Stakeholder Engagement
Boutilier, Robert, 2009. Stakeholder Politics – Social Capital, Sustainable Development and the Corporation. Greenleaf Publishing.
Stakeholder Politics is written by ACCSR’s Senior International Associate, Dr Robert Boutilier. It provides a new road-map for that dark and misty terrain called the ‘non-market environment’. Corporations and their stakeholders can gain powerful insights that contribute to sustainable development and help them identify and move towards innovative solutions to shared problems. This book lays out the method for the Stakeholder 360® that ACCSR has successfully used in over 30 stakeholder engagement projects to date.
Freeman, R.E., Harrison, J.S., and Wicks, A.C. 2007. “Managing for Stakeholders – Survival, Reputation, and Success. Yale University Press.
Three of the greatest living scholars in stakeholder management combine to produce this very accessible and managerially-oriented guide. Freeman is of course, the grand-daddy of stakeholder theory, bringing the term ‘stakeholder’ to prominence in his original book in 1984 titled ‘Stakeholder Management: A Strategic Approach’. This book sets out a framework and effective strategies for stakeholder management.
Post, J. E., Preston, L. E., & Sachs, S. 2002. Redefining the Corporation: Stakeholder Management and Organizational Wealth. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Preston and Post are two of the original US-based leading thinkers in stakeholder engagement and social responsiveness. Together with their European colleague Sachs, they present a very readable case for the stakeholder view of the corporation. Detailed case studies of Shell, Motorola and Cummins Engine Company show their model in action. A chapter on multinationals in China will be especially relevant for Australian companies now gearing up for greater engagement in China.
Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B., & Rahman, S. S. (Eds.). 2002. Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking: Theory, Responsibility and Engagement. (Vol. 1). Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B., & Rahman, S. S. (Eds.). 2003. Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking: Relationships, Communication, Reporting and Performance. (Vol. 2). Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
These companion volumes are interesting for their blend of European and American perspectives, and their mix of theoretical and practitioner-oriented articles.
Svendsen, A. 1998. The Stakeholder Strategy: Profiting from Collaborative Business Relationships. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
A practical approach to building stakeholder relationships is detailed with many case studies and tools for managing a socially responsible firm.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Organisations
Visser, W., and Tolhurst, N. (Eds). (2010). The World Guide to CSR: A Country-by country analysis of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.
Essential reference guide for practitioners seeking comparable information on the practice of CSR in different countries and regions. Easy to read with loads of case studies and URLs for key organisations. The Australian chapter written by ACCSR’s Managing Director, Dr. Leeora Black.
Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., and Siegel, D.S. (Eds). 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford University Press.
Essential reference guide for scholarship in the field that introduces the reader to the key perspectives and thinkers in the field. Useful for corporate libraries, researchers and speech writers. Encompassing the best scholars from both Europe and the United States, this book is a brilliant overview of the field with enough depth to guide literature reviews, help formulate research questions or form the basis of a self-guided learning tour.
Starik, M, Sharma, S (Eds). 2005. New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations – Emerging Ideas, Approaches and Tools for Practitioners and Researchers. Greenleaf Publishing.
Some of our favourite thinkers contribute diverse perspectives on what truly sustainable organisations look like and how to become one. Includes Australian perspectives.
Swanson, D. L. 1999. Toward an Integrative Theory of Business and Society: A Research Strategy for Corporate Social Performance. Academy of Management Review, 24(3): 506-521.
Diane Swanson put the soul back into corporate social responsiveness by showing in this theoretical article how values drive decision-making in socially responsible organisations.
Wood, D. J. 1991. Corporate Social Performance Revisited. Academy of Management Review, 16(4): 691-718.
A good theoretical overview of social performance and its components, this article has launched many articles and dissertations in the years since it was published. A foundation article for anyone researching this field.
Carroll, A. B. 1979. A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4): 497-505.
Archie Carroll’s seminal article in AMR and his subsequent work remain hugely influential for business and society scholars. This paper reflects an American view of CSR.
Community Engagement
Austin, James E. 2000. The Collaboration Challenge – How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed Through Strategic Alliances. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Our copy is so well-thumbed its falling apart. Provides a framework for thinking strategically about an evolving collaboration and excellent advice on how to develop the best corporate-community partnerships.
Burke, Edmund M. 1999. Corporate Community Relations – The Principle of the Neighbour of Choice. Praeger.
An essential book for those seeking advice on building trust in community relations. Sets out practical strategies for creating competitive advantage from effective community relations.
Responsible Investments
Sullivan, Rory and Mackenzie, Craig (eds). 2006. Responsible Investment. Greenleaf Publishing
This is a huge field in its own right but this well-edited volume will ease you into the key issues and perspectives. Includes great case studies.