Providing a much-needed critique of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice and scholarship, this book seeks to redress CSR advocacy, from a political and critical perspective. A strident approach backed up by extensive use of case studies presents the argument that most CSR-related activity aims to gain legitimacy from consumers and employees, and therefore furthers the exploitative and colonizing agenda of the corporation. By examining CSR in the context of the political economy of late capitalism, the book puts the emphasis back on the fact that most large corporations are fundamentally driven by profit maximization, making CSR initiatives merely another means to this end. Rather than undermining or challenging unsustainable corporate practices CSR is exposed as an ideological practice that actually upholds the prominence of such practices. As CSR gathers momentum in management practice and scholarship, students in the fields of CSR, business ethics, and strategy, will find this text a useful companion to counter received wisdom in this area.
This book examines anti-corporate activism in the United States, providing a nuanced understanding of the changing focal points of challenges to corporations.
This book presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted view of the state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) development in organizations in different industries around the world. It is based on the assumption that companies today must shift their focus to their long-term prosperity and the complex and interrelated environmental, social, economic and political ecosystems within which they function. The book tracks ideas through to impacts, offering unique perspectives on stimulating topics such as awareness among female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, views of upper-management in Polish firms, Japanese CSR strategies and the social relevance of corporate initiatives, pragmatic approaches of CSR design principles in Scandinavia and many more. The book collects not only examples from different countries and global regions, but also cases from a diverse range of globally relevant industries. It discusses the different stages of CSR development at a professional, conceptual and strategic level, and integrates them into a comprehensive framework to define the adequate course of action for each stage.
It is no longer the case that it’s only society which benefits from CSR actions. A corporation actually helps itself when operating sustainably and does well because of its triple bottom line actions. The editors of People, Planet and Profit believe that whilst Corporate Social Responsibility is by now a familiar concept to academics or practitioners, insufficient attention has been paid to the end product of CSR in practice, which they define in terms of social and economic developmental effect. The contributions in this edited volume explain the developmental aspect of CSR from a conceptual perspective and provide empirical evidence of the impact of CSR delivery on stakeholders in different corners of the World. The emphasis is on what corporations take from and give back to their stakeholders whilst trying to behave in a corporately responsible fashion. Stakeholders, including employees, customers, host communities, governments and NGOs have diverse interests and expectations of CSR. This gives rise to questions about whether the activities corporations support are the ones today’s stakeholders need; whether the CSR programmes being delivered are adequate; and about the relationship between the corporations’ view of what constitutes CSR and that of the supposed beneficiaries. This book offers thoughtful answers to these questions and assesses the outcomes of corporate activities both in developed and developing countries and regions, in terms of economic progress and social and political advancement.
CSR encompasses broad questions about the changing relationship between business, society, and government. An authoritative review of the academic research that has both prompted, and responded to, these issues, the text provides clear thinking and perspectives on CSR and the debates around it.
This book has many merits. It will make fascinating reading for the increasing number of organizational scholars who wonder how organizational research can engage more in accounting for the impact of corporations on their environment in a broad sense. Bahar Ali Kazmi, Bernard Leca and Philippe Naccache, Organization Studies This book is for those who will enjoy a thoughtful and informative monograph that acutely summarises and refreshes critique from a political and sociological perspective. It is a comprehensive re-interpretation of the corporate world and the evidently meretricious regime of CSR which makes it an enjoyable compendium for critical management studies fans . . this erudite volume will be valuable to mainstream, social science academics either involved in (or dismissive of) CSR and sustainability discourses in management education and research. David Bevan, Scandinavian Journal of Management Banerjee s book is thought provoking and must be read. But it should be read not only by corporate social responsibility scholars but by all business scholars. It is through Banerjee s provocations that we can understand the shortcomings of corporate systems and the boundaries of corporate social responsibility. Pratima Bansal, Administrative Science Quarterly This is a tour de force that carefully assembles and incisively interrogates perhaps the most pressing problem of our age: how to harness the resources of corporations to tackle global problems of poverty, oppression and environmental degradation? Banerjee does not present us with glib pronouncements or simplistic fixes. Instead, he brilliantly illuminates the scale of the challenges and lucidly assesses the relevance and value of CSR responses to date. Hugh Willmott, University of Cardiff, UK Bobby Banerjee takes on the popular mythologies of neo-liberal corporate social responsibility with enviable flair and a thoroughness of scholarship that will dismay its apologists. His critique extends from the origins of the modern corporation and its well-known abuses and excesses to far harder targets the more attractive alternatives that have been developed for theory and practice that, as Banerjee shows brilliantly, only serve to mask continuing neo-colonial abuses. Banerjee is not content simply to expose the impossibilities of doing good works whilst maximizing shareholder value, the win-win view of CSR, but he bites the bullet with some uncompromising but realistic proposals for the future reconstruction of CSR both as a field of study and as a business practice. We have needed this exposure of the bad and the ugly for a long time. The current versions of CSR are simply just not good enough. Stephen Linstead, University of York, UK Banerjee pulls the beguiling mask off corporate social responsibility. Taking the vantage point of the world s poor, he shows CSR to be a cruel hoax corporations cynical effort to undermine growing demands for economic and environmental justice. Paul S. Adler, University of Southern California, US This book problematizes the win-win assumption underlying discourses of CSR and suggests that it is a rhetoric that is invariably subordinated to that of corporate rationality. Rather than see CSR as providing the means to transform corporations by advocating a stakeholder view of the firm it argues that CSR represents an ideological movement designed to consolidate the power of transnational corporations and provide a veneer of liberality to the illiberal economic agenda of the major global institutions. Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Professor Banerjee offers us a refreshing analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an otherwise comparatively turgid literary landscape. People may disagree with his criticism that because of its preoccupation with shareholder value, the corporation is an inappropriate agent for social change but it is backed up by strong theoretical and substantive empirical
This unique supplemental text offers a well-structured and thorough introduction to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Author Brent D. Beal introduces the basic concept of CSR, briefly discusses the challenges of defining it, and summarizes important conceptual models. CSR is examined in the context of the perfect competition market model, market failure, and social dilemmas. Three different types of CSR—systemic, strategic, and philanthropic—are highlighted. Finally, arguments both for and against CSR are outlined and several conceptual frames are proposed. Readers are encouraged to think about what businesses should be responsible for in society and how a society’s economic system should be structured, bounded, and ultimately, controlled. This text is appropriate for any business course in which the introduction of CSR would complement other course content.
As a relatively young subject matter, corporate social responsibility has unsurprisingly developed and evolved in numerous ways since the first edition of this textbook was published. Retaining the features which made the first edition a top selling text in the field, the new edition continues to be the only textbook available which provides a ready-made, enhanced course pack for CSR classes. Authoritative editor introductions provide accessible entry points to the subjects covered - an approach which is particularly suited to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate teaching that emphasises a research-led approach. New case studies are integrated throughout the text to enable students to think and analyze the subject from every angle. The entire textbook reflects the global nature of CSR as a discipline and further pedagogical features include chapter learning outcomes; study questions; ‘challenges for practice’ boxes and additional ‘further reading’ features at the end of each chapter. This highly rated textbook now also benefits from a regularly updated companion website which features a brand new 'CSR Case Club' presenting students and lecturers with further case suggestions with which to enhance learning; lecture slides; updates from the popular Crane and Matten blog, links to further reading and career sites, YouTube clips and suggested answers to study questions. An Ivey CaseMate has also been created for this book at https://www.iveycases.com/CaseMateBookDetail.aspx?id=335.
Undeniably, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not new, but there is a huge difference between understanding the concept of CSR in developed and developing nations. In developing countries, firms have little interest in adopting CSR as a strategy in their business goals. The best practices, techniques, and empirical studies conducted around the globe must be discussed in detail in order to encourage the incorporation of the best CSR strategies for regionally diverse businesses. Global Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives for Reluctant Businesses is a critical reference source that covers the scope of global corporate social responsibility, which has continued to increase in the last couple of decades. The book includes core aspects of corporate social responsibility philosophy and practices in different European, North American, and Asian countries. This authored book helps readers to understand the corporate social responsibility practices in different countries and also provides a holistic picture of global CSR and emerging trends with the support of empirical studies. Covering topics including internationalization, Islamic CSR, green public procurement, CSR strategy, and sustainability, this book is essential for managers, executives, human resources managers, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, and practitioners.
