In a dramatic departure from its voluntary origins, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rapidly shifting to hold multinational companies accountable for more than traditional shareholder performance. This CSR movement is embracing new environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks that both promote global sustainability goals and enhance accountability for negative impacts businesses can have on ‘planet and people’. This collection of essays by leading businesspeople, international civil servants, legal practitioners, academics, and other experts offers a forward-looking and pragmatic perspective that illuminates the major themes in this movement towards increasingly sustainable, transparent and accountable business practices. The collection shows how CSR has evolved to account for societal pressures, environmental, climate change and human rights impacts, international policy imperatives and the practical challenges of regulating commercial activity that transcends borders. The chapters offer an in-depth examination of current issues including: international frameworks and multistakeholder initiatives catalysing foundational change; the shifting emphasis on corporate imperatives to avoid harm to third parties; trends in CSR, focused on assuring the planet's future sustainability and social stability; regulatory initiatives around the globe, including Europe, North America, Asia and Africa; and extended accountability for activities of corporate group members and supply chains. The pressure and business case for companies to incorporate CSR into corporate governance is intensifying with each quarter, shareholder meeting, and regulatory agenda. The integration of CSR and new ESG frameworks into multinational corporate strategy and operations is key to sustainable business models that can generate long-term value for the organization and all stakeholders. Their acceptance as cornerstones of 21st century business practice appears inevitable. Taking full account of the imperative for companies and their lawyers to grapple with the practical and legal challenges in this area, this volume is an invaluable and pragmatic addition to the practitioners’ toolbox at this important juncture in an ever-more dynamic field.

This book addresses the increasing overlap between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and law with a particular focus on company law and corporate governance. What is the impact of CSR on company law and corporate governance and, vice versa? How do these systems impact on CSR? Do they enable, require or prevent the socially responsible conduct of companies, for example, through corporate theory, directors’ duties or disclosure laws? What is the role of shareholders and directors in the promotion of CSR?The theme of the book ensures a sharing of ideas and experiences globally and internationally for all jurisdictions to consider core legal and social aspects of CSR.

This book deals with the role of international standards for corporate governance in the context of corporate social responsibility. Based on the fundamentals of moral theory, the book examines governance and CSR in general, addressing questions such as: Is “good governance” not affected by moral concerns? How do the principles and practices of CSR standards adhere to or conflict with insights from business ethics and moral theory? To what extent do the standards and governance models provide normative guidance? Do the standards and governance guidelines provide an adequate means of benchmarking and auditing? Are these standards a help or a hindrance to stakeholder engagement and transparency? The book provides insightful and thought-provoking answers to these and many other important questions concerning CSR standards, and offers a valuable resource for practitioners, academics and students at business schools and other institutions.

This book explores the external social and market forces affecting Corporate Social Responsibility.

The rise of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is creating a paradigm shift in contemporary corporate culture and organizational behaviour with shareholder and stakeholder activism on the rise as international banking crises and global corporate scandals dominate the headlines. Through accountability and transparency, fiduciary capitalism is being challenged to tie sustainability and corporate conscience to the bottom line. With the emergence of impact investing, social responsibility and ethics in corporate governance is becoming essential to long-term success in the new global marketplace. Corporations need to demonstrate that ethical, environmentally conscious business practices and profit are no longer mutually exclusive. Justine Simpson and John R. Taylor's Corporate Governance Ethics and CSR gives the reader a comprehensive guide to today's requirements for governance and reporting that organizations must adopt to successfully strike a balance between financial gain and socially responsible, green business practices that enhance the greater good. Employing current examples (Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup) and case studies in both the public and private sectors, Simpson and Taylor have compiled a thorough and fascinating roadmap, including historical context, for anyone seeking to understand the complex workings of the international corporate economy that affects us all. This book is perfect for students of, and those wishing to participate in, this revolutionary wave sweeping our planet.

The "business case" for corporate social responsibility, which suggests that socially and environmentally aware companies can expect to reap financial rewards, is seemingly gaining widespread acceptance within the business community. This is particularly apparent in the ever-increasing number of prominent companies parading their social, ethical and environmental credentials by producing paper- or web-based social and environmental, or sustainability, reports. In so doing, reporting companies claim, they are demonstrating a clear commitment to transparency and accountability to their key stakeholder groups. However, in the prevailing voluntaristic, business-case-centred climate within which such initiatives are taking place, little thought appears to have gone into the question of how stakeholders, other than the capital provider group, can actually use corporate disclosures offered in order to hold management accountable for the social and environmental consequences of their actions. While much corporate rhetoric abounds concerning notions of stakeholder dialogue and engagement, rigorous analysis of the governance implications of their claimed commitment to the principles of corporate social responsibility is largely conspicuous by its absence. Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance seeks to explore this "missing link" between CSR (and associated reporting initiatives) and governance mechanisms that are capable of embracing true stakeholder accountability. A wide range of case studies, drawing on experiences of both public- and private-sector initiatives in Europe, the United States, Canada, South America and Asia, offer insightful analysis of the complex relationships between the state, the market and civil society in the development of CSR, accountability and sustainable development. The book employs a multidisciplinary perspective in order to analyse the political, social, economic, technological, legal and organisational shaping of CSR. The complexities underpinning the concept are thereby clearly drawn out and the gross oversimplifications inherent in the prevailing consultancy-driven, business-case literature painfully exposed. Above all, the book offers a sound, practically and theoretically informed contribution to public policy debate and reflects and builds on urgent calls from public- and private-sector policy-makers as well as academics to develop better governance and accountability frameworks for business to deal with the imperatives of social responsibility, sustainable development and ethics. This book is divided into five parts. In Part 1, the complex concepts of responsibility, accountability and governance are discussed, and in particular the presumed relationships between the state, the market and civil society in improving accountability and governance are explored and critiqued. Part 2 consists of chapters relating to corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory. Part 3 is concerned with empirical studies covering governance structures, networking and corporate social responsibility. Part 4 deals with corporate governance and its implications for regulators and civil society. Part 5 discusses multinational companies and how they impact on national governance regimes. Finally, a summary is provided with emerging international patterns of accountability and governance structures. Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance will be essential reading for public and private policy-makers and practitioners and academics interested in how CSR can become more than a soundbite, and rather a substantial force for better global corporate governance and accountability.

This book provides a platform for discussing the challenges that organizations face in order to implement sustainability, ethics, and effective corporate governance, all of which are important elements of “standing out” from other companies. Examining the background of the New European Consensus on development with the new guiding motto ‘Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future’, the authors explore how this new legislation on sustainability issues around the world is forcing companies to deal directly with sustainability issues. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, is the international community’s response to global challenges and trends in connection with sustainable development. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core, the 2030 Agenda is a transformative political framework designed to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development globally. It balances the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, including the key issues of governance and peaceful and inclusive societies, and recognizes the essential interlinkages between its goals and targets, i.e., that they must be implemented as a whole and not selectively. The respective chapters in this volume raise a number of questions regarding companies’ ability to implement sustainability, ethics, and effective corporate governance. Simultaneously, they explore how organizations must adapt to sustainability-related developments.