Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility
The role of corporate governance in the matter of corporate social responsibility has been subject to recent debate, and demands on the corporate sector continue to grow. However, the implications of these developments have not been subject to rigorous analytical and empirical testing. While the concept of corporate social responsibility has its roots in the notion of stakeholder relations, the boundaries are not well established. As a result, there are unresolved political and social issues relating to the conduct of firms in certain sectors, such as financial services. There are also implications for the reporting of performance, with an increased focus on non-financial measures. How do such measures affect director and executive behaviour? Does the development of triple-bottom-line reporting address the social and environmental concerns created by the modern corporation? What is the significance of emerging concepts of corporate governance that embrace not only shareholders, but also employees, suppliers, distributors, and the wider community?
An additional concern is the role of non-profit organizations, which are often governed differently from corporations. What is the relationship between the non-profit focus and the democratic governance of such organizations? At a time when the simple shareholder model of corporate governance is being widely challenged, the inclusion in the research program of the not-for-profit sector provides an important benchmark for evaluating the success of corporate governance.
