CSR Dreams and Deeds, 1

The Idea

When Terhi Koipijärvi called me last spring and suggested that we wrote together a book on corporate social responsibility I was immediately delighted with the idea, and honoured by her request for my partnership. Terhi is one of the forerunners in corporate social responsibility in her branch, forest industry. And because we’ve known each others since our study times at the University of Helsinki, I know the project would be great fun!

Then, after having revisited the idea, I started to doubt. Would there be room for another book on this subject; subject new too many but then, on the other hand, so overwhelmingly discussed in many international fora?

After a couple of face-to-face sessions and many bowls of caffe latte we decided to give it a go. We would aim at a book ”with a personal twist”: not a handbook but a book on those corporate social responsibility issue which we, based on our own experiences since mid-90s, find the most relevant ones. We would not hide our opinions nor our differing views but try to write ourselves into the book so that it won’t be toothless.

And the most relevant corporate social issues to us are: sustainable management and leadership; stakeholder engagement; responsible supply chains; and companies as community members.

Terhi will start writing about management and leadership, the issues she so very well knows. I’ll have the pleasure to dive into the history of sweatshops, tropical timber boycotts and Greenpeace’s campaigns for chlorine-free, non-old-growth papers.