Customer Reviews

Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause

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This is an enlightening book on corporate social responsibility by knowledgeable authors. As a manager you bring with you your own concept of what is right and what is wrong to your organisation. Every decision that you make is the application of these values to the question at hand. This is made more difficult by the pressures of organisational life. These are the pressures of rapid changes, the pressure for greater productivity, competition and superiors, among others. Sometimes managers make decisions which conflict with their own or society's values because of what they see as the pressures of the business world. Dealing with ethical and moral issues is often perplexing. This excellent book provides guidance on how we should we think through an ethical issue, the questions we should ask and the factors that we should consider and how we can ensure that corporate social responsibility issues receive the attention they deserve.

The ways that the authors suggest to enhance corporate social responsibility are practical and simple to implement and should enable companies to benefit from a favourable corporate image which should translate to benefits to the bottom line.

This is a well written book that is easy to follow and understand that is well recommended.

The days of corporate irresponsibility are past. The public now expects companies to behave according to a higher social standard. And guess what - operating a business built on socially responsible principles pays off. Decision makers at companies large and small are learning that when they build their businesses according to the dictates of social conscience, they reap rewards such as increased profits, an improved corporate image and happier employees. And, they sleep better at night. Author and marketing expert Philip Kotler and social marketing consultant Nancy Lee describe six ways you can develop and implement a corporate social program. They clearly explain and analyze each initiative in its own chapter, including illustrative examples of successful campaigns from leading companies such as Ben & Jerry's, The Body Shop and American Express. Their methods do overlap and they are, at times, redundant. Yet the points are important enough to bear repeating. We think every professional whose company is engaged in corporate social marketing - or needs to be - will find a treasure trove of applicable information in this book.

This is an interesting and useful book especially if a researcher is interested in the impact of corporate philanthropic giving as a marketing tool - handing over a corporate check in the public eye is what comes to my mind.
The authors describe do's and dont's of such strategies.

However, the marketing focus is a downside for readers interested in CSR from a more general stance.
I have recently read many books on CSR for a research project, and will continue reviewing them step by step, so checking my other reviews might be useful if you are interested in the topic of CSR or corporate governance.

Everyone who read a few Porter articles or books knows that his line of argument holds water. It is the same with this book. On a very academic yet practical level Porter and Lee outline the concept of corporate social responsibility, how to market it, how to implement it in an organization, and how to integrate it into your business model.

After outlining a bit of history of corporate social responsibility, where it came from, and how it made its way into today's world of business, Porter and Lee directly jump into their personal domains: marketing. Pretty much half of this book is about marketing and social marketing. This should hardly surprise anyone if you look at the fields of expertise of the two authors. However, apart from the marketing focus, this book provides practitioners and professionals with three chapters of practical advice on how to put CSR into practice. Therefore, this is an excellent starting point for everyone who is new to the concept of CSR and introducing it in an organization.

- Frank Roettgers, author of Going Green Together - How to Align Employees with Green Strategies

Phil Kotler and Nancy Lee have created an invaluable guidebook for companies, nonprofits and their advisors to enhance corporate reputations while improving society. Besides demonstrating how corporate social responsiblity has boosted the bottom line and added value for investors on all sides of the cause world, the authors provide detailed "how to" models for every type of business and nonprofit. This book has quickly become the "must read" bible for CSR and those involved with marketing in the nonprofit sector.