Tomorrow’s History
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€49.99
The last ten years have seen an extraordinary transformation in how business has to account for itself. Today, the air is thick with the buzz of corporate responsibility (CR) leaders, innovators and practitioners. Conferences and publications on the topic are in abundance: the tip of an iceberg that has become a fast-growth industry. Many of those companies and service providers most vocal in distancing themselves from early experimentation have proved the strongest advocates of sustainability reporting, often winning applause and coveted awards in the process. Even companies from controversial sectors such as alcohol, cigarettes and gambling have joined the party – running up bills of tens of millions of dollars in demonstrating their new-found faith for CR. It has not always been like this. As one of the architects of the burgeoning CR movement, Simon Zadek has always been a prolific writer and contributor of ideas. The evolution of his thoughts on new economics, corporate accountability, stakeholder dialogue, social and ethical auditing and reporting have attracted consistent attention – never more than today. In this unique anthology, Zadek crystallises his key work from the last decade into a coherent and fascinating whole, which, read together, provide a context, lens and early history lesson on how CR has become one of the defining business issues of the 21st century. The writings reflect Zadek's involvement with organisations such as the New Economics Foundation, a pioneer in the development of social auditing, sustainability indicators, community finance and much more. They illustrate his contribution in setting up the Ethical Trading Initiative, and AccountAbility (where he is presently the CEO), in working with companies such as The Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's through to Nike, BT and many other civil-society organisations. The book contains 33 pieces, which are split into six sections: "The Economics of Utopia"; "Civil Society, Power and Accountability"; "Accounting for Change"; "The Civil Corporation"; "Partnership Alchemy"; and "Responsible Competitiveness". It will be an invaluable resource for anyone wishing develop an understanding of why corporate responsibility is where it is today and where it might end up tomorrow.
Dr Simon Zadek is Chief Executive of the international non-profit organisation, AccountAbility. He serves or has served on numerous Boards and Advisory Councils, including that of the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, the State of the World's Commission for Globalisation, the ILO's World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalisation, the UN Commission for Social Development Expert Group on CSR, and the founding Steering Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard University, and was previously Visiting Professor at the Copenhagen Business School, the Development Director of the New Economics Foundation, and founding Chair of the Ethical Trading Initiative. In 2003 he was named one the World Economic Forum's "Global Leaders for Tomorrow". He works directly with numerous global corporations, focusing mainly on the integration of corporate responsibility into core business strategy, most recently including Anglo American, Barlow World, Gap, Nike and Novo Nordisk. He is also currently convening and cochairing several initiatives, including a multisector alliance working on the transition of the textiles and garment industry following the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement; and co-chairing the British Standards Institute's Sustainability Standard Technical Committee.