This book, edited by Peter Utting from UNRISD and José Carlos Marques, “assesses the global rise of private regulation and CSR from the perspective of social and sustainable development. By adopting a multidisciplinary lens, it examines why the experience of CSR pales in comparison with the promise, what needs to be done to address ‘the intellectual crisis’ of CSR, and forms of corporate accountability and regulation more conducive to inclusive patterns of development.“

Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Intellectual Crisis of CSR; P.Utting & J.C.Marques
CSR and Changing Modes of Governance: Towards Corporate Noblesse Oblige?; C.Crouch
Wal-Martization and CSR-ization in Developing Countries; N-L.Sum
Corporate Social Responsibility in a Neoliberal Age; P.Ireland & R.G.Pillay
Linking Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Policy in Zambia; N.Noyoo
Business, Corporate Responsibility and Poverty Reduction; M.Blowfield
Transnational Corporations and Poverty Reduction: Strategic and Regional Variations; R.van Tulder
Cross-sector Partnership as an Approach to Inclusive Development; R.Findlay-Brooks, W.Visser & T.Wright
Growing Sustainable Business in East Africa: The Potential and Limits of Partnerships for Development; C.Gregoratti
Private Food Governance: Implications for Social Sustainability and Democratic Legitimacy; D.Fuchs & A.Kalfagianni
Spaces of Contestation: The Governance of Industry’s Environmental Performance in Durban, South Africa; J.Van Alstine
Challenging Governance in Global Commodity Chains: The Case of Transnational Activist Campaigns for Better Work Conditions; F.Palpacuer

Blog Action Day is the right moment to share the findings of recent research on climate change!

The Network for Business Sustainability has looked at over 200 studies since 1997 on climate change adaptation.The research project’s findings are structured in four reports: concepts&theories, current practices, case studies and tools, knowledge gaps&future research and I will present some of the most important research findings and their implications for managers.

• As there is no agreed definition of business adaptation to climate change and theories on adaptation are still underdeveloped, the research study emphasizes the need to develop shared definitions which should be the result of a collaborative effort between firms, academia, government and NGO’s. The adaptation discussion should also become mainstream within the firm, the sector, and in multi-sectoral platforms.

• Business adaptation to climate change differs across sectors in terms of risks, opportunities, strategies and tools. Several sectors are leaders in adaptation to climate change: the insurance sector is a leader in risk assessment, the agriculture and tourism sector are leaders in their awareness of climate impact. Consequently, the Network for Business Sustainability advises managers, especially from leading organizations to collaborate within/across sectors in order to share knowledge and develop solutions.

• Unfortunately,  the third report clearly states that :”In general, business is taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, with adapters being the exception rather than the rule.” but the researchers warn that such an approach comes with great risks.

• Existing tools deal mostly with risk management (risk frameworks, scenario tools, decision trees, costing tools, computer simulation tools) but there is a need to develop tools for risk modelling and opportunity assessment. Moreover, there is a need to undertake real adaptation measures and strategies beyond short-term measurements and GHG (Green House Gas) mitigation.

More about climate change:

COP15 , the United Nations Climate Change Conference,December 2009.

Interview with the Danish Minister, Connie Hedegaard

What can you do?(the European Union’s website on climate action)

The Seventh Annual ICCSR Symposium is intended to discuss corporate innovation as it relates to poverty alleviation in local communities in developing countries.

We are interested in conceptual, theoretical or empirical papers that present new research insights, ideas on business models, strategies and stakeholder engagement processes that a) respond to factors contributing to poverty; and b) advance sustainable community development in developing countries.

We are inviting multidisciplinary papers which contribute knowledge on how companies are transforming value chain activities to benefit local communities. The papers can cover, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Corporations and community (and, or social) enterprise development

• Corporations and community asset-building

• Business approaches towards community empowerment and capacity building

• Social partnerships and Stakeholder engagement.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for presentation at the symposium should submit an abstract of 1,000 words to judy.muthuri@nottingham.ac.uk by Friday, 11th December 2009.

The ICCSR will also be preparing a special issue of Business & Society on this topic, to be edited by Prof. Jeremy Moon, Dr. Judy Muthuri and Dr Uwafiokun Idemudia. Papers presented at the symposium would be considered along with those responding to the journal’s own call for papers.

A more extensive outline is now available to download from www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/iccsr

International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR)

Nottingham University Business School

Jubilee Campus

Wollaton Road

Nottingham NG8 1BB

Tel: +44 (0) 115 846 6976

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From the DG Enterprise and Industry website:

YOUR WORLD, YOUR BUSINESS is a collaborative partnership between the European Commission and Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise. It promotes European policy objectives in the areas of corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship education.

YOUR WORLD, YOUR BUSINESS initiative aims to inspire young people “to become the kind of entrepreneurs our society increasingly needs: creative, dynamic, and determined to make the world a better place.”

The main audience are young people aged 16-19, and their teachers, too.

The teacher’s guide and the accompanying videos are available in 24 different languages and can be downloaded from the site.

For more info write at: entr-csr@ec.europa.eu

1.Professionals´ Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility edited by Idowu, Samuel O. and Leal Filho, Walter, Springer.

Due: September 17, 2009

2.“Corporate Social Responsibility In Europe.Rhetoric and Realities.” Edited by Regine Barth and Franziska Wolff from the Environmental Law and Governance Division, Öko-Institut, Germany, Edward Elgar, 2009.

The Globe Forum has published the Nominees for the 2009 Globe Award for Sustainability Research. Globe Award’s Sustainability Research Award is given to original research which successfully contributes to increased knowledge on sustainability.

The 2009 Nominees are:

1.Bengt Sture Ershag, Scandinavian Enviro Systems AB for an Innovation called Carbonizing by Forced Convection, a technology that thermally breaks down any organic material in a controllable environmental friendly closed system.

2. Dr. Candice Stevens, Sustainable Development Advisor at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for research focusing on “governance practices for sustainable development, identifying good practices in National Sustainable Development Strategies and approaches for Institutionalising Sustainable Development.”

3.Lisbeth Segerlund, Stockholm University, Dept. of Economic History, Section of International Relations for research focusing on the development of corporate social responsibility understood as a new international norm and how this norm has become an issue on the international agenda.”

4. Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) for developing a light source which runs on locally produced fuel, is environmentally friendly and produces bright light equivalent to that from a 100 W electric bulb.

5. PhD Susanne Arvidsson, School of Economics and Management, Lund for a research project  focusing on “how companies work with Environmental, Social and Ethical responsibility and corporate Governance issues, how they communicate their achievements to stakeholders and how these issues can be worked more efficiently on.”

The Nominees for the Sustainability Innovation Award and Sustainability Reporting Award can be found here.

1. EASY ECO  Conference 2009

“Stakeholder Perspectives in Evaluating Sustainable Development”, Budapest, 16-18 October, 2009.

EU-Grants are available for young researchers (with less than ten years research experience) to cover all costs (travel expenses, participation fees, accommodation and living allowance).The presentation of a paper increases the chance of getting a grant, however, it is not mandatory.

The current Call for Papers, together with the application for EU-Grants, will be open until 15 May 2009. Details on the application process can be found at http://www.sustainability.eu/easy/?k=apply.

Submission deadline: 15 May 2009.

2. 4th. CORE Conference 2009

“The potential of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to support the integration of core EU strategies”, 15-16 June 2009, Berlin.

Grants are still available for papers addressing issues covered under theme-tracks 1-3 as described in the Call for Papers.  Abstracts addressing theme track 3 will receive preferential treatment.

Submission deadline: 18 May 2009.
For more details  refer to the call for papers at http://www.core-conferences.net/attach/CORE_Call-for-Papers_2009.pdf or visit CORE’s website at: http://www.core-conferences.net/

3. EABIS Colloquium 2009

“The Role and Purpose of Business in Society: Challenges and Issues for Global and Corporate Governance”, Barcelona, 21-22 September 2009.

For more details refer to the Call of Papers.

Submission deadline: 29 May 2009.