Raising a Ladder to the Moon : The Complexities of Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility

Raising a ladder to the moon' is a metaphor that was used to describe the immensity of the task of laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable at the end of the nineteenth century. It is used in this book to illuminate the challenges and opportunities that are inherent in the development of corporations as socially and environmentally responsible 'citizens' at the beginning of the twenty-first century. With reference to companies such as Macdonald's, Deutsche Bank, Coca-Cola, Royal Dutch / Shell, BP, Wal-Mart, and Unilever, Raising a Ladder to the Moon argues that in order to re-engage with the world, and solve some of the problems created by globalisation, we must re-see it. We must now see it in the light of its complexities. We have succeeded in creating social systems that create and destroy, that bind us together in common purpose and that set us against each other. Our corporations stand as monuments to our success at building social structures, but they are neither people nor machines. They are alive. They are complex, adaptive systems that can take on a life of their own. We need to embrace that complexity. "Raising a Ladder to the Moon is a metaphor that was used to describe the immensity of the task of laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is used in this book to illuminate the challenges and opportunities that are inherent in the development of corporations as socially and environmentally responsible 'citizens' at the beginning of the twenty-first century." "With reference to companies such as Mcdonald's, Deutsche Bank, Coca-Cola, Royal Dutch/Shell, BP, Wal-Mart and Unilever, Raising a Ladder to the Moon argues that in order to re-engage with the world, and solve some of the problems created by globalisation, we must re-see it. We must now see it in the light of its complexities. We have succeeded in creating social systems that create and destroy, that bind us together in common purpose and that set us against each other. Our corporations stand as monuments to our success at building social structures, but they are neither people nor machines. They are alive. They are complex, adaptive systems that can take on a life of their own. We need to embrace that complexity."--Jacket "Raising a ladder to the moon" is a metaphor that was used to describe the immensity of the task of laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable at the end of the 19th century. It is used in this book to illuminate the challenges and opportunities that are inherent in the development of corporations as socially and environmentally responsible "citizens" at the beginning of the 21st century. With reference to companies such as Macdonald's, Deutsche Bank, Coca-Cola, Royal Dutch / Shell, BP, Wal-Mart and Unilever, "Raising a Ladder to the Moon" argues that in order to re-engage with the world, and solve some of the problems created by globalization, we must re-see it. We must now see it in the light of its complexities. We have succeeded in creating social systems that create and destroy, that bind us together in common purpose and that set us against each other. Our corporations stand as monuments to our success at building social structures, but they are neither people nor machines. They are alive. They are complex, adaptive systems that can take ona life of thier own. We need to embrace their complexity Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Chocolate, Reindeer and Hiroshima....Pages 1-12 The Complexity of People, Planet and Corporate Responsibility....Pages 13-25 The Ecology of Corporate Citizenship....Pages 27-71 Sustainability....Pages 73-82 Corporate Responsibility, Synchronicity and Complexity....Pages 83-108 The Complex Business of Corporate Responsibility....Pages 109-121 Modelling Corporate Responsibility Situations....Pages 123-127 Back Matter....Pages 129-146