Faculty
Professor Guido Palazzo, HEC Lausanne; Professor Laura Spence, Royal Holloway University of London; Professor Mette Morsing, Copenhagen Business School; The Associate Professors Steen Vallentin, Esben Rahbek Pedersen, Kai Hockerts and Jette Steen Knudsen, all from Copenhagen Business School; Assistant Professor Itziar Castelló, Copenhagen Business School

Course Coordinator
Assistant Professor Itziar Castelló, Copenhagen Business School

Only PhD students can participate in the course. The course requires the submission of a paper or long abstract that deals with conceptual problems or analytical designs in related questions to the course content. The length should be 3-5 pages and should be submitted by the January 10th.  In all cases, the PhD student should state his/her main analytical challenge/concern at the current stage of the project. Papers/abstracts must be in English. Papers will be discussed in the course.

A precondition for receiving the course diploma is that the student attends the whole course.

The course is targeted at PhD fellows with an interest and research focus in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) broadly defined, as well as international supply chains, lobby processes, accountability, transparency and issues related to the politics and impacts of globalization in corporations. The course will provide an overview of the latest theoretical and analytical developments in this broad and contested field. In particular, it will emphasize the implications of approaching and understanding corporate activities as a political phenomenon. The political role of the firm is to be understood both as a theoretical and an empirical concern.

Theoretically, we have in recent years seen a literature emerging that uses political thought to make sense of corporate responsibilities, using concepts such as corporate citizenship, deliberative democracy, civil regulation, governance and governmentality to broaden the scope of how we may speak of the corporate responsibilities as a socially embedded phenomenon. Empirically, we can see, in the light of recent crisis how corporate responsibilities are neglected or enhanced depending on political agendas and how corporate responsibilities are subjected to a variety of modes of governance, ranging from nation-state action plans and mandatory disclosure schemes to Pan-European policy making and global governance. Hence, the political role of the firm is a matter that transcends the role of the state and regulation. It is a much broader concern that involves public, private and civil actors and networked forms of authority.

The course will allow students to discuss their research projects in light of some of the latest and most significant research developments within this broad frame and to be challenged by international faculty with in-depth knowledge of the field. 

After following the course, students should be

-          familiar with the most recent theoretical and analytical developments in the field regarding the political role of the firm and political CSR,

-          familiar with current conceptions of corporate responsibilities as a political phenomenon,

-          understand corporate implications of the political role of the firm

able to relate the latest research developments to his/her own research project

The course will include lectures, class discussions, and group work focusing on the participants’ projects and how they relate to CSR.

The course will take place over 2½ days on January 25-27, 2012 at Copenhagen Business School. The course will include lectures, class discussions and group work centered on the participants’ projects along with faculty panel discussions.

Overview of course plan

Compulsory readings will be sent to the students upon registration. 

Indicative literature.

Aguilera, R.V., D.E. Rupp, C. Williams & J. Ganapathi (2007): “Putting the S back in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Multi-level Theory of Social Change in Organizations”. Academy of. Management Review, 32: 836–863.

Banerjee, S.B. (2007): Corporate Social Responsibility – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Cornwall: Edward Elgar.

Barry, A. (2004): “Ethical Capitalism”. In: W. Larner og W. Walters (red.), Global Governmentality. Governing International Spaces (195-211). London: Routledge.

Brown, D., & Steen-Knudsen, J. . (2011): The Emerging Spread of Private Regulation - How Do National Institutions and Government Policies Matter? Paper presented at the Presented at the SASE Conference in Madrid.

Campbell, J.L. (2007): “Why Should Corporations Behave in Socially Responsible Ways? An Institutional Theory of Corporate Social Responsibility”. Academy of Management Review, 32(3): 946-967.

Castelló, I. & Galang, R. (forthcoming): Looking for New Forms of Legitimacy in Asia. Business and Society.

Fourcade, M. & K. Healy (2007): “Moral Views of Market Society”. Annual Review of Sociology, 33(1): 285-311.

Ghoshal, S. (2005): “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices”. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(1): 75-91.

Matten, D. & A. Crane (2005):”Corporate Citizenship: Toward an Extended Theoretical Conceptualization”. Academy of Management Review, 30(1): 166-179.

Matten, D. & J. Moon (2008): “‘Implicit’ and ‘Explicit’ CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility”. Academy of Management Review, 33(4): 404-424.

Mena, S., & Palazzo, G. (forthcoming). Input and Output Legitimacy of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives. Business Ethics Quarterly.

van Oosterhout, J. & P.P.M.A.R. Heugens (2008): “Much Ado about Nothing: A Conceptual Critique of Corporate Social Responsibility”. In: A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D.S. Siegel (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility (197-223). UK: Oxford University Press.

Porter, M.E. & M.R. Kramer (2011): ”Creating Shared Value”. Harvard Business Review, January-February: 62-77.

Reich, R.B. (2007): “Politics Diverted”. Ch. 5 in: Supercapitalism (168-208). USA: Alfred A. Knopf.

Roberts, J. (2003): “The Manufacture of Corporate Social Responsibility: Constructing Corporate Sensibility”. Organization, 10(2): 249-265.

Scherer, A.G. & Pallazzo, G. (2007): “Towards a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen From a Habermasian Perspective”. Academy of Management Review, 32(4): 1096-1120.

Scherer, A.G. & Palazzo, G. (2011): “The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy”. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4): 899–931.

de Schutter, O. (2008): “Corporate Social Responsibility European Style”. European Law Journal, 14(2): 203-236.

Shamir, R. (2008): “The age of responsibilization: on market-embedded morality”. Economy and Society, 37(1): 1-19.

Steen-Knudsen, J. S. (forthcoming): Company Delistings from the UN Global Compact: Limited Business Demand or Domestic Governance Failure? Journal of Business Ethics(DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-0875-0).

Steurer, R. (2010): “The role of governments in corporate social responsibility: characterising public policies on CSR in Europe”. Policy Sci, 43: 49-72.

Teubner, G. (2011): “Self-Constitutionalizing TNCs? On the Linkage of ”Private and ”Public” Corporate Codes of Conduct”. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 18(2): 17-38.

Vallentin, S. & Murillo, D. (forthcoming): “CSR as Governmentality”. Organization: 1-34.

Vogel, D. (2008): Private Global Business Regulation. Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 261-282.