Corporate Sustainability In Africa

This book addresses empirical, theoretical, and policy perspectives in its examination of the development of sustainability management of African firms. Documenting cases of sustainable activities across Africa and accelerating knowledge about the opportunities and challenges facing firms operating in Africa, the chapters examine various aspects of sustainability and sustainable entrepreneurship/innovations in the African context. The authors seek to shed light on how African nations can be positioned to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as well as the innovative strategies necessary to improve sustainability practices of African firms for greater success. With guidance for scholars and policymakers, this book will serve as a valuable resource, providing readers with an up-to-date and contextual understanding of sustainability practices, drivers, and challenges in Africa. Samuel Adomako is Associate Professor of Strategy at the Birmingham Business School at the University of Birmingham, UK. Albert Danso is Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Leicester Castle Business School at De Montfort University, UK. Agyenim Boateng is Professor of Finance and Director of Finance and Banking Research Centre at the Leicester Castle Business School at De Montfort University, UK.

The book offers new critical insights into the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development in Africa. The extent to which CSR initiatives can contribute to sustainable development in Africa remains debatable. This book examines in a very clear structure how, when, and whether CSR initiatives are able to contribute to the realization of the sustainable development goals, peace, and environmental sustainability at the micro-levels of society. It also explores some macro-level issues such as the relationship between taxation and CSR, CSR and human rights, and CSR and public governance and, in so doing, challenges existing CSR dogmas. With themes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this book provides useful practical guidance for policymakers and business leaders seeking to better understand the strength and limitations of CSR as a vehicle for advancing sustainable development in Africa. It will also appeal to scholars, researchers, and students of African studies, development studies, international business, strategic management, and business and society.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of corporate social responsibility and its development in Africa. It provides in-depth studies on 11 sub-Saharan countries, demonstrating that corporate social responsibility is forming and going through different stages of metamorphosis in the continent. Though corporate and individual attitudes towards sustainability in Africa still leave a lot to be desired, this book showcases how things are rapidly changing for the better in this regard. It demonstrates and provides evidence for the fact that corporate social responsibility contributes significantly to the way sub-Saharan African economies are being transformed, with service sectors expanding, commercial activities diversifying and industrial bases growing through the initiatives of small, medium and large organizations and innovators supported by widespread higher-education program rollouts. The book highlights how progressive and wide-ranging CSR approaches have emerged, and how much they differ from the obsolete approaches of the past, which promulgated negative stereotypes, marginalized communities and positioned them as victims or beneficiaries of development.

This book examines the conception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Africa, expanding it’s frontiers beyond corporate reporting, voluntary corporate charity and community development projects. Taking a corporate law perspective on CSR, the author combines theory and practice to explain how CSR interacts with of sustainable development and sets an agenda for effective operationalization in Africa. The book not only devises an enforcement mechanism towards embedding effective CSR and sustainable development in Africa but also addresses CSR greenwash on the continent. The author critically examines CSR practices, legal and regulatory techniques in Nigeria and South Africa in the context of contexts of international regulatory dialogues and shows how corporate socially responsible behaviour can be effectively embedded within business communities in Africa. Increasing our understanding of the theoretical, legal and regulatory frameworks supporting corporate responsibility, this book will be of interest to scholars, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of Africa law, corporate law, corporate social responsibility and African business.

This book provides a transnational African perspective on business management concerns and business ethics by examining the concepts of responsible business practices and sustainability across sub-Saharan Africa. Covering topics ranging from ethical advertisement to responsible pricing to waste management for sustainable business, it highlights the importance of consciously and deliberately inculcating responsible practices in the creation and operation of business activities within a corporate context to achieve sustainability in African markets. The book employs a case-by-case method for treating issues in responsible business practice and sustainability, with contributions illustrating responsible and irresponsible business practices across various areas of business management. Relevant to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it will be of great importance to academics and students of responsible business, sustainability, business ethics and African business more broadly. It will also be a helpful guide for professionals and business owners to understand some salient issues in navigating sustainable business practices in Africa.

To effectively deliver sustainable management in practice for Africa, we need responsible leadership. We need to deepen our understanding of sustainability in the unique socio-political and economic context of the continent. The roles of various actors across public, private and non-profit sectors as enablers of sustainable development need to be explored to understand the social, economic and environmental (SEE) trends in Africa and its emerging and developing economies, as well as to chart the way forward for the continent. This second volume explores the roles and responsibilities of the players—leaders and followers—in the core, public purpose and business spheres in delivering sustainable development outcomes for Africa. Drawing on interviews, cases and extensive literature, this volume contributes to reflection on the leadership values and practices required for a sustainable Africa and the crafting of new policy approaches to address the development challenges such as environmental degradation, economic inequities and social exclusion in Africa. The African scope of the book is hinged on collaboration from authors across Africa and the inclusion of case stories from emerging economies in the five African subregions (East, West, North, Central and Southern Africa) within the chapters. The core message is that, to achieve effective and sustainable management and development for Africa, the practice of responsible leadership is critical.

This book is about enhancing the contribution of business to sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on both challenges and opportunities. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where the proportion of extremely poor people increased during the final decades of the previous century. The overarching imperative to support Africa's poor in their quest for better livelihoods, human rights and environmental integrity, is a huge challenge, and the business community has an important role to play. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a better understanding of this role and its implications for decision-makers in business, as well as, to some extent, government and civil society.--Publisher's description.

The aim of this 2-volume book is to highlight how Sustainability Science approaches can help solve some of the pervasive challenges that Africa faces. The volumes collect a number of local case studies throughout Africa that adopt transdisciplinary and problem-oriented research approaches using methodologies from the natural and the social sciences. These are put into perspective with chapters that introduce key sustainability challenges such using a regional focus. Through this multi-scale and inter/transdisciplinary approach the proposed volume will provide an authoritative source that will pack in a single volume a large amount of information on how Sustainability Science approaches sustainability challenges in African contexts. While there have been general books about sustainability science, none has had a strong African focus. As a result the 2-volume set fills a major gap in the Sustainability Science scholarship. This volume sets the stage for the series. Part I introduces key sustainability challenges in Africa. Parts II‐III highlights specific case studies related to these challenges from West and Central Africa.