Corporate Social Responsibility and the Bottom Line

1. When Principles Pay: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Bottom Line by Geoffrey Heal

Geoffrey Heal is the Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility at Columbia Business School. In this book he discusses corporate social responsibility (CSR) and convincingly supports the proposition that corporations benefit from acting responsibly relative to the environment and human rights issues. He uses case studies of many large, multi-national companies to support this theory. As a result of the rise of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and consumer activism in pressuring companies to operate sustainably, Heal believes it is not a matter of ‘if’ corporations act responsibly but when. This book is a must read for anyone interested in increasing their understanding of CSR in today’s global business environment.

2. What Matters Most: How a Small Group of Pioneers is Teaching Social Responsibility to Big Business, and Why Big Business is Listening by Jeffrey Hollender

This book presents corporate social responsibility (CSR) in terms that everyone can understand. Mr. Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation cleaning products, highlights companies of all sizes who have been working to incorporate CSR into their business models. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about how a company’s CSR policies can and does affect their bottom line.

3. The China Price : The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage by Alexandra Harney

4. Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry by Ellen Israel Rosen

5. Birnbaum’s Global Guide to Winning the Great Garment War by David Birnbaum

6. Birnbaum’s Global Guide To Material Sourcing by David Birnbaum