Corporate Responsibility

Abstract

This special issue of Business & Society explores how institutions and actors influence organizational choices regarding corporate responsibility (CR) initiatives and mechanisms. Assuming CR reflects strategic choices made by firms, the authors seek to move discussions from why aspects to aligning the why with the what/how aspects of CR. The articles in this special issue examine CR initiatives at multiple levels (the firm, industry, national, and global) as well as CR mechanisms ranging from “go-it-alone” unilateral activities to collaborative partnerships. The study goals are two-fold. First, the authors focus on firms’ attempt to create and manage a portfolio of corporate responsibilities—social, political, environmental, and economic. These responsibilities involve relationships with a range of stakeholders (investors, employees, consumers, suppliers, and distributors as well as its multiple communities), often simultaneously, and recognizing that the corporation can devote limited resources to manage stakeholder expectations in this regard. Second, the authors seek to understand how institutional and competitive contexts matter in shaping specific CR choices to provide tangible evidence of managing responsibly. The authors suggest that consciously aligning CR initiatives ( what) with appropriate mechanisms ( how) will allow the corporations to efficiently and effectively pursue their CR objectives and arguably create sustained impact.