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Corporate Social Responsibility, Shared Territorial Governance and Social Innovation: Some Exemplary Italian Paths

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Dimensional Corporate Governance

Part of the book series: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance ((CSEG))

Abstract

This paper explores the development of territorial social responsibility, a form of governance cultivated through the diffusion of corporate social responsibility strategies which are promoted by networks of local actors—public and private, for—and non-profit—who come from the same territory and whose policies are oriented towards sustainable development.

Departing from the different models that explain diffusion of CSR principles, tools and practices—taking into consideration the different patterns of private and public actions in the European context—the paper addresses the attention on the specificity of the Italian model for spreading CSR, based on a multiplicity of projects tied at a local level. The work integrates the results of an intensive literature review with longitudinal empirical research. Within a constructivist paradigm, a deductive-inductive research approach has been followed. First, drawing from the literature review, a conceptual framework has been proposed; then it has been applied to the investigated phenomenon. Secondly, the analysis of the Rimini’s (Emilia Romagna Region) experience (“PercoRSI” project)—a pathway promoted by a plurality of public and private actors, who find that social cohesion and relationships are the drivers in the construction of shared territorial governance—allows us to evaluate that policies for promoting CSR and sustainability at a meso-level are not effective when they are not coherently fostered by regional authorities together with local private actors. Consequently, the model of shared territorial governance represents an innovation in support of public policies that can be replicated in other regions relying on specific contextual factors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For years numerous initiatives developed within the project have been presented to the Sodalitas Social Award, an organisation which had added to its online CSR database, the most exhaustive in Europe, with over 1200 best company practices carried out in Italy. It consists of seven distinct categories: the best programs of CSR aimed at the promotion of human capital and equal opportunity ; the best plans of eco-efficiency , the use of renewable energy, eco-compatible productive processes; the establishment of the best partnership and social cohesion program in the community ; the best initiatives of cause-related marketing; the best initiatives of social responsibility produced by small and medium companies; the most innovative product or service socially, environmentally and financially responsible produced by companies; the best CSR initiative carried out by local bodies, state or educational institutions .

  2. 2.

    See: UNGC (2007) and EC (2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Society and Politics, School of Economics, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi, No. 42, 61029, Urbino, Italy

    Mara Del Baldo

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  1. Mara Del Baldo
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Correspondence to Mara Del Baldo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    Nicholas Capaldi

  2. Guildhall Faculty of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom

    Samuel O. Idowu

  3. Cologne Business School, Cologne, Germany

    René Schmidpeter

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Del Baldo, M. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility, Shared Territorial Governance and Social Innovation: Some Exemplary Italian Paths. In: Capaldi, N., Idowu, S., Schmidpeter, R. (eds) Dimensional Corporate Governance. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56182-0_7

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