A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing? How the Illusion of Hard Law Makes Business More Responsible

The growing complexity of global supply chains alongside increasing expectations of companies has resulted in a proliferation of private governance arrangements. These are largely voluntary and therefore operationalized through “soft law” (non-binding). However, after the horrific collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh, the resulting private governance initiative - the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh – chose a new tactic of using hard law to enforce the voluntary agreement, something that has been both heralded as a breakthrough and fundamental to companies’ compliance. Yet, nearly four years on, not a single court case has arisen. This paper investigates the novel approach of using hard law to enforce soft law, and in doing so aims to make three contributions. First, it sheds light upon this new and unexplored phenomenon by examining separating fact from fiction when using hard law to enforce soft law. Second, it explores the perception and performativity of this approach amongst business and theorizes about its implications for the firms’ role in society. Finally, it introduces the term “illusory law” as a way to explain and generalize about how this approach may be little more than a sheep in wolf’s clothing.