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The researchers of the Expert Centre have extensive research expertise and consulting experience on a wide range of interrelated issues, including corporate social responsibility and accountability, multinational enterprises, private sector development, development cooperation, sustainable development, competitiveness, regional integration and government-business-civil society interactions and partnerships. Their research has been published in leading journals in the fields of international business, management, economics (political economy and development economics) and corporate responsibility/business ethics. These outlets include the Journal of International Business Studies, World Development, Harvard Business Review, Transnational Corporations, Journal of World Business, Business Strategy and the Environment, Journal of Business Ethics, European Management Journal, Business and Politics, and Comparative Political Studies. The main topics of study include globalisation and its relation to development, corporate responsibility and sustainable business, as listed below.
· Foreign direct investment and its impact on development, including issues such as competition, technology transfer, trade, economic growth and ‘human’ development.
· Internationalisation of the world’s largest MNEs, and the relationship with environmental and sustainability reporting, investment and trade (including intra-firm trade), taxation and transfer pricing practices.
· Effectiveness of development aid policies and instruments, including e.g. fair trade.
· Networks of governments (through investment and trade treaties, such as the GATT/WTO) and MNEs (FDI), and their interactions in the North-South context.
· Global commodity and supply chains (including e.g. cotton, coffee, forestry, mining).
· MNEs’ disclosure regarding their social, environmental and sustainability efforts, including analyses of trends, contents and reliability of disclosure, transparency, corporate accountability, the role of governments and other stakeholders in reporting and codes of conduct (including standardisation efforts, monitoring and compliance issues).
· The added value of CSR for management and investors, e.g. socially responsible investment, as well as the (reputation) risks involved.
· The effectiveness of ‘stakeholder dialogues’: interactions between MNEs, NGOs, governments and international organisations, with regard to inter alia codes of conduct; climate change; environmental, social or sustainability reporting; and partnership formation.
· Regulation and self-regulation in the international arena with regard to corporate social responsibility, environmental management and ethics (on specific issues, e.g. child labour, and in specific industries/supply chains, and national/regional contexts).
· Environmental management and performance: strategy, organisation, accounting and control, and the relevance in the developing country context.
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