Corporate Responsibility

The core idea of corporate social responsibility, the notion that companies have a responsibility beyond legal requirements, is by now deeply embedded in the corporate cultures of the largest U.S. companies. The authors suggest that productive debate now focuses on the following two issues. First, what are the impacts of existing corporate social responsibility programs for the corporation? And, second, what constitutes the precise contours of this responsibility? This book explores these two themes. The issue of how corporate social responsibility affects individual companies engaged in socially responsible activities is not well understood. Further, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate corporate social responsibility activities has not always been clearly drawn. This book, therefore, is designed to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding. This is done by carefully organizing and reviewing the relevant and growing literature on corporate social responsibility. In addition, this book reports on the results of two original empirical studies designed to further explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility and traditional financial performance. This book has profound implications for business executives and researchers in finance, accounting, business ethics, and business and society.

Drawing from the collective experience of twenty-five years of research, writing, and teaching in the field, Epstein and Birchard present a new approach to managing corporate accountability, as a function of four essential and interlocking drivers: governance, performance measurement, control systems, and reporting. They identify where and how companies fail in meeting requirements of these four cornerstones, and then build a powerful framework for managers at all levels to improve decision making, clarify and communicate strategy, accelerate feedback and learning, and secure stakeholder loyalty.

Ethical failures are rooted in leadership failure, the lack of a corporate culture in which ethical concerns have been integrated, and unresponsiveness to key organizational stakeholders. This book seeks to enhance our understanding of the causes of ethical debacles in an era when ethical missteps can often lead to corporate bankruptcies or worse.

Organizational restructuring and corporate downsizing can have a significant impact on the perceived social responsibility and responsiveness of any firm. This book analyzes the phenomenon by identifying the nature and types of structural or functional relationships that exist between downsizing and organizational performance variables, on the one hand, and organizational social responsiveness on the other. It looks at changes in the use of various restructuring techniques to improve efficiency and effectiveness and the effects of these changes on the organizational citizenship standing in the community. It goes on to add to the understanding of the general phenomenon of downsizing by examining its relationship to the level and pervasiveness of corporate social responsibility.

This volume, intended for corporate managers and communicators, brings the newly emphasized area of social concern and responsibility into clear focus. Anderson provides a complete overview of all aspects of social responsibility. He gives a wealth of practical advice, backed by numerous case studies for the executive who seeks a clear, workable understanding of corporate social responsibility. Each chapter is followed by a list of references; many chapters also include real-world scenarios highlighting important social responsibility issues.

This multi-disciplinary volume brings together lawyers, accountants, sociologists and economists to explore the central themes of the legal and organizational accountability of the public corporation. It offers the first sustained attempt to transcend the institutionalist and contractarian visions which, during the 1980s, became the mainstream perspectives in corporate analysis. This highly topical volume includes papers on such topics as corporate groups and network structure, the American law of corporate groups, and private business and corporate fiduciary law.

Over recent years there has been rapid consumer-led growth in investing in socially responsible companies to the extent that it has had an influence on corporate policies. New regulations recognise the public interest by requiring all pension funds to declare their ethical policy. Investors can no longer just consider the financial aspects of a company before investing but also have to consider the complex world of ethical investments. Should the ethical policy take precedence over the financial aspects? Should policies be inclusive or exclusive? What percentage of a company's income has to come from unacceptable sources before the source is excluded? Should any exclusion policy also extend to those involved in selling or transporting goods deemed unacceptable? This is the first book to look at socially responsible investment from the perspective of the institutional investor, who will be led through the complex dilemmas of socially responsible investment with practical examples and advice.

The essays in A Future for Everyone discuss the many ways to foster innovative and unprecedented collaborations leading to more effective partnerships between major institutions and corporations to poor and disenfranchised communities. Each original essay examines many of today's pressing issues: bridging the digital divide; community reinvestment; university and corporate partnerships; and corporate responsibility. From academics and students to nonprofit managers and community leaders to consultants and business professionals, this timely collection brings in voices from all angles.

From uncovering major retailers' links to sweatshop abuses and revealing the deception of American tobacco companies, to questioning corporations' ties to repressive dictators, shaming food processors into selling dolphin-safe tuna and demanding that businesses stop destroying old growth forests, citizens have become far more aggressive in directly challenging corporate behavior. Written by two activists who are constantly in the eye of this storm, Insurrection charts the growth of this dissatisfaction and gives us a glimpse of where this movement might be heading.