Posts Tagged ‘Corporate Responsibility’
1. The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility (Wayne Visser)
This book is a journey of two kinds. First, it is an autobiography of Dr. Wayne Visser. Second, the book presents the recent evolution of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility. The book takes the reader on a voyage from the African continent to Europe, then to Asia Pacific and the Americas with the final destination in the United Kingdom. Review by Karina Yadav. Read more
2. Accounting for Sustainability: Practical Insights (Anthony Hopwood, Jeffrey Unerman and Jessica Fries)
This book is an attempt to encourage the practice of CSR by proposing a “Connected Reporting Framework” and showing examples of how this has been applied in several organisations including Sainsbury’s, EDF Energy, BT, HSBC and others. The book is the outcome of five years of the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) project started by HRH Prince Charles and supported by a range of sponsors, mostly the big accounting firms.Review by Elaine Cohen. Read more
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The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility
2013
Author: Wayne Visser
Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing
Year: 2012
Pages: 256
This book is a journey of two kinds. First, it is an autobiography of Dr. Wayne Visser, one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders in Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, and a Top 100 Global Sustainability Leader. Second, the book presents the recent evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or as Dr. Visser’s coined the term – Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility.
The Quest for Sustainable Business takes the reader on a voyage from the African continent to Europe, then to Asia Pacific and the Americas with the final destination in the United Kingdom. Incidentally, this route reflects the life journey of the author, who was born in Zimbabwe and spent his childhood in South Africa, and who now lives in London, UK.
With the CSR concept much promulgated in Western society, the book can be a surprising discovery of CSR undertakings in the developing world. For example, the book highlights a number of market and government initiatives in Kenya, Nigeria, China and India. Nevertheless, it is somewhat disappointing that the author does not elaborate on the state of CSR in Russia – a country with world’s largest energy resources and forest reserves.
The book can be valuable to anyone who is interested in the diverse and contested concept of CSR and its development in different parts of the world. As the reader discovers along the journey, drivers for CSR range from economic, political, social, cultural and even geographical characteristics. The latter becomes apparent when comparing the Netherlands and Australia. How does this happen? Perhaps it would be better to let the reader find out what a difference can be made by the immediate need for a remedy and how this can transform the identity of a nation.
Review by
Karina Yadav, CSR International
1. Doing Business in China: An Overview of Ethical Aspects
The paper reviews the business ethics climate within China and explores the operating environment for business and considers the cultural characteristics which underpin this. Read more
2. Corporate Governance and Social Media: A Brave New World for Board Directors
The report provides insights on the power of new social technologies to shape boards’ decisions and bolster stakeholders’ influence. Read more
3. Governance of State-owned Enterprises in the Baltic States
This publication intends to build a more profound understanding of how governance works in the Baltic States, and to develop suggestions for how to implement world class standards in the Baltic region. Read more
4. Moral Intensity, Issue Importance and Ethical Reasoning in Operations Situations
The study investigates the relationships among moral intensity, perceived ethical issue importance, and three stages of the ethical reasoning process: recognition of an ethical issue, ethical judgment, and ethical intention. Read more
5. Best Corporate Citizens in Government Contracting
Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine has released the 3rd annual Best Corporate Citizens in Government Contracting List. Read more
6. The Shareholder-Manager Relationship and Its Impact on the Likelihood of Firm Bribery
The article examines the impact on firm bribery of two corporate governance devices heavily studied in corporate governance research—i.e., separation of ownership and control, and equity share of the largest shareholder. Read more
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Governance Research Digest – July 2012
Summary
The paper reviews the business ethics climate within China and explores the operating environment for business and considers the cultural characteristics which underpin this. It also looks at current business ethics and corporate responsibility trends and identifies the key ethical challenges facing businesses seeking to operate with high ethical standards in the Chinese market might encounter.
Key Findings
- Whilst China is still developing a robust corporate governance framework and universal rule of law, the pace of change in China is fast and the scale of their ambition in areas such as corporate governance, sustainability and anti-corruption is growing.
- With the advent of the UK Bribery Act and its extra-territorial reach, it is imperative for companies entering the Chinese market to be mindful of particular cultural traits (such as gift giving traditions and personal networks) when rolling out training and guidance designed to establish and ensure high ethical standards of business practice among employees.
- Business ethics and CSR in China are maturing fields.
- Heavily influenced by the state and traditional Confucian values, there are high expectations on business to play a part in addressing social inequalities and issues such as bribery and corruption, discrimination, human rights and environmental degradation.
- The Chinese government expects ethics and CSR programmes to be in line with the country’s long term strategy for social improvement as outlined in its Five Year Plan.
- It is important that Western companies acknowledge the roles that personal connections (guanxi) and respect or ‘avoiding loss of face’ (mianzi) play when guiding employees on how to manage business relationships appropriately.
- Other Confucian influences on employees’ behaviour include:
- a reluctance by staff to speak up against colleagues (particularly their superiors) or use a reporting hotline as they are taught unquestioning respect for authority and loyalty to their group;
- the need when training staff for small group sizes of the same rank, as the presence of superiors may inhibit employees to be frank and open in their discussion.
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1. Changing Business from the Inside Out: a Treehugger’s Guide to Working in Corporations (Timothy J. Mohin)
This is one of the most valuable and useful guides to working in Corporate Responsibility (CR) written to date. Tim uses his extensive experience working in organisations such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Intel, Apple, and currently AMD to provide practical tools and advice to not only those seeking to enter the sector but also to seasoned CR professionals and business leaders. Review by Jennifer Roynon. Read more
2. Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses into Results (Cy Wakeman)
Wakeman’s book was, perhaps, not written for the sustainability bookshelves. It was written for the Business Leadership, Management and Human Resources sections of business literature. However, its relevance for sustainability is compelling. Business sustainability requires leaders who deliver sustainable results through people. A business cannot be sustainable when only a third of the workforce is engaged or two-thirds are thinking about how to get out. Review by Elaine Cohen. Read more
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1. Building and Restoring Organisational Trust
The IBE report Building and Restoring Organisational Trust demonstrates why organisations need to know how trust is won, developed and sustained, and what to do when that trust is threatened or has broken down. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
2. Uplifting the Earth: The Ethical Performance of Luxury Jewellery Brands
Published by Fair Jewelry Action, a non-profit organisation promoting fairly traded jewellery, and strategy advisers Lifeworth Consulting, the report benchmarks ten prestigious jewellery brands on their social and environmental performance. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
3. The 2011 Black List
The Corporate Responsibility magazine has unveiled its annual list of the least transparent companies in the Russell 1000. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
4. EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing
EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing informs key stakeholders on the latest trends, research, indices, best practices, case studies, intelligence and viewpoints related to this important theme. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
5. Principles for an Anti-Corruption Programme under the UK Bribery Act 2010
The Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) has launched the publication of Principles for an Anti-Corruption Programme under the UK Bribery Act 2010 for the Energy and Extractives Sector. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
6. Best Corporate Citizens in Government Contracting
The second annual Best Corporate Citizens in Government Contracting List is designed to encourage government to take transparency and responsibility data into account when making buying decisions. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
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1. Socially Conscious Consumerism Report
This systematic review, conducted by the Network for Business Sustainability, synthesizes thirty years of research on whether consumers are willing to reward firms for their positive sustainability actions either by changing their behaviour or by paying a price premium. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
2. Corporate Responsiveness to Community Stakeholders: Effects of Contextual and Organisational Characteristics
Corporate community responsiveness relates to business activities that are integral parts of a firm’s operations and are designed to benefit the firm through benefiting communities. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
3. Sustainability Education: A Student Perspective
This study examining student interest in sustainability education is one of three reports detailing employer, industry and thought leader perspectives on sustainability knowledge and skills within the labour market. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
4. Credit Accessibility and CSR in Financial Institutions: The Case of Microfinance
This paper considers the social responsibilities of financial institutions in developing countries, including helping to tackle to problem of poverty. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
5. New Media and Corporate Responsibility Study
The 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study is a three-part survey which explored new media users’ interactions with brands, their support of social and environmental issues and their engagement with corporate responsibility practices. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
6. Sensemaking of Social Issues in Management by Authorities and CEOs
This study explores how opinion leaders – CEOs and other authorities in the domain of social issues in management – understand and differentiate various concepts of social responsibility. Read the report summary in the Digest (see download/purchase links below) …
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