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The seeds of CSR progress and evolution may have been planted by key political and business actors in the past two decades, but French-style CSR remains, to a certain extent, an unfulfilled promise, Maon notes. In chapter “Corporate Social Responsibility in the Netherlands” by a Dutch scholar—Joop Remme´, notes that corporate social responsibility in the Netherlands has a somewhat unique character due to the characteristics of the country’s culture and business climate albeit, many developments which have taken shape are comparable to how the field has developed in other Western European countries.

Idowu and R. Schmidpeter • Freer trade cuts the costs of living {Protectionism, the WTO notes is expensive and makes all our purchases costly}. • It gives the consumer more choice of products, services and qualities to choose from {Free movement of goods and services between nations provide consumers the opportunity to choose what they believe is best for them}. • Lowering trade barriers increases incomes {Free movement of goods between nations increases trade and consequently increases both national and personal incomes}.

The state thus plays a minor role in regulating CSR, which is seen as business-driven. g. reporting). O. Idowu and R. Schmidpeter incentives for appropriate behavior (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs [SECO], 2009). In addition, Switzerland’s economy is seen as highly globalized with a strong export orientation. Hence, most Swiss companies operate in an international context where they depend on, and at the same time profit from, globalized supply chains. Hertze and Winisto¨rfer note the following as key CSR issues for Swiss companies: energy efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emissions (environmental), employee health, gender equality and human rights in the supply chain (social) as well as tax evasion and excessive executives’ salaries (governance).