Our suggestions for some early summer reading
The Key: how corporations succeed by solving the world's toughest problems
By Lynda Gratton
Hardcover: 272 pages, £22.99
ISBN: 978-0071838962
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Published: May 2014
This upbeat, pro-business book shows how modern corporations are offering solutions to everything from youth unemployment to climate change. Practitioners will value the extensive use of case studies, which include the likes of Vodafone, Ikea and John Lewis.
Responsible Management: corporate responsibility and working life
By Richard Ennals
Hardcover: 156 pages, £44.99
Publisher: Springer
Published: July 2014
ISBN-10: 3642554008
A critical assessment of governmental action and corporate approaches to responsible business, this book challenges readers to think twice about how CR is practised and questions whether current responsible management goes far enough.
Marketing and the Common Good: essays from Notre Dame on societal impact
By Patrick Murphy and John Sherry (eds)
Paperback: 352 pages, £75
ISBN-13: 978-0415828833
Publisher: Routledge
Published: July 2014
Drawing on original research and scholarship from the influential Mendoza School of Business, this book looks at the full social and political ramifications of modern marketing. Topics under consideration range from social thought and consumption patterns through to sustainability and public policy issues.
Energy Revolution: your guide to repowering the energy system
By Howard Johns
Paperback: 208 pages, £16.95
ISBN: 978-185623197
Publisher: Permanent Publications
Published: July 2014
A necessary and challenging rethink of current energy provision, this timely book looks at local, community-led alternatives to generating and distributing energy. An eminently practical, bottom-up handbook for those interested in more sustainable energy systems.
The Solar Revolution: One world. One solution. Providing the energy and food for 10 billion people
By Steve McKevitt and Tony Ryan
Paperback: 320 pages, £8.99
ISBN: 978-1848316553
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Published: July 2014
This fascinating book describes the cutting-edge science and technology that promises to harness the energy from the sun. In doing so, the authors also reflect on a full gamut of solar phenomenon – from the chemical and geological properties of the sun to its wider ecologic, climatic and economic influence.
Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing: eco-friendly raw materials, technologies, and processing methods
By Subramanian Senthikannan Muthu (ed)
Hardcover: 357 pages, £90
ISBN-13: 978-9812870643
Publisher: Springer
Published: June 2014
A must-read for all those working in the textiles and apparel sector, this comprehensive study focuses on the initial phases of the clothing life cycle. Key topics include the production of sustainable raw materials, and processing methods to achieve sustainable textile products. The first volume in a two-book series.
The Radical Imagination: social movement research in the age of austerity
By Max Haiven and Alex Khasnabish
Paperback: 280 pages, £14.99
ISBN: 9781780329017
Publisher: Zed Books
Published: June 2014
In order to build a different future, we need to be able to imagine it first. Taking that premise, this theoretically sophisticated and politically grounded book looks at the relationship between imagination and radical social change. A lively reposte to the lazy assumption that neo-liberal capitalism is the only option on the table.
Rethinking the Enterprise: competitiveness, technology and society
By Philippe de Woot
Paperback: 110 pages, £9.99
ISBN 978-1-783531-46-2
Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing
Published: June 2014
A provocative thought-piece from one of the world’s leaders in corporate global responsibility, this short book (or long essay) explores whether and how the private sector can always serve the common good. Woot builds a strong case for enterprise acting as an essential mediator between science and society.
CSR books new books summer reading