Challenges for Tourism—Transitioning to Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility

Abstract

Half a century following the birth of environmental policies and authorities worldwide, businesses still argue they can significantly improve their performances voluntarily, based on instruments such as Corporate Social Responsibility. Likewise, having been challenged much earlier by social and labour policies, many corporate leaders are adamant that much has already been achieved and can still be improved voluntarily, in terms of how they interact with employees, stakeholders, local communities and citizens. In this chapter, we review key challenges that are not just outstanding, but continuously emerging for businesses and which require a significantly more proactive and impactful engagement with the world in which firms operate. We provide a brief overview of the milestones in the development of the Corporate Social Responsibility concept and the literature on the critiques regarding how businesses have responded to corporate responsibility calls. A critical analysis of the approaches and progress so far in terms of the scientific investigation of the implementation of this concept is also offered, highlighting areas that would benefit improvement. In the second part of the chapter the concept of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CSR 2.0) is discussed, as proposed by Wayne Vissers and presented most recently in the 2014 book “CSR 2.0: Transforming Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility”. This will help map, in Chap. 2, the CSR 2.0 features discussed by the contributors to this volume. We also articulate a number of research themes to guide progress regarding the implementation of CSR 2.0 and explain how the chapters in this volume contribute to these themes as well.