Corporate Social Responsibility

Why has CSR become part of the mainstream business and academic agenda in the 21st century? How can CSR be fully integrated in business strategy and day-to-day operations? Do companies become more vulnerable to criticism from stakeholders if they make public their commitment to CSR?

These are just some of the questions and challenges explored in this exciting new textbook. Readers will not only gain comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the history of CSR, the key CSR drivers, the main theoretical CSR perspectives and the dominant CSR practices found in the business community, they will also, more crucially, learn how to implement CSR in practice.

Written and edited by leading academics in the field, Corporate Social Responsibility is an engaging and accessible text designed for any student seeking an introduction to this complex and ambiguous subject.

Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen is Professor at Copenhagen Business School and does research within the areas of sustainable business models, corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental management, and non-financial performance measurement. The results from his research have been published in a wide range of international journals, including Journal of Business Ethics, Management Decision, Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Business and Society Review, Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, and Journal of Corporate Citizenship. His research has been recognized internationally and has been awarded with e.g. the 2010 Emerald Literati Network Social Impact Award and the 2009 Emerald Literati Network Outstanding Paper Award. Esben has international experience from projects within the field of entrepreneurship education, sustainable fashion, water management, environmental management/labelling, private sector development, innovation, and NGO capacity building. Thordis Katla Bjartmarz was born and raised in Iceland and graduated with BSc in Business Administration from Reykjavik University in 2006. She then moved to Denmark in 2009 and graduated with MSc in Strategy, Organization and Leadership with a minor in Process and Innovation Management from Copenhagen Business School in 2011. During her university years, Thordis joined an international student organization, AIESEC, where she took on various leadership roles, from the national president of AIESEC in Iceland to a regional sales manager for AIESEC in Western Europe and North America. Currently she writes online articles for CSRIceland.is and CSRjournal.org while working on achieving her goal of finding a PhD position within the research field of sustainability and CSR.