Defaults have such powerful, pervasive and unrecognized effects on consumer behavior that in some settings they may be considered 'hidden persuaders'. Looking at defaults from the perspective of consumer welfare, consumer autonomy and marketing ethics, this paper shows that ignoring defaults is...

While management scholars and development economists have provided a compelling case for greater attention to the bottom of the pyramid, few contributions have examined specific strategies for reaching the bottom of the pyramid. The majority comprising the bottom of the pyramid resides in...

Firms striving to reach consumers through today's swell of marketing clutter frequently are employing novel marketing practices. Although many nontraditional marketing messages are effective through clever, entertaining, and ultimately benign means, others rely on deception to reach consumers....

Drucker's immense contribution to the thinking and practice of management extends to social responsibility in business. This work goes back over sixty years but remains relevant today - notwithstanding the impacts of globalization and the greater interconnectedness of business and society - and...

We examine how digital transformation of the economy may affect the field of corporate responsibility (CR) and whether some of its foundational assumptions need to be re-examined. Grounding our analysis in the relevant theory, we identify five key digital economic phenomena from a CR-relevant...

The 'basic debate' in business ethics between shareholder and stakeholder theory has underlined the field since its inception, with wide ranging normative, descriptive, and instrumental arguments offered on both sides. We maintain that insofar as this is primarily a normative debate, clarity can...

This paper examines the Shareholder Primacy Norm (SPN) as a widely acknowledged impediment to corporate social responsibility and explores the role of business schools in promoting the SPN but also potentially as an avenue for change by addressing misconceptions about shareholder primacy and the...

Little is known about how consumers form CSR perceptions of the organizations they buy from. We propose that one way is through a CSR halo effect, whereby consumer awareness of some of a firm's CSR initiatives influences their judgments and preferences with regard to CSR in other areas about...

With consumers increasingly questioning the role of business in creating social value, it is essential for most firms to address corporate responsibility in ways that go beyond the minimum legal requirement and to communicate their various societal contributions. However, corporate social...

This chapter examines the multi-faceted and reciprocal influence of marketing on corporate social responsibility strategy and practice, especially in light of consumer concern about company social and environmental impacts. As well as potential harmful consequences of marketing to consumers, we...