The Challenge For Business And Society

A roadmap to improve corporate social responsibility The 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign focused a good deal of attention on the role of corporations in society, from both sides of the aisle. In the lead up to the election, big companies were accused of profiteering, plundering the environment, and ignoring (even exacerbating) societal ills ranging from illiteracy and discrimination to obesity and opioid addiction. Income inequality was laid squarely at the feet of us companies. The Trump administration then moved swiftly to scrap fiscal, social, and environmental rules that purportedly hobble business, to redirect or shut down cabinet offices historically protecting the public good, and to roll back clean power, consumer protection, living wage, healthy eating initiatives and even basic public funding for public schools. To many eyes, and the lens of history, this may usher in a new era of cowboy capitalism with big companies, unfettered by regulation and encouraged by the presidential bully pulpit, free to go about the business of making money—no matter the consequences to consumers and the commonwealth. While this may please some companies in the short term, the long term consequences might result in just the opposite. And while the new administration promises to reduce "foreign aid" and the social safety net, Stanley S. Litow believes big companies will be motivated to step up their efforts to create jobs, reduce poverty, improve education and health, and address climate change issues — both domestically and around the world. For some leaders in the private sector this is not a matter of public relations or charity. It is integral to their corporate strategy—resulting in creating new markets, reducing risks, attracting and retaining top talent, and generating growth and realizing opportunities. Through case studies (many of which the author spearheaded at IBM), The Challenge for Business and Society provides clear guidance for companies to build their own corporate sustainability and social responsibility plans positively effecting their bottom lines producing real return on their investments. This book will help: • Create an effective corporate social responsibility and sustainability plan • Provide long-term bottom line benefit • Protect and enrich brand value • Recruit and retain top talent Perfect for CEOs, CFOs, Human Resource/Corporate Affairs executives, but also for government and not-for-profit leaders, this book helps you come up with a solid plan for giving back to society, producing real sustainable value.

In recent years, social innovation has experienced a steep career. Numerous national governments and large organisations like the OECD, the European Commission and UNESCO have adopted the term. Social innovation basically means that people adopt new social practices in order to meet social needs in a different or more effective way. Prominent examples of the past are the Red Cross and the social welfare state or, at present, the internet 2.0 transforming our communication and cooperation schemes, requiring new management concepts, even empowering social revolutions. The traditional concept of innovation as successful new technological products needs fundamental rethinking in a society marked by knowledge and services, leading to a new and enriched paradigm of innovation. There is multiple evidence that social innovation will become of growing importance not only concerning social integration, equal opportunities and dealing with the greenhouse effects but also with regard to preserving and expanding the innovative capacity of companies and societies. While political authorities stress the social facets of social innovation, this book also encompasses its societal and systemic dimensions, collecting the scientific expertise of renowned experts and scholars from all over the world. Based on the contributions of the first world-wide science convention on social innovation from September 2011 in Vienna, the book provides an overview of scientific approaches to this still relatively new field. Forewords by Agnès HUBERT (Member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) of the European Commission) and Antonella Noya (Senior Policy Analyst at OECD, manager of the OECD LEED Forum on Social Innovations)

The world of business is constantly evolving and management education institutions will likely face a number of challenges in keeping up with these changes. While most books focus on the needs of management education institutions, this work addresses the needs of the corporate world in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Featuring an extensive research study spanning 11 countries, it offers a unique perspective on the business challenges and developmental needs of companies in emerging and recently emerged economies, and on the missing links between those needs and management education. Using both company-specific and country-level data, the book provides businesses and educators with rare insights and recommendations on strengthening existing partnerships (or establishing them anew) between management education institutions and the corporate sector in order to make management education relevant for the 21st century. The book argues that ‘relevance’ should take the center-stage of all higher education institutions in order to accomplish their third mission, namely service to society. This is especially important for management education institutions, whose mission is to mold future managers and leaders who can have a significant influence on economic success and the wellbeing of society.

The heightening impact of ecological and societal crises makes sustainability an increasingly urgent imperative, requiring a fundamental shift in how we understand and practice management and business. In this book, the authors set out the key characteristics of sustainability such as its temporal and multilevel effects and highlight the complex array of sustainability risks and opportunities for business and management. Setting business within a systems perspective, the authors outline different sustainability discourses that frame how business responds to the sustainability imperative. They call for the normative and scientific approaches to sustainability to be merged so that a new transdisciplinary approach that brings together the material and relational traditions in sustainability management is developed. Sustainability work is understood as the reframing of tools, technologies, practices and business strategies to respond to the imperative. The book concludes by highlighting dynamic features of the imperative as it is shaped by the urgent need to restore and regenerate social and ecological systems. Sustainability transitions such as the Circular Economy and Net Zero are suggested as inspiration for profound business transformation. By facing the intractable complexity associated with sustainability, this book challenges students and scholars to draw from across the sciences and social sciences to understand, reflect upon and deliver responsible business outcomes in contemporary society.

This book provides a combination of case studies and current action research describing how businesses and civil society organizations are working to alleviate poverty in local and global communities. It intends to provide conceptual and research rationales for why management education and management institutions must address the issue of poverty. The book responds to one of the major findings from the research of the PRME Working Group on Poverty that the topic of poverty still lacks a strong business case for management educators and program/institutional administrators. The distinctive features of this book are that it: (1) includes examples of small and medium-sized (SME) businesses; (2) deals with the issue of poverty as a human rights violation; (3) explores the issue of absolute versus relative poverty; (4) deals with leadership challenges in organizations committed to poverty alleviation; and (5) discusses the issues in terms of management education’s responsibility for setting new management, research institutional and intellectual agendas. The first of two books to be produced by the PRME Working Group on Poverty, Socially Responsive Organizations and The Challenge of Poverty aims to provide both researchers and practitioners with the most wide-ranging coverage yet published on how business can be a positive force in alleviating poverty and how management education needs to adapt to this increasingly crucial prerogative.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) often emerges at the boundary of the business enterprise, expressed in changing relations with stakeholders and society. This book explores the theoretical and practical aspects of implementing CSR within organizations. It captures implementation perspectives and unravels consequences of implementing CSR.

This book explores the role of businesses in delivering positive societal and financial outcomes as they seek to bridge the gap between short-term organizational behaviors and long-range sustainability commitments. By addressing the inevitable data challenges associated with the strategic integration of a sustainability mindset, it enables faster adoption of social, environmental and governance metrics that generate lasting enterprise value. Inspired by the experience of practitioners that have successfully influenced the learning behaviors of complex organizations, this book helps readers drive systemic innovations as they leverage sustainability initiatives in a programmatic and intentional manner. Features: Defines a toolkit to generate sustainable business value by focusing on the organizational design underpinning sustainability-oriented initiatives. Provides a multidisciplinary lens on shaping the impact dialogue through applied frameworks. Discusses the need to analytically identify an organizational learning curve before developing impact targets and framing sustainability commitments around them. Combines theory and practice in a practical style by presenting a variety of real-life applications at a global level. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book discusses the unique relationship between societies and businesses in the Mediterranean region, with contributions from public figures and academics from Middle Eastern and Arab societies, as well as from North America and Europe. This blend of expertise and knowledge focuses on common business practices and their effect on society in Mediterranean countries, and aims to create a bridge between the two. Considering the cultural, social, political, legal and economic impacts and variety, Business and Society in the Middle East is a contemporary and authentic view of how local and traditional aspects of society dictate diversity and homogeneity within businesses.

Formerly published by Chicago Business Press, now published by Sage Business and Society provides a strategic framework that integrates business and society into organizational strategies to showcase social responsibility as a highly actionable and practical field of interest, grounded in sound theory. In corporate America today, social responsibility has been linked to financial performance and is a major consideration in strategic planning. This innovative text ensures that business students understand and appreciate concerns about philanthropy, employee well-being, corporate governance, consumer protection, social issues, and sustainability, helping to prepare them for the social responsibility challenges and opportunities they will face throughout their careers. The author team provides the latest examples, stimulating cases, and unique learning tools that capture the reality and complexity of social responsibility. Students and instructors prefer this book due to its wide range of featured examples, tools, and practices needed to develop and implement a socially responsible approach to business. The updated Seventh Edition also addresses how the latest trends in technology, including artificial intelligence, block chain, drones, and robotics, impact the world we live in – benefits and threats included. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.