Ananda Das Gupta, Corporate Citizenship: Perspectives in the New Century.

Kilibarda, Konstantin

Ananda Das Gupta, Corporate Citizenship: Perspectives in the New Century (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008)

Ananda Das Gupta's Corporate Citizenship: Perspectives in the New Century is best classified as a general survey of corporate social responsibility's (CSR) increasing relevance in an era of globalization. Along these lines, Das Gupta offers readers a general introduction to CSR, including basic definitions of key terms and a general overview of its conceptual precepts. The book is therefore useful for those seeking a very quick introduction into themes broached by CSR-practice and particularly for those interested in the specific impediments to implementing CSR policies in developing countries (in general) and in India (in particular).

As the succinct introduction by Prof. David Crowther (editor of the Social Responsibility Journal) underlines, CSR can be traced to social contract theorists like Jean Jacques Rousseau and the related rights and responsibilities that individuals have with respect to the social whole. In a suggestive passage that resonates in the current context of a worldwide economic downturn, Crowther argues that at its best CSR can provide: "a way forward which negates the negative effects of an unregulated free global market" (Das Gupta 2008: x).

Although Das Gupta traces the origins of CSR practice to David Owen's model communities established at New Lanark (Scotland) and the Quaker owned businesses of the 19th century, he argues that recent attention to CSR by larger corporate players is symptomatic of a growing shift in values among top executives and managers since the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, Das Gupta notes that corporations are increasingly less interested in 'maximizing' their profits as they are in 'optimizing' them, which is reflected by the shift away from a more narrow focus on 'shareholder' to a broader emphasis on 'stakeholder' interests.

CSR is thus marked by a relational and interactive approach to stakeholder interests that sets it apart from the unidirectional and non-participatory 'charity' of earlier philanthropic endeavors, according to Das Gupta. He highlights three distinct approaches to CSR that have emerged in recent years and that have influenced its popularity, including: (1) the advertising, or public relations approach, that sees CSR as fundamental to a firms 'branding' practice; (2) the socio-economic approach, which he attributes to 'new economy' entrepreneurs and their sensitivity to and understanding of the market's limits if capitalism is to survive in the longer term; and (3) the rights based approach positing that key stakeholders have "a right to know about corporations and their business" (Ibid: 139-140).

In the Indian context, Das Gupta traces CSR's antecedents to the late-19th century philanthropic initiatives of the great Indian industrial houses tied to the Tata, Birla and Shriram families. For Das Gupta, CSR in the Indian context didn't really come into its own until the 1990s--though earlier initiatives by J.R.D. Tata in the 1960s are noted--and is still often conflated with simply following government regulations. It's translation into a more universal business practice on the sub-continent, argues Das Gupta, is impeded by the widespread corruption that exists as a result of a still expansive Indian bureaucracy (despite increasing liberalization), the instability created by 'swadeshi fervor' common during electoral cycles and a tendency to avoid initiatives unless the threat of strict penalties or sanctions is imminent.

The main impediment that confronts readers wishing to learn about CSR, however, is the poorly edited quality of Corporate Citizenship. Many sentences and paragraphs are repeated, transitions are sometimes far from smooth, headings don't always correspond with the contents that follow, and formatting errors abound. The book consistently shifts from overly general overviews of broader social problems in a globalizing world (including discussions of ecological, socio-economic and spiritual issues)--not that these aren't relevant to the complex environments in which enterprises increasingly operate in--to highly technical and extensive discussions of the recommendations, for example, of the 1999 Kumar Mangalam Committee Report on Corporate Governance prepared for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Furthermore, bloc quotations from corporate websites and blogs without much commentary and analysis, not to mention the scant index and literature review, do little to help the overall flow of the author's arguments or enhance the texts usefulness to researchers. This is not to say that the book has no strong points. In particular Das Gupta's contention that modern accounting methods need to be seriously revised is interesting. Taking his queue from the scandals at Arthur Andersen and other high-profile accounting firms, Das Gupta argues that business practice needs to become more accountable, transparent and democratic in the face of increasingly knowledgeable and demanding publics and consumers.

The normative dimensions of CSR, at their best, should be embedded all along the supply chain, from initial supply of goods to the ultimate end users according to Das Gupta. The overly narrow focus on the black and red ink of financial accounting models tends to obscure both the costs and benefits of corporate activity on social, environmental, human and political processes. It is along these lines that Das Gupta argues that Indian business can gain from a greater integration of CSR values into its practices, making it both more competitive within India and globally (he cites the proactive changes made in the Indian carpet industry with respect to the use of child labour and toxic dyes to meet global consumer demand as an example).

Where Das Gupta falters, besides the aforementioned shortcomings of the book, is in the overly utopian and at times contradictory prescriptions he suggests. While on the one hand, he offers a number of practical considerations for business, the text is too burdened by a repetitive and disjointed narrative to allow for such insights to be quickly internalized by the reader. The foray into visionary arguments for a global 'civilization' mediated by scientific 'truth' and spiritual values has a tinge of science fiction to it, while the nods to the market and then subsequent resort to a sudden quotation from a 'Youth for Social Action' geocities website which claims that: "Capitalism isn't the best we've got. A system that gears to meet the needs of the people--a socialist system--is the much decent [sic] and viable alternative" (Ibid: 79) is a bit too eclectic of a sampling of perspectives to provide a coherent narrative for some of the important issues Das Gupta raises.

In short, Corporate Citizenship is best read as an introductory text for those interested in new perspectives on Indian business and its approaches to CSR (a discussion mainly to be found in Chapter Three), while it fails as a coherent general introduction to CSR. Nonetheless, for scholars working on Central and Eastern European politics, the book does offer some interesting discussions--from a comparative angle--of the political economy of corruption, foreign aid, and the transmission of global corporate values to new contexts that might be interesting to think about in more detail. Das Gupta should be commended for broaching some important themes worth thinking about, though readers should beware of the books somewhat halting readability and disjointed flow.

Author: Konstantin Kilibarda

York University