Why do corporations increasingly engage in good deeds that do not immediately help their bottom line, and what are the consequences of these activities? This volume examines these questions by drawing on historical documents, interviews, qualitative case comparison, fieldwork, multiple regression, time-series analysis and multidimensional scaling, among others. Informed by neoinstitutionalism and political economy approaches, the authors examine how global and local dimensions of contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) intersect with each other. Their rigorous empirical analyses produce insights into the historical roots of suspicions concerning cross-societal economic actors, why and how global CSR frameworks evolved into current forms, how conceptions of CSR vary across societies, what motivates corporations to participate in CSR frameworks, what impacts such participation might have on corporate reputation and actual practices, whether CSR activities shield corporations from targeting by boycott campaigns or invite more criticism, and what alternative responses corporations might have to buying into CSR principles.

‘The global CSR movement is challenging the very notion of the role of business in society today. This volume helps bring tremendous insights into the antecedents and consequences of this shift in norms around corporate governance and responsibilities, calling attention to the institutional and economic contexts that hinder or encourage such change as well as the diversity of ways that CSR is operationalized at the transnational, national and regional levels. Each chapter builds on the notion that CSR is a core component of the social regulation of the economy, drawing the corporate organization deeper in its attention to social and environmental issues. By bringing rigorous analytical thinking to this important topic, we are given the opportunity to understand CSR in its full scope and breadth.’

Andrew J. Hoffman - Director of the Erb Institute and Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, University of Michigan

‘This important book is a product of the outstanding vision of Kiyoteru Tsutsui and Alwyn Lim, who have pulled together scholarship that fills a noticeable void in the burgeoning field of corporate social responsibility studies. Specifically, these authors situate the drivers of corporate social responsibility in a global multi-level, political, economic and cultural system, rather than within corporations themselves. This novel perspective allows researchers and practitioners alike to move beyond debates about the organizational-level factors that make firms more or less likely to enact corporate social responsibility practices and policies, to conceive of the pressures firms face from the broader, global system. As such, the original and compelling contributions in this volume promise to stimulate exciting debate and new research streams, which will move the field of corporate social responsibility studies in new and exciting directions. This book is a must read.’

Sarah A. Soule - Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business