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

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.