Governing Responsible Business 2014-2019
About us
GRB RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT 2014-2019
In today’s business world, firms’ responsibilities are increasingly shaped by their involvement in global governance processes. The link between governance and responsible business is reflected by the recent proliferation of multi-stakeholder initiatives (e.g. the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative) to which many corporations have signed up, and also more generally by the emergence of a robust discourse on social responsibility in society. Governing Responsible Business was a research initiative that framed responsible business in the context of an extended model of governance. The researchers associated with the GRB research initiative understand governance in its most general sense as “the processes and institutions, both formal and informal,that guide and restrain the collective activities of a group.”
More specifically, the initiative conceptualized businesses as governance takers (e.g. when firms sign up to voluntary standards that impact how they operate) and governance makers (e.g. when firms start to supply public goods that used to be provided by the state or when firms proactively contribute to the definition of standards for responsible business). Researchers associated with GRB work in the spirit of being critically constructive - i.e. we neither condemn responsible business to be an activity without any real-world impact, nor do we follow a purely instrumental perspective aimed at shaping new “tools” for managerial operations.
The GRB initiative built upon the Department of Management, Society and Communication's (MSC) strong research performance in this area and has strengthened this performance to reach international standards of excellence. The research environment was funded through CBS’ WCRE initiative from 2014 to 2019.
THE GRB WAS BUILT AROUND THREE KEY STRATEGIC AIMS:
First, to further increase publications in internationally recognized top-tier journals and to disseminate research outputs in ways that impact is strengthened.
Second, to act as a springboard for collective efforts to attract major external research grants and PhD stipends.
Finally, to develop the competencies of PhD students and young scholars working on relevant topic areas.