Critical perspectives on CSR and development: what we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to know MARINA PRIETO-CARRÓN, PETER LUND-THOMSEN, ANITA CHAN, ANA MURO AND CHANDRA BHUSHAN * In May 2005, a special issue of International Afairs (vol. 81 no. 3) addressed the theme of critical perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the devel- oping world. Our aim in this article is to take the debate a step further. Blowfield and Frynas, in the opening article of the special issue, asserted the need to set a critical agenda on this topic, but stopped short of providing an alternative research agenda that moved beyond critiquing CSR practices as currently constituted. 1 We respond to this challenge here by outlining what we consider to be a new agenda for critical research on CSR in the developing world. We also provide an update on how the debate on CSR—a complex concept, encompassing an ever-widening range of issues—is evolving. CSR has broadened its scope to include not only aspects of corporate conduct that impinge on social, environmental and human rights issues, but also the role of business in relation to poverty reduction in the developing world. So far, the debate has been dominated by the northern perspectives of American and European multinational compa- nies, NGOs, governments, trade unions and academics. 2 We believe the debate should be globalized by incorporating southern perspectives—that is, perspec- tives that reflect experiences ‘on the ground’ in developing countries—and that if CSR initiatives are to be legitimate, their content and implementation should be adapted to the particular country or region in which they are taking place. In this short critique we hope to incorporate new insights into the debate on CSR ∗ We have taken part in two conferences that have been held as part of a follow-up process to the publication of the special issue of International Afairs on Corporate Social Responsibility (81: 3, May 2005). The first confer- ence, on ‘Southern perspectives in the global CSR debate’, was held in Copenhagen in September 2005. The second conference, entitled ‘Beyond CSR? Business, poverty, and social justice’, took place in London in May 2006. This process has led to the formation of the International Research Network on Business, Development, and Society, whose members are the original contributors to the May 2005 special issue, Maggie Opondo and the present authors. We would like to thank the members of the network for the inspiration that we received during many brainstorming sessions, and especially Peter Newell, Michael Blowfield and Soeren Jeppesen for commenting on an earlier version of this article. The responsibility for the views presented here remains with the present authors and should not be attributed to other network members. 1 Michael Blowfield and Jedrzej George Frynas, ‘Setting new agendas: critical perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in the developing world’, International Afairs 81: 3, 2005, pp. 499–513. 2 Tom Fox, ‘Corporate social responsibility and development: in quest of an agenda‘, Development 47: 3, Sept. 2004, pp. 29–36. International Afairs 82: 5 (2006) 977–987 © 2006 The Author(s). Journal Compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/The Royal Institute of International Afairs