Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance ― Theory and Practice

This book deals with the role of international standards for corporate governance in the context of corporate social responsibility. Based on the fundamentals of moral theory, the book examines governance and CSR in general, addressing questions such as: Is “good governance” not affected by moral concerns? How do the principles and practices of CSR standards adhere to or conflict with insights from business ethics and moral theory? To what extent do the standards and governance models provide normative guidance? Do the standards and governance guidelines provide an adequate means of benchmarking and auditing? Are these standards a help or a hindrance to stakeholder engagement and transparency? The book provides insightful and thought-provoking answers to these and many other important questions concerning CSR standards, and offers a valuable resource for practitioners, academics and students at business schools and other institutions.

Samuel O. Idowu is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Corporate Social Responsibility at London Guildhall Schools of Business & Law, London Metropolitan University, UK and a Professor of CSR and Sustainability at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, China. He is a named freeman of the City of London and researches in the fields of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Governance and Accounting. He has led several edited books in CSR and is the Editor-in-Chief of two Springer’s reference books – Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility and Dictionary of Corporate Social Responsibility (forthcoming). He is a Series Editor for Springer’s CSR, Sustainability, Ethics and Governance books. One of his edited books was ranked 18th in 2010 Top 40 Sustainability Books by, Cambridge University, Sustainability Leadership Programme. He is on the Editorial Boards of the International Business Administration Journal, Amfiteatru Economic Journal and Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal.

Claus Strue Frederiksen, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen (philosophy unit). Frederiksen has published several articles about moral philosophy and business ethics in international journals and books and is field editor on theEncyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility published by Springer. His current line of research is corporate social responsibility reporting.

Asli Yuksel Mermod is a Professor of Finance in the Department of English Business Administration at Marmara University. She is also a visiting finance professor at Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland since 2004. In addition to her duties at Marmara University she teaches at Bahcesehir University, Istanbul as visiting finance professor too. Her MBA and PhD degrees are Finance from Marmara University from the University’s Banking and Insurance Institute. A.Yuksel Mermod’s Bachelor’s degree is in Economics; which she obtained from Marmara University’s Economics Department, she was also a student of Economics (Volkswirtschaftslehre) at Konstanz University in Germany between 1991 and 1993. Before starting her academic career, Dr. Yuksel Mermod also worked as a public relations manager in Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (Lutfi Kirdar) and as an editor, copy writer and accounts director in Mediart and Sanatevi Advertising Agencies. She is fluent in Turkish, English, German languages and intermediate in her French language. Dr. Asli Yuksel Mermod’s research areas cover Bank Management, Bank Marketing, Socially Responsible Investing, Ethical, Ecological Finance, Brands and Brands Equity, Financial Markets and Institutions, Financial Services Marketing, Tourism Investments and Corporate Finance. She teaches International Banking, Project Finance, Bank Management, Principles of Finance, Financial Markets and Institutions, International Finance and Financial Services Marketing courses to undergraduates and Bank Funds Management, Project Finance and Management and Banking courses to MBA and Executive MBA students. She instructs Risk Management in Banking and Asset and Liability Management and Strategic Bank Management to PhD candidates and continues her research studies with her PhD students on various projects.

Morten Ebbe Juul Nielsen is associate professor in applied philosophy at Copenhagen University, associated with the philosophy department and the institute for food and resource economics. He has published extensively in political philosophy, normative ethics, business ethics, and legal philosophy. He is currently working on two interdisciplinary research projects, Governing Obesity (on personal responsibility and obesity policies) and Global Genes, Local concerns (on the ethics of bio-banking). Key research topics are legitimacy and pluralism, consent, and liberty.