Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law

SUMMARY “with great power, comes great responsibility”1 Few concepts aptly captures competition law’s expectations on firms with substantial market share or market power than ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’, made popular in American movie Spider Man.2 Although Spider Man helped ma...

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Main Author: Phumudzo S. Munyai
Format: Article
Language:Afrikaans
Published: Pretoria University Law Press 2020-08-01
Series:De Jure
Online Access:http://www.dejure.up.ac.za/index.php/volumes/2020/volume-53-2020/munyai-p-s
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author Phumudzo S. Munyai
author_facet Phumudzo S. Munyai
author_sort Phumudzo S. Munyai
collection DOAJ
description SUMMARY “with great power, comes great responsibility”1 Few concepts aptly captures competition law’s expectations on firms with substantial market share or market power than ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’, made popular in American movie Spider Man.2 Although Spider Man helped made the concept popular, its true origin may be religious teachings and ancient cultural wisdoms. The Bible, King James Version, warns that “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required”.3 In African culture, the value or principle of Ubuntu, with its emphasis on common humanity and good, counsels that one person should not thrive at the expense, or to the exclusion, of others. The relevance and application of these principles or values to commercial relationships and rules of trade regulation, in particular competition law, is the object of this paper. In some competition law jurisdictions, abuse of dominance rules recognise, explicitly or impliedly, that firms with substantial market share or market power have a special ‘duty’ or ‘responsibility’ to the market.4 The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between certain elements of this special duty or responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”).5 It is the argument of this paper that the principle of special responsibility, as applied in competition and abuse of dominance law, has elements of CSR.
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spelling doaj.art-8e39516224cc45a29e8a06083ca65a932022-12-22T03:25:42ZafrPretoria University Law PressDe Jure1466-35972225-71602020-08-0153Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition lawPhumudzo S. MunyaiSUMMARY “with great power, comes great responsibility”1 Few concepts aptly captures competition law’s expectations on firms with substantial market share or market power than ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’, made popular in American movie Spider Man.2 Although Spider Man helped made the concept popular, its true origin may be religious teachings and ancient cultural wisdoms. The Bible, King James Version, warns that “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required”.3 In African culture, the value or principle of Ubuntu, with its emphasis on common humanity and good, counsels that one person should not thrive at the expense, or to the exclusion, of others. The relevance and application of these principles or values to commercial relationships and rules of trade regulation, in particular competition law, is the object of this paper. In some competition law jurisdictions, abuse of dominance rules recognise, explicitly or impliedly, that firms with substantial market share or market power have a special ‘duty’ or ‘responsibility’ to the market.4 The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between certain elements of this special duty or responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”).5 It is the argument of this paper that the principle of special responsibility, as applied in competition and abuse of dominance law, has elements of CSR.http://www.dejure.up.ac.za/index.php/volumes/2020/volume-53-2020/munyai-p-s
spellingShingle Phumudzo S. Munyai
Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
De Jure
title Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
title_full Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
title_fullStr Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
title_full_unstemmed Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
title_short Competition law and corporate social responsibility: a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
title_sort competition law and corporate social responsibility a review of the special responsibility of dominant firms in competition law
url http://www.dejure.up.ac.za/index.php/volumes/2020/volume-53-2020/munyai-p-s
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