Call for Chapters : Introduction

In the 20th century we witnessed the development of the concept of CSR both as a management tool for sustainable development and as an academic issue. Although the development confronted uneven and rough terrain yet the status of CSR has grown over the years; compensating for negative externalities and contributing to social welfare. CSR is a dynamic concept and large part of it rests in the development in business and society relationships. The academic concept of this subject reaches out to draw from cognate fields of business ethics, governance, business strategy, sustainability and stakeholder relations.

The concept of CSR is as old as 1800 emerging from a tradition of industrial paternalism or philanthropy meandering its way between ‘stewardship’ and ‘trusteeship’ and finally reaching the label of ‘social responsibility’ in the 1960’s. Still we are at a nascent stage of exploiting CSR to improve the business efficiency.

Researchers and academicians have been busy organizing and contemplating the importance of various components of CSR into meaningful typologies and integrating it into business process. In the present scenario, CSR affirms its place in business strategy as a growth and efficiency engine.

CSR and Competitiveness relate through a learning and innovation cycle where values, policies and practices of a corporate body are re-defined. Embedding of CSR in the business process leads to innovation and ultimately results in competitiveness. Integrating CSR in the strategic management process helps in developing a simple and consistent long term goal improves the understanding of the complexity of a competitive environment and aids in development of capacities and resources to learn change and enhance key stakeholder relationships. The theme gives us a scope to debate and discuss several possibilities and will provoke some unexpected transformative business solutions leading to a third wave sustainable organization.

Objective of the Book

This book will overview and represent current developments in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability, CSR concepts, initiatives, infrastructures and needs, methods, especially focusing on the needs of SMEs.

In this book through contributions and chapters we explore the concept of competitiveness in relation to CSR. Research articles and chapters from the practitioners, consultants and academicians would enlighten us as to how competitive advantage can be generated through creating stakeholder engagement through the CSR initiatives. Case studies shall be published elaborating the contribution of CSR to short term profits as well as to long term competitiveness. Thus, the contributions in this book should represent a triangle between the Corporate, Academics and Research; used to implement the CSR Activities in the Indian and Global context.

Overview

Our proposal mainly addresses the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility at two levels: the first one introduces the Need of CSR for the Social Upliftment; the second one, beginning from the previous concepts, provides an analysis of the main issues regarding the Internal and External Challenges for Implementation of CSR by enterprises. In order to cover the major aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability several topics have to be taken into account:

Section A is focused on the CSR and Corporate Governance. The issue related to Organisational Challenges, issues, Leadership and Sustainable development are depicted in prominence. Also we focus on the Work life Balance of the employees.

Section B is focused on the social aspects and community building, environment development and security. Also we discuss the issues relating to the poverty alleviation through CSR. This section is focused on the social aspects of CSR and Sustainability.

Section C is focused on the measurement of impact of the CSR initiatives, their achievements and reporting. Also we discuss the best practices in CSR area adopted by enterprises in national and international environment.

Target Audience

Our publication is aimed at both enterprise business managers and research and academic audiences. Enterprise managers, CSR Implementation teams, Researchers will gain knowledge about basic concepts in CSR, Sustainability, Role of Governance and become informed about Implementation, Governance and organizational issues. Enterprise business managers will better understand how to implement CSR initiative to further boost the Brand Image and contribute to the environment in which they are operating. Researchers and academics will introduce new issues to CSR and Sustainability as well as the frameworks for better implementation of these practices in the Indian and Global Businesses.

Potential Topics

More specific recommended topics include, but are not limited to the following:

Unit A : CSR and Corporate Governance.
• CSR and Corporate Governance.
• Leadership in CSR.
• CSR and Sustainable Development.
• CSR and work Life balance of employees.
• Stakeholders and Corporate Reputation.

Unit B: CSR for Society.
• CSR and Community Development.
• Role of Corporate in climate and environment security.
• Making poverty alleviation a Business Issue.

Unit C: Reporting and Analysis.
• Best practices in CSR initiatives.
• Sustainability reporting.
• CSR: Measurement and Reporting.
• CSR and Shareholders Value.

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before March 22, 2012, a 2-3 page chapter proposal with Abstract clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by March 25, 2012, about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by April 10, 2012. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published in 2012 by Excel Books, renowned publisher from India. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.excelbooks.com.

Important Dates

Sr. No.	Activity	Deadline
1	Chapter Abstract Submission	22nd March 2012
2	Notification of Acceptance of Abstract	25th March 2012
3	Draft Chapter Submission for Review	10th April 2012
4	Review Notification	15th April 2012
5	Camera ready Copy of Chapter	18th April 2012

Editorial Advisory Board Members:

Rusen Kumar (Founder & Director, INDIACSR)

Vijay Kapur, International CSR Consultant, Kohana CSR

Enakshi Sengupta, International CSR Consultant, Kohana CSR

Prof. C.V. Baxi, Ex-Dean, Ex-Director, MDI

Ashok B. Chakraborty (Executive Director, Carbon Management Group, ONGC India)

Ashwani Kumar (General Manager, CSR, BHEL India)

Jastin Paul (University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business)

Saurabh Gupta (JK Padampat Singhania Institute of Management & Technology, India)

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document .doc and .docx only). Editors can be reached at saurabh@indiacsr.in , More information can be found at http://www.indiacsr.in/book.php