Prelims
Strategic Corporate Responsibility and Green Management
ISBN: 978-1-80071-447-2, eISBN: 978-1-80071-446-5
ISSN: 2043-9059
Publication date: 23 August 2023
Citation
(2023), "Prelims", Gupta, A.D. (Ed.) Strategic Corporate Responsibility and Green Management (Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 16), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xvi. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-905920230000016011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023 by Emerald Publishing Limited
Half Title Page
Strategic Corporate Responsibility and Green Management
Series Title Page
Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability
Series Editor: William Sun
Recent Volumes:
Volume 1: | Reframing Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons From the Global Financial Crisis _ Edited by William Sun, Jim Stewart and David Pollard |
Volume 2: | Finance and Sustainability: Towards a New Paradigm? A Post-Crisis Agenda _ Edited by William Sun, Celine Louche and Roland Perez |
Volume 3: | Business and Sustainability: Concepts, Strategies and Changes _ Edited by Gabriel Eweje and Martin Perry |
Volume 4: | Corporate Social Irresponsibility: A Challenging Concept _ Edited by Ralph Tench, William Sun and Brian Jones |
Volume 5: | Institutional Investors' Power to Change Corporate Behavior: International Perspectives _ Edited by Suzanne Young and Stephen Gates |
Volume 6: | Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility: Perspectives and Practice _ Edited by Ralph Tench, William Sun and Brian Jones |
Volume 7: | Socially Responsible Investment in the 21st Century: Does It Make a Difference for Society? _ Edited by Celine Louche and Tessa Hebb |
Volume 8: | Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: Emerging Trends in Developing Economies _ Edited by Gabriel Eweje |
Volume 9: | The Human Factor in Social Capital Management: The Owner-Manager Perspective _ Authored by Paul Manning |
Volume 10: | Finance Reconsidered: New Perspectives for a Responsible and Sustainable Finance _ Edited by Bernard Paranque and Roland Perez |
Volume 11: | Finance and Economy for Society: Integrating Sustainability _ Edited by Sharam Alijani and Catherine Karyotis |
Volume 12: | The Critical State of Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe _ Edited by Ralph Tench, Brian Jones and William Sun |
Volume 13: | Negative Interest Rates: The Black Hole of Financial Capitalism _ Authored by Jacques Ninet |
Volume 14: | The Sustainability Debate: Policies, Gender and the Media _ Edited by Martina Topić and George Lodorfos |
Volume 15: | Rethinking Finance in the Face of New Challenges _ Edited by David Bourghelle, Roland Pérez and Philippe Rozin |
Editorial Board
Sharam Alijani
NEOMA Business School, France
Fabienne Alvarez
University of Antilles and Guyane Pointe-à-Pitre, France
Ralph Bathurst
Massey University, New Zealand
Lawrence Bellamy
The University of Sunderland, UK
Robert Chia
Glasgow University, UK
Blanaid Clarke
The University of Dublin, Ireland
Thomas Clarke
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Barry A. Colbert
Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada
Alexandre Di Miceli da Silveira
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
Gabriel Eweje
Massey University, New Zealand
Hershey H. Friedman
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, USA
Adrian Henriques
Middlesex University Business School, UK
Øyvind Ihlen
University of Oslo, Norway
Lin Jiang
Renmin University of China, China
Henri Kuokkanen
Institut Paul Bocuse, France
Elizabeth C. Kurucz
University of Guelph, Canada
Richard W. Leblanc
York University, Canada
Céline Louche
Audencia Business School, France
Guler Manisali-Darman
Corporate Governance and Sustainability Centre, Turkey
Paul Manning
University of Chester, UK
James McRitchie
Publisher of CorpGov.net (Corporate Governance), USA
Abagail McWilliams
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Roland Perez
University Montpellier I, France
Yvon Pesqueux
CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers), France
Lars Rademacher
MHMK (Macromedia University of Applied Sciences), Germany
Simon Robinson
Leeds Beckett University, UK
Greg Shailer
The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
John Shields
The University of Sydney Business School, Australia
Jim Stewart
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Peter Stokes
De Montfort University, UK
Ralph Tench
Leeds Beckett University, UK
Christoph Van der Elst
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Wayne Visser
Antwerp Management School, Belgium
Suzanne Young
La Trobe University, Australia
Title Page
Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability Volume 16
Strategic Corporate Responsibility and Green Management: Perspectives and Issues in Emerging Economies
Edited by
Ananda Das Gupta
Emeritus Professor, St. Josephs Institute of Management, India
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK
First edition 2023
Copyright © 2023 by Emerald Publishing Limited.
Reprints and permissions service
Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-80071-447-2 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-80071-446-5 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-80071-448-9 (Epub)
ISSN: 2043-9059 (Series)
List of Contributors
Divya Agrawal | Amazon Web Services, Singapore |
Raji Ajwani-Ramchandani | Indian Institute of Technology, India |
Rajesh Batra | IICA, India |
Sonali Bhattacharya | Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), India |
Nicholas Capaldi | Loyola University New Orleans, USA |
Ananda Das Gupta | St. Josephs Institute of Management, India |
Antonio Huerta-Estévez | Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Mexico |
Aneel Karnani | University of Michigan, USA |
José Satsumi López-Morales | Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Mexico |
Ram Kumar Mishra | Institute of Public Enterprise, India |
Kuruvilla Pandikattu, S. J. | XLRI – Xavier School of Management, India |
Subhasis Ray | XIM University, India |
Shulagna Sarkar | NLC India Ltd., India |
Snigdha Shukla | NLC India Ltd., India |
Pingali Venugopal | XLRI – Xavier School of Management, India |
Foreword
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Green Management: Perspectives in the Emerging Economies
In 2007 Professor John Ruggie, the architect of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN, 2008, 2011), pointed out with great vigour the ‘fundamental institutional misalignment’ between the drastic expansion and impact of global markets since the 1990s and the lack of capacity of societies to manage the adverse consequences of the markets. This ‘creates the permissive environment within which blameworthy acts by corporations may occur without adequate sanctioning or reparation. For the sake of the victims of abuse, and to sustain globalization as a positive force, this must be fixed’ (UN, 2007, p. 3).
Since then many initiatives have been taken towards addressing this fundamental institutional misalignment, not the least the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011), inspiring multiple National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights and leading to legal provisions in numerous countries, particularly in Europe, and also in India with the Company Act 2013 on Corporate Social Responsibility.
It goes without saying that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have enormously aggravated this fundamental institutional misalignment. It is all the more important to raise the awareness of these multiple challenges, to support constructive initiatives, and to be critical about flawed and misguiding concepts and policies. This matters not only for states and international organisations but also for business organisations around the world in general and in emerging economies in particular.
Focussing on strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green management in emerging economies, this volume, well arranged by the editor and co-author Ananda Das Gupta, offers valuable perspectives to these multiple challenges. Almost all contributions (except for the chapter on Mexican companies) address issues of great importance for India. They range from a very concrete and successful project in Chapter 1 (i.e. how technology enables solutions for women empowerment in India and waste management for combating COVID-19 and beyond) to a most-updated critical and constructive discussion on the macro-problematics of economic growth in Chapter 9 (i.e. green growth and regrowth pleading for progress with sustainability and responsibility). While Chapter 8 briefly informs about the detailed Indian legislation on Corporate Social Responsibility (in Company Act 2013/Section 135/Schedule VII), Chapter 3 criticises the concept of CSR that it does not avert ‘the tragedy of the commons’ by referring to the detailed case study of Coca Cola India. A spiritual foundation does not seem necessary according to Chapter 4 claiming that the main purpose of a market economy is to promote the ‘Technological Progress’, that is, to innovate and to grow. This chapter also sharply criticises the CSR movement for committing five ‘sins’ against the ‘Technological Progress’, while Chapters 5 and 6 intend to show that management practices – under certain conditions – can integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations; Chapter 5 referring to the CSR model of e-Choupal for rural India, developed by ITC, one of India's foremost private sector companies; and Chapter 6 presenting the skill development efforts in India, especially needed in the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the CSR drive has been instrumental in addressing the skill gap in the country. Chapter 7 reminds the reader of the 54-year history of Auroville, located in Puducherry, that a spiritual foundation and a sustainable community building strategy are needed for a low carbon transition in developing economies.
Worldwide, the term CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility has been used in confusingly various ways and almost like a black box into which one can put almost any meaning. Fortunately, the CSR notion in the Indian Company Act 2013 is more specific. It includes especially nine policy activities from which the company Board – on the recommendation of its CSR Committee – may choose particular activities such as eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promoting education, advancing gender equality and empowering women, and employment enhancing vocational skills. For the chosen activities, the company should spend, in every financial year, at least two percent of its average net profits.
These activities are discretionary and not necessarily linked to the company's strategies and core business activities. Therefore, this book – as the title says – explicitly focusses on ‘strategic’ CSR; this means, ‘to link those largely discretionary activities explicitly intended to improve some aspect of society or the natural environment with their [the companies'] strategies and core business activities’ (Waddock, 2018, p. 3272).
With this focus, the book offers more specific contributions in either critical or constructive perspectives as the short presentation of the chapters above can show. Still, two sets of questions are not yet raised and may stimulate further discussions, perhaps for a subsequent volume in this series.
The first set of questions relates to the notion of ‘strategies and core business activities’. What does it precisely mean? What kind of purpose of the company is implied? Is it only about profit maximisation? Does it include – in addition to profit making – broader economic, societal and environmental objectives? While searching for ‘win-win’ solutions for business and society, what to decide when ‘win-lose’ solutions are unavoidable? Should then the benefit for business always win?
The second set of questions concerns the concept of ‘responsibility’ and its ethical foundation. The CSR literature uses this term abundantly, but rarely provides a conceptual explication and an ethical foundation. Often it is understood as a response to ‘societal expectations’. I suggest drawing on the definition of responsibility developed by the German philosopher Walter Schulz (1972): Responsibility is self-commitment originating from freedom in worldly relationships. It involves two poles of human action: the interior commitment of the person to act responsibly and his or her engagement in concrete relationships with other persons, communities, non-human beings and nature. Responsibility is a relational concept and always ‘anchored’ in one or more actors (who is responsible?), concerns a concrete matter of for what one is responsible and relates to an authority or addressee to whom one is responsible (for example, stakeholders, tribunal, spouse or one's conscience). In a similar (‘analogous’) way, corporations as corporate actors are understood as moral actors who bear moral (or ethical) responsibility: they have the capacity to commit themselves to what they should do and to bear the consequences for what they do. (For further explanation, see Enderle, 2021, Chapters 1, 15, 16 and 17.)
In conclusion, responsibility not only in the legal but also in the ethical sense is necessary in our global and interconnected world. It is required from business enterprises of all sizes, from all social actors including non-governmental organisations, and from the states as well. As the Epilogue concludes, ‘A stable nation providing good governance is thus a basic requirement for developing countries in their attempt to safeguard rights and interests of their poor and marginalized people’.
Georges Enderle
Professor Emeritus
Department of Marketing
Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556 Indiana, USA
Visiting scholar at Harvard University, Cambridge MA, with Prof. Amartya Sen
References
Enderle, 2021 Enderle, G. (2021). Corporate responsibility for wealth creation and human rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schulz, 1972 Schulz, W. (1972). Philosophie der veränderten Welt [Philosophy in the changed world]. Pfullingen: Neske.
United Nations, 2007 United Nations (UN) . (2007). Business and human rights: Mapping international standards of responsibility and accountability for corporate acts. Report of the special representative of the secretary-general on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. John Ruggie. Human Rights Council. Fourth Session, A/HRC/4/35.
United Nations, 2008 United Nations (UN) . (2008). Promotion of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. Protect, respect and remedy: A framework for business and human rights. Report of the special representative of the secretary-general on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. John Ruggie. Human Rights Council. Eighth Session, A/HRC/8/5.
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2011 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (UN) . (2011). Guiding principles on business and human rights: Implementing the United Nations “protect, respect and remedy” framework. New York, NY; Geneva: United Nations.
Waddock, 2018 Waddock, S. (2018). Strategic corporate social responsibility. In R. W. Kolb (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of business ethics and society (2nd ed., 7 vols., pp. 3272–3273). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Prelims
- A Technology-Enabled Solution for Women Empowerment in India and Waste Management for Combating COVID-19 and Beyond
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals: A Study of Mexican Companies
- Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Avert the Tragedy of the Commons – Case Study: Coca-Cola India
- The Sins of the CSR Movement: Errors in CSR
- Can Corporate Social Responsibility Make Business Sense? Framework Based on ITC e-Choupal
- Enabling Skill Development in the Pandemic – The CSR Perspective
- Sustainable Communities and Consciousness – The Missing Link to a Low Carbon Transition in Developing Economies
- Corporate Social Responsibility in MSMEs in India
- Green Growth and Regrowth: Pleading for Progress With Sustainability and Responsibility
- Epilogue – Business, Society and Globalisation: An Agenda for Corporate Leadership