Corporate Citizenship

I read this book wearing my corporate glasses. Having worked in corporate (multi-national) America, I was biased. I have seen many mission statements which claim to improve peoples lives, but have yet to see this implemented in the daily corporate work processes. And the question managers mostly ask is: where is the data that shows that corporations can make money on good business practice? Well, this book changed all these misconceptions for me. It was lucid, very convincing and extremely well researched. For a cynic, its hard to admit that I am now a convert. I gave the book four stars because: 1. it is filled with references and cases to real companies and their proven track record of success with new strategies, 2. it provides the reader with convincing data and facts and 3. it demystifies buzz-words and has come a long way in shedding the fluff which often dominates this field. The book is structured in a way that you can read chapters independently of each other-which is great for the manager on the run. But this is also why I withheld the last star. The introductions to each chapter tend to be a little long and at times repetitive, especially when you read the book chronologically. I highly recommend this book as THE book on corporate citizenship and hope that business schools make it compulsory reading for every budding business student and professor alike. We would benefit immensely from it. Locally, as well as globally.

The stated aim of the book is "to provide you with a source of ideas and examples, giving clear explanations of the issues and language currently dominating discussion about the social and environmental responsibilities of business . . . Reading this book will give you the insight and the answers as to how to evolve into a successful, responsible business. Benefit from the significant initiatives and hard lessons learned by organizations across all sectors, types and sizes" (taken from inside cover). I believe that the book has achieved this, outlining the main issues of social accountability, documenting numerous real-life examples of companies demonstrating these principles in action, and using these to show how companies have now adopted a more socially responsible way of doing business . . . profitably! In addition, there is a glossary of terms used at the end to help understand the jargon used, as well as a list of contact addresses of organizations mentioned throughout the book. This is very much a book targeted at managers of corporations, but can be equally relevant for tomorrow's leaders wanting to learn from past mistakes, therefore was an interesting read. I enjoyed reading it and find the principles stated relevant not only to organizations, but to individuals too. My main criticism was that there was a great emphasis on the role of the organization throughout the book, and little was said about the individual until the end. Although I realize that this was the focus of the book (being called "Corporate Citizenship"!!), I think that I might have found it more personally relevant if it also incorporated the role of every stakeholder in society. We all have our part to play, which was occasionally overlooked in this book.