“Corporate Social Responsibility. Reconciling Aspiration with Application”

Citation

Mesure, H. (2007), "“Corporate Social Responsibility. Reconciling Aspiration with Application”", Society and Business Review, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 135-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465680710725335

Andrew Kakabadse, Professor at Cranfield University, member of the supervisory board of EABIS, is well‐known for his book “Working in Organisations” (1998/2005). Mette Morsing, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business Scholl (CBS) is also Director of the CBS's Centre for Corporate Values and Responsibility. Those both authors are therefore well anchored in the CSR field. The book they edit is a collection of 18th texts written by 30 authors who work in prestigious academicals institution, companies or NGOs throughout the world.

In their introduction, “Corporate Social Responsibility – Reconciling Aspiration with Application” Kakabadse and Morsing precise that their intention was to “examine the questions and challenges surrounding the concept and application of the social responsibilities of the enterprise” (p. 1) One that base, the contributions have been grouped in four parts. The first one “Theories and Perspectives” is opened by Freeman and Ramakrishna who argue that CSR “has outlived its usefulness” (p. 21) firstly because it promotes de facto the “separation thesis” and, secondly, because it is too much focussed on corporations. The four chapters of this part are more or less proposals for a re‐foundation of the CSR theory defending an integration approach rather than a hierarchical approach of the economical, social and ecological dimensions of the management. The second part “Reporting and Regulating” is dedicated to the implementation and practices of the CSR as they can appear throughout reporting, measuring or regulating CSR. Therefore, the five chapters are situated either at the organizational level either at a national level. The part III “Actions and Challenges” is composed of three case studies that put in scene three emblematic corporations: Shell, Novo Nordisk A/S and Unilever UK. The five chapters of the part four – “Questions and Perspectives” – discuss about CSR development and its future applications. Considering that point, the future of CSR is linked to the way it is taught in business schools and to its capacity to be not corporations focussed.

Throughout its chapters this book tackles CSR from a triple point of view: theoretical, empirical and practical. Much of the Society and Business nowadays items – such as stakeholders, governance or environmental issues – are examined alongside an examination of the challenges facing the managers in regulating and reporting CSR applications. The question of the nature, the end and the purpose of the organizations, especially the corporations, and the means to achieve them underline the entire book. The postulate of the book is that enterprises are embedded in societies that give them a “licence to operate”. Therefore, it is not possible to do business as if businesses were in weightlessness. As Lensen remark it “the emergence of a balanced Corporate Contract would be vital for a sustainable global free market system”.

This book brings a complete Tour D'horizon of the CSR as it can be practiced, discussed and hoped in the EABIS network that set managers, consultants, scholars in order to build an “enlighten capitalism” (Lenssen) expression that sum up the fundamental purpose of this book.