David Grayson and Adrian Hodges

July 2004 | 234 x 151 mm | 390 pp
Hardback: ISBN 1 874719 84 5 | £40.00 US$75.00
Paperback: ISBN 1 874719 83 7 | £19.95 US$40.00

Published in Association with Business in the Community, The International Business Leaders Forum and the Conference Board

The New Book By The Authors Of 'Everybody's Business'

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To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%, or to view the book's 'Introduction' and 'Step One: Identifying the Triggers' online,
please visit the Greenleaf website at:
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/cso.htm
You can also request a review copy or inspection copy from this site - see the home page:
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com

Read David Grayson and Adrian Hodges piece in 'The Observer' on July 4th at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1253255,00.html

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Don't be misled by the word 'social' in the title.

This is a book about how to improve corporate performance and gain competitive advantage.

In CORPORATE SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY! Grayson and Hodges challenge perceived wisdom that adherence by business to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a zero-sum game where the impact on companies is added costs and extra regulatory burden.

From their unique vantage point working with leaders of global businesses and of local communities, the authors explain how powerful drivers forcing companies to adopt stringent social, ethical and environmental standards simultaneously create largely untapped opportunities for product innovation, market development and non-traditional business models.

The key to exploiting these opportunities lies in building CSR into business strategy, not adding it on to business operations. With examples from 200 companies to illustrate their case, they outline both in theory and practice a seven-step process managers can apply to assess the implications of CSR on their business strategy and identify their own corporate social opportunities.

BUSINESS IS OPERATING in a whirlwind of interacting global forces: revolutionary developments in communications and technology, significant changes in markets, shifts in demographics, and a transformation of personal values. The fallout from these forces is the underlying reason that corporate social responsibility has come of age. These global forces have led to a number of issues - such as ecology and environment, human rights and diversity, health and well-being, and communities - becoming potential liabilities for companies. Once regarded as 'soft' management issues, they are now increasingly recognised as hard to predict and hard for the business to deal with when they go wrong.

CORPORATE SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY! by the authors of the best-selling 'Everybody's Business' moves the argument from the 'why' of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the 'how' and beyond - to a future where CSR is perceived as an opportunity for business both in terms of reaping the benefits of retaining brand or organisational value and by developing new products and services, serving new markets and adopting new business models. This is not always a story of black and white, of what is right or what is wrong. Often it embraces apparently conflicting demands that require the application of judgement, guided by a clear sense of overall direction and corporate purpose. This book is designed to act as a compass for aiding navigation through such dilemmas and complex decisions.

Using examples of current good practice, detailed interviews with leading CEOs and newly created diagnostic planning tools, all framed within a seven-step model for making CSR happen, the book aims to provide a practical guide to help business leaders and their managers understand how to assess the impact of corporate social responsibility factors on their core business strategy and operations and help them identify and prioritise between subsequent options and resulting business opportunities.

The book is structured into two parts. Both parts describe the same seven-step model that, if followed, will help managers think through desired changes to business strategies, and necessary corresponding changes to operational practices. In Part 1, the seven steps - triggers; scoping; making the business case; committing to action; resources and integrating operations; engaging stakeholders; and measuring and reporting - are described and illustrative evidence and corresponding data provided. In Part 2, the authors have created a worked example of the diagnostic processes that form the backbone of the seven steps, based on the health and well-being issue of fast food and the growing problem of obesity, particularly among children, along with notes on how a manager might work through the processes with colleagues.

The authors are pro-business although not business-as-usual. The book is written first and foremost with the purpose of helping to improve business performance, because business is after all the principal motor for growth and development in the world today. The authors argue that companies adhering to best practice in CSR and taking advantage of possibilities inherent in Corporate Social Opportunity are good for shareholders as well as customers and employees.

PRAISE

'Corporate Social Opportunity!' clearly shows how to combine the natural creativity and innovation of entrepreneurial businesses with a commitment to Corporate Responsibility.
David Varney, Chairman, mmO2

Corporate social responsibility is not a 'bolt-on' to be added once business strategy and planning has been finalised; it needs to be 'built in' to strategy decisions and integrated into the planning process. That's how risks are effectively managed and business opportunities identified. 'Corporate Social Opportunity!' explains how business can best get value from this process.
Jeremy Pelczer, President & CEO, American Water

The 'Corporate Social Opportunity!' model firmly links CSR to the theory and practice of business strategy and organisational purpose, and is as such indispensable reading for the MBA class and the corporate boardroom.
Professor Gilbert Lenssen, President of the European Academy of Business in Society

I've long believed that maximising value in business requires a solid commitment to values 'Corporate Social Opportunity!' clearly explains how strong corporate values are key to the challenges of aligning business purpose with societal need, which in turn leads to greater value for companies and communities.
Hank McKinnell, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer Inc.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DAVID GRAYSON (www.davidgrayson.net) is a former managing director of Business in the Community and remains a part-time director where he particularly focuses on small businesses and CSR, as chairman of the UK Small Business Consortium. He is the founder Principal of the BLU - the world's first virtual 'corporate university' for small business development professionals. He speaks, writes and advises regularly on business, society and entrepreneurialism, for businesses, media and business schools around the world. David sits on the board of the Strategic Rail Authority where he particularly champions disability access. He was the first chairman of the UK's National Disability Council and is now a patron of the disability charity Scope; and an ambassador for the National AIDS Trust. He is also a trustee of the Responsibility in Gambling Trust. He was co-founder/director of Project North East -- an innovative British NGO which has now worked in 40 countries.

ADRIAN HODGES is managing director of the International Business Leaders Forum. He specialises in issues of corporate responsibility as they relate to international business strategy and practice, and has provided counsel to many executives on how to successfully integrate social, ethical and environmental concerns into management processes. He also works with leaders from civil society seeking to forge partnerships with business, and is a regular speaker on the impacts of globalisation and the contribution of business to sustainable development. He has worked in business, local government and non-governmental organisations, and has held the positions of worldwide Head of Corporate Communications for the retailer Body Shop International and Director of Communications and Marketing at Business in the Community. Adrian has lived in Ecuador and the United States and has worked extensively across the Americas. He is currently resident in London.

RWE Thames Water and Pfizer Inc. kindly provided sponsorship to support the research and development of this book.

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To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%, or to view the book's 'Introduction' and 'Step One: Identifying the Triggers' online,
please visit the Greenleaf website at:
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/cso.htm
You can also request a review copy or inspection copy from this site - see the home page:
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com

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