Corporate Social Responsibility

In today's world, it is no longer just acceptable that a corporation does well by doing good. It is expected. With increasing pressures to improve the bottom line as well as to be good corporate citizens, business leaders face tough decisions. What social issues should we support? What charities will make strong partners? What initiatives should we develop that will do the most good for the company as well as the cause? Do we just write a check, incorporate social messages in our advertising, encourage our employees to volunteer, or do we also alter our business practices? How do we integrate a new initiative into current strategies? How do we implement a successful program? How do we generate internal support and passion? How do we measure success? A bible for today's corporate citizens, Corporate Social Responsibility provides thoughtful answers to these vital questions and many more. Philip Kotler, one of the world's foremost voices on business and marketing, and Nancy Lee, President of Social Marketing Services, Inc., provide best practices and cutting-edge ideas on the best ways and means for corporations to maximize corporate contributions to social issues and to know what good they did. Business leaders will learn how to align their business goals with cultural and social ones; choose social issues and charities to support; gain employee support; implement successful initiatives; and evaluate their efforts. Offering more than just a theoretical perspective, this book includes the personal insight of some of the business world's most admired companies. Full of proven recommendations and real-world advice on social initiatives, it includes first-person stories from twenty-five business leaders from such successful and benevolent socially responsible companies as Ben & Jerry's, IBM, Washington Mutual, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, The Body Shop, Hewlett-Packard, and American Express. For those seeking funding from corporations such as these, a final chapter presents ten recommended strategies for success. This insightful and practical book presents twenty-five best practices, assembled to guide decision-making in the area of corporate social responsibility. It is, in the end, intended to help maximize the return on discretionary corporate investments, resulting in efforts that do the most social, environmental, and economic good.