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Hot Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility

Today the social responsibility of business is a regular topic for discussion in academic journals and business boardrooms.

Selected articles & Videos

Due to contractual arrangements, access to some articles is restricted to the Stanford community. Members of the public without such access can explore the Web Sites listed at right. Inclusion below does not imply Stanford University endorsement of the ideas expressed.

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Academic vs. Real World Ethics 

Video of lecture on corporate social responsibility by David Brady, McCoy Professor of Political Science and Leadership Values, Doyle Centennial Chair in Public Policy and Deputy Director, Hoover Institution

Second Annual Arabia CSR Awards Highlight Growing Committment Of Companies Towards Societal Causes Trading Markets.com 11/2/09
The Emirates Environmental Group honored leaders in CSR.
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Corporate Social Responsibility In An Economic Crisis: An Opportunity For Renewal Global Business & Organizational Excellence November/December 2009
The author sees an opportunity in the midst of crisis to transform CSR.
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The Aspen Institute's Top 10 Business Schools Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility The Inspired Economist 10/21/09
Michigan, Yale and Stanford lead the list.
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Perceptions On Social Responsibility: The Entrepreneurial Vision Business & Society September 2009
Outlines the results of an inquiry into the nature of entrepreneurial commitment to social responsibility as a business philosophy.
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Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility ThomasNet News 8/4/09
Businesses are demonstrating that strategic corporate social responsibility supports business objectives.
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Bounded Goodness: Marketing Implications of Drucker On Corporate Responsibility Academy of Marketing Science Journal March 2009
Examines the implications of Peter Drucker's corporate social responsibility principles for marketing practice.
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More Articles

Exploring The Geography Of Corporate Philanthropic Disaster Response: A Study Of Fortune Global 500 Firms Journal of Business Ethics February 2009
This article draws on comparative research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate philanthropy to explore the geography of corporate philanthropic disaster response.
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Marxism, Business Ethics, And Corporate Social Responsibility Journal of Business Ethics February 2009
Originally delivered at a conference of Marxist philosophers in China, this article examines some links, and some tensions, between business ethics and the traditional concerns of Marxism.
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A 'Business Opportunity' Model Of Corporate Social Responsibility For Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises Business Ethics January 2009
There are three dimensions to corporate social opportunity (CSO) - innovation in products and services, serving unserved markets and building new business models. While small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have traditionally been presented as non-entrepreneurial in this area, this paper demonstrates how SMEs can take advantage of the opportunities presented by CSR.
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The Political Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility Journal of Business Ethics December 2008
This article argues that whether and how a firm chooses to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives is conditional in part upon the domestic political institutional structures present in its home market.
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CSR Doesn't Pay Forbes.com October 16, 2008
The author argues that there is a 'market for virtue', but it is limited, and is not really growing.
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Political Views Affects Firms' Corporate Social Responsibility, Study Finds ScienceDaily September 19, 2008
A new study establishes a relationship between political beliefs of corporate stakeholders and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of their firms.
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Globalization and Corporate Reputation Corporate Reputation Review Summer 2008
The author reflects on challenges faced by multinational corporations in their core operations on the broader community as a consequence of globalization.
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Corporate Social Responsibility, Investor Protection, and Earnings Management: Some International Evidence Journal of Business Ethics April / May 2008
Since it has neither been documented, nor globally tested whether CSR mitigates or increases the extent of earnings management, three kinds of earnings management are studied: earnings smoothing, earnings aggressiveness, and earnings losses and decreases avoidance.
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Just Good Business Economist.com January 17, 2008
Corporate social responsibility is now seen as mainstream, yet too few companies are practicing it.
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Mapping the Interface Between Corporate Identity, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Journal of Business Ethics December 2007
Reviews various reports on corporate social responsibility and ethics published within the December issue.
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An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Identity and Ethics Teaching in Business Schools. Journal of Business Ethics December 2007
Discusses ethics as taught by business schools.
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Entrepreneurs Unveil New Ventures in Social Responsibility. Confectioner October 2007
Reports on the Equitable Trade standards measures for chocolate manufacturers, aimed at introducing more social responsibility into the supply chain.
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Where Have All the Ethics Gone? Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Through the Years. Proceedings of the Northeast Business & Economics Association 2007
Reviews changes in business ethics over the years.
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Corporate Directors and Social Responsibility: Ethics Versus Shareholder Value. Journal of Business Ethics August 2007
This study finds directors sometimes make decisions that emphasize legal defensibility at the expense of personal ethics and social responsibility.
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Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance: Investor Preferences and Corporate Strategies. Academy of Management Review July 2007
Addresses the debate over whether firms should engage in socially responsible behavior by proposing a theoretical model in which supply / demand for socially responsible investment opportunities determine how these activities will affect a firm's market value.
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Internal Auditors Can Contribute to Corporate Social Responsibility. Accountancy Ireland June 2007
Reports on the importance of CSR planning and reporting to internal auditors for sustainable development of organizations.
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Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility in a Large Cross-Country Sample. Journal of Business Ethics March 2007
Explores the relationship between religious denomination and individual attitudes to CSR within the context of a sample drawn from 20 countries.
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Corporate Social Responsibility and Socially Responsible Investing: A Global Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics January 2007
This research examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and company stock valuation across three regions of the world (article not yet available online)

Investor Activism, Managerial Responsiveness, and Corporate Social Performance. Strategic Management Journal January 2007
Studies relationships between shareholder proposal activism, managerial response, and corporate social performance (CSP), and finds that shareholder proposal activism reduces CSP
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Corporate Social Responsibility: Getting the Logic Right. Harvard Business Review December 2006
A forward introducing an article by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer on the social responsibility of business, and an article by Dominic Dodd and Ken Favaro on internal tensions among the goals of a corporation
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Corporate Social Responsibility: Is It "Irresponsibility"? Corporate Governance Advisor Nov / Dec 2006
Management is an agent for stockholders who own the company therefore, its goal is to act on behalf of its owners. The shareholders of a company have the right to spend their own money or assets on socially responsible charities
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Finance as a Driver of Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics September 2006
Discusses the transmission mechanisms between finance and sustainability, and argues that there is no simple one-to-one relationship between financial development and sustainable development but various - often indirect - linkages
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The Enron Verdict: From White Collars to Prison Blues. San Francisco Chronicle May 26, 2006
Among the tales of success and corporate excess, the actions of Enron leaders -- and others -- speak volumes
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CEO Succession 2005: The Crest of the Wave. strategy + business Summer 2006
Half of all chief executives are dismissed from office, but those who can deliver results are in greater demand than ever
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Corporate Social Responsibility: Green is the Way to Go for Marketers. Marketing Week May 11, 2006
The spread of 'green' issues into the mass market means clients and consumers will be looking to marketing to spread the word for ethical consumerism
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Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship. David Baron GSB Research Paper 1916
Milton Friedman argued that the social responsibility of firms is to maximize profits. This paper examines that argument for the economic environment envisioned by Friedman.
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Corporate Social Responsibility: Good Citizenship or Investor Rip-off? Wall Street Journal January 9, 2006
What obligations do companies have? A discussion among Fred Smith Jr., Benjamin W. Heineman Jr. and Ilyse Hogue.
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The Myth of CSR. Stanford Social Innovation Review Fall 2005
The unprecedented growth of CSR may lead some to feel a sense of optimism about the power of market mechanisms to deliver social and environmental change. But markets often fail, especially when it comes to delivering public goods.
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An Employee-Centered Model of Corporate Social Performance.Business Ethics Quarterly October 2005
It is proposed that employees merit special attention with regard to assessments of corporate social performance.
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Corporate Social Responsibility and its Impact on Corporate Reputation. Brand Strategy September 8, 2005
CSR performance ratings for industry have decreased since 2001. The widening gap between expectations and performance is a challenge for anyone managing corporate reputation.
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Personal Values as a Catalyst for Corporate Social Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics September 2005
This paper makes a case for the employee (at any level) as a moral agent, even though the paper begins by highlighting a body of evidence which suggests that individual moral agency is sacrificed at work and is compromised in deference to other pressures.
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Is There a Market for Virtue? The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility. David J. Vogel California Management Review Summer 2005
There is a place in the business system for responsible firms, but the market for virtue is not sufficiently important to make it in the interest of all firms to behave more responsibly.
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Corporate Social Responsibility: What's a CEO to do? Canadian Business, April 11-24, 2005
CEOs everywhere are on the hot seat, feeling increased pressure to run their firms in a way that makes them exemplary corporate citizens.
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The Tsunami and Corporate Social Responsibility. Organization Development Journal, Spring 2005
In the blink of an eye, an entire region of the world was completely devasted. There is absolutely no question that with the beginning of the 21st century has come a swelling societal demand for increased corporate social responsibility and environmental accountability.
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Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility: Minnows, Mammoths and Markets. Futures, March-April 2005
Re-envisioning ethical business requires us to look at opportunities below the radar screen: not at minimizing the impacts of big business.
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Corporate Citizenship: Toward an Extended Theoretical Conceptualization. Academy of Management Review, January 2005
A critical examination of contemporary understandings of corporate citizenship.
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The Best of the Good. Harvard Business Review, December 2004
One way to distinguish companies that talk about social responsibility from those that live it is to observe what employees do about it.
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The Relationship between Perceptions of Corporate Citizenship and Organizational Commitment. Business and Society,September 2004
The results of a survey of business professionals verified a relationship between perceptions of corporate citizenship and organizational commitment.
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Corporate Citizenship: The Case for a New Corporate Governance Model. Business and Society Review, Fall 2004
Corporate citizenship is now a model for twenty-first century corporate governance. Through a model of corporate citizenship involving "four faces," connoting the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary components, firms are expected to meet their social responsibilities.
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