CSR as Strategic and Transformative: A presentation by Joanne Lawrence

As corporate responsibility becomes further and further embedded into companies, some enlightened firms are using their resources, skills and ability to cross national boundaries to go the next step. They are changing the playing field, moving the needle from CSR as not just strategic, but to being truly transformative. Joanne Lawrence will talk about ‘social intrapreneurship’ and what some companies are doing in emerging markets that are helping to improve lives as well as the company’s competitive position, creating true win-win-wins.

Joanne is Global Professor, Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Innovation at Hult International Business School (Boston-Dubai-London-San Francisco-Shanghai) and is an academic advisor to the UN Global Compact. She has worked for and with multinational companies and global organizations such as Smith Kline Beecham (today GSK) BP, IBM and the World Bank as well as smaller, socially-focused enterprises and start-ups, such as Tom’s of Maine and Economic Development Imports. Professor Lawrence is co-author of From Promise to Performance: The Journey of Transformation at SmithKline Beecham (Harvard Business School Press, 1997). Her latest work is Globally Responsible Leadership: Managing According to the UN Global Compact Principles, co-edited with Paul Beamish of the Richard Ivey School of Business (Sage Publishing, 2012).

After the presentation and discussion there will also be the usual opportunity for networking. Furthermore, as always, for those attendees that might not have been to this venue before, please do not confuse it with Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street! A cash bar will be available on the ground floor of the venue, so please come a little before time if you want to purchase drinks so that we can start promptly. Usually, food is also available at this venue if ordered before 8pm. Space is limited, so if you are interested in coming to this Meetup please sign up early and if your plans change subsequently please amend your RSVP so that others can take your place if it turns out that you can't make it on the night.