Handbook of Business Legitimacy


Book Description

This Handbook forms part of wider research in responsibility, ethics and legitimacy of corporations. Through an interdisciplinary perspective with comparative integration of sociological, politological, philosophical, theological, ethical, economic, legal, linguistic and communication theoretical approaches this Handbook will clarify how the interrelation between company and environment is mediated by legitimating notions in public spaces and public relations; how and why these notions have changed radically; how these transformations strike on the epistemological as well as practical dimension of business companies; and the problems involved in these transformations at the macro-, meso- and micro levels. The Handbook begins with a historical introduction and chronology of the development of business legitimacy, providing a comprehensive assessment of the concept’s evolution and identifying the most influential authors and their works. These may be divided into authors who follow (1) a philosophical, sociological, or conceptual tradition in management and leadership in their treatment of legitimacy and those who belong to the research tradition of (2) application of the concept in management science and leadership as well as in organizational theory and business practice in the interdisciplinary perspective of the different approaches. The Handbook continues with systematic approaches and major themes developed in the concept of business legitimacy. Contributions here may be conceptual, empirical/applied or case studies. The different parts of the volume deal with the different topics to which business legitimacy has been applied, with how legitimacy is relevant in the various operational areas of the firm, and with the legitimacy theory’s responses to some of the most important issues that businesses and organizations currently face.




Responsibility, Ethics and Legitimacy of Corporations


Book Description

Business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, values-driven management, corporate governance, and ethical leadership are necessary horizons for the legitimacy of corporations in the process of globalization. Based on hermeneutics and institutional analysis, this book discusses the place of values in corporations and the role of ethics in management. With the theories of business ethics as a starting point, it is possible to propose a vision of the good citizen corporation. The book presents theories, concepts of responsibility for stakeholder justice, and basic ethical principles of respect for autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability. This is the foundation for an analysis of the ethical relations to internal and external constituencies of the firm, i.e. shareholders, owners, investors, management, employees, consumers, and local community. The interaction with the environment is further analyzed with a focus on ethical principles as the basis for sustainability. This investigation culminates with the conceptualization of the firm as a collective and institutional moral agent. The content also includes analysis of concrete political developments in the US, Europe, and the United Nations. Finally, the book provides a framework for a new corporate strategy based on global business ethics.




Legitimacy


Book Description

At an unsettled time for liberal democracy, with global eruptions of authoritarian and arbitrary rule, here is one of the first full-fledged philosophical accounts of what makes governments legitimate. What makes a government legitimate? The dominant view is that public officials have the right to rule us, even if they are unfair or unfit, as long as they gain power through procedures traceable to the consent of the governed. In this rigorous and timely study, Arthur Isak Applbaum argues that adherence to procedure is not enough: even a properly chosen government does not rule legitimately if it fails to protect basic rights, to treat its citizens as political equals, or to act coherently. How are we to reconcile every person’s entitlement to freedom with the necessity of coercive law? Applbaum’s answer is that a government legitimately governs its citizens only if the government is a free group agent constituted by free citizens. To be a such a group agent, a government must uphold three principles. The liberty principle, requiring that the basic rights of citizens be secured, is necessary to protect against inhumanity, a tyranny in practice. The equality principle, requiring that citizens have equal say in selecting who governs, is necessary to protect against despotism, a tyranny in title. The agency principle, requiring that a government’s actions reflect its decisions and its decisions reflect its reasons, is necessary to protect against wantonism, a tyranny of unreason. Today, Applbaum writes, the greatest threat to the established democracies is neither inhumanity nor despotism but wantonism, the domination of citizens by incoherent, inconstant, and incontinent rulers. A government that cannot govern itself cannot legitimately govern others.




Handbook on the Business of Sustainability


Book Description

This ground-breaking Handbook uniquely focuses on the business of sustainability, offering a fresh insight and practical solutions to the challenges that businesses face in making human activity sustainable. It is organized into four distinctive themes that cut across levels of analysis and illustrate a rich set of solution contexts that will guide future research.




The Handbook of Public Sector Communication


Book Description

A multidisciplinary collection on global public entity strategic communication Research into public sector communication investigates the interaction between public and governmental entities and citizens within their sphere of influence. Today’s public sector organizations are operating in environments where people receive their information from multiple sources. Although modern research demonstrates the immense impact public entities have on democracy and societal welfare, communication in this context is often overlooked. Public sector organizations need to develop “communicative intelligence” in balancing their institutional agendas and aims of public engagement. The Handbook of Public Sector Communication is the first comprehensive volume to explore the field. This timely, innovative volume examines the societal role, environment, goals, practices, and development of public sector strategic communication. International in scope, this handbook describes and analyzes the contexts, policies, issues, and questions that shape public sector communication. An interdisciplinary team of leading experts discusses diverse subjects of rising importance to public sector, government, and political communication. Topics include social exchange relationships, crisis communication, citizen expectations, measuring and evaluating media, diversity and inclusion, and more. Providing current research and global perspectives, this important resource: Addresses the questions public sector communicators face today Summarizes the current state of public sector communication worldwide Clarifies contemporary trends and practices including mediatization, citizen engagement, and change and expectation management Addresses global challenges and crises such as corruption and bureaucratic roadblocks Provides a framework for measuring communication effectiveness Requiring minimal prior knowledge of the field, The Handbook of Public Sector Communication is a valuable tool for academics, students, and practitioners in areas of public administration, public management, political communication, strategic and organizational communication, and related fields such as political science, sociology, marketing, journalism, and globalization studies.




Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship


Book Description

Want to know what s buzzing with corporate citizenship? Look no further. This book shows why global corporate citizenship has been called the topic of the decade and why it matters to each of us, no matter where we live. It explains in plain English the major issues and ideas percolating in current research on the topic. Trust what you discover in the book. The list of contributors to Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship reads like a Who s Who of corporate citizenship research. Thomas Donaldson, University of Pennsylvania, US This is a unique and eclectic set of essays on a vitally important (but often neglected) topic. The editors are to be congratulated in assembling a distinguished group of scholars, who carefully and expertly guide the reader through the various facets of global corporate citizenship. This is a must read for anyone interested in the social ramifications of the globalization of business activity. John H. Dunning OBE, University of Reading, UK and Rutgers University, US Start with a fact large corporations wield enormous power in the contemporary, globalized economy. Then note the hopes and fears that this fact inspired the potential to harness the profit motive to social needs, but the fear that the profit motive can just as easily wreak havoc. And finally, bring together some leading scholars from around the world to discuss the matter and the result is a hugely impressive collection of essays on one of the burning issues of our time. This volume is definitive the necessary starting point for future debate. Paul S. Adler, University of Southern California, US This volume provides an extensive and comprehensive overview of current research and theory about why and how corporations should play a more active role in fulfilling their global citizenship obligations and responsibilities. Its contributors include many of the most important and influential scholars in the field of corporate social responsibility from both Europe and the US. An important strength of this volume is the diversity and breadth of the dimensions of corporate citizenship that it explores in depth. This volume provides an important resource to scholars, managers, and activists interested in promoting corporate citizenship. David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US The Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship identifies and fosters key interdisciplinary research on corporate citizenship and provides a framework for further academic debate on corporate responsibility in a global society. This exciting and important Handbook provides a unique forum to discuss the consequences of the social and political mandate of business firms and examines the implications of these consequences for the theory of the firm. Leading academics have been invited from various disciplines such as management studies, economics, sociology, legal studies and political science to evaluate the concept of corporate citizenship and to analyze the role of private business in global governance and the production of global public goods. The Handbook is structured in seven sections: theoretical perspectives on corporate citizenship contemporary issues and challenges of global business regulation actors and institutions of global business regulation disciplinary perspectives on corporate citizenship implications for management theory building critical perspectives on corporate citizenship conclusions. This Handbook will be a significant read for academics, postgraduate students and managers interested in the field of corporate citizenship, regulation and corporate responsibility across the social sciences.




The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility


Book Description

CSR encompasses broad questions about the changing relationship between business, society, and government. An authoritative review of the academic research that has both prompted, and responded to, these issues, the text provides clear thinking and perspectives on CSR and the debates around it.




The Sweet Spot of Legitimacy


Book Description

This book provides an overview of legitimacy-related challenges at hybrid organizations and demonstrates legitimacy’s importance for the strategic development of organizations. In a reader-friendly way, it addresses the question of how hybrid organizations can gain legitimacy from the perspectives of key stakeholders. To do so, the book examines legitimacy management in the context of two real-world hybrid organizations – the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine and the Swiss Center for Design and Health in Bern, Switzerland – from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It shows why the systematic combination of three types of legitimacy has the potential to optimize the level of legitimacy in emerging hybrids, contributing to their success. It also explains how organizational legitimacy can be operationalized using governance legitimacy, purpose-rational legitimacy, and value-rational legitimacy. This book equips managers and executives working at hybrid organizations with useful guidance and hands-on strategic tools to develop legitimacy management strategies. It also offers a source of inspiration for academic research and teaching in this field.




Business Model Generation


Book Description

Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 "Business Model Canvas" practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to "the business model generation!"




The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility


Book Description

This book represents the definitive research collection for corporate social responsibility communication, offering cross-disciplinary and international perspectives from the top scholars in the field. Addresses a gap in the existing CSR literature Demonstrates the relevance of effective CSR communication for the management of organizations The 28 contributions come from top scholars in public relations, organizational communication, reputation management, marketing and management