Abstract

The prohibition imposed on resource-rich nations by the Global North governments to legislate laws to control multi-national enterprises has hit a death nail in any attempt(s) to innovate corporate social responsibility. Consequently, a self-commitment strategy was recommended for adoption to guide business own activities. This strategy undermines business participation in effective social governance yet encourages externalisation of the corporate cost of production, leading to catastrophic ramifications for host communities. The paper, therefore, proposes a policy nuance, which is a novelty in the existing literature, to oversee social responsibility undertakings and brings on board the corporate body in the social development discourse. Meanwhile, an SPSS analysis shows a statistically significant p-value and a negative coefficient which indicates comparability between policy and corporate social responsibility resulting in an endorsement of the paper’s proposition. Conclusively, a policy distinction would ensure appropriate planning, realistic and objective target setting, and compensatory plus effective and efficient implementation of basic social amenities, while systematising and normalising social agenda in corporate management strategies. It would also inspire checks of multi-national enterprises’ commitments since benchmarks are established and visible for references. Expectedly, further study on an appropriate policy enforcement mechanism for social (and environmental) governance is recommended.

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