CSR Trends 2015 - CSR beyond voluntariness. CSR Trends III. 3rd International Conference

The development of CSR concept has gone through several transformations but from the very beginning it was based on the assumption that business has moral obligations to society. In the light of the theory propounded by Kant we used to treated morality as a voluntary domain though extremely important when functioning of the society as a whole is concerned. We still think that CSR should be considered as voluntary.
Nowadays the main approach suggests that actions undertaken by businesses are important contribution to sustainable development. To achieve goals of the sustainable development policy societies apply different tools. There is a temptation to accelerate business efforts by making some elements of their CSR programs mandatory. This happens for example with sustainability reporting in some countries and with corporate charity in India.
Though during the CSR Trends conferences we usually discuss the broad spectrum of CSR topics this year’s conference main theme will be the debate about voluntary vs. mandatory solutions.
We can sometimes hear the basic question: should Corporate Social Responsibility be voluntary or mandatory?
Are we really asking if corporate responsibility programs should or not be mandatory? Or if only some of their elements should be treated this way? It seems that we discuss very often the first question and vote for voluntary CSR but in fact we address the second question dilemma and often we say ‘yes’ for some mandatory solutions that have proofed their efficiency (e.g. social reporting). What are the benefits and drawbacks of both voluntary and mandatory models? What conditions should be fulfilled to make sure that mandatory regulations will lead to expected results? How the process of regulation making should look like to ensure its effectiveness? What about punishment for non-compliance? What kind of control measures will be necessary and how pricey they will be? Can voluntary self-regulation be more effective and less expensive and the same time? What conditions are necessary to achieve this? Will mandatory approach cause that companies will perform only reactive actions? Does voluntary approach always mean that businesses are always proactive?
The added value of the conference lies in that it will highlight the viewpoints of different sectors. Scientists and practitioners representing business, NGOs and public administration are kindly invited to participate in the conference. We would like to create an opportunity to share research results, exchange experiences from business practice and put it all together, leading to a small step in further CSR development.
If you are interested in attending the conference, we therefore kindly invite you to submit paper proposal addressing the following areas:
- Voluntary versus mandatory solutions
- The role of ESG reporting including issue of mandatory reporting
- Sustainability and materiality of CSR strategies
- Sustainable business models and shared value creation
- Human rights and business
- Sustainable supply chains
- Social innovations and social entrepreneurship
- Good and bad practices from different sectors
- Methodology of CSR and how to measure CSR?
- Intersectoral cooperation
- Sustainability of larger systems and the role of business (e.g. sustainable cities)
- Responsible management education (including a role of PRME)