Harvard Business Review on Corporate Responsibility

by C.K. Prahalad

What and whom is a business for? This collection of articles gathers the latest thinking on the strategic significance of corporate social responsibility. Readers will develop an understanding of why businesses should continue to give money away even while laying off workers, how companies play a leadership role in today's social problems by incorporating the best thinking of governments and nonprofit institutions, and how community needs are actually opportunities to develop ideas and demonstrate business technologies. Readers will see how corporate responsibility can lead to new markets and solutions to long-standing business problems.

Genres: Business

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2003

About the author

was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business in the University of Michigan, USA.

Reviews

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 articles on Corporate Social Responsibility, November 7, 2006


This collection of article opens interesting lines of reasoning and might just get fresh ideas in front of decision makers who can use business as a tool for good on the global scale. The eight articles cover a broad range of topics and vary in tone from sweeping philosophical musings to rigorous academic pieces. The first article is a very strong lead-off, I will try to summarize this piece in hopes of giving you a flavor for the whole collection:

* Serving the world's poor, profitably - C.K. Prahalad & Allen Hammond
How can companies profitably serve a market where consumers live on $2000 or less per year? On the other hand, how can companies afford to ignore a market of 4 billion potential customers? This article explores reasons why companies have in the past shied away from trying to serve the "bottom of the pyramid" (BOP) markets, why major growth opportunities exist in this niche, and how typical strategies need to be adapted into new thinking that will benefit the world's poorest communities and those who compete for their business. There is a distasteful element to imagining multinational corporations, the most powerful institutions of our time, engaging and profiting from the most economically powerless. The authors make the case that the poor suffer more from being ignored by the global marketplace of the multinationals than by engagement with it. They illustrate how prices charged by the informal economy that serves poor communities are typically much higher for the same goods than prices in more affluent communities served by efficient distribution. When BOP strategies are done correctly, corporations also benefit in more ways than simply generating additional sales: BOP markets can serve as incubators for new products, ideas and approaches that can revitalize productivity and leadership in the developed (and saturated) markets as well. An innovative approach for reaching poorer customers is to de-aggregate ownership from use by exploring "pay per use" models. Another strategy, that runs counter to mainstream thinking, is to deploy some of the most cutting edge wireless technologies in the least developed markets to overcome the isolation of poor rural areas.

[Shin Furuya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much of 'latest thinking' even back in 2006 standards, and kind of lame content with typical arguments. With some catchy words and phrases (such as 'kyosei'), I can't find much depth in these writings. I can find similar arguments from the first couple of pages from CSR Report, particularly in CEO's statement.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few solid ideas, but mostly outdated

[Venkat Pedapati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Set of articles from eminent scholars. Lots of examples and insights about how corporates can be responsible and contribute to progress.

[Danie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides an insight about CSR to be integrated into bussiness strategy