December 8, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility
by David Vogel
David Vogel, a business and political-science professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has written this book for two audiences: those who believe that corporate social responsibility will transform the way the corporate world operates, and those who think only government regulation can force businesses to act more responsibly.
He focuses on the economic and social forces that both encourage and limit the adoption of socially responsible practices. He describes the influence of boycotts by consumers, demands from investors interested in putting their money into virtuous companies, and “naming and shaming” by nonprofit advocacy groups. Mr. Vogel writes that globalization and the rise of the Internet have made it easier for activists to influence corporate policies worldwide.
But while Mr. Vogel acknowledges the growing influence of nonprofit groups on business practices, his book offers a middle ground between the cheerleaders for corporate social responsibility and the doubters. He writes that the business case for socially responsible practices is not strong enough to persuade all businesses to commit significant resources to such an effort. He concludes that for corporate practices to change on a large scale, government regulation also needs to be strengthened.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036; http://www.brookings.edu/; 222 pages; $28.95; ISBN 0-8157-9076-7.
