Corporate Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship for Sustainability: Leading in the Era of Digital Transformation

This book addresses the dilemma that firms face in engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) while maintaining a financially sustainable business model in the era of digital transformation. Several strategies that firms have taken to integrate CSR within the business model are also highlighted. To explicate the problems involved, the book primarily focuses on entrepreneurial ventures, given their nascent business model that best illustrates how business leaders can embed the social mission in the firm at the beginning of organizational founding. In this age, sustainability is an innovation’s new frontier. For sustainable competitive advantage, the book argues for how companies can build more sustainable products, processes, and practices that benefit the firm and society through maintaining an entrepreneurial philosophy.

The target readership consists of academics, students, and practitioners in the areas of entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, organizational theory, and strategic management. This book clarifies the critical practices of sustainability-oriented innovative firms and creative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Through a review of recent trends in CSR, the authors emphasize that CSR is no longer a ＂bolt-on＂ or some kind of window-dressing to satisfy public relations (PR) needs. Credible CSR is critical to business legitimacy and sustainability. Aware of the public’s increasing scrutiny, companies are increasingly ramping up their focus on social responsibility, whether by championing women’s rights, protecting the environment, or attempting to obliterate poverty, on local, national, or global levels. Simultaneously, more firms face accusations of ＂greenwashing＂ - backlash due to consumer mistrust in the intentions behind their CSR practices.

While numerous works have highlighted this dilemma and how companies fall short in their prosocial goals or financial objectives (or both), there is a lack of understanding of the ingredients and crucial processes required for the successful implementation of CSR in entrepreneurial enterprises. This book serves to fill that gap.

Dr. Young Won Park is a Professor of the Faculty of Economics, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Saitama University, and an Associate Professor of the Project of the Manufacturing Management Research Center at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Advanced Social and International Studies at the University of Tokyo, Japan. His articles have been published in journals including Management Decision, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Technology Management, International Journal of Information Management, Business Horizons, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Journal of Cleaner Production, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Benchmarking: An International Journal, International Journal of Services and Operations Management, International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, International Journal of Business Excellence, International Journal of Procurement Management, Akamon Management Review, Japan Academy of International Business Studies, Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies, and the Japan Society of Information and Communication Research. He has received research awards, including a Certificate for Highly Cited Research in Business Horizons, Dissertation Paper Awards from the Japan Association for Social Informatics (JASI), Best Paper Awards from The Japan Society of Information and Communication Research (JSICR), Research Awards in the Social Sciences Field from The Telecommunications Advancement Foundation (TAF), and Research Students Awards in the Social Sciences Field from The Telecommunications Advancement Foundation (TAF). His research interests are in technology management, global strategy and IT strategy, and global supply chain management.

Ms. Ye Jin Park is a Center Manager of INSEAD. Her interest in prosocial behavior, social hierarchy, and networks emerged in her previous work as a CSR Writer at Sustainable Japan, and since then, she has been drawn to ways businesses can become a catalyst for social change. Her recent work examines Corporate Social Responsibility’s strategic usage, how employees (fail to) leverage their networks in contexts of prosocial exchange, and uncovering psychological drivers that hamper cooperation at work. She has published in journals including Benchmarking: An International Journal, Management Review: An International Journal, and Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.