Responsible People

The economic and social significance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) has gained increasing recognition. Consequently, there is a growing emphasis on the engagement, practices, and outcomes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in SMEs. A wide range of policy and practical initiatives aimed at improving the engagement and performance in CSR in SMEs have been initiated at all levels of society. A central issue is to what extent and how SMEs may be engaged in CSR initiatives. This chapter discusses CSR in Swedish SMEs, more specifically how successful migrant entrepreneurs (SUME) can be engaged in initiatives facilitating the labor market integration of new migrants. The CSR perceptions, motives and priorities of SUME in participating in initiatives that address broader social issues are explored.

Corporate Family Responsibility (CFR) is companies’ responsibility towards their employees. Work–Life Balance (WLB) and employees’ wellness policies are the main tools for CFR implementation in both large companies and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). This work investigates the application of CFR in the context of Italian SMEs. The chapter adopts the case study methodology and analyses a sample of five companies that have successfully implemented good CFR practices within their business strategy. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with companies’ CEOs. Results emphasize a growing attention by Italian SMEs towards the topics of CFR and WLB policies. Interviewees agree that implementing these tools allows the increase of both personal and professional serenity levels and reduces stress factors with positive impacts on performance.

This chapter investigates companies which contribute to better maintenance of aging and shrinking communities through business and entrepreneurship. Rural communities based on agriculture in developed countries suffer from aging and declining populations and structurally weak local economies, and require creative solutions to maintain the living standards and quality of life of the residents. Redefining and recreating local businesses are among these measures. To identify how businesses can stimulate local economies, two successful companies from Japan and Germany are compared. In both companies, the impact of entrepreneurial leadership is striking. The companies engage in using new combinations of local resources, including aging human capital, to stimulate residents to participate in their enterprises, and their efforts include business and social aspects.

Social entrepreneurship is a pathway for individuals and organizations to take responsibility for social and environmental outcomes. It allows the handling of pressing global challenges. Understanding factors of success and failure can help social entrepreneurs mitigate risk when designing and implementing their ventures. While these factors have been characterized in the USA, U.K., Europe, and the global south, we have yet to understand them in Russia, where social entrepreneurship is still an emerging trend. The aim of our research is to explore factors influencing social entrepreneurship success and failure for nascent and mature entrepreneurs in the Omsk region of Russia. This is a qualitative research utilizing a phenomenological approach. To conduct our study, we used open-ended survey questions concerning factors of success and failure. Our final data contains answers from 58 respondents from social entrepreneurs of the Omsk region.

The chapter explores effective ways of communicating CSR in MBA education. The authors specifically address how the interplay between a messenger (i.e. a lecturer) and a message (i.e. module content) may influence MBA programme members’ engagement with and commitment to CSR. The authors suggest that if there are high levels of identification with the lecturer and higher effectiveness of CSR messages (well-designed module content), MBA programme members would be more likely to commit to CSR issues. Hence, this chapter provides a theoretical framework which could shed light on how to effectively communicate CSR in MBA education with the purpose of not only transferring knowledge, but encouraging behavioural change. Finally, the authors discuss limitations of the proposed framework and highlight future research opportunities.

The roots of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) lie in the sensitivity to environmental and social sustainability. This sensitivity obviously includes corporate managers and must be developed throughout their education. This paper focuses on how to develop the sensitivity of business students to sustainability through an analysis of literary fiction. Literature is an excellent source for being confronted with human feelings and attitudes. The central goal is to associate human situations with the outcomes of cool calculations, and, furthermore, to relate them to behavioral finance. With this aim, this paper analyses two plays: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Ibsen’s The Wild Duck. The Merchant of Venice presents an interesting interweaving of financial and social sustainability. We find in it an unregulated financial system in which lenders can freely decide the clauses of the contracts. Turning to the social side, the play shows a society dominated by the male of a dominant social class, against whom the racial and religious outcast Shylock, a Jew, plans revenge; while, in different ways, women try to overcome their secondary social role. After class discussions, students should be able to answer questions like: which social consequences do the lack of a fair financial regulation foster? How do pride, hate, and revenge create a barrier to social progress? The Wild Duck, in turn, can be taken as a metaphor of how humans cannot live confronted with nature. The environmental outrage (in reaction to the cutting down of the forest) that pervades the play and the tragedy that it creates are analyzed as the result of egotist management that puts aside environment and society. The Old Ekland’s last sentence, the forest has taken its revenge, summarizes the failure of men going against nature.

This chapter discusses what being socially conscious means for marketers and draws on the experience of developing CSR and sustainability education at a UK business school, to gain understanding of the role universities can play in enhancing future marketing managers’ sense of social consciousness and responsibility. Literature shows that socially conscious marketing practices are no longer just a ‘perk’ or selling point for PR purposes. Both from a business and profitability standpoint, and also from a moral standpoint, being socially conscious should be a requirement. Marketing education has a role in helping students develop their consciousness of society. If marketing educators fail to integrate those dimensions into their teaching, they will fail to prepare students to be responsible members of the marketing community. A case study method was used to enhance discussion. Qualitative data were collected via interviews of different protagonists within the business school to capture how they incorporate CSR and sustainability issues into their marketing curriculum. Analysis shows that, beyond creating explicit student opportunities around CSR, universities can play an active role in embedding social consciousness and responsibility as part of their own strategic plan. Educating students to be responsible individuals and become responsible managers who will affect their world in the best possible way.

The chapter explores the often overlooked significance of citizen activism in advancing notions of corporate responsibility and shaping more sustainable energy policies and legislation at the regional, national and transnational level. This idea is developed with respect to the development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the US and Europe. It shows how activists and protestors can play a central role in shifting public attitudes, changing the terms of debate, influencing political policy and shaping national legislation. While such anti-fracking movements may not always be successful, in parts of Europe particularly, they have helped shape national debates and policy outcomes around fracking. The chapter argues that in light of current warnings around the need to shift from fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change that such protest movements are the only responsible response to corporate and government failures and can be seen as a driver of long-term progress towards a more sustainable and socially responsible energy sector.

This research examines the activities of ten MNE Moroccan subsidiaries following the Arab Spring. Through onsite subsidiary interviews and site visits, along with analysis of public and corporate documents, the research explores how the MNE subsidiaries sought local legitimacy, through institutional work. The study finds that the subsidiaries strategically used CSR to respond proactively in their host environments during a period of institutional instability. These CSR actions ranged from the informal to the formal, from engagement with local actors to the introduction of new corporate CSR standards and practices. The findings suggest that CSR as a form of institutional work is an effective response to institutional change caused by social movements, benefiting not only the MNEs themselves, but also society in general.

The violation of labor rights in international supply chains has gained significant attention in both academia and civil societies over the past two decades. The aim of this chapter is to examine the existing literature in order to identify the possible root causes that contribute to the contemporary labor exploitation practices in international supply chains. The causes were defined through a systematic literature review and then grouped based on multi-stakeholder analysis. This enabled them to be represented graphically by cause-and-effect analysis. The analysis illustrates the interdependencies of causes which supports the argument that the violation of labor rights in international businesses is a “wicked problem” (Rittel and Webber in Policy sciences 4(2): 155–169, 1973) due to the complexity of global labor governance structures and conflicts of interests of different stakeholders. The outcome of this research offers stakeholders an insight into the labor issues in their supply chains and helps them develop appropriate solutions to upgrade labor rights.

Many Japanese corporations that demonstrated wrongdoings have poorly responded to public criticism and were subsequently dragged into various corporate crises. The managers in these corporations did not speak or behave in a responsible manner during the crises. In addition, they also offered negative views on corporate social responsibility (CSR) years before the crisis, disqualifying them from being considered responsible corporate citizens. By using a genealogical analysis, the author investigates their views on CSR and CSR-related activities before the crisis. In this study, the author conducts an analysis of Toyota’s recall crisis in 2010 as an example.