The Leadership in Action Series: On Strategic Leadership

Being Responsible: Boards Are Reexamining the Bottom Line

Andrew P. Kakabadse

More and more companies, especially in Europe, are shifting their myopic view of the financial bottom line to embrace an approach called corporate social responsibility, which proposes that companies’ policies, practices, and decisions should take into account not only financial performance but also the social and environmental consequences of company activities. A recent study examined how boards of directors of companies around the world view CSR, which has gained such prominence that it is now firmly entrenched as a critical item on board agendas.

Since the dawn of the modern corporation, the standard modus operandi of companies throughout the world has been to focus ...