What are the best books on business ethics – corporate social responsibility?
Best Books on Business Ethics – Corporate Social Responsibility
THE LIST:
1 – Corporate Social Responsibility | By Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee
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Consumers, nowadays, expect companies to function based on higher public standards. Executives, at large or small corporations, realize that when their businesses operate according to the rules of social principles, they are going to enjoy its benefits such as higher profits, improved company reputation, and more satisfied employees. Philip Kotler, a marketing expert, and author, and Nancy Lee, a social 
Quotes from the book;
“Signals point to increased corporate giving, increased corporate reporting on social responsibility initiatives (and) the establishment of a corporate social norm to do good.”
“We are on the threshold of a new era in which all of us – corporations, individuals, government, and other organizations – can join together to cooperate on the healing of our earth.” [- Motorola]
2 – Investing in Corporate Social Responsibility | By John Hancock
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This book, Investing in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Guide to Best Practice, Business Planning and the UK’s Leading Companies, is all about how leading British companies became more socially responsible. John Hancock covers extensive chapters from multiple British executives and experts on the fundamental topics relevant to social responsibility such as the environment, investing, improving life quality, and 
Quotes from the book;
“Corporate citizenship is not just about charitable giving; rather it is the whole way in which a company, (and) its products and services interact with society.”
“The majority of institutions see the primary objective of corporate governance as ensuring long-term value creation and financial stability.”
“A common feature of nearly every corporate disaster is that, afterwards, you will find good people inside the organization who will say, ’If anybody had asked me I could have told them something was not right’.”
“Intellectual capital has become the most important factor in creating wealth; ergo, identifying and managing it has become the single most important driver of competitive advantage and sustainable value creation.”
“Corporate responsibility can add significant value to a company beyond just the protection of reputation and maintaining a license to operate.”
3 – The Greening of IT | By John Lamb
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The increase in energy usage is not good for the environment; thus, corporations must become more energy efficient. Corporations that use substantial amounts of energy to power their IT operations may save costs while helping the environment by going green in their IT departments. IT architect John Lamb 
Quotes from the book;
“Green computing promises an enormous win for IT: a chance to save money – and the environment.” (ComputerWorld)
“The flat world of the 21st century has enabled global corporations to optimize their IT anywhere on the planet it makes business sense.”
“In Europe, for several years, consumers and businesses have earned more favorable rates if they use less energy during peak hours.”
“Data centers consume more energy per square foot than any other part of an office building.”
4 – The New Rules of Green Marketing | By Jacquelyn Ottman
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Jacquelyn Ottman, a green marketing specialist plainly states her case: the public has gone green and being sustainable is the main new political and commercial watchword. As an outcome, environmental liability and sustainable development of products are becoming the main commercial standard. Ottman 
Quotes from the book;
“Over the past decade, few marketing topics have been more dynamic than that of ‘green’ or ‘sustainability’.” – Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan, co-founders and CEOs of Method
“It is possible that your brand may qualify for more than one eco-label, and for more than one product attribute, e.g., ingredients, packaging, manufacturing, et cetera.”
“Marketers who don’t tout the sustainability achievements of their brands may find that consumers and other stakeholders assume their products and processes are not ecologically sound.”
“Experts in creating economic value have much to learn from nonprofits that excel in creating and measuring environmental and social value.”
“In 2006, over 30 billion bottles of water were consumed in the United States – 86% of the bottles subsequently became litter or [was] sent to landfills.”
5 – Ecological Intelligence | By Daniel Goleman
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In today’s materialistic world, convenience and luxury are everywhere. However, the toll it took on the environment and human health is clearly undeniable. Emotional intelligence specialist Daniel Goleman compellingly contends for “radical transparency” in regards to environmental impact. He states that if consumers realize how the products they purchase destruct the planet, they would start making more 
Quotes from the book;
“Radical transparency means tracking every substantial impact of an item from manufacture to disposal…and summarizing those impacts for shoppers as they are deciding what to purchase.”
“When Wal-Mart asked its truck drivers not to idle their diesel engines anymore – and installed smaller generators just to power the truckers’ cabins – the company saved $25 million a year.”
“Ecologically intelligent companies will be proactive: businesses will want to…know about epigenetic data, collaborate with suppliers to make shifts, see marketplace feedback as actionable information and perceive the change as a business opportunity.”
“By measuring a product’s resource burden we can see how much raw material was consumed and what kind of contamination resulted or value was destroyed.”
“Nothing in our evolutionary past has shaped our brain for spotting less palpable threats like the slow heating of the planet [or] the insidious spread of destructive chemical particulates.”
6 – Environmentalism of the Rich | By Peter Dauvergne
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For the past 50 years, the environmental campaign has delivered bigger impacts than the majority of other mass movements. However, in Environmentalism of the Rich, Peter Dauvergne, an outstanding environmental author and an international relations instructor at The University of British Columbia 
Quotes from the book;
“Calls to reduce humanity’s impact on nature are louder than ever – and coming from every spot on Earth. The courage of activists has never been greater; nor has the desire of ordinary people to live more sustainably.”
“Even seeming regulatory successes are often lost in the shadows of global trade as firms increase exports to places with lower standards.”
“Warning sirens [about ethyl gasoline] did not go off until the mid-1960s when Clair Patterson, a geochemist renowned for dating the age of the earth at 4.55 billion years, discovered that lead levels of Americans were 100 times higher than was natural.”
“Efficiency gains and savings from corporate sustainability are going straight back into churning out more nondurable and disposable products, building more big-box stores and producing more billionaires.”
“Activist campaigns over social media have clearly damaged brand reputations and influenced large numbers of consumers.”
7 – The Sustainability Edge | By Suhas Apte and Jagdish Sheth
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Nowadays, numerous consumers, as well as investors, are giving corporations the pressure to become more responsible and conscious of the way they run their businesses. Companies must renew 
Quotes from the book;
“The next major competency that businesses will need to pursue and fully integrate to gain a sustainable and consistent competitive advantage will be sustainability itself.”
“Today’s best companies recognize that doing ‘good’ is more beneficial than doing ‘less bad’ and that…doing ‘good’ actually creates more measurable financial value.”
“Becoming increasingly sustainable is the only way a business can both create a lasting competitive advantage…and preserve its own longevity in the face of evolving global challenges.”
“Individuals and institutions want to invest in a manner that is consistent with their specific beliefs and values.”
“The Sustainability Edge’ is the ideology and process that can help every business stand on a firmer foundation, reach higher and travel farther in this uncertain world.”
8 – A Path Appears | By Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
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Pulitzer award-winning authors Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof affirm compellingly that each individual has the power to change lives and spread opportunities. Their book stands out in its encouraging anecdotes, regarding people who won against the challenges that can hinder effective 
Quotes from the book;
“Paradoxically, it’s when people are feeling hurt and sad that they often benefit the most from turning outward and trying to help others.”
“Astonishingly, observations of parenting skills in the first 42 months of life could predict with 77% accuracy whether the child would graduate from high school.”
“There are few more selfish pleasures than altruism.”
“Currently more than 90% of our education dollars are spent after age five, yet 85% of a child’s core brain structure is developed before age five.”
“When for-profit companies, whether a small bakery or a mighty corporation, tackle social problems, they can have at least as much impact as a nonprofit.”
9 – The Business Solution to Poverty | By Paul Polak and Mal Warwick
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Mal Warwick and Paul Polak, two veterans in the battle against underdevelopment in the Global South wrote a case concluding that the long-term efforts of both private and public forces to improve the desperately poor areas of the world have failed. They recommend an alternative – a confirmed “business 
Quotes from the book;
“To date, poverty…is still the defining circumstance in the lives of nearly two out of every five human beings on Earth.”
“One of the greatest impediments to achieving scale is the high cost of delivering products and services not just the ‘last mile’ but the last 500 feet.”
“Unless you yourself grew up in poverty in the Global South, you’ll find an environment there that may be radically different from anything you’ve experienced before.”
“Do not mistake the businesses we’re proposing as philanthropic ventures. In fact, these businesses are designed to realize generous profits while fulfilling their social mission.”
“The remedy we propose is to tap the mainstream capital markets to fund large-scale, global enterprises that address the basic needs of…2.7 billion people.”
10 – Stewardship | By John Taft
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What are the reasons for the occurrence of the financial crisis in 2008? What actions must the government and the banks take to avoid the same dilemma in the future? In what way individual 
Quotes from the book;
“Core principles are the only solid ground under our feet when everything is, or seems to be, unstable.”
“The best way to make it through a crisis is to stop focusing on your own problems and start helping others with theirs.”
“The rewriting of the rules under which financial institutions operate has the potential to be a major stewardship success story.”
“To recover from a crisis, you have to survive the crisis…which means having access to liquid sources of enough cash to pay for years (possibly) of living expenses.”
“In 2008 and 2009, many of us saw how, during periods of extreme dislocation, emotionality can literally paralyze us.”
11 – Enough | By Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman
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Farm aids were introduced as a great method to safeguard the hardworking European and US farmers against the unexpected changes in the marketplace and climate. However, they slowly transformed into a pivotal cause for the regular suffering of the developing world for disastrous famines. The effects of aids on product prices generally mean that poverty-stricken farmers, especially in Africa, will not be able to 
Quotes from the book;
“In the modern world, like never before, famine is by and large preventable. When it occurs, it represents civilization’s collective failure.”
“Filling a 25-gallon fuel tank of a sport utility vehicle with a blend containing 85% ethanol…would consume about eight bushels of corn, which contained enough calories to feed a person for a year.”
“Today, eliminating hunger would be a bulwark against the extremism of the 21st century: global terrorism.”
“In 2007, the average household income of [US] farmers was $86,233, which was 27.5% greater than the average income of all US households.”
“Borlaug’s seeds made him a celebrity in Asia, which he exploited to grab newspaper headlines in order to cajole government officials into helping farmers get fertilizer, credit and subsidies.”
12 – Corporate Universities | By Annick Renaud-Coulon
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Annick Renaud-Coulon, an outstanding leader in the area of corporate academies and head of the GlobalCCU educates that companies must contribute to the good of the majority by promoting CSR and Sustainable Advancement and Responsibility with their in-house educational associations and programs. Elaborating her contemporary theories in this book in the English language for the first time, the author focuses on utilizing corporate education to help organizations and groups attain social ideals. This book is a compilation of academic expositions, from the citizenship theory, the state to CSR, and global adjustment. The readers of this book will find the author’s thought span as astonishingly broad as she entails the fundamentals for this responsibility-centered case for corporate academies.
Quotes from the book;
“Corporate university is a generic name given to educational structures based in private and public, commercial and noncommercial organizations, to help implement – through education – the organization’s strategies in human, economic, financial, technological, social and environmental terms.”
“Sustainability reports can be a rich and empowering source of information whether you are a consumer, employee, investor, researcher [or] active member of your community.”
“[The company] must learn how to cope with the reactions that result from political movements or natural events. No island of wealth has ever survived long in a sea of poverty.”
“The idea of transforming a corporate university into a lever for Corporate Responsibility is a veritable paradigm, a new way of reshaping the world.”
“Like a UFO, the corporate university appears flawed, hybrid and empirical.”
13 – The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit | By Ellis Robinson and Kim Klien
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This book, The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit, is especially helpful for non-profits that are in need of political influence, financial support, credibility, labor without charge, and all other advantages which members can give. This book not only provides ample information about members’ recruitment, but it also provides free online copies of worksheets and forms which you can utilize to help improve your 
Quotes from the book;
“In the best membership programs, the member and the organization share a clear, mutually beneficial understanding of the benefits of membership to both parties.”
“Renewals can be a great opportunity not only to ask members to continue to support your organization and get more involved, but also to increase their level of support.”
“Advocating for social change is an important and valuable responsibility of your nonprofit organization.”
“Direct mail may not be right for you now if you are a very small organization, but if you hope to grow, it probably will become an important tool in the near future.”
“As foundation and corporate funding diminishes, healthy organizations will increasingly depend on their members as sources of speedy support.”
14 – Corporate Social Responsibility | By Andreas Rasche, Mette Morsing, and Jeremy Moon
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This advanced-level book, Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication, Governance, provides an authentic and latest intro to the issues in CSR from a worldwide perspective. Written by a global team of specialists, it provides guidance to students through pivotal CSR themes including communication, strategy, governance, and regulation. Stabilizing the critics of CSR with a conversation of the favorable circumstances it creates, it contains chapters dedicated to social problems such as labor rights, anti-
Quotes from the book;
“Consider the following three facts: The revenue of the largest corporation in the world, Wal-mart Stores ($82 billion in 2014), is worth more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of all but twenty-seven of the world’s economies. The world’s largest asset management firm, a New York-based company called Black Rock, currently manages $4.5 trillion of assets and thus invests more money than the total monetary reserves of any country in the world (China having the largest reserves with $3.9 trillion in 2015).”
“The relationship between corporations and (global) society has also shifted because of the rise of the digital economy.”
15 – Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility | By David Chandler
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This book, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation, redefines CSR as the core of the value-production goal of the company. With the basis of the empowered stakeholders’ theory, this best-selling book by David Chandler asserts that a corporation’s responsibility is to generate value, extensively defined. In this book, David Chandler studies why some companies are good at CSR and how other businesses can possibly better their CSR resolutions. Moreover, this book aims to ensure 
Quotes from the book;
“People create organizations to leverage their collective resources in pursuit of common goals.”
“Within society, therefore, there is a mix of these organizational forms. Each performs different roles, but each also depends on the others to provide the complete patchwork of exchange interactions (of products and services, financial and social capital, etc.).”
“Ultimately, a firm’s success is directly related to its ability to incorporate stakeholder concerns into its business model.”
“The call for social responsibility among businesses is not a new concept. In short, “the pursuit of profit has been ‘unloved’ since Socrates declared that ‘the more [men] think of making a fortune, the less they think of virtue.”
Final Thoughts
This article was an attempt to consolidate the best books on business ethics – corporate social responsibility. Obviously, the list is not an exhaustive list of every book on the subject. However, the ‘best books on business ethics – corporate social responsibility’ list attempt to orchestrate different angles and degrees on business ethics – corporate social responsibility.
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