Responsabilit� soci�tale et d�veloppement durable

The decision to internalize corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, to buy (outsource) them in the form of corporate philanthropy, or to collaborate with other organizations is of great significance to the ability of the firm to reap benefits from such activity. Using insights provided by organizational economics and the resource-based view of the firm, this article describes how CSR centrality affects governance choice. This framework is tested using data collected from Central America. The findings suggest that the higher the centrality of CSR activities to the firms’ mission, the more likely that the firms will engage in CSR internally. The article discusses directions for further research and concludes with the managerial implications of this research.

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This study examines overseas investing by U.S.-domiciled pension plans. The authors explore whether U.S. pension plans invest based on corporate social performance (CSP) in a core overseas market, the United Kingdom. As a guide to social investing opportunities available to U.S. pension funds in the United Kingdom, their investments are compared to U.K.-domiciled pension plan domestic investments. U.S. labor union plan portfolios have a positive relationship with workplace practices, and U.S. private plan portfolios, with CSP’s community dimension. U.S. state and foundation plan portfolios have no relationship with CSP. Other than union plans, U.S. pension plans stress corporate financial performance in their U.K. investments. U.K. union plan portfolios have a positive relationship with workplace practices, and U.K. state, foundation, and private plan portfolios with environment.

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Scholarship on corporate social responsibility (CSR) shows both that the concept itself is interpreted in a multitude of different ways and that significant cross-cultural differences exist in the way that business approaches the question of social responsibility and ethics. Little comparative work, however, has yet been carried out that investigates the reasons behind such differences. The authors analyze the cases of Mexico and France by drawing on Enderle’s practical, semantic, and theoretical dimensions of business ethics. The authors further integrate the concept of "normative institutions" to explore attitudes toward CSR and assess the likely future adoption of CSR practices in each country. The article concludes that despite similar institutional conditions in Mexico and France, the interplay of those institutions combined with the historical role of business and its relationship with society produces quite different articulations of CSR in each country. The article highlights the need for further studies that explore how institutions enable and constrain business’ articulation of social responsibility.

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Quick Takes is our summary of news and readings in management, sustainability and intelligent enterprise. The $200k award of the MIT Clean Energy contest is “a head fake to get entrepreneurs to eat their vegetables” A profile of the annual MIT contest by the Boston Globe notes that of the 50 teams that been in the contest [...]
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