SRRNet – A
The Network was formed during 2004 and so has become an
established organisation which currently has almost 700
members located all over the world – so we are a truly
international organisation with members united by a common
interest in aspects of social responsibility. While some
people have been involved since the inception of the
Network, many have joined us later as part of our
development. So we think that it is appropriate to give a
brief history of the establishment and development of the
The starting impetus was the decision to organise a
conference on corporate social responsibility. As a result
of this decision, on three days in September 2003 around 140
delegates from 30 countries from around the world gathered
in London at London Metropolitan University for a conference
on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility. Over the
three days the delegates engaged in discussion on a range of
issues concerning this topic and around 100 papers were
presented. Topics covered ranged from business ethics to
social reporting to implications for biodiversity to
sustainable construction, reflecting the interdisciplinary
nature of the backgrounds and expertise of the participants.
Conversation about many of the important issues raised
during the conference continued into the evenings at the
dinners organised for delegates at a variety of London
hotels and the success of the conference was continued into
a variety of collaborative projects instigated among the
international delegates during the conference.
This success demanded repetition and this led to the
start of the international series of conferences. Subsequent
conferences have taken place in such countries as Malaysia,
India, Turkey and South Africa and we are currently
preparing for the 10th conference which will be held in New
Orleans in 2011. At the time of writing we have definite
plans for future conferences up until 2015. You can find
full details of all past and future conferences on the
website, together with some pictures from each of the past
conferences. The conferences are intended to be
interdisciplinary and welcome contributions from anyone who
has a perspective on this important issue. This includes
academics, researchers, business people, NGO managers,
government officials and politicians, consultants and
scholars – and all groups have been represented at previous
conferences. Recently we have introduced a theme to each
conference but other contributions are always welcome. And
we continue to develop the conference just as we continue to
develop all aspects of the Network activities.
One of the distinguishing features of the conferences is
that for each we commission a book and all delegates receive
a copy of this book when they register upon arrival at the
conference. For the first conference we produced the book,
Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility while last
year we produced the book, Culture and Corporate Governance.
Delegates to the conference in 2009 received a book entitled
Corporate Social Responsibility in SMEs. If you are
interested in contributing to a future book then contact
either of the chairs.
One of the important outcomes from the success of this
first conference was the establishment of the Network to
bring together interested scholars from all over the world.
The Network has been proactive in developing both the
conference series and its other activities. This website is
a reflection of this and every member is encouraged to
become actively involved and to contribute to our growth.
The second important outcome of the first conference was
the establishment of Social Responsibility Journal as an
academic journal to publish work by members and others in
this important and growing area. The journal is now in its
7th year and continues to grow in strength and reputation.
It is firmly established as the official journal of the
Network and you will find further details on the website. If
you have not yet studied the journal then we encourage you
to do so and to submit your papers to it.
After the commencement of the Network we developed a
formal constitution and mission statement and you can find
these on our website. More recently we have established a
professional journal - Social Responsibility Review to both
disseminate information and to publish shorter articles of
relevance. We also publish books within the series
Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility. Our
latest venture – so far – has been to establish a Discussion
Paper Series as another avenue to publish refereed papers to
an international readership.
So we have come a long way in quite a short time largely
due to the strength of our membership. The main reason for
the existence of the Network however is to enable us as
scholars concerned with various aspects of social
responsibility to communicate with each other, share
information, join together in research projects, develop
courses and course material and various other activities.
The strength and vibrancy of the Network is of course only
the same as that of its members. So we are inviting you to
share opportunities for collaboration and to contribute to
any of our various publishing outlets.