The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy

No longer only the domain of corporate public relations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has now become a serious concern for many firms and a major sphere of academic research. However, most strikingly, by encouraging corporations to play a role in economic governance, particularly at the global level, CSR also raises issues for political science, public policy, and the world of politics as a whole.

In this volume, authors consider what defines a 'responsible' corporation, examining such debates as: the implications of corporations setting standards for such matters as products and labour conditions, and thus playing more than a market role in the global economy; how the concept of corporate citizenship has been applied to the role of firms in corporate responsibility initiatives and what this means in terms of rights and responsibilities, and for citizenship in general; and whether corporate responsibility is compatible with shareholder maximization, specifically in the context of the global economy

Bringing together academics and practitioners, this volume examines the increasingly important arena of global economic governance and the role played by major corporations from a diverse range of perspectives. It will be of particular interest to academics, researchers, and students of Business, Political Science, and other social sciences, as well as business practitioners interested in CSR.

Colin Crouch is Professor at the Business School of Warwick University. He is also the External Scientific member of the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies at Cologne. He previously taught sociology at the LSE, and was fellow and tutor in Politics at Trinity College, Oxford, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford. Until December 2004 he was Professor of Sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is former chairman and former joint editor of The Political Quarterly. He has published within the fields of comparative European sociology and industrial relations, on economic sociology, and on contemporary issues in British and European politics. His most recent books include: Social Change in Western Europe (1999); Post-Democracy (2004); and Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs (2005).

Camilla Maclean currently teaches Governance and Public Management, Warwick Business School. She recently completed her PhD in the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Her thesis was an in-depth empirical examination of key CSR decision-making variables in three case studies of Southern African subsidiaries of large multinational mining corporations. Prior to her doctorate, she was a WBS Research Fellow working on a three-year multi-institutional global research project analyzing mining and community health issues in developing countries. Her MSc in International Development Management is from the London School of Economics and Political Science.