Searching the BU Catalog
Selected books are listed here; for additional titles, consult BU Libraries Search; use these subject terms: Business Ethics, Social Responsibility of Business, Corporate Responsibility.
Books & E-Books
Business Ethics and Critical Consultant Jokes: New Research Methods to Study Ethical Transgressions by
This open access book offers four ways to enrich traditional research methods in business ethics. By looking at critical jokes and cartoons on management consultants, their business practice and their clients’ demands, many ethical transgressions in business get addressed. By illustrating and criticizing such transgression, jokes can serve as an example in a theoretical argument, as a prompt to reflect on in an open interview, as a statement to assess in an enquiry or as basis for qualitative content analysis. By adding jokes to the conversation on ethical transgressions in business much depth and honesty can be added, resulting in better research data. Jokes can help to surpass social desirability bias included in answers given in traditional interview settings or enquiries. This book is of interest to consultants, researchers, educators and students in business ethics and management. The book showcases what kind of practical and ethical wisdom is embedded in business jokes and how this knowledge can be made productive in the context of business ethics.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Sustainable Business : Managing the Challenges of the 21st Century by
This open access book is a compact guide to the development of sustainable business, which has become the central concept in discussions about the future development of humanity and planet earth. It provides basic terminology and concepts on sustainable business and offers insights into a new management paradigm that integrates social and environmental dimensions into business models, strategies, and operations. New business concepts such as the donut economy, the circular economy, social innovation and sustainable leadership are introduced and the book outlines how they influence the way we run businesses today and in the future. This book lays the foundation for new management thinking in business and academia, making it a essential reader for professionals and students alike.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Managing with Sense and Sensitivity Professionalism in Leadership by
Managers wrestle daily with emotional leadership challenges because emotions and relationships influence organizational energy, commitment, and financial results. This book helps managers strike a balance between feeling and reason in a professional and ethical manner with attention to the manager's position in the hierarchy of the organization. The authors argue that all managers need to develop their own leadership style based on who they are as persons, their convictions and the circumstances in which they find themselves. This book shows managers how to use judgement, experience, reflection and general knowledge to be better leaders. The book also describes managerial responsibility for the conditions that create a compassionate and effective work environment where emotions can be expressed in ways that constructively benefit the entire organization.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Business, Human Rights and the Environment: the Evolving Agenda by
More than ten years after the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, this book critically reviews the achievements, limits and next frontiers of business and human rights following the 'protect, respect, remedy' trichotomy. The UN Guiding Principles acted as a catalyst for hitherto unprecedented regulatory and judicial developments. The monograph by Macchi proposes a functionalist reading of the state's duty to regulate the transnational activities of corporations in order to protect human rights and adopts a holistic approach to the corporate responsibility to respect, arguing that environmental and climate due diligence are inherent dimensions of human rights due diligence. In the volume emerging legislations are assessed on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, as well as the potential and limitations of a binding international treaty on business and human rights. The book also reviews groundbreaking litigation against transnational corporations, such as Lungowe v. Vedanta or Milieudefensie v. Shell, for their human rights and climate change impacts. The book is primarily targeted at academic and non-academic legal experts, as well as at researchers and students looking at business and human rights issues through the lenses of legal studies (particularly international law and European law), political sciences, business ethics, and management. Additionally, it should also find a readership among practitioners working in the public or private sector (consultants, CSR officers, legal officers, etc.) willing to familiarize themselves with the expanding areas of liability, financial and reputational risks connected to the social and environmental impacts of global supply chains. Chiara Macchi is currently Lecturer in Law at Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2022
Business Ethics and Sustainability by
This book equips readers with the knowledge, insights and key capabilities to understand and practice business activities from ethical and sustainable vantage points. In our interconnected global business environment, the impacts of business activities are under increased ethical scrutiny from a wide range of stakeholders. Written from an international perspective, this book introduces the theory and practice of ethical and sustainable business, focusing in particular on eco-environmental sustainability, intergenerational responsibilities, current disruptive technologies, and intercultural values of the business community and consumers. Written by an expert author who also brings to the fore non-Western concepts and themes, this book: features positive case studies, as well as transferrable and applicable key insights from such cases; highlights the importance of taking cultural differences into account; takes a transdisciplinary approach which considers findings from research fields including conceptual and empirical business ethics, behavioral economics, ecological economics, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of culture; weaves in pedagogical features throughout, including up-to-date case studies, study questions, thought experiments, links to popular movies, and key takeaways. Written in an accessible and student-friendly manner, this book will be of great interest to students of business ethics, environmental ethics, applied ethics, and sustainable development, as well as business practitioners striving toward ethical, sustainable, and responsible business practice.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2022
From Me to We : How Shared Value Can Turn Companies Into Engines of Change by
Shared value is a management strategy in which companies find business opportunities in social problems. While philanthropy and CSR focus efforts focus on "giving back" or minimizing the harm business has on society, shared value focuses company leaders on maximizing the competitive value of solving social problems in new customers and markets, cost savings, talent retention, and more. This book takes the concept of shared value to the next level, with the concept of "Me to We" (also abbreviated as "M2W") and discusses the current state of the business-environment-government relationship and shows how the shared value model can contribute to each entity. Citing real cases and examples from multiple industries, the authors show that shared value promotes shareholder interests while serving as a successful business strategy. Chapters explore the emerging phenomenon of shared value, the shareholder-stakeholder comparisons, the role of government in the stakeholder environment, shared value as it related to competitiveness, and operational issues such as implementation, communication, and leadership in their relationship to shared value. Readers will find useful strategies of Me to We and its implementation by firms that have become leaders in their market. They will receive ideas and insights into business strategies that will overshadow CSR activities as a differentiation or brand development strategy of the past. Featuring interviews with corporate executives offering their perspectives on shared value, this book will discuss shared value within the context of business and society, competitiveness, and globalization.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2022
The Good Entrepreneur Mapping the Role of Entrepreneurship in Society by
This book explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and doing good. As research into entrepreneurship has evolved, so has the business environment and the society in which entrepreneurs work. Now more than ever, entrepreneurs are found to reflect on personal commitment, ethical issues and more recently, the influence they could have on society. In short they have embraced the concept of 'the good entrepreneur.' Over time many different strands of 'good' entrepreneurship have emerged; from social, green and sustainable entrepreneurship to ecopreneurship and so forth. Indeed some strands of research have merged while others have registered a lack of field research and analysis. In this book the author argues that this excessive fragmentation has created the need for a reflection on the role of niches in entrepreneurship. Providing analysis from multiple perspectives, the author provides an overview of the relationship between entrepreneurship and doing good as well as an exploration of the drivers that promote research in this field and an outline of research dynamics. Contributing to the current debate around the field of entrepreneurship and its ability to drive responsible and sustainable business practices, this book presents a comprehensive guide for students (graduate, master and PhD), academics and institutions and offers the reader an enhanced understanding of the evolution and research challenges within 'good entrepreneurship.' Cristina Santini, PhD is an Associate Professor of Business Strategy and Strategic Management at the Università Telematica San Raffaele in Rome. She has authored many research articles and her interests focus on Agribusiness, the wine sector, entrepreneurship and participatory approach. She teaches Business Strategy and Strategic Marketing at graduate and undergraduate programs.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2021
Business ethics for better behavior by
Business Ethics for Better Behavior' teaches readers how to become aware of ethical traps, how to avoid them, and how to dig their way out if they fall in. It integrates the best work in psychology, economics, management theory, and normative philosophy into a simple action plan for ensuring the best ethical performance at all levels of business practice. This is a book anyone in business, from an entry-level employee to CEO, can use.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2021
Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability by
Progress of corporate history since the industrial revolution has been an enormous growth in freedom of enterprise, economic prosperity, innovation, technical, and intellectual advancement but it has also been, stoking the passions of greed, a slow and sure decay of morality, and social order culminating in high unemployment and Occupy Wall Street movements. Business enterprise is a profound thought of good intentions towards the society, which sets apart corporate culture over individual choice. A culture is a function of true knowledge of awareness, an identity with the ethical responsibility, that by which corporate infers and society teaches. Immanuel Kant raised the question whether a science of metaphysics with a logical structure, like that of the well established mathematical and measuring ethical assets usage, is crucial for corporate to bring the abstractions into reality, acknowledge value where value is due, and deconstruct what is valueless. This book addresses these issues effectively by subject - object distinction of qualitative and quantitative elements of management, what Kant had pleaded for.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2020
A Cynic's Business Wisdom by
A Cynic's Business Wisdom is an entrepreneur's manual from the edgy perspective that cynicism teaches us to have a healthy respect for the unexpected. It equips us to effectively deal with real-world business challenges and capitalize on opportunities. Essentially, it is the flip side of all those "instant-gratification-sugar-coated-success-guaranteed-get-rich-overnight" books. This manual is a keen reflection of converting collegiate knowledge into actions that are intended to give you an advantage in dealing with people, selling, networking, negotiating, managing, and controlling every business situation you find yourself in. It responds to questions posed and issues raised by entrepreneurs, academics, trainers, mentors, and businesspeople over all my years delivering business consulting, and expounds on my advanced business workshops, and on my very own business ventures. Business often is not pretty. Business is not always fair. People are out to win at virtually any cost. Those footsteps you hear are a constant reminder that you have a target on your back. Flexible business ethics are part of empowering you to play by your own rules, recognize that business is a game, nobody owes you a break, there are no black-and-white norms, and that business ethics are flexible. Understand how to play the game to win.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2020
Social Management Responsiveness in Business by
A lot of controversy exists around the contribution of the mining industry and the territorial development of the regions where it operates. Despite the boom in mineral prices, there are still many communities that do not show development. At the macroeconomic level, countries with a mining industry receive income from mining taxes and royalties, however, at the micro level this greater income is not reflected in the closing of socio-economic gaps and the well-being of the population. Cesar Saenzpresents the Social Management Model Canvas (SMMC), describing the rationale of how an extractive company can create and deliver social value for communities around and beyond the sphere of influence. The SMMC can best be described through nine basic building blocks - the social value proposition; defining the community; social channels; relationship with the community; key social resources; key social activities; key social partners; social investment structure and social benefits. Companies can map the existing social management model to visualize, understand and communicate the level of responsiveness of the model, whilst using the canvas to explore new social management improvements to get a social license to operate. Communities require companies and governments to address their needs such as education, employment, health service, among others. Combining all these elements in a social management model helps companies consider all the variables when designing and implementing strategies that meet both business and community needs.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Ethics by
Changes in the economy and greater competition force us to adapt our business practices and to take greater account of the needs of consumers and the social problems they care about. Consumers are placing an increasing weight on the social responsibility of the organisations they choose to purchase from and associate with, and businesses must adopt corporate social responsibility practices into their marketing strategies. This book demonstrates the concept of CSR and how it is included as an element of value-based marketing. Using research from the Polish market, the author explores the concept of value-based marketing, how organisations are implementing CSR and analyses the effect on consumer behaviour. It examines consumer awareness of CSR practices and the effect this has on their purchasing decisions and brand loyalty, making the argument that disregarding CSR can be detrimental to businesses success and profit. Providing both empirical and theoretical perspectives, this book will be a useful reference for scholars and upper-level students across business disciplines including marketing, CSR and business ethics.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Corporate Social Responsibility in Difficult Times by
It has been fairly traumatic for everyone and every organization over the last couple of years as we have had to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. It has certainly been a shock to the economic system of the world from which many are still recovering. Equally it has affected social systems and the environment, the effects of which are still being felt and will be felt for some time to come. In addition, there has been a fairly general economic crisis around the world as people struggle and adapt to the new environment. Certainly, there have been and will be changes which are likely to become permanent. While recovering from one crisis however another is becoming more significant as climate change and its effects start to become ever more apparent. So, it seems inevitable that difficult times will continue into the future. This book therefore sets out to examine aspects of the changes to corporate and institutional behaviour which have come about by the difficult times of needing to deal with past and future crises. The international origins of the contributors to this volume make this very original, taking some of the best ideas from around the world. This approach is based on the tradition of the Social Responsibility Research Network (SRRNet.org), which in its 20-year history has sought to broaden the discourse and to treat all research as inter-related and relevant to business. This tradition has always been to explore the subject widely and to seek relevant solutions, while also sharing best practice
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
Communicating corporate social responsibility : the trust factor by
The Trust Factor: Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility explores theoretical frameworks and practical applications for creating trust between an organization and key stakeholders. Scholars of communication, public relations, and leadership will find this book of particular interest
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2023
The ethically responsible organization by
Today's businesses have an obligation to conduct themselves in an ethical and responsible manner at all times. Fortunately, many businesses have historically embraced the idea that they can operate in an ethically & responsible manner. However, there are way too many companies that are willing to cut corners and do whatever it takes to make a profit, thus contributing to the vortex of mistrust, distrust, misinformation, disinformation and less than full disclosures as a result of their unethical misconduct. This book takes the positon that 'enough is enough' and argues that all businesses can and must be ethically responsible no matter its size or whether it operates locally or globally. The book describes the features of an ethically responsible (e.g., ethical and socially responsible) organization that is committed to always "doing the right things" which means they are committed to building, institutionalizing and sustaining an ethically oriented organizational culture. Ethical responsibility means maintaining -even improving- your bottom line, while setting a high bar for high ethical standards AND making a positive contribution to society. The book argues that organizations must be attentive to ensuring that the culture that has as its core accountability, responsibility, and learning which means it invests in developing and expecting all of its employees to be fully engaged in making ethical decisions and being ethical leaders. The book also discusses what it means to be an ethically responsible global business, leader, middle manager, and lower-level employee. The book provides a detailed look at the importance of organizations doing preventive work to avoid ethical falls or scandals and takes the position that if such a fall or scandal occurs then the company should seize the moment and learn from the experience by becoming a learning organization. The book also takes the position that an ethically responsible organization is already a learning organization that continuous inquiry, diagnosis, reflection, learning and self-correction as the keystone of the way it operates. Finally, the book offers some ideas on how organizations can reinforce an sustain themselves as ethically responsible businesses today and in the future by taking a strategic approach to ethics that includes constant and consistent ethics training and education for all its employees and partners. In the end, the purpose of the book is to continue to increase our understanding of why organizations stray from "doing the right things" and how a focus on being ethically responsible can position companies to avoid or quickly respond to any potential ethical misconduct or found themselves in the list of the years' top ethical scandals. This book is written for all those who also take the stance that 'enough is enough' when it comes to the headlines of another failure because the organization's leaders would not commit to being ethically responsible and find themselves in the throes of an ethical scandal and unable to recover from it - and like 'Humpty Dumpty, all the kings horses and all the kings men the company can't recover from what was a preventable ethical fall.
Location: Online (Single User Access)Publication Date: 2023
Stakeholder Management and Social Responsibility : Concepts, Approaches and Tools in the Covid Context by
The main objective of this book is to provide an innovative set of concepts and tools regarding company management, internal and external stakeholders and social responsibilities, reflecting the necessities and opportunities generated by the digital transformation, the transition to a knowledge-based economy, and the COVID-19 crisis. The book, based on a holistic vision and contextual approach of business, contributes to the development of company management and stakeholder and social responsibility theories and practices, being structured in 12 chapters. The original company management vision, approaches, and tools are based on three pillars: a new "manager-relevant stakeholder" rather than "manager-subordinate" managerial paradigm; a new type of company social responsibility rather than corporate social responsibility; and a new concept of company-relevant stakeholder rather than that of salient stakeholders. The book contains two innovative managerial mechanisms: the managerial synapse and company-relevant stakeholders-based management system able to help companies and stakeholders face successfully the challenges of digital transformation and the COVID-19 crisis and to generate greater organization functionality and performance. The book will be of interest to company managers and management specialists, management academics, consultants and researchers, and MBA students interested in a style of management with social responsibility at the forefront.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2022
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Approaches to Ethical Management by
This book provides a comprehensive overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its practical applications. In addition to the structured procedure with definitions and CSR approaches, functions within the value chain are described in comprehensive manner with reference to business practice. Business trends in special sectors such as innovation management and hospitality management are also covered. Numerous practical examples and country-specific recommendations for decisions in practical situations are also offered.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2022
Corporate Responsibility for Wealth Creation and Human Rights by
Georges Enderle proposes a radically new understanding of corporate responsibility in the global and pluralistic context. This book introduces a framework that integrates the ideas of wealth creation and human rights, which is illustrated by multiple corporate examples, and provides a sharp critique of the maximizing shareholder value ideology. By defining the purpose of business enterprises as creating wealth in a comprehensive sense, encompassing natural, economic, human and social capital while respecting human rights, Enderle draws attention to the fundamental importance of public wealth, without which private wealth cannot be created. This framework further identifies the limitations of the market institution and self-regarding motivations by demonstrating that the creation of public wealth requires collective actors and other-regarding motivations. In line with the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, this book provides clear ethical guidance for businesses around the world and a strong voice against human right violations, especially in repressive and authoritarian regimes and populist and discriminatory environments.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2021
Current Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility In the Era of Sustainable Development Goals by
This book addresses the status quo of Corporate Social Responsibility practices and their development since 2008. How have things changed in the practice of CSR? What new opportunities and challenges have arisen? The book reports on an international set of cases and case studies on how CSR is practiced at business and organizations in various countries. It analyzes country-specific and industry-specific issues, as well as general global issues in connection with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The contributions gathered here provide comprehensive information on CSR for both practitioners and researchers around the globe.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2021
Climate Change and the Governance of Corporations by
Climate change represents the most important environmental challenge of our time. Organisations are responding by implementing governance processes and taking action to reduce their own emissions and the emissions from their supply chains and value chains. Yet very little is known about how these efforts contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (if, indeed, they make any substantive contribution at all) or about how they might be harnessed to deliver more ambitious reductions in emissions. This book explains when and where particular forms of governance intervention - including internal governance processes and external governance pressures - are likely to impact climate change. From this analysis, it offers practical proposals on the climate policy frameworks that need to be in place to facilitate or accelerate changes in corporate behaviour. The book is truly global: it focuses on the world's 25 largest retailers (including Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, Sears and Aldi) and is based on detailed interviews with senior managers from these corporations, and with key global and national NGOs, corporate responsibility experts, politicians and regulators. These interviews provide clear insights into how external governance pressures and actions (public opinion, regulation, incentives) interact with internal governance conditions (management systems and processes, corporate policies, board/CEO leadership) to change and shape corporate actions on climate change and, in turn, the climate change impacts of these corporations. This book can be used as a core reference for any courses dealing with corporate governance and business strategy, in particular those relating to climate change and to environmental management more generally. It is also of relevance to business practitioners, public policy makers, investors and NGOs interested in ensuring that companies play a constructive role in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2020
Corporate Responsibility in the Digital Age by
This book is a roadmap to help organizations adopt corporate responsibility and sustainability practices and be fit for purpose in a digital era. It explains why corporate responsibility is the only option in the twenty-first-century post-COVID-19 world, and guides readers through the process of transforming their organizations with continued reference to the importance of technology. This is not a technical manual, and it is not an academic textbook: it is designed to be a quick, easily digested read. The first part looks at the current landscape - both of business and of the world in which it operates. The second part explains why corporate responsibility is the only realistic option for business in the twenty-first-century, post-COVID, and who needs to take responsibility for it. The third part is a step-by-step guide to putting principles into practice, covering: values, stakeholder engagement, employees, supply chain, environment, community, customers and marketing, and reporting and transparency. Each chapter is linked to relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals and supported by dozens of real-world examples. By the end of the book, business leaders will have understood the scope of the challenge involved in leading a truly socially and environmentally responsible organization, and, crucially, will have understood why such a course of action is not only desirable but essential. And they will also have been inspired by a sense of purpose. The book offers direct access to the processes, insights, and techniques for installing corporate responsibility throughout organizations large and small, based on the author's many years' experience working in government and with successful large corporations. It is up-to-date and relevant, addressing the implications of COVID-19 and the modern technological "Fourth Industrial Revolution."
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2020
