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Selected writings of Simon Zadek
1993-2003
Co-edited by Peter Raynard. Greenleaf Publishing 2004. 360 pages. £40 hardback, £19.95 paperback
There are very few philosophers working in corporate social responsibility. Simon Zadek is one of them. The chief executive
of AccountAbility, the non-profit body that runs the AA1000 assurance standard, is a familiar figure on the international conference circuit, more often than not recruited to explain how the different pieces in the jigsaw of issues that make up corporate social responsibility might fit together.
Zadek’s more lasting contribution is his writing. This collection brings together pieces he has written, often in collaboration with other authors, over the last decade. The excerpts, articles and academic papers are divided into six sections, covering the economics of utopia, civil society, accounting, the civil corporation, partnerships and ‘responsible competitiveness’.
In many ways the earliest pieces are the most interesting for they allow the reader to see ideas as they develop. An early chapter on Buddhist economics shows how a society that channels much of its material resources to monks can become wealthy if ‘the monk sector’ keeps workers healthy and happy, imparting a general sense of wellbeing. Accountability and ‘economics as if people mattered’ then emerge as central themes.
In any collection of this sort, some pieces stand the test of time better than others. The chapter on civil regulation seems curiously dated, despite having been written only three years ago, while a piece from 1996 on NGO accountability is still relevant – and witty. Indeed, Zadek is at his best when writing at either end of the spectrum: as a visionary, he can be remarkably precise, while his treatment of minute detail often shows real insight, as in the discussion of indicators. But in the middle ground, of CSR practice, he too often takes refuge in jargon and graphs that fail to illustrate his point: on page 309, for example, the Environmental Kuznets
Curve is wrongly drawn with the axes swapped round.
But that is a minor quibble. ‘Change,’ Zadek wrote in 1999, in a piece looking back from 2050, ‘seems to have been made up of half-baked solutions to unexpected crises.’ Not a bad general description of current socially responsible business practice.
1993-2003
Co-edited by Peter Raynard. Greenleaf Publishing 2004. 360 pages. £40 hardback, £19.95 paperback
There are very few philosophers working in corporate social responsibility. Simon Zadek is one of them. The chief executive
of AccountAbility, the non-profit body that runs the AA1000 assurance standard, is a familiar figure on the international conference circuit, more often than not recruited to explain how the different pieces in the jigsaw of issues that make up corporate social responsibility might fit together.
Zadek’s more lasting contribution is his writing. This collection brings together pieces he has written, often in collaboration with other authors, over the last decade. The excerpts, articles and academic papers are divided into six sections, covering the economics of utopia, civil society, accounting, the civil corporation, partnerships and ‘responsible competitiveness’.
In many ways the earliest pieces are the most interesting for they allow the reader to see ideas as they develop. An early chapter on Buddhist economics shows how a society that channels much of its material resources to monks can become wealthy if ‘the monk sector’ keeps workers healthy and happy, imparting a general sense of wellbeing. Accountability and ‘economics as if people mattered’ then emerge as central themes.
In any collection of this sort, some pieces stand the test of time better than others. The chapter on civil regulation seems curiously dated, despite having been written only three years ago, while a piece from 1996 on NGO accountability is still relevant – and witty. Indeed, Zadek is at his best when writing at either end of the spectrum: as a visionary, he can be remarkably precise, while his treatment of minute detail often shows real insight, as in the discussion of indicators. But in the middle ground, of CSR practice, he too often takes refuge in jargon and graphs that fail to illustrate his point: on page 309, for example, the Environmental Kuznets
Curve is wrongly drawn with the axes swapped round.
But that is a minor quibble. ‘Change,’ Zadek wrote in 1999, in a piece looking back from 2050, ‘seems to have been made up of half-baked solutions to unexpected crises.’ Not a bad general description of current socially responsible business practice.
Alistair Townley
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