This book provides a theory of the juridification of business ethics. Ethical codes pop up everywhere in the business world and increasingly resemble the code of law. A focus on compliance rather than reflection becomes the norm. Legal perspectives replace ethical perspectives, turning ethicists into lawyers without a law degree. This juridification of business ethics conceals a diminishing trust in ethics, as legal reasoning substitutes philosophical thinking. By appealing to the critical study of law, Bart Jansen advocates for a renewed focus on the ethical side of business. This book shows the importance of a good balance between law and ethics in business and is of great interest to both academics and professionals.

This upper-level textbook offers an original and up-to-date introduction to issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a global perspective. Written by an international team of experts, it guides students through key themes in CSR including strategy, communication, regulation and governance. Balancing critiques of CSR with a discussion of the opportunities it creates, it includes chapters devoted to critical issues such as human rights, anti-corruption, labour rights and the environment. Pedagogical features include customised case studies, study questions, key term highlighting, practitioner pieces and suggestions for further resources. The book is also complemented by a companion website featuring adaptable lecture slides, teaching notes for cases and links to related resources. Tailored for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and business ethics, it is also relevant to non-business courses in political science, international relations and communications.

The transformation process from the planned to the market economy in the East Central European countries is a laboratory of applying economic theory and business ethics to an enormous historical transition in the economic and political system. Authors from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia analyse the economic, philosophical and political problems of the transition process. They discuss the economic and legal questions of the privatization of socialized property, examine critically whether pure Liberalism has been and is able to cope with the transition problems, and investigate the role and impact of business ethics in the transition process. This volume contributes to the theory of the role of business ethics in periods of institutional change.

Human rights is an interdisciplinary subject as well as a foundational aspect of the law. The importance of human rights at the intersection of business and society is central, yet under-analyzed. This book provides an accessible understanding of what human rights are, how business enterprises may impact human rights for better or for worse, and how such impacts can or should be managed. Human Rights: A Key Idea for Business and Society equips readers interested in the relationship between business and society with the foundational knowledge for engaging in debates and operational tasks related to the roles and responsibilities of business with regard to human rights. It covers human rights aspects relevant to common management tasks, including supply chain management, human resource management, risk management, non-financial reporting, finance, and stakeholder engagement. It covers opportunities and challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change mitigation. The book explains the foundations for human rights, social expectations, and legal requirements on businesses to respect human rights and how business enterprises should identify and manage their human rights impacts. A concise introduction to a complex topic, this book is perfect reading for students of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and international business, as well as an illuminating guide for researchers, managers, civil society organizations, government officials, and reflective practitioners.

This book makes a distinctive and innovative contribution to the study of white-collar and corporate crime through detailed examination of the use, affect, and violation of the corporate social license – a concept frequently extended to a license to operate. Whilst discrete aspects of corporate social responsibility have found their way into the discourse on business deviance and crime, no single book to date has provided a detailed exploration of social licence through a criminological lens. Here, using an interdisciplinary focus which includes illustrative case-studies and large-scale original fieldwork, Gottschalk and Hamerton explore European, North American, Asian, and global perspectives to identify, position, and reveal the impact of the social license on contemporary conceptions of white-collar and corporate deviance and crime. Corporate Social License: A Study in Legitimacy, Conformance, and Corruption will be of interest to scholars of criminology, law, business management, and sociology along with professionals within allied fields.

This book traces the development of the Business & Human Rights (BHR) regime that has so far culminated with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It first surveys the argumentation and negotiation strategies that led to agreement on key elements of the BHR regime despite a range conflicting interests across stakeholders from public, private and not-for-profit organisations. It then maps out pro-active regulatory strategies and public-private regulation for promoting responsible business conduct, offering insights for civil society, public regulators, business managers, academics and others. The book will assist engaged parties in structuring their arguments within negotiation processes with a view to enhancing their influence on change in business organisations in support of sustainability and new norms of conduct.

This wide-ranging book examines the new dynamics of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the impact they have had on the transformation of business corporations. Written by an international group of distinguished experts in management and organization studies, economics and sociology, the book leads one to theoretically and practically rethink CSR, a movement that has developed into a strong and rich institutional domain since the mid 1990s. Through 14 chapters, the book shows the complexity, diversity and progression of the institutional work performed by a large number of individual and organizational actors in specialized networks to develop this strategic field. Central to this book are: the core issues associated with the field of CSR; recent advances in the development, dissemination and implementation of public and private standards of social responsibility; the pressing challenges of developing sustainable strategies of value creation in the face of global warming and underdevelopment; and finally, examples of how CSR has been implemented and institutionalized within business organizations with special attention to the role played by a variety of social actors in organizational change. Conceived as a movement, corporate social responsibility spearheads a transformation project challenging traditional and outmoded forms of corporate governance that frequently pose troublesome ethical issues. From this standpoint, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Change will serve as a reference point for academics, researchers, managers and practitioners.

This introductory textbook explores key issues and recent discussions within the field of corporate sustainability and social responsibility, through theoretical and practical perspectives. Written by an international team of experts, the chapters introduce the actors and corporate processes that shape firms' management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Spanning strategy, communication, changing regulation and governance, the book grapples with critical issues such as anti-corruption, labour rights and climate change, balancing incisive critique with suggestions for meaningful change. This analysis, supported by study questions and further learning resources in each chapter, equips students to tackle sustainability challenges effectively in their future work. A regularly updated companion website provides adaptable lecture slides and case studies with discussion questions for instructors. This is an essential text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on corporate sustainability, CSR and business ethics, and is also relevant to political science, international relations and communications.

This book breaks new ground by providing a structured and cohesive set of contributions on the actions, developments, problems and theories of corporate social responsibility (CSR). With new case studies from the UN’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs), contributors in this book investigate how firms in Eastern and Western countries are responding to and making use of evolving CSR guidelines. The book addresses the following questions: is CSR simply greenwashing or an authentic commitment to responsible corporate citizenship? Has globalization drawn CSR conduct in LDCs closer to that of industrialized countries? Stakeholder theory, actor–network theory and a new orbital theory of accountability are applied to give coherence to the case studies. Other chapters address greenwashing in reports, the impact of CSR in socially stigmatized occupations, an analysis on what responsibility precisely entails in CSR, and the interface between law and CSR. The book also considers the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry, and includes a contribution from Ukrainian scholars, one written while their city of Kharkiv was under attack by Russian forces. This book will be a useful reference to those interested in discussions on crises, climate change, and SDGs and realizing sustainable goals through CSR.