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This paper takes a critical look at the meaning of corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on the available literature on the subject matter. As CSR is an evolving concept both in meaning and practice, this study aims to highlight CSR actions of the world's six largest organizations (Google, Twitter, Amazon, Apple, ExxonMobil and Walmart). The purpose of choosing these organizations and their CSR adoption was to examine the business-society relationship and the role of key stakeholders in establishing this association.

This study examined CSR through the case study approach and provides valuable insights by showing that CSR is a connecting link between business and society. Specifically, the authors took a crucial look at various contentious, often ambiguous definitions, theoretical framework, brief historical development, issues and controversies surrounding it, the role of CSR in community development and summing it up with the future direction and managerial implications.

This study observed that there are some developmental strategies taking place today which are relevant to the issue at stake, such as: contributing to the world economy, corporations donating or engaging in a wide range of philanthropic gestures now than ever and contributing to the beauty of the society by meeting rising community expectations.

By analyzing the worlds' 6 largest companies' CSR initiatives, this study provides valuable insights by showing that CSR is a connecting link between business and society and is based on win-win collaborations between civil society, business, investors and government. These companies' CSR initiatives have been mostly unexplored in past studies.

This paper aims to conceptualize how business and society co-evolve their efforts to maximizing the greatest well-being of the greatest number following a conscious-unconscious, staged, dialectical process.

This study used a conceptual framework linking eight components of well-being (economic, environmental, social, cultural, psychological, spiritual, material and physical), with stages of consciousness and the co-evolution of business and society.

Stages of consciousness – traditionalist, modernist, post-modernist and integral – moderate both the pace and direction with which business and society co-evolve to the greatest well-being of the greatest number across eight components of well-being.

This is a conceptual framework which integrates existing empirical relationships, but the overall framework itself is yet to be empirically tested.

The whole process of maximizing well-being can become more conscious for both business and society. This requires making unconscious components conscious and becoming conscious of the inseparability of the eight components of well-being as a counter-balanced set.

Businesses and societies can maximize well-being across eight inseparable components. But implementing this is a staged process requiring progressing populations through stages of consciousness. Earlier stages lay the platform for a critical mass of people able to integrate the eight components.

Knowledge of well-being is dominated by disciplinary disconnection and bivariate studies; yet, current meta-crises and calls for post-conventional leaders indicate the importance of an integrated multidisciplinary well-being model which explains past efforts of business and society, diagnoses current problems and points towards more viable paths.

While there has been an explosion of theoretical work in the field of Business and Society over the past several years, much of this work still reflects a key philosophical assumption about the way business and society should be viewed that has been operative in the field since its beginnings. This assumption undergirds the title for the field and has infused itself into stakeholder theory, normative theory, and social contract theory, which are the main theoretical approaches that have emerged in the field. This basic assumption is critically analyzed and questioned in this article, and another philosophical framework, one based on American Pragmatism and not based on this assumption, is offered as an alternative way to view the corporation and its relationship to society. The implications of this alternative for the Business and Society field are then explored.

Reviews the development of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept and its four components: economic, legal, ethical and altruistic duties. Discusses different perspectives on the proper role of business in society, from profit making to community service provider. Suggests that much of the confusion and controversy over CSR stem from a failure to distinguish among ethical, altruistic and strategic forms of CSR. On the basis of a thorough examination of the arguments for and against altruistic CSR, concurs with Milton Friedman that altruistic CSR is not a legitimate role of business. Proposes that ethical CSR, grounded in the concept of ethical duties and responsibilities, is mandatory. Concludes that strategic CSR is good for business and society. Advises that marketing take a lead role in strategic CSR activities. Notes difficulties in CSR practice and offers suggestions for marketers in planning for strategic CSR and for academic researchers in further clarifying the boundaries of strategic CSR.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the extent to which companies’™ efforts of sustainable business practices consider stakeholders within their organisations, business networks, the marketplace and society, and to develop and test a stakeholder construct in the context of companies’™ business sustainability efforts within their business networks, the marketplace and society by identifying underlying dimensions and items.

A mixed-method approach was used. First, qualitative research involving a case study approach was followed so as to describe how companies in different industries in Norway implement and manage sustainable business practices. This was followed by a quantitative research phase to empirically measure and test a stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts, which is reported here.

The results report both an initial factor solution as well as a refined factor solution. The factor analyses confirmed five stakeholder dimensions related to business sustainability in a cross-industry sample of organisations, their business networks, marketplace and society. These include: the focal company, downstream stakeholders, societal stakeholders, market stakeholders and upstream stakeholders. The results indicate satisfactory convergent, discriminant and nomological validity, as well as reliability of each dimension.

The study provides a stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts in focal companies and their business networks, the marketplace and society, based upon five common dimensions. The multi-dimensional framework may be used in both qualitative and quantitative research in future. It may also be used to assess stakeholders’™ business sustainability efforts.

The multi-dimensional framework is useful for practitioners to obtain an indication of stakeholders’™ business sustainability efforts in relation to focal companies and their business networks, the marketplace and society.

The study provides a general stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts in business networks, the marketplace and society. The proposed framework can be incorporated in further studies and could be used to assess the general status of stakeholders’™ sustainability efforts in their networks, the marketplace and society.

Furnishes a narrative reflecting an in‐depth examination of managerial conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Irish context. The narrative locates itself within the debate surrounding the extent to which corporate management may capture social accountants’ efforts to promote a broad society‐centred conception of CSR. Three key findings emerge from the narrative. First, there is evidence of a tendency for managers to interpret CSR in a constricted fashion consistent with corporate goals of shareholder wealth maximisation. Second, pockets of robust resistance to and defences of this narrow conception do, however, also emerge in the narrative. Third, the complexity of conceiving of a clear meaning for CSR, particularly for those exposed to the structural pressures encountered by these managers, is apparent. This is evident in the initial, somewhat contradictory, nature of many of the conceptions analysed. Reflects on these findings and considers their broad implications for social accountants’ attempts to promote greater society centred corporate accountability in Ireland.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the continuing relevance to management education of the writings of Peter Drucker (1909‐2005) from the 1940s and 1950s, with particular reference to The Practice of Management (1954).

Drucker's contribution to management writing from the 1940s and 1950s is examined via a liberal humanist perspective, which is to suggest that he attempted to develop an educated imagination in his readers.

Drucker contributes to current discussions on the role of business in society and the nature of capitalism. His insistence on the business corporation being a social institution and management as a social system with multiple stakeholders.

The paper is limited to examining Drucker's writings. Future research can include why Drucker has won acclaim outside of the USA (with the rise of Drucker Societies) and why he is absent from many undergraduate and postgraduate reading lists in management education.

The current crisis of capitalism would benefit from Drucker's perspective of the US model of capitalism from the middle of the twentieth century.

Though well‐known as a management thinker, Drucker is also marginalized by many academics, and hence is outside the reading lists of many business and management students. This paper seeks to reclaim territory for Drucker as part of current discussions on the future of capitalism and the role of the business corporation.

This paper seeks to provide an Aristotelian alternative to the neo‐classical paradigm for the development of sustainable business research and a preliminary explanation of how to implement the assumptions on the shopfloor.

The paper presents a conceptual exploration and comparison of sustainable business, Aristotle's view of society and intra‐societal relations, and the neo‐classical model.

The paper shows how sustainable business research is supported by elements of the Aristotelian model and how this is not the case with the neo‐classical paradigm. Practical implications for corporate governance strategies are detailed.

This paper shows how Aristotelian philosophy may provide a rationale for the normative claims of sustainable business research.

This article examines the role of business leadership in the coming decade with respect to social responsibility. It is argued, herein, that the successful leadership agenda in the coming decade will, to a greater degree than today, be shaped by the leader’s ability to take an active and constructive part in the society in which the business operates. The premises for putting forward this hypothesis are that the excesses of the 1990s are over, and the geopolitical, the economic, and the ecological environments offer challenges not seen for a long time in business. Socially responsible leadership in the coming decade will not only be about doing business, but also about questioning how this business is done and how value is created. In an increasingly complex environment, the integrity of the single business leader will matter, as will his or her ability to see the overall role of his or her company in the society in which it operates. Leaders are, to some degree, reflections of what their societies want from them. This paper points to a number of trends where public expectations today call for more social responsibility from commercial players. There are companies showing the way and taking the lead in meeting those expectations, and thereby setting new requirements for business leadership in the coming decade. Even though it is a debated issue, this article concludes that socially responsible leadership will be the answer in meeting those growing expectations. It is also concluded herein that most business leaders will be able to rise to the challenges in the coming decade, as they have before.

The paper is a viewpoint about Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857‐1929) a known yet misunderstood author, as much appreciated as criticised. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of Veblen's work whilst providing a few keys to his writing and showing the interest of his work for the business and society field of researches.

It starts by presenting Veblen's body of work. Then it turns to a general evaluation of Veblen's work. It finishes with a discussion of Veblen's possible contributions to the business and society field.

Finds that Veblen's work is an attempt to understand the fundamentals of the functioning and evolution of societies and economies and that in many respects he placed great emphasis on the relations between the work of business and society.

The implications may be theoretical since this paper is an invitation to renew the standard way of studying the business and society field.

This may be seen as a new approach to Veblen's work.