Research

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) matured over the last years. We have entered an era of global business responsibility where a growing number of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) laws and regulations are pushing multinational corporations (MNCs) to ‘adapt or die’. This evolution appears to be based on two primary arguments. The first being the case for the long-term survival of our species: a compelling case, with an abundance of mounting environmental evidence to support it. The second is more subtle: a global shift in orientation towards ‘post-materialist values’, such as social justice, self-expression, and tolerance (Inglehart, 1997). This shift, recorded by social scientists since the 1970s, was largely driven by a younger population while their parents still cared for ‘materialist’ values such as financial success, security and individual achievements (Diermeier, 2022). The new context for doing business, is a situation numerous companies have embraced and some continue to reject. Many more may still be ‘on the fence’. Regardless, the evidence suggests that the strategic questions for business have moved on from understanding the need to change, to the realities of how it can, and should, be done (IBM Institute for Business Value, 2022).

South Africa has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world, estimated to be between 50% and 90% (Schoeman, 2010; Khwela, 2014; Karrim, 2018; Cronje & Peacock, 2023). Approximately 11.5 million offenders are incarcerated in the world’s correctional facilities, 6.9% of them are women and girls. The global number of incarcerated women has increased by 53% since the year 2000 (Heard, 2017) and it is assumed that recidivism contributes to this increase. The pathways that lead women to crime are largely due to layered discrimination, deprivation by their partners, families and communities, violence (Critoph, 2019), changing personal economic and social positions and the increasing feminization of poverty (Penal Reform International, 2017). The identified reasons for female criminality are directly linked to the Target Priority Areas of several Sustainable Development Goals. Failure to address these results in recidivism has the potential to negate any progress made on SDGs.

The surge in private international education provision, driven by globalisation, neoliberalism, and increased mobility, has transformed education into a global trillion-dollar industry, with Asia playing a pivotal role in this growth trajectory (ISC Research, 2023; Le, 2014; Machin, 2017). International schools are transnational spaces that serve as conduits for global mobility and the preparation of individuals for professional futures in transnational organisations (Machin, 2017; Lallo & Resnick, 2008). The burgeoning demand for high-quality education from the transnational capitalist class (TCC) has reshaped educational landscapes, with a notable preference for Western-style international schooling (Gumport, Lannozzi, Shaman, & Zemsky, 1997; ISC Research, 2023; Machin, 2017). As such, private education spending in Southeast Asia has reached nearly $60 billion (ISC Research, 2023).