Julia Grimm

Title of Dissertation:
Private Governance as an Institutional Response to Wicked Problems

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Philipp Schreck
University: Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 2. Cohort, 2015-2018

• Short Abstract

  From fatalities in textile factories to child slavery on cocoa farms, lead firms are repeatedly involved in horrendous episodes and immoral business practices. Any statutory regulations or individual entrepreneurial efforts to improve these circumstances seem to be limited and widely ineffective. Yet, another idea is becoming increasingly popular: private governance through collective action. The idea behind this is that companies collectively and voluntarily take it upon themselves to create compulsory customs with the intention of triggering constitutional change. Drawing on the case of the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, this monograph discusses the mechanism as well as the conditions under which private governance institutions are formed.

• PhD Related Publications

  • Grimm, J.: Private Governance as an Institutional Response to Wicked Problems: A Study of the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag. Monograph in preparation.
  • Grimm, J.: When Can Collective Action Serve as an Effective Form of CSR? A Selective Review of Literature from the Vantage of Institutional Economics. Manuscript in preparation.
  • Ruehle, R. C., Grimm, J., Thakhathi, A. and Schreck, P. (2017): Bitter Sweet: Child labor in the chocolate industry - a clear case of double standards? In: Case Centre (https://www.thecasecentre.org/main/products/view?id=151153)
  • de Biasi, K., Grimm, J., Piest, S. and Schreck, P. (2017): Rana Plaza and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles: Collective Action in the Name of Human Rights. In: Case Centre (https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=145705)

• Awards

  • 2020, Academy of Management, Social Issues in Management Division Winner of the “SIM Best Book Award 2020” (http://sim.aom.org/new-item1)

  • 2020, Case Centre, Subject Category Ethics and Social Responsibility Listed among the “2020 Best Selling Case Prize” (https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/ordering/selecting/popularcollections/b estsellers/2020eth)

  • 2017-2018, Mathilde-Planck-Lecturer Program Lectureship Funding (1.275€)

  • 2015, University of Applied Sciences Konstanz Emma-Herwegh Award for Extraordinary Social Engagement (500€)