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Cross-sector partnerships are widely hailed as a critical means for addressing a wide array of social challenges such as climate change, poverty, education, corruption, and health. Amid all the positive rhetoric of cross-sector partnerships though, critical voices point to the limited success of various initiatives in delivering genuine social change and in providing for real citizen participation. This collection critically examines the motivations for, processes within, and expected and actual outcomes of cross-sector partnerships. In opening up new theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives on cross-sector social interactions, this book reimagines partnerships in order to explore the potential to contribute to the social good. A multi-disciplinary perspective on partnerships adds serious value to the debate in a range of fields including management, politics, public management, sociology, development studies, and international relations. Contributors to the volume reflect many of these diverse perspectives, enabling the book to provide an account of partnerships that is theoretically rich and methodologically varied. With critical contributions from leading academics such as Barbara Gray, Ans Kolk, John Selsky, and Sandra Waddock, this book is a comprehensive resource which will increase understanding of this vital issue.
"When most people think of corporate responsibility, they are focusing on a business's effect on and relationship to stakeholders. A Responsible Business sees stakeholders as full partners and meaningful instruments for the evolution of healthier communities and more successful businesses." —from the Introduction The Responsible Business offers a new and strategic approach to doing business that holistically integrates responsibility into all aspects of an organization, allowing for returns at every level, business and social. This book goes beyond the often well intentioned but limited attempts at sustainability to present a framework that allows organizations to bring responsibility into everything they do and re-imagine success. From innovation, product development, and production processes to business management, strategic planning, and shareholder development, the author shows how being a Responsible Business is a practical skill that can be applied day-to-day at every level of the business. No longer just the role of a department or the job of CSR professionals, successful responsibility and business efforts start at the business level, are then taken to the corporate level, and are finally applied throughout the organization. The Responsible Business outlines a framework for building a responsibility and consciousness infrastructure that applies a living systems view to the business and inspires all of its stakeholders, including shareholders. Throughout the book, illustrated by examples from technology to manufacturing, large and small, public and private, Sanford demonstrates how to make responsibility integral to all aspects of a business as an engine for innovation, profitability, and purpose. Praise for The Responsible Business "This is a very significant book. It makes it clear that businesses have a single boss with five interrelated aspects. The stories are among the crispest, most evocative case histories I have seen. The book is for any corporate leader trying to do the impossible: create a business that recreates the world." —Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief, strategy + business, and author, The Age of Heretics "Carol Sanford offers us a proven, practical, and systems-based approach that integrates five stakeholder groups into a business system working as an integral whole. Essential reading for leaders wanting a system framework for sustainability and business success!" —Otto Scharmer, MIT Sloan senior lecturer; author, Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges; and coauthor, Presence "The Responsible Business challenges many assumptions corporate leaders, investment advisors, and sustainability experts have long taken for granted. It provides a road map that can help innovative businesses think about how to be truly transformational." —Sam Ford, Fast Company expert blogger and director, Peppercom "The powerful concepts in The Responsible Business have changed the process of sustainable development and how communities truly thrive. Indeed, these proven approaches will be the roadmap to truly achieve the deepest level of living communities." —Bill Reed, founding member of LEED System and coauthor, The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building "Critical for re-imagining the future of business. Rarely a day goes by that I do not call on this way of thinking and looking at the world. It is useful for taking on the big business decisions that so many of us face every day." —Chad Holliday, chairman, Bank of America
Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Arguably, the Human Resources (HR) function is the key partner in embedding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability initiatives in any organisation, as this can be achieved only when a company educates, engages and empowers its entire workforce. This book goes even further and proposes that the HR function has a responsibility to be proactive in leading the way in establishing a company-wide CSR-enabled culture. And, yet, this is not happening. HR managers are preoccupied with their traditional roles of organizational development, recruitment, training and compensation, and are failing to see the opportunities that CSR brings for them as professionals and for their organizations. CSR for HR has been designed to change the game. It provides HR managers with a thorough understanding of the drivers and principles of CSR and a practical step-by-step guide to the way CSR interfaces with every HR function. Recruitment, compensation, training, employee communications, employee well-being, health & safety, employee rights, involvement in the community, and employee impacts on the environment are all discussed from the CSR–HR standpoint, with many clear examples showing how HR can leverage CSR strategies to deliver greater benefit for the business, for employees, for society, for the environment and, ultimately, for HR professionals themselves. The HR function plays a critical role in embedding a values-based, strategic CSR mindset and establishing an organizational culture that meets the needs of today's stakeholders. HR professionals who understand this and adapt accordingly will reap the benefits. The book explains why, how and what to do next, offering detailed advice, tools, a roadmap to get started and hundreds of tips from companies around the world, including original content from HR managers of large corporations. Written from the standpoint of an HR professional waking up to the strategic possibilities of incorporating CSR in her day-to-day role, the book has an easy and engaging style, ideal for the busy managerial reader. CSR for HR is both a wake-up call and a toolkit and will be essential reading for practitioners in both HR and CSR, as well as being a sought-after teaching resource for both executives and students.
The basic function of companies is to add value to society. Profits are a means to an end, not an end in itself. The ability of companies to innovate, scale and invest provides them with a powerful base for positive change. But companies are also criticized for not contributing sufficiently to society’s grand challenges. An increasingly VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world creates serious governance gaps that not only require new ways of regulation, but also new ways of doing business. Can companies effectively contribute to sustainable development and confront society’s systemic challenges? Arguably the most important frame to drive this ambition was introduced and unanimously adopted in 2015: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG-agenda not only defines a holistic set of global goals and targets, but also foundational principles to guide meaningful action to their achievement by 2030. Multinational companies have signed up to the SDGs as the world’s long-term business plan. Realizing the SDGs provides a yearly $12 trillion investment and growth opportunity, while creating hundreds of millions of jobs in the process. But progress is too slow – witnessing society’s inability to deal with pressing human, ecological, economic and health crises – whilst the vast potential for societal value creation remains underutilized. This book provides a timely account of the systemic, strategic and operational challenges that need to be addressed to enhance the effectiveness of corporate involvement in society, by using the SDGs as the leading principles-based framework for actionable, powerful and transformative change. Principles of Sustainable Business is written for graduate and postgraduate (executive) students, policymakers and business professionals who want to understand the complex challenges of global sustainability. It shows how companies can design and implement SDG-relevant strategies at three levels: the macro level, to assess whether the SDGs present wicked problems or opportunities; the micro level, to develop and operationalize innovative business models, design new business cases and navigate organizational transition trajectories; and the meso level, to develop fit-for-purpose cross-sector partnering strategies. Principles of Sustainable Business presents innovative tools embedded in a coherent sequence of analytical frameworks that can be applied in courses for students, be put into practice by business professionals and used by action researchers to help companies contribute to the Decade of Action.
This book explores the current state of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from an international perspective, the goal being to share ideas and visions for a sustainable future and to provide useful guidelines for academics, practitioners and policymakers in the context of the 2030 “Agenda for Sustainable Development” released by the United Nations. Research on CSR has evolved considerably over the last three decades. However, there are still many unanswered questions concerning the sustainability of business in an increasingly changing world, for example: If most companies consider CSR to be valuable to their organizations, why do only 15% of them systematically implement Social Responsibility initiatives? If CSR has been found to be profitable for companies, why are they so reluctant to develop an active, internal CSR policy? Why are there such significant differences in CSR adoption from country to country? Why does it take a huge crisis to make politicians react and regulate certain core CSR issues? This contributed volume answers these questions, presenting a wealth of case studies and new approaches in the process.
Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship are now essential elements of modern business. Responsible Business is a vital "how to" guide providing information on all aspects of the CSR process. This highly accessible book is full of insights from those responsible for implementing CSR strategy inside companies – whether as CSR managers or at top management level – with coverage of all the important aspects of CSR – from what a sustainability manager's job involves, how to handle stakeholder dialogue, supply chain management to auditing, CSR and the law, and communicating CSR. Divided into bite-size easy-to-read chapters complete with practical checklists or "dos and don'ts", Responsible Business provides perspectives across different industries and sectors from running micro-finance at an international banking group to CSR in small companies as well as personal insights into a CSR manager's role in the automotive sector, the IT sector, the hotel business and many more. "If CSR is ever to happen in real time, it will be in the corporate trenches, honed by managers driving CSR beyond academic ideal to practical workplace results. This new book from Europe's ICCA has it all in one place. A brilliant display of actual corporate accomplishments, workable tools, and organisational work-around strategies. Real stuff by real professionals." —William C. Frederick, author of Corporation, Be Good! The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility "The work of Nick Tolhurst and the ICCA in this publication and beyond is vital to the field of CSR, as well as to the interdisciplinary fields and sectors that it affects in the private sector, public sector and civil society. I suggest this book become required reading for each sector." —Mark C. Donfried, Director and Founder, Institute for Cultural Diplomacy
This special issue addresses the complex reality of English community football organisations, including Football in the Community (FitC) schemes, which have been attending to social agendas, such as social inclusion and health promotion. The positioning of football as a key agent of change for this diverse range of social issues has resulted in an increase in funding support. Despite the increased availability of funding and the (apparent) willingness of football clubs to adopt such an altruistic position within society, there remains limited empirical evidence to substantiate football’s ability to deliver results. This book explores the current role of a football and football clubs in supporting and delivering social inclusion and health promotion to its community and seeks to examine the philosophical, political, environmental and practical challenges of this work. The power and subsequent lure of a football club and its brand is an ideal vehicle to entice and capture populations that (normally) ignore or turn away from positive social and/or health behaviours. The foundations of such a belief are examined, outlining key recommendations and considerations for both researchers and practitioners attending to these social and health issues through the vehicle of football. This book was originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.
This book presents state-of-the-art research on responsible operations practices. The book identifies the challenges and opportunities arising from the shift towards responsible business operations and examines these issues through the lenses of operations management, emphasizing the supply chain transformations associated with these changes. Developing a responsible business model presents a great opportunity for firms to differentiate in the marketplace through innovative models and insights around responsible operations and supply chain management. To do so, companies in many industries are changing their practices around sourcing materials, supplier compliance around processes and labor, scientific and sustainable approaches to farming in emerging countries, managing counterfeiting risks, and public health management. Responsible Business Operations: Challenges and Opportunities is divided into three sections. Section 1 focuses on environmental responsibility for companies. It also explores alternative energy solutions for both the developed and developing world, as well as worldwide carbon footprint reduction efforts. Section 2 is dedicated to social responsibility, with chapters covering topics including improving agricultural food chains and humanitarian challenges for businesses. Finally Section 3 promotes ethical responsibility, analyzing ways to improve supplier compliance to product, process and ethical standards.