Keynote Presentation: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Accountability: The Need for a Relational View of the Firm
March 30, 2009 by Brian Butler , John Morelli and maitamim | Filed under: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Accountability: The Need for a Relational View of the Firm [4]
Thus, a firm can develop over time if it is able to build and maintain sustainable and durable relationships with the members of its stakeholder network. In this perspective, the entire set of stakeholder linkages becomes strategic for the long-term success and survival of a company. Therefore, the relationships with stakeholders are the crucial assets for a firm and its management.
Presenter: Dr. Antonio Tencati, Asst. Prof. Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is neither new nor
radical. The core belief is that the corporation incurs responsibilities to
society beyond profit maximization. Huge corporations possess the
power to control and influence the quality of life of employees,
customers, shareholders, and residents of local communities in which
they operate. A single corporate decision can irrevocably change the
lives of thousands of people. Power necessarily entails responsibility.
Managers, in pursuing their primary goal of increasing shareholder
value, have social responsibilities beyond meeting the minimal require¬
ments of the law. As early as 1916, J. Maurice Clark, writing in the
Journal of Political Economy, noted that “if men are responsible for the
known results of their actions, business responsibilities must include the
known results of business dealings, whether these have been recognized
by law or not”