Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an increasingly heated topic since the 1980s. This title proposes that the concept of Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI) offers a better theoretical platform to avoid the vagueness, ambiguity, arbitrariness and mysticism of CSR.

Corporate Social Irresponsibility focuses on ethical failures in order to relate corporate responsibility to business ethics, corporate governance, and organization effectiveness. The book advocates a strategic approach to CSR – ethical management cannot, and should not, be divorced from effective management. Corporate social responsibility has transitioned from oxymoron into a defining challenge of the twenty first century. Taking the recent financial crisis as a starting point, Alexander examines the underlying ethical and legal crises these events expose in the business world. The problems that have come to light go beyond issues of firm financial performance into the integrity of the manufacturing and marketing processes, and relations with consumers. As such, the book presents a model that resolves the apparent conflict between maximizing shareholder value, and meeting the interests of other firm stakeholders. Alexander presents a balanced view, contrasting her model with alternative approaches. The book also covers the impact of globalization on management, the ethics of outsourcing, the limits of regulation, as well as poverty alleviation and social entrepreneurship. Blending a comprehensive theoretical framework with a broad range of cases, this book covers the latest major changes in US legislation, as well as recent corporate scandals making it a valuable accompaniment to any course in CSR, business ethics, or business, government and society.

The role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the business world has developed from a fig leaf marketing front into an important aspect of corporate behavior over the past several years. Sustainable strategies are valued, desired and deployed more and more by relevant players in many industries all over the world. Both research and corporate practice therefore see CSR as a guiding principle for business success. The “Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility” has been conceived to assist researchers and practitioners to align business and societal objectives. All actors in the field will find reliable and up to date definitions and explanations of the key terms of CSR in this authoritative and comprehensive reference work. Leading experts from the global CSR community have contributed to make the “Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility” the definitive resource for this field of research and practice.

Mitchell declares that managers should be freed from the legal and structural constraints that make it difficult for them to exercise ordinary moral judgment and be held accountable for their actions. He demonstrates the extent to which contemporary corporate behavior represents a corruption of our cherished liberal values of personal freedom and individuality.

CSR encompasses broad questions about the changing relationship between business, society, and government. An authoritative review of the academic research that has both prompted, and responded to, these issues, the text provides clear thinking and perspectives on CSR and the debates around it.

This is the first of two volumes that examine the changing nature of state-business relations. This book assesses the potential and limits of CSR in developing countries, by focusing on aspects that are often ignored in the CSR literature: historical experience, theoretical perspectives, and institutional and political dimensions of change.

In a modern world in which one can observe managerial and investors’ behaviors characterized by high risk, short term orientation, moral hazard and speculation, there is a need to form a new ethical paradigm to drive a more ethical oriented education and a substantial change to norms regulating markets and business behavior to sensitize investors and financial practitioners, so that humanity can evolve in a sustainable way. Therefore the main question we are striving to answer throughout the book “Organizational Social Irresponsibility: individual behaviors and organizational practices” is the following: Do individual behaviors influence organizational socially irresponsible practices? Each separate chapter aims to find an answer to the above question. The book is divided into three parts: first: “The dark side of organizational behaviors”, second: “Individual skills and the workplace” and third: “Organizational politics, practices and tools. This book is authored by a range of authors from all over the world. They provide us with several theoretical and practical contributions into the topic of organizational social irresponsibility and individual behavior, facing different aspects (e.g. workplace wellness, decision?making, diversity management). We hope it will be useful for both business and academia and it will help to shape reflective, socially responsible managers of the future.