Karin Buhmann sets out the concerns of public regulators and businesses that both inform debates and create power struggles in the construction of sustainability norms between public policy interests and the market. The author focuses on three trends in argumentative strategies applied in the BHR context and considers the use, impact and complementarity of these for sustainability regulation. Through analysis of selected transnational regulatory processes, the book identifies argumentative and negotiation strategies that led to agreement on BHR despite conflicting interests across public, private and not-for-profit (NGO) stakeholders, and develops insights for future multi-stakeholder sustainability regulation, focusing both on the regulatory process and the outcome.

Changing Sustainability Norms through Communication Processes will be a valuable read for NGOs, regulators, managers and academics with a concern for sustainability regulation by helping to enhance their understanding of how to influence normative change in organisations, in support of sustainability and responsible business conduct.