflicted on them while the white scars represent restoration. Ramazan laments that â€Å"if the pieces are disparate, ill-fitting, they contain more pain than their origi nal sculpture† (61). The scars in Walcott’s Omeros represent the wounds left by the slavemanship in the Caribbean combination of black and white skins of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Ramazan describes the relation as â€Å"the monumental groaning and soldering of two great worlds. Like the halves of a fruit seamed by its own bitter juice† (62). Walcott’s description of bitterness and pain is nothing that can be repaired at all, the black communities suffering demonstrates all the kinds of transgression they encountered in the generic privileges of post-colonial. In Omeros intercultural labor of his poem is represented in the personifications of characters in cultural and racial hybridity. Walcott’s and many of the characters names are taken from the culture of the colonizer, and the slavery wounded bodies represent their allegorizing cruelty. The Caribbean poet brings the mixed cultural inheritances and Walcott’s work revolves from Eurocentrism literary to Afro-centrism, denies and embraces African cultures in his Caribbean art. In exploring the Philoctetes, he illustrates their wounds by bringing out the two opposites of the Eurocentric and Afrocentric contemporary world (Terada 190). His black literature asserts Walcott’s isolation and regards metaphor and post-coloniality differences in composing the visions of the black characters in the metaphoric and narrative style on the journey towards self-realization. He traces the cross-cultural literacy genealogies of the wound and its bearers (the slaves) in Omeros. The wounds once gain encodes the unambiguously of the painful experience inherent within the Afro-Caribbean legacy of colonialism. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Hibridity in Walcott poetry and drama specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He uses wound motif to show the extend of black experience. The wound also symbolizes a trope of polymorphous diversity within the text. Ramazan argues that Walcott’s poet introduces the wound motif associated with black experience before he introduces the principle of white character and the black man here is associated with wound because of the poems cross-cultural thematics (Ramazan 64). Affliction is another of his themes which also represents black people’s pain. Plunkett wound in the head is inflicted by an explosion during the North African campaign of World War II which demonstrates the black people’s wounds inherent within the European colonialism. The character Philoctetes introduces spasm of uncontrollable pain which expresses the nature of suffering the white man inflicted on black man in the aftermath of colonialism. This shows that the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized inherit a legacy of affliction in the Caribbean. Philoctetes is rendered impotent and blames his temper on the injury. The wound offers the reade r an entry way into Afro-Caribbean experience as they cannot fully comprehend the local burden of historical pain (Ramazan 66). The metaphor of light is also used to symbolize the authoritative power the white man had over the blacks and the wound represented here by Walcott (270) describes the wound as radiant. It demonstrates how European languages, a colonial language had impacted on West Indies. Omeros refers to the wound of language he would wish to remove after Plunkett mimic the upper-class accents in a linguistic charade. The upper class language here is represented to mean the colonial language, and the blacks become radiant when they speak the language. Themes like wound, weapon and cure fall into metonymic family that represents the metaphoric and the narrative styles of the poet throughout the poem. By means of wound trope, Walcott crosses and re-crosses the lines of race, nation and gender. He compares himself with characters in the play stipulating that they share one wound and the same cure. Although Walcott’s post-universal sensibilities bridles at some assertions of character identity, his narratives and poets clearly incorporate elements of genre to bring broader perspective of the traditional heroic of the classical literature epics. Advertising Looking for research paper on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More He signals the distance transverse by trope in describing different lifestyles of the poor man, now the slave and the rich man. He provides an example of a fisherman who lives in a poor village while a poet lives at a hotel. The poet, primarily the wound bearer, embodies the principle of metaphorical coupling, mediating between Greek and Africa, white and black, wound and cure and Achille and Hector (Ramazan 66) Plunkett is afflicted with another wound of the death of his wife in (Walcott 309) and at Saint Lucia, fisherman suffers the wound made from loving the sea over their country. The poet images in describing the wound flickers between black and white, the living and the dead, the real and the fantastic ( Walcott 286). Also, the movement of metaphor across ethnic, regional and gender boundaries openly show Walcott’s hybridity of post-conialism which finds its fullest articulation in poetry. Forced and voluntary migration, crossing of people, linguistic creolization and racial miscegenation are among the poetic metaphors that encodes the fabric of postcolonial text. In Omeros, Walcott’s wound motif helps the reader discover the creation resemblance in confronting tribal, ethic or national issues. Omeros remembers and repeats the word wound over and over, or otherwise known to the Greeks as ‘Trauma†, to reinforce the Afro-Caribbean story. The play is set on an African cultural scene with primitive dances, musical instruments, and tools to represent the St. Lucian customs and devices. Combined with Afolable and village griot, the story sets the historical amnesia of the African diaspora in the displacement of Native Americans and Africans in the new world (Walcott Book three). In Book four, genocidal policies of white men led to the massacre of more than three hundred families who had camped along Wounded Knee Creek. Plunkett is represents two personalities in Walcotts’s play Omeros, first; she is emblematic of her race and tries to identify with her own race and class to escape from ‘’from people who have been deprived of their own history† (Book four). Achilles journey back to Africa represents the Black people’s journey towards self-realization and establishes some sense of pride in him though Africa is not his home and self-determination here is not guaranteed as a cultural independence. Omeros forces the hegemonic power, deprivation, colonial neglect in the third world countries to describe the poet’s hybridity in recording his people’s struggle with identity, self esteem and independence. The writing is purely a narration of peasants engaged in great battles of the West colonizers. The setting of Omeros takes place in post colonial St. Lucia, North America and some European capitals. And the West Indies have been identified with alien races and cultures, though elusive at some point, the story revolves around personal problems the poet (Ismond 60). Dream on Monkey Mountain Walcott’s Dream on Monkey Mountain uses dialects as metaphors to illustrate how hybridity was applied in the play. Vernacular languages used here signify the poet’s struggle to establish the discourse that is internally persuasive. Hybridity and thematic suggestions represents the social situation of the colonial in the West Indies. The poet’s paragrims shifts between the cultural predicaments of the black skin, white, Negro and language in conveying the cultural impediments of the characters. West Indies search of identity and the damage the colonial spirit did to their soles reinforces the symbolic connection of the slavemanship and colonization. In Walcott’s Dream on Monkey Mountain, all the actors in the play seem to be undergoing some sought of identification. They are often trying to find meaning of their culture and they all seem to be going through an upheaval in identifying their physiognomy. They believe by doing this they w ill be shaking off the stereotypes that have been imposed on them for centuries (Sinnewe 42). Colonial spirit is represented in the book to mean the curse that was laid upon on black people in the metaphoric webbing of Western colonization language. They believe the curse was laid upon them since they had to be transported from colonization, and language was the vehicle of language to break through slavery. Walcott identifies secular, religion, and language as a metaphoric power in explaining his hybridity. And he believes power over the colonized people can be maintained through the language of the law, the legal and the religious register upheld through the language of colonizer and the Roman law which represents the bible and all combined form an authoritative discourse of power. Authoritative language here is the Standard English imported by a colonizer which the poet refers to as internal persuasive discourse. The contrast of languages and the concepts they are made provides t he central analysis of the play (Kelly 57). In a chorus, Walcott introduces a scene of prison on West Indies Island with a song complaining the imprisonment of his mother’s son with a song. Another song is introduced by two felons; Tigre and Souris singing as they watch Corporal Lestrade locking up the charcoal burner, Makak. Both the corporal and the two felons speak the language of islander which is a vernacular English and he easily shifts to standard English immediately while using the legal register. Here Sinnewe assumes the legal register language to be the language of a colonizer and when Corporal uses it in addressing his subject; he depicts Walcott hybridity of colonialism. For example, the Corporal when addressing Makak he uses words such as (Sinnewe) â€Å"Now before I bring a specific charge against you, I require certain particulars (42). The Corporal linguistic superiority heightens the levels of discrimination in black communities. He refers to prisons as ani mals since they behave and act like them and since he comes from a mixed race, he places status in the superiority category. The Corporal sees himself as a traitor of their entire race when he equates Negroes with apes. Walcott categorizes race in this book in two levels, the level of content and the level of linguistics. In the level of content for instance, Lestrade equates Negros with Apes and the second level in using lingustics â€Å"the Negro is an ape†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ to refer to their intellectual inferiority that all Negros can do is imitate, or most obey orders. Inferiority of negros can also be shown to be social reality, after all, they are all prisoners subjected to the civil law (Walcott 217). Since inmates know that an never be equals to the Whites, they only use religion to escape from this situation, the bible offers then redemption, and Tigres finds solace in religious song which delineated from the original authoritative discourse of the colonizer world. In Walcot t†¦ When the roll Is called up yonder. When the roll is called up yonder, I ain’t going! [ .†¦] And nobody else here going, you all too black, except possibly the Corporal..(217). We can see here that the language is broken into religious and authoritative discourse which Tigres believes that black equates badness bearing no redemption. Religion here is imported religion from the whites and offers no solace to black souls. The authoritative language used in the song means the colonizers words cannot be interpreted to solve the situation of blacks. The issues of race either from the religious discourse or the secular point of view are bound by the problems of language and manifest itself in the language characters use to illustrate Walcott hybridity themes. For example, when Lestrade interviews Makak, Lastrade asks him questions that seem stereotypical of what authoritative power assumes Black people to be. He is not let to answer what his residential place is as the corporal suggests Africa, but Makak corrects him in Walcott dialogue lamenting that Makak: Sur Morne Macaque Corporal [infuriated] English, English, English! For we are observing the principle of Roman Law, and Roman law is English law†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (219). Corporal English is equated with proper language to be used, legal register of Standard English which is not understood by Makak and asks for elaboration. Makak does not understand the language of power and remains silent when Corporal asks him questions and only speaks in his vernacular language. The corporal is a representative of the colonial law and Makak suffers from Inferiority complex. Lestrade by renouncing his blackness, his jungle nature, assumes a language presumed to be colonial language, adopts the culture and identity of a white man. Makak however remains black such that he is in need of an interpreter , Souris whose role is to translate the Corporal questions into French Creole Makak can understand plays the role of translator which heighten his status since he can understand the master’s colonized language (Sinnewe 44). Linguistic Manifestation of the Racial Hierarchy At the bottom of linguistic hierarchy you can find Makak, the dirty charcoal burner, black and has similarities of a gorilla according to Souris description and resembles an ape in physical features and name. He never speaks and when he does it’s only in vernacular English, French Creole and portrays the Standard English to be a colonizer’s language in the legal register and he requires translation (Sinnewe 44). At the top of social and linguistic hierarchy are the colonial masters, Corporal Lestrade, who is half white which Tigres describes him as closet to redemption. He switches easily between the languages of a colonizaer and a vernacular English. He has mastered the discourse of a colonizer. The middle of the hierarchy lies Tigres and Souris, though prisoners like Makak but since he plays the translat or role, and Tigres associate judge, are elevated above animal status according to Lestrade description though they only relate to each other through vernacular English admiring the Lestrade good command of authoritative language of power (Ismond 60). Quest for identity Walcott hibridity in Dream on Monkey Mountain is directly linked to the search of identity in race and racism and Makak predicaments are related to his status as a man of African descent. Possession of cultural identity is displays in Walcott hibridity’s characters. On an interview of Makak and Lestrade, Makak claims to have forgotten his name and forgotten his identity and has been nicknamed Makak though his real name is Macaque, a name that provides him a subhuman identification rather than human identity (Walcott 235). Lestrade in his function as a legal representative of the white ruling class gives him the impression that negro equals ape and Makak’s name suits him well. Makak’s physiognomy of ugliness has been imposed on him and the White Goddess he meets in his dream tells him he comes from a family of lions and kings and his return to Africa will help him find his true identity. Walcott comments that †Makak will walk like he used to in Africa, when his name was lion (240). Moustique character is introduced in the book to represent the practical realist, he balances Makak’s dream of pride and aloof self-esteem with down to earth realism. He reacts by Makak dream by saying (Walcott) â€Å"Well, you lucky. (Rises wearily) Me and Berthilia have three bags of coal to try and sell in the market this morning. (..) You had a bad dream, or you sleep outside and the dew seize you† (237). The theme of Walcott’s hybridity is represented where the alienated black man longing for whiteness equates power, for example Makak’s dreams can only be fulfilled by possession of a white woman. Moustique mistakes Makak’s dream as sexual longing for a white woman rather than his dream for freedom. By finding a white mask Makak declares (Walcott) â€Å"She leave her face behind, she leave the wrong thing. Ah, Mon Dieu. [ he sits by the fire, puffing his pipe angrily, pokes the fire] And the dammned fire out† (240). Moustique’s definition of self-esteem is depicted to mean an economic basis imposed by a colonizer. Makak provided him the self-esteem when they first met that stems from social basis. He laments that Makak made him believe his black skin and barefoot could go somewhere in life (Walcott 234). He uses the word to go somewhere as a metaphor for social mobility and Makak uses the word to mean to go to Africa, finding his roots that would allow him a rise in his self-esteem other than climbing up a white social ladder. Moustique’s value system and ideology of the colonizer are only valid in the public (the social field) but it when it comes to spiritual matters, his self-esteem remains within the v alue of colonizer though it means self-betrayal. Moustiques repeats the words of â€Å"those white colonizer† when they were trying to convert the native tribes to Christianity that claimed that only the savagers believed in signs such as spiders and white eggs. This view adopts him an imported value and beliefs system of the colonizer. Since his value system is basically white, which its origins lie in an authoritarian imposition rather than a persuasive adoption. This means that its authority will be diminished to the same level as its usefulness in relation to situations of blacks, and for this case, Moustique is diminished (Sinnewe 49). Coming down to Monkey Mountain, protagonist are flooded with white moonlight, setting the scene of the forging authoritarian (inspection) imposition of white concept on the blacks. Spiritual and Material Aspect of Identity In the second scene, Walcott brings three avenues of religion as a component part of one’s identity. The scene is set in moonlight, enhancing the whiteness of the robes won by members of the sisterhood. The theme introduced here is Christianity, imposed by most parts of colonized world. The authoritative formalization of the words in the Lord’s Prayer which Moustique recites, are interpreted in vernacular English, they re-evaluate and re-interpret against the back drop of vernacular folk language. The heavily styles English of the Lord’s prayer and the vernacular language of Makak characterizes parody as Walcott’s hybrid, where languages are criss-crossed which serve as rejoinders of dialogue. The two languages relate to each other as rejoinders are evinced in Walcott as First peasant: [Keeping the whisper] where do you come from, stranger†¦now and at the hour of our death, amen Moustiquel [Whispering] From Monkey Mountain, in Forestiere quarter†¦.and forgive us our trespasses†¦amen [] (244) The word forgive us our trespasses line reads similar to the an swer of the first peasant’s question â€Å"where do you come from† and being descendants from Monkey mountain, their origin was almost as a sin that had to be forgiven. But Moustique’s prayer for bread is not answered or his pledge for it is met for those who pray in Christian way. Tigres argues that since Prologue of Christianity did not provide solace for him, the Negro is therefore not any better than white since both their prayers are not met. The first peasant asks in Walcott â€Å"he’s say he angry, and could we spare him some food? the woman have began rubbing the sick man† (246) and the second Peasant in Walcott answers â€Å"I have only enough for us here, brother† (246). And only after when Moustique offers Makak help for curing the sick man is when he is given some food. The white prayers as Moustique calls them did not help the sick man. Makak prayer claim that God planted him on the Monkey Mountain and those he sees there are à ¢â‚¬Å"†¦.like a forest with no roots† (Walcott 248). When Josephus eventually gets well, Moustique shows the avenues Makak or any west Indies may take on search for an identity of his own Moustique laments in Walcott that [†¦.] White medicine, bush medicine, not one of them work! White prayers, black prayers, and still no delieverance! And who heal the man? Makak Makak! [†¦] (251). Medicine here is used to represent the public and prayers the private sphere of life, which is neither exclusive to the white nor the blacks and helps us define the identity the concept of identity in Makak’s or West Indies eyes. It is as Makak says in Sinnewe that â€Å"the belief is one self, the belief in an identity of ones own, neither purely based on white concepts nor purely on black ones which promises the delivery from the sickness of imposed concepts of identity† ( 50). While Moustique is meant to believe in Makak prayers, it represents yet another religion, With Makak as the new prophet and himself as a practical realist as its Secretary Treasurer (Walcot 251). The man from the stretcher, a peasant is dying from a snake bite and the women continue to sing and dance around him as they have no other medicinal cure either than entertain him. He only needs to sweat to break free the snake’s vermin off his body. Makak comes in offers his prayers but the Peasants are too tired to believe in anything. The character of Moustique is again introduced in Makak’s search for identity, his dream, a social reality of the blacks and their efforts to regain identity and self-respect lies within the established white hierarchy which seems fruitless. Moustique comments in Walcott that â€Å".. [†¦.] But look at that moon, and it like a plate that a dog lick clean, bright as florin, but dogs chase me out of people yard when I go round begging. [†¦]† (255). Moustique sheds the social reality of poverty and he has to overco me it before gains any self-respect and identity of ones own can be achieved. Dream of Monkey Mountain is a poetic text that brings out the visual images of classical tradition and African elements, elements bound together into the author’s British colonial childhood. Makak illustrates the conflict between black roots and white culture. The book often deals with racial complexities of the West Indies islands and his own heritage in defining his hybridity. Dream on Monkey Mountain scene opens in a small jail is West Indies, and the Corporal Lestrade who is the official representative brings Makak in for being drunk and compares the two inmates to animals. In (Walcott Scene one), Makak’s elusive dream believes that the white woman in her dream wanted to come home with him and that would nolonger make him live in a hut-a substandard house anymore because he comes to from the royal lineage. This makes him refuse to accompany Moustique, his business partner to the market t o sell charcoal. Moustique finds a white masks under a bench and Makak accuses Makak of being elusive, and his dream with the white woman is only sexual and nothing to base his dreams on (Hamner 37; Walcott (b) 207). Scene Two, Moustique comes upon a family of a sick man, he joins them in prayers while asking them for bread. Moustique convince them to let Makak help them in exchange for bread. They kneel around the sick man and pray and nothing happens though they are given food for their effort and as they are about to leave, the sick man’s sweat started to break loose and heals. Scene three, In a social gathering, Moustique claims to be Makak and asks money in exchange for prayers for his trip to Africa though he doesn’t get any money since the crowd aren’t convinced enough to be the man he claims to be. In Scene four; Tigres convinces Makak to kill the corporal and escape together, they stab him and declaring his freedom. Part I; The two cages at the stage represents the subhuman housing condition the slaves live in, and the light that illuminates the cages and the black men inside represents the power white power have over them. Corporal comments on a biblical story of creation how God created all the apes and the ones that were left behind become â€Å"niggers (Walcott Scene four). Conclusion The play setting is a cultural tradition in which dance, music, and visual narrative which represents the African slavemanship in pre-colonial period. The chorus song about the jailed son, displays Walcott hybridity that black people are always in jail. Lestrade commends in Walcott (b) that â€Å"Black people caged before us somehow missed on God’s blessing, they are not only treated like animals but they are also given names like animals†(215) Tigres for instance in a native French language means a Tiger, Souris, for means mouse while Moustique is a French name for mosquito and Makak is a monkey species. This suggests that the play theme is centralized to the issues of racism. Makak and Moustique perceive themselves as outcast since they are both physically handicapped, Makak’s ugliness and Moustique handicapped foot. When Makak gets out fetch some coal, Moustique comments to himself on the misery black people have to live with while looking for a sack to put things in when he gets bitten by a spider. He accuses Makak for living like animals and believing in signs. Makak and Moustique are identified as black to show misery suffered by black people which brings deeper meaning to the book’s themes. Their journey to finding their true identity in Africa represents their journey towards freedom and independence, away from being treated as animals. Makak journey is inspired by a white woman, or at least a woman with a white mask Walcott in (Scene 1) makes a point of human nature to be also animal nature. Makak is described as pacing his cage, the same way animal zoo acts, circling within their co nfines of their existence until they become frustrated and result to violence, the same way Maka acts in the prison. The actions that follows him through the rest of the act where he stubs the Corporal, Makak’s escape makes the thematic change that fighting changes their living situation and erected bars represent fear and hatred. Walcott’s Dream of Monkey hibridity is represented where the black characters in the play continually search for identity. Makak claims that he deosny know his race never seen himself in the mirror for thirty year and his journey to Africa will lead to self discovery. The corporal Mullato also has identity issues, he identifies himself with whites and speaks only in the authoritative language in embraces Roman law (Scobie 1174). Hamner, Robert D., Mythological Aspects of Derek Walcotts Drama, in Ariel. July (19770): 35-58. Ismond, Patricia. â€Å"Self-Portrait of an Island: St. Lucia Through The Eyes of its Writers†. Journal of West India Literature, vol. 1 no.1, (1986): 59-73. Kelly, Kevin, The Poetic Power of Walcotts Dream, in Boston Globe, July 26(1994): 57. Ramazani, Jahan. The Hybrid muse: Postcolonial poetry in English. Gale and Gale Cengage, 2002. Ramazan, Jahan (b). The Wound of History: Walcotts Omeros and the Postcolomal Poetics of Affliction. PMIA , vol112, No 3 (1997): 405-18 Scobie, William. I., The West Coast Scene, in National Review. November 3 (1970); 1174. Terada, Rei. Omeros, in her Derek Walcolts Poetry: American Mimicry, Northeastern University Press, 1992. Walcott, Derek. Omeros. Gale and Gale Cengage, 2002 Walcott, Derek (a). Dream on Monkey Mountain and other plays. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. Walcott, Derek (b). Dream on Monkey Mountain, in Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays. Farrar, Straus, 1970.

Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story Essay - 1

Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story - Essay Example In examining Hemingway’s short stories one notes their poignant and powerful literary quality. This essay examines Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants, arguing that Hemingway’s utilization of the literary devices of tone and style work together to advance the story’s overarching narrative theme. Throughout Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants there is a tone that is articulated that establishes and advances the narrative theme. While it’s difficult to specifically indicate what the central narrative or plot of the story is, as Hemingway purposely doesn’t reveal this core information, one can to a large extent surmise that the couple is speaking about a potential abortion. In establishing this plot and narrative elements Hemingway explores a number of tonal qualities. One of the most pervasive such element is the use of a slightly existential or nihilistic perspective on life and the couple’s d ilemma. Early in the story Hemingway implements dialogue such as, â€Å"I wanted to try this new drink: That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?† (Hemingway). Hemingway implements this dialogic perspective to establish the story’s general tone of existential ennui. It also highlights the woman’s discontent with the general state of her existence and desire to potentially have the child.

Entrepreneurial Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurial Leadership - Essay Example Case (2010) identifies three P’s (people, passion and perseverance) as the key ingredients of a successful entrepreneurship. He said that the presence or absence of the three P’s in the right mix can lead to success or failure as an entrepreneur. His successful steering of AOL has been contributed to these 3 P’s by him (Case, 2010). However, the failure of merger of AOL with Time Warner was a result of incorrect focus on the 3 P’s. The merger resulted in cultural clash of employees and hence they were focused on their personal issues rather than the innovations. The passion that was earlier present in AOL employees was lost in the huge merged enterprise and finally perseverance was hit hard because people lost their belief in internet and they stopped investing in innovation. Another thing lacking in the deal was â€Å"vision execution†. A great idea rebounded because the 3 P’s were not rightly focused on â€Å"executing† the vision (C ase, 2010). Kouzes (2008) talks about five leadership practices which help in motivating people to perform at their best. Thus, he also focused on people and showed how great leaders inspire them to arouse perseverance and passion in them. The five principles are – having a clear vision of what is required so that the employees understand what is expected of them and they move accordingly, setting example by doing what is being preached, challenging the current state of affairs as status quo never inspires people to perform at their best, enabling others to act in line with the vision by understanding the motivation factors of a team or individual and encouraging the heart by rewarding exemplary performance (Kouzes, 2008). Drucker (2007) distinguishes between entrepreneurial strategies and entrepreneurial management. The first strategy is that of being seen as the undisputed leader in the market. Strategies are for external markets and can be used alone or in combination with others. It is the riskiest but pays the most if successful. This is what AOL tried to do by merging with Time Warner. Other strategies involve â€Å"creative imitation†, â€Å"entrepreneurial judo† and finding a specialized â€Å"ecological niche† (Drucker, 2007). This gives rise to entrepreneurial leadership where leaders operate in dynamic market conditions and transform the inconsistency and dynamic character of the market into opportunities (Tarabishy, Fernald and Solomon,). He is capable of using different strategies or a combination of them to establish his product/ service or company in the current environment. The entrepreneurial leader should have a clear vision, communicate it well and then help his people execute it. Types of organizations and leadership styles Organizations can be classified into different types depending on their size, culture, decision making authority and design etc. An organization which follows top-down communication, has very rigid rules, is bureaucratic in authority and has very narrowly defined tasks is called a â€Å"Mechanist Organization† (Kinicki, 2007). On the other hand an â€Å"Organic Organization† is flexible, with open communication networks, flat hierarchical structure and employees who perform variety of tasks and not just the specific ones (Kinicki, 2007). Decision making in such organizations is de-centralized and middle and lower level managers have more control over various decisions. For transformational leaders, an organic organization is best

The Ed Sullivan Show Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

The Ed Sullivan Show - Assignment Example Some musicians did not take in seriously the value of censorship on national television. It could also be that some musicians are not really that conservative when it comes to the lyrics of the song as long as they are benefiting from it and they are giving the kind of entertainment the general public wants to have. By doing what has been prohibited by the show, the band gain more popularity. They thought that being on the show was a big help to gain more exposure, the same exposure gained by the Beatles, the Stones and Elvis during their guesting on the show. stated that there is a need to evaluate the context where the censorship happens and the general context where imposing such restriction is seen as acceptable as well as the particular context of the event. It is also important to evaluate the outcome of each censorship both for the censors and for the censored. â€Å"The contested subjects are the same — sex, politics, and drugs/alcohol; and the adversaries are the same — a counter-cultural or subcultural audience against the repre ­sentatives of the countrys dominant corporate order

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in developing countries such as India using Tata Nano as a case study 1. Introduction A companys main business objective is maximisation of shareholders wealth by means of achieving higher profit. Business managers are entrusted with shareholders money so that they could run the company efficiently and profitably. According to Sloan (1964) â€Å"the strategic aim of a business is to earn a return on capital and if any particular case the return in the long run is not satisfactory, then the deficiency should be corrected or the activity abandoned for a more favourable one.† This suggests that companies are run for profit motives and this should be the top most priority of any management. However Globalisation has brought about a change in notion concerning the business objective of any company, arguments are being put forward that the business activities must take into account human and social welfare. According to Peter Drucker (1954), â€Å"the enterprise is an organ of society and its actions have a decisive impact on the social scene. It is thus important for management to realize that it must consider the impact of every business policy and business actions upon society. It has to consider whether the action is likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic belief of society, to contribute to its stability, strength and harmony†. A business enterprise is a major user of nature, society and environment; therefore it must be responsible towards their protection and development. Depletion of natural resources and causes like global warming has brought a lot attention to the sustainable use of these resources and companies are going to play a major role in ensuring this. So this marks a shift in the company objective that no longer can they only be guided by the sole aim of making profit but they should be take actions to ensure the welfare of the society in which they operate. This brings out the concept of â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†: Corporations acting as citizens of a society in a responsible manner ensuring the well beings of others in the society. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) describes CSR as â€Å"a balanced approach for organisations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way that aims to benefit people, community and society† (ISO, 2002). 1.1 Rationale behind the Research Corporate social responsibility has gained widespread attention in most developed countries; policies practices are being developed by corporations to abide by standards of environment pollution, use of human capital etc. However in less developed countries this is not a much heard or debated topic. According to Steiner Steiner (2000), â€Å"In less developed countries there is often no indigenous sense of corporate responsibility.† There are a lot of loopholes in the system and business activities are not often concentrated on human/ social welfare. Austin (1990) argues that the extremity and pervasiveness of poverty in less developed countries places a special responsibility on business, as a vehicle for creating economic progress that will help alleviate this deprivation. With developing economies a lot of importance is given to industrial upliftment and that might come at a cost of social welfare or benefit. This research aims to identify the CSR policies and practices being in use in developing countries such as India with a special reference to TATA Nano. India is a developing country which has recorded a growth rate of more than 9% for 3 years upto 2008 and has seen a decade of 7% growth. (www.economicshelp.org: accessed on 10th January 2010). In spite of the global economic slowdown is slated to grow at around 7.5% for this year (2010). The rapid growth in economy has increased the standards of living and has created huge disposable income among Indians. The car manufacturers are taking advantage of this huge growth and are coming up with various models to tap into this growing market. TATA one of the most reputed business firms of India have come up with a car called TATA Nano which is slated to be the cheapest car in the world. The price is kept at $2500 which is equivalent to 100,000 INR. The objective behind this to make four wheelers available to every common man in India; this is touted to be a very big success. I have my own reservations concerning it; what if masses can afford this car, will it not increase the fuel consump tion, thereby creating more pollution? Will it not put a huge burden on roads which are already suffering from traffic congestion? This research aims to find out whether TATA is acting in a responsible manner by launching this car. 1.2 Objectives The research can be subdivided into four parts: 1. To identify the state of CSR in developing countries such as India 2. To evaluate public awareness concerning issues such as CSR in India 3. To evaluate the impact of TATA Nano on environment, traffic congestion, demand for fuel etc 4. To suggest a number of ways in which companies in developing countries can develop frameworks to act in a more responsible manner 2. Literature Review There are numerous ways to classify the literature on CSR in developing countries i.e. in terms of content (thematic coverage), type (epistemological approach), and level (focus of analysis). The analysis would be done by each way separately: 2.1 Content Theme We would use the same classification as Lockett et al. (2006) did, the CSR literature can be categorized into four CSR themes: social, environmental, ethics, and stakeholders. One point that immediately comes to light by applying this categorization to the literature on CSR is that, in contrast to Lockett et al.s (2006) findings that most CSR articles in top management journals focus on ethical and environmental themes, most scholarly work on CSR in developing countries focuses on the social theme. Also social issues are in general given more political, economic, and media coverage in developing countries than environmental, ethical, or stakeholder issues (Schmidheiny, 2006). 2.2 Knowledge Type Lockett et al. (2006) had also classified the CSR literature by knowledge type. He found even split between theoretical and empirical research. Lockett et al. (2006) found that 89% of theoretical CSR papers are non-normative, in the CSR in developing countries literature, the balance is far more evenly split. This is mainly because relatively large number of papers on the role of â€Å"business in development† tends to adopt a normative, critical perspective (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005). Also if we see empirical research, there are also differences. According to Lockett et al. (2006), the CSR literature is dominated by quantitative methods (80%), while CSR papers on developing countries are more likely to be qualitative. Most research on CSR in developing countries to date has either generalized about all developing countries (e.g. Frynas, 2006), or focused at a national level. In terms of generic literature, Corporate Citizenship in developing countries (Pedersen and Huniche, 2006) is a useful compendium, as are special issues on CSR in developing countries that have appeared in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship (issue 24, 2006), International Affairs (81(3), 2005) and Development (47(3), 2004). Despite the focus on countries in the literature, only about a fifth of all developing countries have had any CSR journal articles published on them. Of these, the most commonly analyzed and written about countries are China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand. Analysis at a regional level (notably Africa, Asia, and Latin America) is becoming more common, but papers at the sector, corporate, or individual level remain relatively scarce. 2.3 Global Most of the literature concentrates on CSR in a global context and there is very little empirical research on the nature and extent of CSR in developing countries. One notable exception is Baskins (2006) research on the reported corporate responsibility behavior of 127 leading companies from 21 emerging markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, which he compares with over 1,700 leading companies in high-income OECD countries. Looking at three generic indicators of CSR, Baskin (2006) finds that emerging market companies have a respectable representation in the Dow Jones â€Å"Sustainability Index† and show rising levels of take-up of the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 14001. Baskin (2006) also showed that emerging markets lag the OECD significantly on reporting on business ethics and equal opportunities, are roughly at par on environmental reporting, and show comparable reporting variance on women on company boards, training and occupation al health and safety . Despite the limitations of using reporting as an indicator of CSR performance and the danger of representing regions by just a few countries (e.g. only two of the 53 countries in Africa were included in the sample), the Baskin (2006) study does provide some insight into the level of CSR activity in developing countries, concluding that: ‘there is not a vast difference in the approach to reported corporate responsibility between leading companies in high income OECD countries and their emerging-market peers. Nonetheless, corporate responsibility in emerging markets, while more extensive than commonly believed, is less embedded in corporate strategies, less pervasive and less politically rooted than in most high-income OECD countries (p. 46). 2.4 Regional Asia Major coverage of the Asia in the field of CSR often focus on China (e.g. Zhuang and Wheale, 2004), India (e.g. Balasubramanian et al., 2005), Indonesia (e.g. Blowfield, 2004), Malaysia (e.g. Zulkifli and Amran, 2006), Pakistan (e.g. Lund-Thomsen, 2004), and Thailand (e.g. Kaufman et al., 2004). Other countries that have had less attention include Bangladesh (Nielsen, 2005), the Pacific Forum Islands (Prasad, 2004), Sri Lanka (Luken and Stares, 2005), and Vietnam (Prieto-Carron, 2006b). Birch and Moon (2004) noted that â€Å"CSR performance varies greatly between countries in Asia, with a wide range of CSR issues being tackled (e.g. education, environment, employee welfare) and modes of action (e.g. foundations, volunteering, and partnerships)†. In one of the survey on CSR reporting in Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) find that nearly three quarters of large companies in India present themselves as having CSR policies and practices versus only a quarter in Indonesia and between t hese two extremes are Thailand (42%), Malaysia (32%), and the Philippines (30%). They also infer from the research that the evolution of CSR in Asia tends to occur in three waves, first being community involvement followed by successive second and third waves of socially responsible production processes and employee relations. In a comparative survey of CSR in 15 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia, Welford (2005) speculates that the low response rates from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand may in itself be an indicator of CSR being less prevalent in developing countries. This seems to be borne out by the research findings, in which these countries fairly consistently underperform when compared with developed countries across 20 aspects of CSR measured by the survey. Africa The literature on CSR in Africa is predominantly based on South Africa (Visser, 2005a), while other pockets of research exist for Cà ´te DIvoire (e.g. Schrage and Ewing, 2005), Kenya (e.g. Dolan and Opondo, 2005), Nigeria (e.g. Amaeshi et al., 2006), Tanzania (e.g. Egels, 2005), and Mali and Zambia (e.g. Hamann et al., 2005). Very few papers are focused on industry sectors, with traditionally high impact sectors like agriculture (e.g. Blowfield, 2003), mining (e.g. Kapelus, 2002), and petrochemicals (e.g. Acutt et al., 2004) featuring most prominently. Two of the best sources of literature on Africa are Corporate Citizenship in Africa (Visser et al., 2006) and the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Africa (issue 18, summer 2005). The latter concludes that ‘academic institutions and researchers focusing specifically on corporate citizenship in Africa remain few and under-developed (Visser et al., 2005: 19). This is confirmed by a review of the CSR literatu re on Africa between 1995 and 2005 (Visser, 2006a), which found that that only 12 of Africas 53 countries have had any research published in core CSR journals, with 57% of all articles focused on South Africa and 16% on Nigeria. The latter partly reflects the high media profile generated around corporate citizenship issues and the petrochemical sector, especially focused on Shell and their impacts on the Ogoni people (Ite, 2004). Economic and philanthropic aspects of CSR, rather than the legal and ethical responsibilities, will continue to dominate CSR conceptualization and practice in Africa (Visser, 2007). Corporate social responsibility in South America is not as much covered subject as other underdeveloped countries (Haslam, 2007), the focus has been mainly concentrated on Argentina (e.g. Newell and Muro, 2006), Brazil (e.g. Vivarta and Canela, 2006) and Mexico (e.g. Weyzig, 2006), although Nicaragua (Prieto-Carron, 2006a) and Venezuela (Peindado-Vara, 2006) also feature. De Oliveira in 2006 has noted that the Corporate social responsibility agenda in South America has been heavily influenced by socio-economic and political conditions, which have invariably led to problems like, unemployment, in- equality, and crime. Schmidheiny has in 2006 stated that Corporate social responsibility has ushered a positive effect in South America. The trend towards increasing CSR in the region has been generally upward. For example, Correa et al. has reported in his article in 2004 that by 2004 there were thousand South American companies which were member of organization called EMPRESA (the hemisphe re-wide CSR network), another three hundred companies were members of the â€Å"World Business Council† for Sustainable Development, also another fourteen hundred had obtained ISO 14001 certification, and one hundred eighteen had signed UN Global Compact. 2.5 Motivations Until now we have classified the CSR literature on a regional level. To further see the difference between the CSR in developing countries and developed countries we would now isolate motivations for CSR in developing countries, with the help of this we would be able to see why the CSR in developing countries is so unique. Some of the motivations for CSR that I have isolated with the help of literature review are: 2.5.1 Cultural Tradition The term CSR has been widely used in western countries and hence there is a widespread believe that CSR is a Western thing but on the contrary there is evidence that CSR in developing countries has been around for centuries and its man pillar has been deep-rooted indigenous cultural traditions of philanthropy and business ethics. An excellent example was given by, Visser and Macintosh in 1998 they have quoted that â€Å"the ethical condemnation of usurious business practices in developing countries that practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity dates back thousands of years†. Another example was given by Frynas (2006) ‘business practices based on moral principles were advocated by the Indian statesman and philosopher Kautilya in the 4th century BC. If we take South American context, Sanborn (2002), quoted in Logsdon et al. (2006) that ‘varied traditions of community self-help and solidarity stretch back to the regions pre-Hispanic cultures, and include t he mutual aid societies, trade unions and professional associations that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Logsdon et al.s (2006) stated that â€Å"One myth is that CSR in Mexico is new, another is that US firms brought CSR to Mexico, and a third is that CSR as practised by Mexican firms simply reflects the CSR patterns and activities of US firms†. Even if we take CSR for more modern times I have found that it was heavily influenced by local culture, Vivess (2006) had conducted survey of over 1,300 enterprises in South America, his findings were that the regions religious beliefs are one of the major motivations for CSR. Also Nelson (2004) founded that Buddhist traditions in Asia are aligned with CSR. Also for Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) had reached a same conclusion, that â€Å"CSR does vary considerably among Asian countries but that this variation is not explained by [levels of] development but by factors in the respective national business systems†, t his was consistent with Birch and Moons (2004) finding in his paper for the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Asia. If we take African the findings are same, Amaeshi et al. (2006) found that CSR in Nigeria is heavily influenced by local socio-cultural influences like communalism, ethnic religious beliefs, and charitable traditions. 2.5.2 Political Upheaval CSR in developing countries are heavily influenced by the social and political reforms, which drives business behavior towards integrating social and ethical issues. De Oliveira (2006) has argued that â€Å"the political and associated social and economic changes in Latin America since the 1980s, including democratization, liberalization, and privatization, have shifted the role of business towards taking greater responsibility for social and environmental issues†. A recent example can be the case of South Africa, the political changes towards democracy and end of decades of apartheid have been a significant driver for CSR, through the practice of improved corporate governance (Roussouw et al., 2002), collective business action for social upliftment (Fourie and Eloff, 2005) has led to black economic empowerment (Fig, 2005), and business ethics (Malan, 2005). Visser (2005a) lists more than a dozen examples of socio-economic, environmental, and labor-related legislative reform i n South Africa between 1994 and 2004 that have a direct bearing on CSR. Another excellent example can be given of many central and eastern European countries which have been recently inducted into European Union, these countries have now shifted towards CSR .(Baskin, 2006). 2.5.3 Social and Economic Conditions It is often said that the CSR in developing countries is directly shaped by the social conditions and economic environment present in the country in which firms operate and the development priorities this creates. Amaeshi et al. (2006), had argued that â€Å"CSR in Nigeria is specifically aimed at addressing the socio-economic development challenges of the country, including poverty alleviation, health-care provision, infrastructure development, and education. This, they argue, stands in stark contrast to many Western CSR priorities such as consumer protection, fair trade, green marketing, climate change concerns, or socially responsible investments.† Schmidheiny (2006) had questioned the appropriateness of foreign CSR approaches, citing examples from South America, where the most important issues like poverty, illiteracy, crime and tax avoidance are not included in the CSR conceptions in developed countries, but if we consider locally developed CSR approaches, then they are m ost likely to respond to the many local social and environmental problems, such as deforestation, unemployment, income inequality, and crime (De Oliveira, 2006). 2.5.4 Poor Governance CSR can be seen as a form of private or self governance or a response to poor governance (Levy and Kaplan, Chapter 19). A particular important aspect of the CSR for developing countries is the fact it is often seen as a way to plug the gaps left by weak, corrupt, or under-resourced governments that fail to adequately provide various social services. Furthermore, â€Å"as many developing country government initiatives to improve living conditions falter, proponents of [CSR and bottom of the pyramid] strategies argue that companies can assume this role†. Such proponents of CSR, Blowfield and Frynas (2005) observe, â€Å"an alternative to government† which is â€Å"frequently advocated as a means of filling gaps in governance that have arisen with the acceleration of liberal economic globalization†. A survey was conducted by â€Å"World Business Council for Sustainable Development† (WBCSD 2000) in their report they illustrated that, when asked how CSR should be defined, peoples in Ghana stressed ‘building local capacity and ‘filling in when government falls short. Moon (2002a) in his paper has argued that, this phenomenon is part of a broader political shift towards ‘new governance or â€Å"alternate governance† approaches, here the local governments are trying to share responsibilities and to develop more effective modes of operation, the reason may be result of overload or of a view that they do not have a monopoly of solutions for society. This is often in the form of social partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations. Moon et al. (2005) has cited this phenomenon as an example of companies acting in a ‘civic republicanism mode. In addition to being encouraged to step in where once only governments acted, through the mechanism of either privatization or welfare reform, Matten and Crane (2005) also suggest that companies enter the arena of citizenship where government has not as yet administ ered citizenship rights, for example, improving working conditions in sweatshops, ensuring for employees a living wage, and financing the schooling of child laborers in the absence of legislation requiring this. However, this approach is not without its share of criticism ,Hamann et al. (2005) had argued that CSR is not adequate response to these governance gaps and that more proactive steps involving local government towards accountability and inclusiveness is necessary. Blowfield and Frynas (2005) had questioned the very logic: â€Å"Is CSR a stepping-stone on the path to better national regulation in developing countries? Or is it part of a longer term project for overcoming the weaknesses of territorially prescribed judicial and welfare mechanisms that is, addressing the limitations of the nation-state in regulating a global economy?† There are also serious questions about the dependencies this governance gap approach to CSR creates, especially where communities become re liant for their social services on companies whose primary accountability is to their shareholders. Hence, multinationals may cut expenditure, or disinvest from a region if the economics dictates that they will be more profitable elsewhere. There is also the issue of perceived complicity between governments and companies, as Shell all too painfully experienced in Nigeria (Ite, 2004). 2.5.5 Crisis Response Crises associated with developing countries have in the past affected CSR responses. These crises can come in the form of economic, social, environmental, health-related, or industrial accident. An excellent example was quoted by Newell (2005) that â€Å"the economic crisis in Argentina in 2001-2 marked a significant turning point in CSR, prompting debates about the role of business in poverty alleviation†. Another example can be of climate change (Hoffman, 2005) and HIV/AIDS (Dunfee, 2006) these crises have bought CSR in developing countries into lime-light. Catastrophic events with immediate impact are often more likely to elicit CSR responses, especially of the philanthropic kind. The companys quick response to the Asian tsunami is an excellent case (Fernando, 2007). However, companies can also have negative affect like industrial accidents. Examples include Union Carbides response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India (Shrivastava, 1995) and Shells response to the hanging o f human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria in 1995 (Wheeler et al., 2002). 2.5.6 Market Access Not all the intention of the companies in developing the CSR is for good, some companies may also see these unfulfilled human needs as an untapped market. This can be corroborated from the fact that there lies burgeoning literature on ‘bottom of the pyramid strategies, which refer to business models that focus on turning the four billion poor people in the world into consumers (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; London and Hart, 2004; Rangan et al., 2007). CSR may be working towards enabling companies in developing countries which are trying to access markets in the developed world. An example in this support can be given from, Baskin (2006), he had identified that â€Å"competitive advantage in international markets as one of the key drivers for CSR in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia†, also Arayas (2006) survey of CSR reporting among the top two hundred and fifty companies in South America found that â€Å"businesses with an international sales orientation were almost fiv e times more likely to report than companies that sell products regionally or locally†. This is has become increasingly relevant as more and more companies from developing countries are moving towards globalization and in their effort they need to comply with international stock market listing requirements, including various forms CSR code compliance (Visser, 2005a). The above argument was also stated by Chapple and Moons (2005) study of 7 countries in Asia, which found a strong relationship between international exposure, either in terms of international sales or foreign ownership, and CSR reporting. CSR is also sometimes used as a partnership approach to creating or developing new markets. Another example in support towards this, is the case of , AED and Mark collaboration with Exxon Mobil that has created a viable market for insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Africa, while improving pregnant womens access to these nets, through the delivery of targeted subsidies (Diara et al., 2004). Similalry, ABB used a partnership approach to CSR to deliver a rural electrification project in Tanzania (Egels, 2005). 2.5.7International Standardization There is a widespread belief that the Western countries has imposed CSR approaches on the global South, but on the contrary there is ample evidence present to suggest that CSR codes and standards are a key driver for CSR in developing countries. For example Baskins (2006) survey of CSR practices in emerging markets has indicated towards growing acceptance rate of ISO 14001 and the â€Å"Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainability Reporting Guidelines†. These codes are now used as a CSR response in sectors that are prevalent in developing countries, such as horticulture (Dolan and Opondo, 2005), cocoa (Schrage and Ewing, 2005), and textiles (Kaufman et al., 2004), as well as some social issues in developing countries, like child labor (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2002) or women in the workplace (Prieto-Carron, 2004). In general it is seen that CSR is driven by standardization imposed by MNCs in striving to achieve global consistency among its subsidiaries and operations in developing countries. For example, Chapple and Moon (2005) found that â€Å"multinational companies are more likely to adopt CSR than those operating solely in their home country, but that the profile of their CSR tend to reflect the profile of the country of operation rather than the country of origin†. 2.5.8 Investment Incentives Multinational companies investments in developing countries are generally linked to the social conditions prevalent in those countries (Gabriel, 1972). Now a day these investments are being screened for CSR performance. In response to this socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming a major factor CSR in developing countries. Baskin (2006) had noted â€Å"that approximately 8% of emerging market companies on the Dow Jones World Index is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, compared with around 13% of high-income companies†. In other developing countries, like South Africa, the SRI trend is well researched (AICC, 2002). The SRI movement in the 1980s had led to the anti-apartheid disinvestment phenomenon, also since 1992, South Africa has introduced twenty SRI funds which track companies social, ethical, and environmental performance (Visser, 2005a). According to research by the â€Å"African Institute of Corporate Citizenship â€Å"(AICC) (2002), the size of the South African SRI market in 2001 was already 1.55% of the total investment market. In an another major development, in May 2004, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange had launched its own tradable SRI Index, the first of its kind in an emerging market (Sonnenberg et al., 2004). A similar index was also introduced in Brazil. Closely linked to the literature on SRI in developing countries is the debate about the business case for CSR. Very few instrumental studies have been done, a survey done in Thailand by Connelly and Limpaphayom (2004) had showed that environmental reporting had not negatively impacted on short-term profitability and has in fact generated a positive relationship with firm valuation. More generally, a report by Sustainability (2002) uses case studies to illustrate various business benefits associated with addressing sustainability in developing countries. Furthermore, Goyal (2006) contends that CSR may serve as a signaling device for developing countries seeking to assess foreign direct investment proposals by unknown foreign firms. 2.5.9 Stakeholders In general the governmental has not got strong control or prohibitive laws over the social, ethical, and environmental performance of companies in developing countries, hence in its absence activism by stake- holder groups has become major source of CSR. Lund-Thomsen (2004) had described describes this as â€Å"an outcome of micro-level struggles between companies and communities over the distribution of social and environmental hazards which are created when global political and economic forces interact with local contexts around the world†. In research it was found that there are mainly four kinds of groups namely development agencies (Jenkins, 2005), trade unions (Kaufman et al., 2004), international NGOs (Christian Aid, 2005), and business associations (WBCSD, 2000) has emerged as the most impotant activists for CSR. These four groups had also provided a support for local NGOs. Another goup has also emerged in recent times namely media, it has also emerged as a key support er for promoting CSR in developing countries (Vivarta and Canela, 2006). Activism by these groups in developing countries has taken various forms, which was classified by Newell (2001) â€Å"as civil regulation, litigation against companies, and international legal instruments†. Of these, civil regulation is perhaps the most common and effective. Bendell (2000) describes this as the theory that ‘businesses are being regulated by civil society, through the dual effect of negative impacts from conflict and benefits from collaboration [which] provides new means for people to hold companies accountable, thereby democratising the economy directly. There are numerous examples of civil regulation in action in the developing world of which South Africa is a rather striking case in point (Visser, 2005a). This has manifested itself mainly through community groups challenging companies over whether they are upholding the constitutional rights of citizens. Various land mark cases b etween 1994 and 2004 suggest that, although civil society still tends to lack capacity and resources in South Africa, this has been an effective strategy. Stakeholder activism has also taken a constructive approach towards encouraging CSR, through groups like the National Business Initiative and partnerships between business and NGOs. Stakeholder activism can also be a source of criticism of CSR, arguing that it is an inadequate response to the social and environmental challenges of developing countries. The Christian Aid (2005) report Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility epitomizes this critical approach, and may be a driver for an enlarged conception and practice of CSR in developing countries. 2.5.10 Supply Chain Management Another Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries Corporate Social Responsibility in developing countries such as India using Tata Nano as a case study 1. Introduction A companys main business objective is maximisation of shareholders wealth by means of achieving higher profit. Business managers are entrusted with shareholders money so that they could run the company efficiently and profitably. According to Sloan (1964) â€Å"the strategic aim of a business is to earn a return on capital and if any particular case the return in the long run is not satisfactory, then the deficiency should be corrected or the activity abandoned for a more favourable one.† This suggests that companies are run for profit motives and this should be the top most priority of any management. However Globalisation has brought about a change in notion concerning the business objective of any company, arguments are being put forward that the business activities must take into account human and social welfare. According to Peter Drucker (1954), â€Å"the enterprise is an organ of society and its actions have a decisive impact on the social scene. It is thus important for management to realize that it must consider the impact of every business policy and business actions upon society. It has to consider whether the action is likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic belief of society, to contribute to its stability, strength and harmony†. A business enterprise is a major user of nature, society and environment; therefore it must be responsible towards their protection and development. Depletion of natural resources and causes like global warming has brought a lot attention to the sustainable use of these resources and companies are going to play a major role in ensuring this. So this marks a shift in the company objective that no longer can they only be guided by the sole aim of making profit but they should be take actions to ensure the welfare of the society in which they operate. This brings out the concept of â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†: Corporations acting as citizens of a society in a responsible manner ensuring the well beings of others in the society. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) describes CSR as â€Å"a balanced approach for organisations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way that aims to benefit people, community and society† (ISO, 2002). 1.1 Rationale behind the Research Corporate social responsibility has gained widespread attention in most developed countries; policies practices are being developed by corporations to abide by standards of environment pollution, use of human capital etc. However in less developed countries this is not a much heard or debated topic. According to Steiner Steiner (2000), â€Å"In less developed countries there is often no indigenous sense of corporate responsibility.† There are a lot of loopholes in the system and business activities are not often concentrated on human/ social welfare. Austin (1990) argues that the extremity and pervasiveness of poverty in less developed countries places a special responsibility on business, as a vehicle for creating economic progress that will help alleviate this deprivation. With developing economies a lot of importance is given to industrial upliftment and that might come at a cost of social welfare or benefit. This research aims to identify the CSR policies and practices being in use in developing countries such as India with a special reference to TATA Nano. India is a developing country which has recorded a growth rate of more than 9% for 3 years upto 2008 and has seen a decade of 7% growth. (www.economicshelp.org: accessed on 10th January 2010). In spite of the global economic slowdown is slated to grow at around 7.5% for this year (2010). The rapid growth in economy has increased the standards of living and has created huge disposable income among Indians. The car manufacturers are taking advantage of this huge growth and are coming up with various models to tap into this growing market. TATA one of the most reputed business firms of India have come up with a car called TATA Nano which is slated to be the cheapest car in the world. The price is kept at $2500 which is equivalent to 100,000 INR. The objective behind this to make four wheelers available to every common man in India; this is touted to be a very big success. I have my own reservations concerning it; what if masses can afford this car, will it not increase the fuel consump tion, thereby creating more pollution? Will it not put a huge burden on roads which are already suffering from traffic congestion? This research aims to find out whether TATA is acting in a responsible manner by launching this car. 1.2 Objectives The research can be subdivided into four parts: 1. To identify the state of CSR in developing countries such as India 2. To evaluate public awareness concerning issues such as CSR in India 3. To evaluate the impact of TATA Nano on environment, traffic congestion, demand for fuel etc 4. To suggest a number of ways in which companies in developing countries can develop frameworks to act in a more responsible manner 2. Literature Review There are numerous ways to classify the literature on CSR in developing countries i.e. in terms of content (thematic coverage), type (epistemological approach), and level (focus of analysis). The analysis would be done by each way separately: 2.1 Content Theme We would use the same classification as Lockett et al. (2006) did, the CSR literature can be categorized into four CSR themes: social, environmental, ethics, and stakeholders. One point that immediately comes to light by applying this categorization to the literature on CSR is that, in contrast to Lockett et al.s (2006) findings that most CSR articles in top management journals focus on ethical and environmental themes, most scholarly work on CSR in developing countries focuses on the social theme. Also social issues are in general given more political, economic, and media coverage in developing countries than environmental, ethical, or stakeholder issues (Schmidheiny, 2006). 2.2 Knowledge Type Lockett et al. (2006) had also classified the CSR literature by knowledge type. He found even split between theoretical and empirical research. Lockett et al. (2006) found that 89% of theoretical CSR papers are non-normative, in the CSR in developing countries literature, the balance is far more evenly split. This is mainly because relatively large number of papers on the role of â€Å"business in development† tends to adopt a normative, critical perspective (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005). Also if we see empirical research, there are also differences. According to Lockett et al. (2006), the CSR literature is dominated by quantitative methods (80%), while CSR papers on developing countries are more likely to be qualitative. Most research on CSR in developing countries to date has either generalized about all developing countries (e.g. Frynas, 2006), or focused at a national level. In terms of generic literature, Corporate Citizenship in developing countries (Pedersen and Huniche, 2006) is a useful compendium, as are special issues on CSR in developing countries that have appeared in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship (issue 24, 2006), International Affairs (81(3), 2005) and Development (47(3), 2004). Despite the focus on countries in the literature, only about a fifth of all developing countries have had any CSR journal articles published on them. Of these, the most commonly analyzed and written about countries are China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand. Analysis at a regional level (notably Africa, Asia, and Latin America) is becoming more common, but papers at the sector, corporate, or individual level remain relatively scarce. 2.3 Global Most of the literature concentrates on CSR in a global context and there is very little empirical research on the nature and extent of CSR in developing countries. One notable exception is Baskins (2006) research on the reported corporate responsibility behavior of 127 leading companies from 21 emerging markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe, which he compares with over 1,700 leading companies in high-income OECD countries. Looking at three generic indicators of CSR, Baskin (2006) finds that emerging market companies have a respectable representation in the Dow Jones â€Å"Sustainability Index† and show rising levels of take-up of the Global Reporting Initiative and ISO 14001. Baskin (2006) also showed that emerging markets lag the OECD significantly on reporting on business ethics and equal opportunities, are roughly at par on environmental reporting, and show comparable reporting variance on women on company boards, training and occupation al health and safety . Despite the limitations of using reporting as an indicator of CSR performance and the danger of representing regions by just a few countries (e.g. only two of the 53 countries in Africa were included in the sample), the Baskin (2006) study does provide some insight into the level of CSR activity in developing countries, concluding that: ‘there is not a vast difference in the approach to reported corporate responsibility between leading companies in high income OECD countries and their emerging-market peers. Nonetheless, corporate responsibility in emerging markets, while more extensive than commonly believed, is less embedded in corporate strategies, less pervasive and less politically rooted than in most high-income OECD countries (p. 46). 2.4 Regional Asia Major coverage of the Asia in the field of CSR often focus on China (e.g. Zhuang and Wheale, 2004), India (e.g. Balasubramanian et al., 2005), Indonesia (e.g. Blowfield, 2004), Malaysia (e.g. Zulkifli and Amran, 2006), Pakistan (e.g. Lund-Thomsen, 2004), and Thailand (e.g. Kaufman et al., 2004). Other countries that have had less attention include Bangladesh (Nielsen, 2005), the Pacific Forum Islands (Prasad, 2004), Sri Lanka (Luken and Stares, 2005), and Vietnam (Prieto-Carron, 2006b). Birch and Moon (2004) noted that â€Å"CSR performance varies greatly between countries in Asia, with a wide range of CSR issues being tackled (e.g. education, environment, employee welfare) and modes of action (e.g. foundations, volunteering, and partnerships)†. In one of the survey on CSR reporting in Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) find that nearly three quarters of large companies in India present themselves as having CSR policies and practices versus only a quarter in Indonesia and between t hese two extremes are Thailand (42%), Malaysia (32%), and the Philippines (30%). They also infer from the research that the evolution of CSR in Asia tends to occur in three waves, first being community involvement followed by successive second and third waves of socially responsible production processes and employee relations. In a comparative survey of CSR in 15 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia, Welford (2005) speculates that the low response rates from countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand may in itself be an indicator of CSR being less prevalent in developing countries. This seems to be borne out by the research findings, in which these countries fairly consistently underperform when compared with developed countries across 20 aspects of CSR measured by the survey. Africa The literature on CSR in Africa is predominantly based on South Africa (Visser, 2005a), while other pockets of research exist for Cà ´te DIvoire (e.g. Schrage and Ewing, 2005), Kenya (e.g. Dolan and Opondo, 2005), Nigeria (e.g. Amaeshi et al., 2006), Tanzania (e.g. Egels, 2005), and Mali and Zambia (e.g. Hamann et al., 2005). Very few papers are focused on industry sectors, with traditionally high impact sectors like agriculture (e.g. Blowfield, 2003), mining (e.g. Kapelus, 2002), and petrochemicals (e.g. Acutt et al., 2004) featuring most prominently. Two of the best sources of literature on Africa are Corporate Citizenship in Africa (Visser et al., 2006) and the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Africa (issue 18, summer 2005). The latter concludes that ‘academic institutions and researchers focusing specifically on corporate citizenship in Africa remain few and under-developed (Visser et al., 2005: 19). This is confirmed by a review of the CSR literatu re on Africa between 1995 and 2005 (Visser, 2006a), which found that that only 12 of Africas 53 countries have had any research published in core CSR journals, with 57% of all articles focused on South Africa and 16% on Nigeria. The latter partly reflects the high media profile generated around corporate citizenship issues and the petrochemical sector, especially focused on Shell and their impacts on the Ogoni people (Ite, 2004). Economic and philanthropic aspects of CSR, rather than the legal and ethical responsibilities, will continue to dominate CSR conceptualization and practice in Africa (Visser, 2007). Corporate social responsibility in South America is not as much covered subject as other underdeveloped countries (Haslam, 2007), the focus has been mainly concentrated on Argentina (e.g. Newell and Muro, 2006), Brazil (e.g. Vivarta and Canela, 2006) and Mexico (e.g. Weyzig, 2006), although Nicaragua (Prieto-Carron, 2006a) and Venezuela (Peindado-Vara, 2006) also feature. De Oliveira in 2006 has noted that the Corporate social responsibility agenda in South America has been heavily influenced by socio-economic and political conditions, which have invariably led to problems like, unemployment, in- equality, and crime. Schmidheiny has in 2006 stated that Corporate social responsibility has ushered a positive effect in South America. The trend towards increasing CSR in the region has been generally upward. For example, Correa et al. has reported in his article in 2004 that by 2004 there were thousand South American companies which were member of organization called EMPRESA (the hemisphe re-wide CSR network), another three hundred companies were members of the â€Å"World Business Council† for Sustainable Development, also another fourteen hundred had obtained ISO 14001 certification, and one hundred eighteen had signed UN Global Compact. 2.5 Motivations Until now we have classified the CSR literature on a regional level. To further see the difference between the CSR in developing countries and developed countries we would now isolate motivations for CSR in developing countries, with the help of this we would be able to see why the CSR in developing countries is so unique. Some of the motivations for CSR that I have isolated with the help of literature review are: 2.5.1 Cultural Tradition The term CSR has been widely used in western countries and hence there is a widespread believe that CSR is a Western thing but on the contrary there is evidence that CSR in developing countries has been around for centuries and its man pillar has been deep-rooted indigenous cultural traditions of philanthropy and business ethics. An excellent example was given by, Visser and Macintosh in 1998 they have quoted that â€Å"the ethical condemnation of usurious business practices in developing countries that practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity dates back thousands of years†. Another example was given by Frynas (2006) ‘business practices based on moral principles were advocated by the Indian statesman and philosopher Kautilya in the 4th century BC. If we take South American context, Sanborn (2002), quoted in Logsdon et al. (2006) that ‘varied traditions of community self-help and solidarity stretch back to the regions pre-Hispanic cultures, and include t he mutual aid societies, trade unions and professional associations that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Logsdon et al.s (2006) stated that â€Å"One myth is that CSR in Mexico is new, another is that US firms brought CSR to Mexico, and a third is that CSR as practised by Mexican firms simply reflects the CSR patterns and activities of US firms†. Even if we take CSR for more modern times I have found that it was heavily influenced by local culture, Vivess (2006) had conducted survey of over 1,300 enterprises in South America, his findings were that the regions religious beliefs are one of the major motivations for CSR. Also Nelson (2004) founded that Buddhist traditions in Asia are aligned with CSR. Also for Asia, Chapple and Moon (2005) had reached a same conclusion, that â€Å"CSR does vary considerably among Asian countries but that this variation is not explained by [levels of] development but by factors in the respective national business systems†, t his was consistent with Birch and Moons (2004) finding in his paper for the Journal of Corporate Citizenship special issue on CSR in Asia. If we take African the findings are same, Amaeshi et al. (2006) found that CSR in Nigeria is heavily influenced by local socio-cultural influences like communalism, ethnic religious beliefs, and charitable traditions. 2.5.2 Political Upheaval CSR in developing countries are heavily influenced by the social and political reforms, which drives business behavior towards integrating social and ethical issues. De Oliveira (2006) has argued that â€Å"the political and associated social and economic changes in Latin America since the 1980s, including democratization, liberalization, and privatization, have shifted the role of business towards taking greater responsibility for social and environmental issues†. A recent example can be the case of South Africa, the political changes towards democracy and end of decades of apartheid have been a significant driver for CSR, through the practice of improved corporate governance (Roussouw et al., 2002), collective business action for social upliftment (Fourie and Eloff, 2005) has led to black economic empowerment (Fig, 2005), and business ethics (Malan, 2005). Visser (2005a) lists more than a dozen examples of socio-economic, environmental, and labor-related legislative reform i n South Africa between 1994 and 2004 that have a direct bearing on CSR. Another excellent example can be given of many central and eastern European countries which have been recently inducted into European Union, these countries have now shifted towards CSR .(Baskin, 2006). 2.5.3 Social and Economic Conditions It is often said that the CSR in developing countries is directly shaped by the social conditions and economic environment present in the country in which firms operate and the development priorities this creates. Amaeshi et al. (2006), had argued that â€Å"CSR in Nigeria is specifically aimed at addressing the socio-economic development challenges of the country, including poverty alleviation, health-care provision, infrastructure development, and education. This, they argue, stands in stark contrast to many Western CSR priorities such as consumer protection, fair trade, green marketing, climate change concerns, or socially responsible investments.† Schmidheiny (2006) had questioned the appropriateness of foreign CSR approaches, citing examples from South America, where the most important issues like poverty, illiteracy, crime and tax avoidance are not included in the CSR conceptions in developed countries, but if we consider locally developed CSR approaches, then they are m ost likely to respond to the many local social and environmental problems, such as deforestation, unemployment, income inequality, and crime (De Oliveira, 2006). 2.5.4 Poor Governance CSR can be seen as a form of private or self governance or a response to poor governance (Levy and Kaplan, Chapter 19). A particular important aspect of the CSR for developing countries is the fact it is often seen as a way to plug the gaps left by weak, corrupt, or under-resourced governments that fail to adequately provide various social services. Furthermore, â€Å"as many developing country government initiatives to improve living conditions falter, proponents of [CSR and bottom of the pyramid] strategies argue that companies can assume this role†. Such proponents of CSR, Blowfield and Frynas (2005) observe, â€Å"an alternative to government† which is â€Å"frequently advocated as a means of filling gaps in governance that have arisen with the acceleration of liberal economic globalization†. A survey was conducted by â€Å"World Business Council for Sustainable Development† (WBCSD 2000) in their report they illustrated that, when asked how CSR should be defined, peoples in Ghana stressed ‘building local capacity and ‘filling in when government falls short. Moon (2002a) in his paper has argued that, this phenomenon is part of a broader political shift towards ‘new governance or â€Å"alternate governance† approaches, here the local governments are trying to share responsibilities and to develop more effective modes of operation, the reason may be result of overload or of a view that they do not have a monopoly of solutions for society. This is often in the form of social partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations. Moon et al. (2005) has cited this phenomenon as an example of companies acting in a ‘civic republicanism mode. In addition to being encouraged to step in where once only governments acted, through the mechanism of either privatization or welfare reform, Matten and Crane (2005) also suggest that companies enter the arena of citizenship where government has not as yet administ ered citizenship rights, for example, improving working conditions in sweatshops, ensuring for employees a living wage, and financing the schooling of child laborers in the absence of legislation requiring this. However, this approach is not without its share of criticism ,Hamann et al. (2005) had argued that CSR is not adequate response to these governance gaps and that more proactive steps involving local government towards accountability and inclusiveness is necessary. Blowfield and Frynas (2005) had questioned the very logic: â€Å"Is CSR a stepping-stone on the path to better national regulation in developing countries? Or is it part of a longer term project for overcoming the weaknesses of territorially prescribed judicial and welfare mechanisms that is, addressing the limitations of the nation-state in regulating a global economy?† There are also serious questions about the dependencies this governance gap approach to CSR creates, especially where communities become re liant for their social services on companies whose primary accountability is to their shareholders. Hence, multinationals may cut expenditure, or disinvest from a region if the economics dictates that they will be more profitable elsewhere. There is also the issue of perceived complicity between governments and companies, as Shell all too painfully experienced in Nigeria (Ite, 2004). 2.5.5 Crisis Response Crises associated with developing countries have in the past affected CSR responses. These crises can come in the form of economic, social, environmental, health-related, or industrial accident. An excellent example was quoted by Newell (2005) that â€Å"the economic crisis in Argentina in 2001-2 marked a significant turning point in CSR, prompting debates about the role of business in poverty alleviation†. Another example can be of climate change (Hoffman, 2005) and HIV/AIDS (Dunfee, 2006) these crises have bought CSR in developing countries into lime-light. Catastrophic events with immediate impact are often more likely to elicit CSR responses, especially of the philanthropic kind. The companys quick response to the Asian tsunami is an excellent case (Fernando, 2007). However, companies can also have negative affect like industrial accidents. Examples include Union Carbides response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India (Shrivastava, 1995) and Shells response to the hanging o f human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria in 1995 (Wheeler et al., 2002). 2.5.6 Market Access Not all the intention of the companies in developing the CSR is for good, some companies may also see these unfulfilled human needs as an untapped market. This can be corroborated from the fact that there lies burgeoning literature on ‘bottom of the pyramid strategies, which refer to business models that focus on turning the four billion poor people in the world into consumers (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; London and Hart, 2004; Rangan et al., 2007). CSR may be working towards enabling companies in developing countries which are trying to access markets in the developed world. An example in this support can be given from, Baskin (2006), he had identified that â€Å"competitive advantage in international markets as one of the key drivers for CSR in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia†, also Arayas (2006) survey of CSR reporting among the top two hundred and fifty companies in South America found that â€Å"businesses with an international sales orientation were almost fiv e times more likely to report than companies that sell products regionally or locally†. This is has become increasingly relevant as more and more companies from developing countries are moving towards globalization and in their effort they need to comply with international stock market listing requirements, including various forms CSR code compliance (Visser, 2005a). The above argument was also stated by Chapple and Moons (2005) study of 7 countries in Asia, which found a strong relationship between international exposure, either in terms of international sales or foreign ownership, and CSR reporting. CSR is also sometimes used as a partnership approach to creating or developing new markets. Another example in support towards this, is the case of , AED and Mark collaboration with Exxon Mobil that has created a viable market for insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Africa, while improving pregnant womens access to these nets, through the delivery of targeted subsidies (Diara et al., 2004). Similalry, ABB used a partnership approach to CSR to deliver a rural electrification project in Tanzania (Egels, 2005). 2.5.7International Standardization There is a widespread belief that the Western countries has imposed CSR approaches on the global South, but on the contrary there is ample evidence present to suggest that CSR codes and standards are a key driver for CSR in developing countries. For example Baskins (2006) survey of CSR practices in emerging markets has indicated towards growing acceptance rate of ISO 14001 and the â€Å"Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainability Reporting Guidelines†. These codes are now used as a CSR response in sectors that are prevalent in developing countries, such as horticulture (Dolan and Opondo, 2005), cocoa (Schrage and Ewing, 2005), and textiles (Kaufman et al., 2004), as well as some social issues in developing countries, like child labor (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2002) or women in the workplace (Prieto-Carron, 2004). In general it is seen that CSR is driven by standardization imposed by MNCs in striving to achieve global consistency among its subsidiaries and operations in developing countries. For example, Chapple and Moon (2005) found that â€Å"multinational companies are more likely to adopt CSR than those operating solely in their home country, but that the profile of their CSR tend to reflect the profile of the country of operation rather than the country of origin†. 2.5.8 Investment Incentives Multinational companies investments in developing countries are generally linked to the social conditions prevalent in those countries (Gabriel, 1972). Now a day these investments are being screened for CSR performance. In response to this socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming a major factor CSR in developing countries. Baskin (2006) had noted â€Å"that approximately 8% of emerging market companies on the Dow Jones World Index is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, compared with around 13% of high-income companies†. In other developing countries, like South Africa, the SRI trend is well researched (AICC, 2002). The SRI movement in the 1980s had led to the anti-apartheid disinvestment phenomenon, also since 1992, South Africa has introduced twenty SRI funds which track companies social, ethical, and environmental performance (Visser, 2005a). According to research by the â€Å"African Institute of Corporate Citizenship â€Å"(AICC) (2002), the size of the South African SRI market in 2001 was already 1.55% of the total investment market. In an another major development, in May 2004, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange had launched its own tradable SRI Index, the first of its kind in an emerging market (Sonnenberg et al., 2004). A similar index was also introduced in Brazil. Closely linked to the literature on SRI in developing countries is the debate about the business case for CSR. Very few instrumental studies have been done, a survey done in Thailand by Connelly and Limpaphayom (2004) had showed that environmental reporting had not negatively impacted on short-term profitability and has in fact generated a positive relationship with firm valuation. More generally, a report by Sustainability (2002) uses case studies to illustrate various business benefits associated with addressing sustainability in developing countries. Furthermore, Goyal (2006) contends that CSR may serve as a signaling device for developing countries seeking to assess foreign direct investment proposals by unknown foreign firms. 2.5.9 Stakeholders In general the governmental has not got strong control or prohibitive laws over the social, ethical, and environmental performance of companies in developing countries, hence in its absence activism by stake- holder groups has become major source of CSR. Lund-Thomsen (2004) had described describes this as â€Å"an outcome of micro-level struggles between companies and communities over the distribution of social and environmental hazards which are created when global political and economic forces interact with local contexts around the world†. In research it was found that there are mainly four kinds of groups namely development agencies (Jenkins, 2005), trade unions (Kaufman et al., 2004), international NGOs (Christian Aid, 2005), and business associations (WBCSD, 2000) has emerged as the most impotant activists for CSR. These four groups had also provided a support for local NGOs. Another goup has also emerged in recent times namely media, it has also emerged as a key support er for promoting CSR in developing countries (Vivarta and Canela, 2006). Activism by these groups in developing countries has taken various forms, which was classified by Newell (2001) â€Å"as civil regulation, litigation against companies, and international legal instruments†. Of these, civil regulation is perhaps the most common and effective. Bendell (2000) describes this as the theory that ‘businesses are being regulated by civil society, through the dual effect of negative impacts from conflict and benefits from collaboration [which] provides new means for people to hold companies accountable, thereby democratising the economy directly. There are numerous examples of civil regulation in action in the developing world of which South Africa is a rather striking case in point (Visser, 2005a). This has manifested itself mainly through community groups challenging companies over whether they are upholding the constitutional rights of citizens. Various land mark cases b etween 1994 and 2004 suggest that, although civil society still tends to lack capacity and resources in South Africa, this has been an effective strategy. Stakeholder activism has also taken a constructive approach towards encouraging CSR, through groups like the National Business Initiative and partnerships between business and NGOs. Stakeholder activism can also be a source of criticism of CSR, arguing that it is an inadequate response to the social and environmental challenges of developing countries. The Christian Aid (2005) report Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility epitomizes this critical approach, and may be a driver for an enlarged conception and practice of CSR in developing countries. 2.5.10 Supply Chain Management Another