Dear Colleagues,

Strategic corporate social responsibility (strategic CSR) is a profit maximization strategy that is evidenced when businesses engage in socially and environmentally responsible activities that are economically sound for their financial performance. This strategic approach is synonymous with a number of value-based theoretical underpinnings relating to corporate social performance including ‘The Triple Bottom Line’, ‘The Supply and Demand Theory of the Firm’, ‘Positive Synergy’, ‘The Base of Pyramid’, ‘Value Creation through Social Strategy’, ‘The Win-Win Perspective for CSR practices’, ‘Creating Shared Value’, and to ‘The Virtuous Circles’ perspectives, among others. The fundamental motivation behind these contributions is that strategic CSR practices and stakeholder engagement can generate economic value for the businesses (Camilleri, 2021; Lantos, 2001; Centobelli et al., 2022).

Corporate social and environmentally responsible behaviors are usually triggered by the businesses’ stakeholders (Freeman, Phillips & Sisodia, 2020; Siltaloppi, Rajala & Hietala, 2021). Hence, there is scope for commercial organizations to forge relationships with them, particularly with the regulatory ones.

For-profit organizations including multinational corporations will usually comply with the relevant legislation where they operate their business. They may even follow ethical practices, adopt responsible human resource management policies, and invest in green technologies to gain institutional legitimacy, create competitive advantages, and to increase their profits. Various researchers noticed that strategic CSR activities can enhance the businesses’ corporate reputation and image among customers and marketplace stakeholders. At the same time, they may even improve their corporate financial performance.

The companies' ethical dispositions can also have a significant effect on the companies’ internal stakeholders. For example, fair and trustworthy employers consistently engage in socially responsible behaviors with their human resources. They look after their employees’ wellbeing, by improving working environments, involving them in decision making, and providing them career progression prospects as well as continuous professional training and development opportunities, to improve their competences. Previous studies heavily supported responsible human resources management initiatives as they lead to lower turnovers and increase morale and job satisfaction among employees. As a matter of fact, employees are more productive if they are motivated in their workplace environments (Camilleri, 2021).

Notwithstanding, employers rely on their employees’ support to reduce their impact on the natural environment. They train employees to engage in responsible behaviors such as recycling and circular economy practices to minimize waste and emissions (Geissdoerfer, Savaget, Bocken & Hultink, 2017) by adopting regulatory instruments and certifiable standards (Camilleri, 2022). For instance, companies could invest in sustainable technological innovations to generate electricity through renewable sources. Alternatively, they may install water conservation systems to reduce their impact on the environment. Such responsible initiatives could result in significant operational efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities for the businesses themselves, whilst reducing their externalities on the environment.

The editors of this Special Issue are calling for original theoretical and empirical articles that are consistent with strategic CSR approaches. Prospective authors are invited to submit contributions that rely on different methodologies and perspectives on a wide variety of topics relating to the business case for CSR and stakeholder engagement. They may submit manuscripts on the following topics, among others:

• Business strategies that promote environmental responsibility;
• Business strategies that promote stakeholder engagement;
• Circular economy business models;
• Circular economy technologies;
• Closed loop systems;
• Corporate environmental management;
• Corporate environmental policy;
• Corporate environmental strategy;
• Corporate environmental sustainability;
• Corporate responsibility strategy;
• Energy efficiency;
• Environmental technologies;
• Product-service systems;
• Recycling resources;
• Renewable resources;
• Resource efficiency;
• Responsible human resources management;
• Responsible procurement practices;
• Responsible supply chains;
• Sustainable transportation options;
• Sustainable consumption;
• Sustainable production;
• Sustainable technologies;
• The promotion of responsible practices;
• Waste management;
• Water conservation.

References

Camilleri, M.A. Strategic attributions of corporate social responsibility and environmental management: The business case for doing well by doing good! Sustain. Dev. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2256.

Camilleri, M.A. The rationale for ISO 14001 certification: A systematic review and a cost–benefit analysis. Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Manag. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2254.

Centobelli, P.; Cerchione, R.; Cricelli, L.; Esposito, E; Strazzullo, S. The future of sustainable supply chains: a novel tertiary-systematic methodology. Supply Chain. Manag. 2022, 27, 762–784.

Freeman, R.E.; Phillips, R.; Sisodia, R. Tensions in stakeholder theory. Bus. Soc. 2020, 59, 213–231.

Geissdoerfer, M.; Savaget, P.; Bocken, N.M.; Hultink, E.J. The Circular Economy–A new sustainability paradigm?. J. Clean. Prod. 2017, 143, 757–768.

Lantos, G.P. The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility. J. Consum. Mark. 2001, 18, 595–632.

Siltaloppi, J.; Rajala, R.; Hietala, H. Integrating CSR with business strategy: a tension management perspective. J. Bus. Ethics 2021, 174, 507–527.

Dr. Mark Anthony Camilleri
Dr. Serena Strazzullo
Dr. Serena Filippelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• strategic CSR
• corporate sustainability
• sustainable business