Critical Reviews on Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability, Governance, and Environmentally Sustainable Mining

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FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
PART – 1: Four Critical Reviews
1. Corporate Social Responsibility and the
Parameters of Dialogue with Vulnerable Others
Corresponding Author:
Robyn Mayes, John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987 Perth
WA 6845, Australia. Email: [e-mail]
Available at: file:///C:/Users/Dell/Desktop/1034nt.07sep.OID-800129_2000w%20Financial%20
Accounting/1034nt.07sep.Instructions-02%20OID-800129/1.%20corporate%20social%20
responsibility.pdf
The authors have presented this article as a case study involving corporate dialogue with
vulnerable others. ‘Vulnerable Others’ are those marginalized external groups which
are now finding an increasing presence in the business literatures of corporate giants
and are acting as the key of making the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of these
corporate houses a reality tool in their corporate learning (Deegan, 2016).
This article has also made an attempt in examining possibilities of conditions which can
possible hinder the dialogue between the corporates and the marginalized external
groups. The latest example of the hindrance is failure in January 2009 of talks to resolve
the issue of AU$2.2 billion BHP Billiton Ravensthorpe Nickel mine situated in Western
Australia (Deegan, 2014). Since then, a stakeholder dialogue is being given importance
in CSR strategies by large corporates such as BHP as well as in the academic literature
advocating this strategy. Both factions are trying to overcome the inherent tension or
contradiction which is believed to be widening the gap between ‘doing good’ and
‘doing well’.
The academic fraternity, which advocates the dialogue as an open and interactive
communication, considers it essential for the corporate’s organizational learning and a
creative problem solving tool through which CSR can be realized. This fraternity, says
(Dima (ed.), 2016), also argues that CSR can be made ‘more realizable’ by paying
greater attention to the process of participatory communication during situations of
differences and conflict for creating a win-win response from both parties (Islam, 2014).

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Although, say (Henderson & Braun (ed.), 2016), arguments are being held to make this
process of creating a dialogue and/or for a face-to-face encounter between the
stakeholders and the vulnerable others, as a key towards realizing the use of an effective
CSR, there is, so far, a very limited progress made in the work for undertaking an
empirical analysis of such an engagement (Gibassier & Unerman, 2014). As most
experts have argued, there is utmost necessity of a critical examination of the vulnerable
others and stakeholder relationships, if at all the corporate sector is to make CSR work
in real terms for whole of the society and not just for large corporations (Deegan, 2016).

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2. Corporate Accountability
in the Samarco Chemical Sludge Disaster
Author: Karen da Costa. School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg,
Sweden
Available at: file:///C:/Users/Dell/Desktop/1034nt.07sep.OID-800129_2000w%20Financial%20
Accounting/1034nt.07sep.Instructions-02%20OID-800129/2.%20corporate%20accountability
%20in%20 the%20samarco.pdf
This paper highlights the Samarco chemical sludge of 2015 in Brazil. The incident has
been considered as the worst environmental disaster to date in Brazil. Very little media
attention on international level was given to the incident, despite its devastating impact
on a large area. The disaster not only affected a large section of the population, the
ecological balance and the environment were also critically disturbed (Deegan, 2014).
This disaster implied the impact such incidents create in disrupting the normal way of
life of a society. It was able to highlight the vulnerability level of both, the society and
the human population. It also highlighted the calamitous events, as per (Grigore, Stancu
& McQueen (ed.), 2017), which disturb the normal activities of the nature and the
humans. The Samarco chemical sludge incident forces the academics, the social
scientists into giving a serious thought towards conceptual understandings of disasters,
and must also invoke a sense of responsibility among the corporate world to not only
meet but to implement safety standards in order to safeguard the vulnerability of
communities which can be, directly or indirectly, subjected to such unwanted incidences
(Schaltegger et al (ed.), 2008).
This tragic event not only gave evidence of Brazil’s limited preparedness for disasters
of big magnitude, it also demonstrated the importance of preventing disasters in Brazil,
especially in the mining sector. Corporates, admit (Aluchna & Idowu (ed.), (2016),
cannot escape responsibility by just showcasing their voluntary commitments, they must
also demonstrate a strong obligation towards human rights, environment and the
ecology of the area, which is vulnerable during a disaster (Dima (ed.), 2016). Corporate
standards, which are relevant to business standards, must make a distinction between
Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Accountability. It has been usually
demonstrated by corporate houses by making their Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) largely limited to voluntary commitments, in the fields of human rights,