Purpose: Assuming a duopoly industry with pollution producing processes, the aim of this work
is to study the firms’ choice to engage in Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR)
by means of “green” managerial delegation, i.e. hiring managers with preferences for environ mental
concerns to whom owners delegate both sales and decisions to adopt green technology.

Methodology: Depending on the firms’ strategic choices, a two/three-stage game takes place solved
by the backward induction method to obtain sub-game perfect Nash equilibria.

Results: When the market structure is a Cournot duopoly, and the environmental sensitivity of
“green” managers is extremely low, then the engagement in ECSR is the firms’ dominant strategy,
regardless of the efficiency level of the available abatement technology. Nonetheless, firms are cast
into a prisoner’s dilemma. On the other hand, if “green” managers have low-intermediate to intermediate
environmental sensitivity, then either no ECSR, multiple symmetric equilibria, or ECSR
engagement can emerge as a result in equilibrium. Finally, if managers’ environmental sensitivity
is adequately high, then firms do not engage in ECSR. When a market entry game is considered
with the Stackelberg competition in which the incumbent adopts ECSR while the entrant does not,
socially responsible behaviors cause the market to be more contestable. However, the incumbent’s
owners can use ECSR to secure a dominant position in the market, provided that they hire “green”
managers with adequate environmental concerns.
Implications: In the case of entry, non-trivial policy implications arise. Due to increased competition,
the welfare of consumers improves (lower prices for the goods). However, the entry of a polluting
firm increases emissions. Higher emissions damage consumers and lower the overall social welfare
of an environmentally concerned government. Thus, a complete welfare analysis is required prior
to the design of a government’s regulatory intervention.

Originality/Value: This paper is the first that introduces the figure of the “green” manager who
shows, in its utility function, an environmental concern.

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to develop a framework describing the mechanisms which explain how and when CSR engagement affects company’s bottom line, based on a review of the business case for CSR literature.

Approach: This article is conceptual and based on literature review. By using a CSR stage development model, behavioral and stakeholder perspectives, it offers a descriptive multi­dimensional integrative framework of the business case for CSR.

Findings: The fndings show that the relationship between engagement in CSR activities and corporate performance (CP) depends on a CSR development stage, managerial interpretation of CSR issues, stakeholder management model and moderating factors.

Originality: This article integrates disconnected models and conceptualizations in the subject literature and contributes to the theoretical discussion by arguing that type and scale of benefts from CSR activity progress along the stages of organizational CSR development. Moreover, it also shows that the CSR­CP relationship depends on internal and external factors (mediators and moderators). It therefore supports the contingency argument.

Purpose: This study investigates the benefits of being perceived as a socially responsible company. The main purpose of the research was to find out whether company managers consider that certain aspects of company activity may benefit from being perceived as socially responsible. Research limitations: The primary source of data used in this study was a survey of respondents’ views and opinions rather than an analysis of extensive numerical data.

Methodology: The research methods included a literature review and a survey conducted in several Polish companies regarded as socially responsible. The so-called RESPECT Index, including socially responsible companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Main List, as well as annual rankings of responsible companies were used as a kind of reputation database for choosing survey respondents.

Findings: The most important benefits indicated by the respondents included better frm image/reputation, improved relations with stakeholders, increased employee motivation, better communication inside the company, as well as more effective management and control over new aspects not considered before. Additionally, the identified benefits were analyzed using different criteria, such as the size of the company or its feld of activity.

Originality: The problem analyzed in this study is important, yet it is still not a suffciently examined issue in many emerging markets including Poland. As benefits taken into consideration in the survey are also valid for other financial markets, the results can be used for comparative studies of Poland and other countries.

Purpose: This study attempts to make a contribution to theory by disentangling the concept of creating shared value (CSV) from corporate social responsibility (CSR). In doing so, the study provides a preliminary outline for CSV analysis.

Approach: This study is conceptual in character. It is based on a review of literature on CSR and CSV and adopts the perspective of economic and social value creation.

Findings: The findings show that 1) CSR comes down to sharing the economic value created in order to build social value and 2) CSV is the process of change of the relation between a firm’s outcomes and inputs that generates social value. In other words, it comes down to economic value creation through creating social value.

Originality: This study provides arguments revealing that to understand the differences between the notions of CSV and CSR, it suggests adopting the concepts of economic and social value. The study therefore bridges the gap in theory in this respect and outlines a preliminary conceptual basis for CSV analysis. It is expected that the findings of this study will serve as a reliable basis for further discussion and CSV concept development.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the factors that determine the Japanese approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to facilitate future empirical research in the Polish conditions.

Methodology: To conduct the research, the available literature concerning CSR, managerial behaviour and stakeholder relations in Japan was studied. The research was conducted onsite in Japan after consultation with local experts, both Japanese and foreigners, specialized in Japanese management and the economy.

Findings: The Japanese approach to CSR is strongly determined by their religious, philosophical, cultural, historical, economic and legal factors. It is proof of the concept of CSR contextuality, which provokes questions about the nature of the business relations of Japanese companies with their foreign counterparts and their style of management while investing abroad.

Research limitations: The methodology was only supposed to gain a general view of the factors infl uencing CSR in Japan. Studying more detailed issues with the use of empirical data was complicated because of the short time available for the research (6 weeks) and the relatively low level of transparency of the Japanese companies.

Value: The study helped in understanding managerial decisions and Japanese business behaviour in the context of corporate responsibility and the ethics of its everyday operations. It was the first research thoroughly analyzing many of the determinants of CSR in Japan, which may be valuable for any counterparts cooperating with the Japanese companies and foreign researchers analyzing Japanese management systems.

Methodology: The paper discusses major issues with references to existing literature and real business cases from S&P500 consumer discretionary sector.

Findings: The main fi nding of this paper is that CSRS could provide the company with a competitive advantage as a growing number of consumers become more sustainable conscious. It could also help to overcome the increasing consumers’ skepticism towards corporate social responsibility practices. Finally, it can also be seen as a step forward in defi ning what types of corporate activities are associated with desirable social and environmental gains.

Research limitations: Our sample was restricted to the U.S. fi rms from the consumer discretionary sector. Therefore, conclusions should not be generalized to other markets. Our study is based on the analysis of environmental and social responsibility statements and assumes that they accurately represent corporate commitment in majority of the cases.

Practical implications: CSRS offers corporations the opportunity to use their unique skills, culture, values, resources, and management capabilities to lead social progress by making sustainability part of its internal corporate logic.

Originality: The paper raises the importance of the different conditions necessary for making sustainable development concept an important part of corporate strategy.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of corporate posturing and deception in the area of social and environmental responsibility, its main types and causes and to assess the actual scale of the problem.

Methodology: The paper discusses major issues with references to existing literature and practical examples.

Findings: The main fi nding of this paper is that environmental and social responsibility statements accurately represent corporate commitment in the majority of cases. There are a number of reasons for this state of affairs. The most important of them are: easy consumer and investor access to various sustainability ratings, the rising scale of external verifi cation of social responsibility reports by independent third parties and stakeholder groups, and the rising liability for corporate social responsibility frauds.

Research limitations: The paper explores issues related to the problems and challenges of fair and accurate corporate social reporting. Many questions remain to be addressed.
Practical implications: Social and environmental branding could give companies competitive advantage as a growing number of consumers become more sustainability-conscious. It could also help overcome the increasing skepticism of consumers towards corporate social responsibility practices.

Originality: The paper raises the importance of the different conditions of corporate disinformation in the field of social and environmental responsibility and adds value to the existing body of literature on corporate greenwashing.

Purpose: the essay focuses on some important instruments and measures supporting the desired actual (and not just declared) ethical behavior in banking practices.

Methodology: the essay first used a combination of comparisons to show similarities and differences between 10 banking codes of ethics in EU countries. Then qualitative analysis of indicators and scales assigned to bank rankings was also used to identify some possibilities to promote the ethical behavior of banks in more efficient ways.

Findings: ethical behaviors in the banks, despite a high awareness of moral norms, are largely declarative rather than actual. In order to approximate the actual behaviors to the declared ones, further improvements need to be introduced in the methods and instruments of education (codes of ethics, bank rankings), along with encouraging the implementation of management practices consistent with ethical behavior. This should start with redefinition of the functioning of the bank, i.e. broadening the task of achieving ambitious outcomes by adding respect for ethical standards.

Practical Implications: not every instrument of ethics education can be treated as directly useful in the process of training actual ethical behavior in banks. Some particular conditions must be taken into account that it should fulfill.

Originality: the author has distinguished three levels in business ethics education: ethical awareness and ethically oriented behaviors, both declared and actual. The essay described the necessary conditions for utilization of some educational instruments of ethics in the process of implementing actual ethical behaviors in the banks.. Such an approach has not been found previously in the subject literature.

Cel: celem artykułu jest prezentacja idei społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu i kierunków
jej ewolucji, analizowana w odniesieniu do pracowników.

Metodologia: w świetle wyników badań empirycznych prezentujących działania społecznie
odpowiedzialne stosowane przez firmy wobec pracowników zaprezentowano wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w tym obszarze podczas konferencji "Czas na rozwój. Człowiek i biznes w społeczeństwie obywatelskim". Realizowane badania miały charakter badań ankietowych oraz dyskusji panelowych. Zebrane wyniki umożliwiły wskazanie najczęściej stosowanych wobec pracowników praktyk zaliczanych do grupy społecznie odpowiedzialnych, a także próbę sporządzenia bilansu nakładów i wyników realizowanych inicjatyw.

Wnioski/oryginalność: W wyniku przeprowadzonych badań ustalono, że temat społecznej odpowiedzialności wobec pracowników, uznawany za bardzo ważny, nie jest jeszcze wystarczająco rozpoznany, a same inicjatywy podejmowane wobec pracowników należą
raczej do rzadkości. Sugeruje to konieczność rozpowszechniania wiedzy na temat społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu, podkreślania związków między realizacją założeń społecznej odpowiedzialności a sukcesem rynkowym przedsiębiorstwa oraz ukierunkowywania na podejmowanie społecznie odpowiedzialnych inicjatyw, zwłaszcza wobec pracowników.