- The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Editor Biographies
- Author Biographies
- The Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda
- A History of Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts and Practices
- Corporate Social Responsibility Theories
- The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Research Synthesis
- Principals and Agents: Further Thoughts on the Friedmanite Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of the Firm—On the Denial of Politics
- Critical Theory and Corporate Social Responsibility : Can/Should We Get Beyond Cynical Reasoning?
- Much Ado about Nothing: A Conceptual Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Top Managers as Drivers for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Socially Responsible Investment and Shareholder Activism
- Consumers as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Responsibility, Government, and Civil Society
- Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Stakeholder Theory: Managing Corporate Social Responsibility in a Multiple Actor Context
- Responsibility in the Supply Chain
- Corporate Social Responsibility: The Reporting and Assurance Dimension
- Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Theories of Global Governance: Strategic Contestation in Global Issue Arenas
- Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective
- Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries
- Educating for Responsible Management
- Corporate Social Responsibility: Deep Roots, Flourishing Growth, Promising Future
- Senior Management Preferences and Corporate Social Responsibility
- The Transatlantic Paradox: How Outdated Concepts Confuse the American/European Debate about Corporate Governance
- Spirituality as a Firm Basis for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Future Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility : Where we are Coming from? Where are we Heading?
- Conclusion
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
The concept of the corporation is not separable from the systems of incorporation and regulation that instantiate it. This is true of both the ‘American’ model of the corporation, with its dominant emphasis on shareholder rights (no matter how imperfectly those rights are protected), and of the ‘European’ model, with its attention on community interests, especially employment issues. The former is frequently attacked by Europeans for its neglect of the interests of key stakeholders, while the latter is attacked by Americans for its neglect of economic efficiency. This article shows why too much journalistic and academic debate has been wasted defending the American conception over the European and vice versa. Given the conceptual tools that both sides tend to employ defending their conceptions, the debate is irresolvable. It is, in effect, a puzzle with missing pieces.
Keywords: corporation, incorporation, shareholder rights, European model, stakeholders
Thomas Donaldson (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is the Mark O. Winkelman Professor, and Director of the Wharton Ph.D. Program in Ethics and Law at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has published more than ten books and 70 articles and has consulted widely. He is the current President of the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management and is past President of the Society for Business Ethics.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Editor Biographies
- Author Biographies
- The Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda
- A History of Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts and Practices
- Corporate Social Responsibility Theories
- The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Research Synthesis
- Principals and Agents: Further Thoughts on the Friedmanite Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility and the Role of the Firm—On the Denial of Politics
- Critical Theory and Corporate Social Responsibility : Can/Should We Get Beyond Cynical Reasoning?
- Much Ado about Nothing: A Conceptual Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Top Managers as Drivers for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Socially Responsible Investment and Shareholder Activism
- Consumers as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Responsibility, Government, and Civil Society
- Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Stakeholder Theory: Managing Corporate Social Responsibility in a Multiple Actor Context
- Responsibility in the Supply Chain
- Corporate Social Responsibility: The Reporting and Assurance Dimension
- Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Theories of Global Governance: Strategic Contestation in Global Issue Arenas
- Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective
- Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries
- Educating for Responsible Management
- Corporate Social Responsibility: Deep Roots, Flourishing Growth, Promising Future
- Senior Management Preferences and Corporate Social Responsibility
- The Transatlantic Paradox: How Outdated Concepts Confuse the American/European Debate about Corporate Governance
- Spirituality as a Firm Basis for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Future Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility : Where we are Coming from? Where are we Heading?
- Conclusion
- Index
