The Changing Role of Government: The Relational State and its Implications for Corporate Responsibility

• What are the distinctive characters of corporate responsibility-oriented governance?

• And what is its relation to its predecessors such as the welfare state and the neoliberal governance model?

As the welfare state model of governance faces increasing pressure from globalisation, competition, environmental issues and changing social needs, states are increasingly being forced into a Relational State model where societal governance is based on a set of increasingly complex and interdependent relationships with businesses, constituencies and civil society organisations. With these new relationships come new expectations which need to be addressed by governments to develop more effective public policies on corporate responsibility.

To help facilitate this new relationship, this research project, carried out from March 2005 – June 2006 by a multi-disciplinary team from ESADE, the Norwegian of Management and SDA Bocconi, was designed as an analysis of the socio-economic and environmental indicators that contribute to a better understanding of the specific challenges facing governments as well as broader societal needs.

The project looked at the Changing role of government in promoting corporate responsibility with a comparative examination of existing policies in Italy, the United Kingdom and Norway. The interactions between industry, government and civil society, and their potential to contribute to societal welfare and enhance the competitive advantage of European firms, have been explored.

Various important trends and conclusions were identified and a framework to help academics, policy makers and businesses better understand the different public policies that exist to promote corporate responsibility in Europe has been developed.  The results of the research were widely disseminated and referenced in a number of events in the counties of origin of the institutions as well as internationally and were also presented to policy makers and government bodies.

The outcomes of the project are available here.

The workshop on March 24, 2006  explored strategic insights from this research project. Academics, representatives from government, NGOs and businesses interested in the role of government in promoting corporate responsibility took part in this event.

In June 2006 EABIS and ESADE have issued a joint press release regarding publication of the practitioners report.

You can download the original executive summary of the project.

For all additional information, please contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Research Manager, EABIS.

EABIS members can also visit the project space of this project on the EABIS Intranet where more information and deliverables can be found. If you are not a member yet of this project space, please join "Changing Nature of Government". Following approval of your request to join, you can access the project space through the link above. For further intranet assistance, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The EABIS corporate funded programme is sponsored by founding partners IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Shell and Unilever.