This book is about promoting corporate responsibility in its original meaning: businesses should have a positive impact on society, and society should not only be a lever of making a profit. When we treat social responsibility as an external function of the core business, we are exposed to the worst. Business for Society seeks to redress the balance and promotes the original idea of corporate responsibility. This first book in the series of the same name sets the scene and presents the key theories across the various management disciplines to answer the following questions: 'How, why and under what conditions can business act for society?' The book narrows and discusses examples of businesses which are making impressive strides in delivering positive impacts for society as well as their bottom lines; but as the concept of corporate responsibility has become more mainstream in recent years, many organisations have adopted the term and reduced it to a marketing message. Areas covered include a historical perspective on the hijacking of business responsibility towards society, management knowledge and value, the Business for Society project against hijacking, accounting for society, finance for society and governance for society and democracy. The book will be of interest for scholars and students in the fields of corporate social responsibility, business ethics and governance.

This book is about promoting corporate responsibility in its original meaning: businesses should have a positive impact on society, and society should not only be a lever of making a profit. When we treat social responsibility as an external function of the core business, we are exposed to the worst. Business for Society seeks to redress the balance and promotes the original idea of corporate responsibility. This first book in the series of the same name sets the scene and presents the key theories across the various management disciplines to answer the following questions: 'How, why and under what conditions can business act for society?' The book narrows and discusses examples of businesses which are making impressive strides in delivering positive impacts for society as well as their bottom lines; but as the concept of corporate responsibility has become more mainstream in recent years, many organisations have adopted the term and reduced it to a marketing message. Areas covered include a historical perspective on the hijacking of business responsibility towards society, management knowledge and value, the Business for Society project against hijacking, accounting for society, finance for society and governance for society and democracy. The book will be of interest for scholars and students in the fields of corporate social responsibility, business ethics and governance.

Crowdfunding as an entrepreneurial phenomenon substitutes traditional sources of finance (banks, financial markets, governments) for the crowd. Socially and economically, it is challenging the traditional boundaries that have been set for centuries between industry, the financial sector, and the public. Though its basic principle cannot be considered as a radical innovation, crowdfunding as a rapidly growing practice calls for renewed management, legal, and governance patterns. Descriptive inquiries on "how to do it" are multiplying but crowdfunding remains a fuzzy subject for research and reflexivity. This book gathers the best recent research outcomes on the managerial and social impact of this new practice. The need for theory is three-fold, for both scholars and practitioners. Positive theory is needed to understand how projects are organised, how (and why) they may succeed or fail and how governments consider this new practice and try to regulate it. Normative theory can provide templates and "recipes" to develop projects, and provide advice on which models are more efficient. Finally, critical theory is needed to consider the social and economic impact of crowdfunding.