Globalization and Social Responsibility

Over the last decade the question of the relationship between organisations and society has been subject to much debate, often of a critical nature. The decade has seen protests concerning the actions of organisations, exposures of corporate exploitation and unfolding accounting scandals. At the same time ethical behaviour and a concern for the environment have been shown to have a positive correlation with corporate performance. The nature of corporate social responsibility is therefore a topical one for businesses and academics. There are however many different perspectives upon what is meant by corporate social responsibility and how this might be applied within organisations. This book explores some of these different perspectives based upon the experiences of different people in different parts of the world. There has been much written about globalisation – some of it positive and much of it negative. It is a subject which arouses definite opinions. Despite the fact that the word globalisation is part of the title of this book it is not our intention to contribute to this debate. Instead we use the word globalisation in its original sense to represent the ubiquity of the concern for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is the subject matter of this book. Specifically we are concerned with the social contract between an organisation and its stakeholders.It is apparent that any actions which an organisation undertakes will have an effect not just upon itself but also upon the external environment within which that organisation resides. In considering the effect of the organisation upon its external environment it must be recognised that this environment includes both the business environment in which the firm is operating, the local societal environment in which the organisation is located and the wider global environment. Effectively therefore there is a social contract between organizations and their stakeholders. Recognition of the rights of all stakeholders and the duty of a business to be accountable in this wider context therefore has been largely a relatively recent phenomenon. The economic view of accountability only to owners has only recently been subject to debate to any considerable extent. In the current environment there is a need to debate this issue and its implications. This book therefore recognises the international scope of the interest in corporate social responsibility both through the contributions made by the authors of the respective chapters, who come from various parts of the world, and also through the international importance of the perspectives offered by these contributors. In doing so the various authors demonstrate that corporations are a part of society just as much as each of us is as a individual. Furthermore they demonstrate that the issues and concerns are not local ones but are international is scope and concern us all. The contributions to this book provide a representation of the range of concern for this relationship and the range of topics which fall within the subject matter of CSR. Among the authors who have contributed to this book are representatives from every continent and from a wide range of disciplines. The topics which are considered in the various chapters are equally diverse.