Economic Actors’ Societal Responsibility: the role of enterprises and their stakeholders

Concept paper written for the WSSE Dakar, Senegal meeting (Nov 19-21, 2005).

Vincent Commenne, October 2005

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Summary :

The Workshop’s brief was to look at the way that various economic actors cooperate with enterprises, both large and small, with the aim of inciting them to commit to a socially responsible approach (CSR). Such actions are a manifestation of Economic Actors’ Societal Responsibility (EASR). So as to provide various economic actors with a snapshot of realities on the ground, the first phase, developed over 2004-2005, consisted of drawing up a situation report covering CSR and EASR concepts and practices on the 5 continents. Five researchers studied 50 examples of best practice with the aim of highlighting: how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is imagined, understood and put into action on every continent; how other economic actors (NGOs, trades unions, consumer and shareholder organisations, public bodies, etc.) initiate cooperative or confrontational EASR approaches with the aim of promoting ethical behaviour by enterprises; each continent’s particular needs in the matter.