The Rise And Fall Of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility was one of the most consequential business trends of the twentieth century. Having spent decades burnishing reputations as both great places to work and generous philanthropists, large corporations suddenly abandoned their commitment to their communities and employees during the 1980s and 1990s, indicated by declining job security, health insurance, and corporate giving. Douglas M. Eichar argues that for most of the twentieth century, the benevolence of large corporations functioned to stave off government regulations and unions, as corporations voluntarily adopted more progressive workplace practices or made philanthropic contributions. Eichar contends that as governmental and union threats to managerial prerogatives withered toward the century's end, so did corporate social responsibility. Today, with shareholder value as their beacon, large corporations have shred their social contract with their employees, decimated unions, avoided taxes, and engaged in all manner of risky practices and corrupt politics. This book is the first to cover the entire history of twentieth-century corporate social responsibility. It provides a valuable perspective from which to revisit the debate concerning the public purpose of large corporations. It also offers new ideas that may transform the public debate about regulating larger corporations.

Shows how emerging global corporate social responsibility norms influence CSR adoption, using the experience of the global mining industry.

Bringing together the fields of sociology, political science, and management and organization studies, Ursula Mühle offers in this unique volume an authoritative overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Mühle first considers the origins of CSR during the 1970s, highlighting the various approaches to CSR and explaining its early shortcomings. She then turns to the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative to investigate why, since the mid-1990s, CSR has been on the rise. Finally, Mühle employs several case studies as well as interviews with business executives and politicians to illustrate why businesses worldwide now view CSR as a key component to their success. The Politics of Corporate Social Responsibility will be welcomed by scholars and CSR practitioners alike.

The book examines the evolution and current state of corporate social responsibility (CSR), using a five-stage maturity model: defensive, charitable, promotional, strategic and transformative CSR. The first four stages are dubbed CSR 1.0 and characterise most current CSR practice, while the fifth stage is named CSR 2.0 (also transformative or systemic CSR) and describes emergent and future CSR practices. Reasons are given why CSR 1.0 approaches have failed to have any significant impact on the most serious global social, environmental and ethical challenges. The emergent CSR 2.0 will then be explored in detail by elaborating on five principles underlying the new approach, including: creativity, scalability, responsiveness, glocality and circularity. A four-part DNA Model is also introduced, covering value creation, good governance, societal contribution and ecological integrity, which provides the basis for defining and measuring CSR 2.0. Finally, a 70-question CSR 2.0 self-assessment diagnostic tool developed by the author is presented, with sample data to show how the tool can be used for future research and practitioner application.

Here is the story of Corporate Social Responsibility---what it means, where it came from, where it is going, what it requires of business. Told in an eyewitness, I-was-there style by a pioneer of the study of CSR in the nation's business schools, it takes the reader through a half century of corporate scandals and fierce struggles over corporate ethics---from Ralph Nader's 1960s Campaign GM to today's white collar crimes at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and other Wall Street giants. It lays bare the values that drive corporate culture, explores the motivational depths of corporate strategy and policy, demonstrates how biological impulses can lead business decision makers astray, questions the relevance and ethical commitment of business school education, reveals the spiritual side of management life, and holds out hope that the New Millennium will see improvement in the ethical performance of business. William C. Frederick is one of the founders of the study of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States and initiated some of the key concepts and analytic categories. His books include Business and Society, Social Auditing, and Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation. He was president of The Society for Business Ethics and The Society for Advancement of Socio-Economics, and chaired the Social Issues in Management division of The Academy of Management. He conducted studies of management education in Spain, Italy, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Ecuador, Nigeria, and Australia, and designed and taught programs for executives in U. S. corporations. He was dean of the business schools at the University of Kansas City and the University of Pittsburgh. He received a PhD in economics and anthropology from the University of Texas. Corporation, Be Good! draws on the author's half-century of thinking about the social and ethical responsibilities of the modern corporation.

Volume Two of Business and Society 360 focuses on research drawn from work grounded in 'corporate social responsibility' and 'corporate citizenship.'

The essays in this volume examine the emergence of the concept of corporate social responsibility, and the uses that have been made of the language of corporate responsibility to explore the business/society relationship. The first section traces the emergence of the concept of corporate social responsibility as a way of understanding and framing the business/society relationship. Section two of the volume looks at "Definitions and ethical justifications" with a view to exploring current discussions of the nature, scope and source of the social responsibilities of corporations. Section three, "CSR and Management: Critical Reflections", explores the integration of CSR theories and justifications into business management and business management theories. Articles in the final section of the volume apply the concept of corporate social responsibility, and the theoretical frameworks and analytical tools to which it has given rise, to the examination and resolution of specific social issues arising out of the economic activities of corporations.