Elevating the Role of Divestment in Socially Responsible Investing
The divest movement has focused attention on strategic and ethical differences in the practice of socially responsible investing (SRI) and highlighted an unnecessary bifurcation of best-of-class engagement and divestment. Although best-of-class engagement is favored as a contemporary and pragmatic a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V
2018
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| In: |
Journal of business ethics
Year: 2018, Volume: 153, Issue: 2, Pages: 465-478 |
| Further subjects: | B
Social
B Socially Responsible Investing B Sustainable and responsible investment B Corporate social responsibility (CSR) B Institutional investors B Environment (Art) B shareholder activism B governance (ESG) B Stakeholder engagement |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The divest movement has focused attention on strategic and ethical differences in the practice of socially responsible investing (SRI) and highlighted an unnecessary bifurcation of best-of-class engagement and divestment. Although best-of-class engagement is favored as a contemporary and pragmatic approach, this paper calls for a more pronounced recognition of absolute dealbreakers and divestment as an underpinning for best-of-class engagement. After linking divestment and best-of-class engagement to their foundations of absolutism and relativism, respectively, I critique best-of-class engagement and argue that without a distinct and explicit role for divestment, best-of-class strategies are ethically and strategically fraught. Following a discussion of which types of issues suggest divestment or best-of-class engagement, I identify the Norway Government Pension Fund as a noteworthy example, and posit that divestment and engagement are best presented and employed in tandem, particularly for issues that have yet to be addressed by law and convention. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-0697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3356-7 |