'Pouring politics down our throats': political CSR communication and consumer catharsis

This chapter theorizes the outrageous consumer response that may follow the communication of political corporate social responsibility (CSR). We consider two recent cases (Starbucks’s offer to hire refugees and Pepsi’s appropriation of protest movements in an ad) and how consumers-citizens reacted when these corporations communicated political issues. By drawing from psychoanalytic concepts, we illustrate how consumers’ outrage, expressed in angry social media comments, and in the creation and sharing of memes, is cathartic of unconscious repressed matter: the realization of their own powerless and the domination of corporations. We further note how these expressions of outrage may be understood to result from defense mechanisms such as denial, displacement, or more complex sublimation that help consumers maintain a position of passive domination by corporations. Like all psychoanalytic applications, our interpretation represents only a plausible metaphor that can explain the “irrational” behavior of consumers. Positivist traditions of CSR theorization may demand further causal studies to confirm the ideas we express. Our study is an original exploration of what underlies consumer responses to political CSR. These cases could inform academics and practitioners working in the business and society arena asking them to re-evaluate whether and how political CSR should be communicated, and the implications of the rapid diffusion of messages in social media that include mocking parody and offensive brand comments

Complexity Theory for a New Managerial Paradigm: A Research Framework

In this work, we supply a theoretical framework of how organizations can embed complexity management and sustainable development into their policies and actions. The proposed framework may lead to a new management paradigm, attempting to link the main concepts of complexity theory, change management, knowledge management, sustainable development, and cybernetics. We highlight how the processes of organizational change have occurred as a result of the move to adapt to the changes in the various global and international business environments and how this transformation has led to the shift toward the present innovation economy. We also point how organizational change needs to deal with sustainability, so that the change may be consistent with present needs, without compromising the future

Wykraczając poza podejście instrumentalne - analiza CSR z perspektywy filozoficznej

For most economists Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is seen as a tool-box containing useful instruments for enhancing the corporate profitability. By and large, the “business case for CSR” dominates the understanding of CSR especially among economists. However, from a philosophical perspective, such view seems to be quite questionable, since it is based on at least three myths: First of all, the assumption that morality always pays off is neither realistic nor in line with ethical demands. Secondly, the idea that CSR-success can be measured in a form of corporate social performance seems to be problematic. And last but not least, the idea that corporations can learn from best practice raises fundamental questions since it remains unclear what best practice means in the context of CSR.Większość ekonomistów postrzega społeczną odpowiedzialność przedsiębiorstw (Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR) jako koncepcję dostarczającą użyteczne instrumenty do zwiększania rentowności firmy. Takie biznesowe i proefektywnościowe pojmowanie CSR dominuje szczególnie wśród ekonomistów. Jednak z perspektywy filozoficznej, takie poglądy mogą być podane w wątpliwość, ponieważ opierają się na co najmniej trzech mitach: po pierwsze, założenie, że moralność zawsze się opłaca nie jest ani realistyczne, ani zgodne z wymogami etycznymi; po drugie, wyobrażenie, że sukces CSR może być mierzony za pomocą wyników działalności społecznej przedsiębiorstwa jest bardzo problematyczne; po trzecie, pomysł, że korporacje mogą uczyć się na podstawie najlepszych praktyk, nasuwa fundamentalne wątpliwości, gdyż nie wiadomo co oznacza najlepsza praktyka w kontekście CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility as Subsidiary Co-Responsibility: A Macroeconomic Perspective

Corporate Social Responsibility, subsidiarity, social market economy, globalization, co-responsibility, ISO 26000, Catholic encyclicals,

Corporate or Governmental Duties? Corporate Citizenship From a Governmental Perspective

Recent discussions on corporate citizenship (CC) highlight the new political role of corporations in society by arguing that corporations increasingly act as quasi-governmental actors and take on what hitherto had originally been governmental tasks. By examining political and sociological citizenship theories, the authors show that such a corporate engagement can be explained by a changing (self-)conception of corporate citizens from corporate bourgeois to corporate citoyen. As an intermediate actor in society, the corporate citoyen assumes co-responsibilities for social and civic affairs and actively collaborates with fellow citizens beyond governmental regulation. This change raises the question of how such corporate civic engagement can be aligned with public policy regulations and how corporate activities can be integrated into the democratic regime. To clarify the mode of CC contributions to society, the authors will apply the tenet of subsidiarity as a governing principle which allows for specifying corporations' tasks as intermediate actors in society. By referring to the renewed European Union strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility, the authors show how such a subsidiary corporate-governmental task-sharing can be organized

Corporate Autonomy and Buyer–Supplier Relationships: The Case of Unsafe Mattel Toys

corporate autonomy, supplier–buyer relationships, supplier development, outsourcing, Mattel, Inc., China, social and environmental standards,