Prof. Harvey Goldstein discusses CSR

MU Professor Harvey Goldstein was invited to speak an evening of lectures and discussions entitled ‘’Corporate Social Responsibility – eine Standortbestimmung!’’. Organized by the Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy and held at Amerikahaus in Vienna’s first district, the evening featured speakers and an introductory address from the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, William C. Eacho.

The evening was moderated by Guenther Lutschinger, Head of Fundraising Association Austria, and featured a variety of approaches to CSR from industry representatives, government officials and academics.

Prof. Goldstein’s thought-provoking paper entitled ‘Beyond CSR’ voiced the opinion that CSR, while making steps forward, is currently inadequate in comparison to what is needed to achieve sustainability goals. His view is that the majority of corporations engage in CSR practices primarily to achieve a favorable business outcome, and to paint an image of corporate social responsibility to improve their reputations, and convey a positive brand image which will in turn result in an increase in sales.

His critical take on CSR suggested four directions for moving forward: a shift from corporate responsibility to accountability, efforts on education to increase the amount of people who will make consumption decisions based on ethical criteria, to alter the content of business education away from stand-alone, business ethics and CSR courses to where ethics are integrated into most, if not all courses, and a transition to more alternatives to the shareholder owned corporation such as as co-operatives and mutually owned businesses. This critical approach to CSR provoked lively discussion among the attendees and offered plenty of food for thought.

Find out more about Harvey Goldstein and the Department of Public Governance at www.modul.ac.at/pgm.

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From L to R: Dr. Guenther Lutschinger, Nick Eyre, William Eacho (U.S. Ambassador to Austria), Prof. Harvey Goldstein.