Business and Development Studies

There is a vast academic literature on global value chains in developing countries and an equally vast literature on corporate social responsibility. However, there is painfully little research that links together the two academic fields. The book edited by Lund-Thompson, Hansen, and Lindgreen makes a welcome contribution to this neglected but important area of academic research. - Peter Nolan, Chonghua Professor of Chinese Development (Emeritus), University of Cambridge, Director, China Centre, Jesus College, Cambridge, UK These experienced and informed editors have brought together a rich but diverse set of chapters that look at many dimensions of business and development. The chapters reflect how the topic of development in the Global South has itself become more complex. The dimensions explore the well established such as global value chains, but extend to less well understood topics such social entrepreneuring. What is common and holds the collection together is the concern about the relationships between business and global development. For those of us who believe that we cannot understand development as simply an economic phenomenon, the chapters relate well to understanding business as socially and culturally embedded. The book brings together a range of current, up to date and relevant views, knowledge and expertise about what's happening and how we can begin to better understand what's going on in the South. If nothing else, the diversity of the chapters demonstrates the importance of understanding how business shapes development. - Alistair R Anderson, Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship, Lancaster University Management School, UK The book provides a much needed contribution to fill a forgotten gap in the business management field. Even though businesses heavily impact development processes, and vice-versa, there are very few scholars in business management community who serious study the links between business and development studies. The book brings refreshing contributions and analyses of the different connections between business and development from a worldwide group of scholars. - Professor Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) & Sao Paulo School of Management (EAESP), Brazil In a world with increasing challenges and a rising humanitarian funding gap, there is a strong need for exploring new models, beyond classic corporate social responsibility, where companies and humanitarian/development actors create shared value and impact. Here, this important book and the broad research it captures will inspire us and move the debate forward. - Christian Friis Bach, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council (Dansk Rode Kors), former Minister of Development Cooperation, Denmark, and former Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe At the Danish investment fund IFU, we are operating in the interface between business and development on a daily basis, assisting businesses with their investments in developing countries while at the same time contributing to economic and social development. The book `Business and Development Studies: Issues and Perspectives' edited by Thomsen, Hansen, and Lindgreen is a highly timely exploration of the potential of private enterprise in development and it will no doubt be read with great interest by development and business practitioners working in this field . - Torben Huss, CEO, IFU - Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Denmark The 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals have assigned the private sector a pivotal role towards solving some of the most pressing global development problems. In the anthology Business and Development Studies: Issues and Perspectives (edited by Peter Lund-Thomson, Michael W. Hansen, and Adam Lindgreen), a diverse group of eminent scholars and emerging academics sets out to scrutinise whether businesses can indeed contribute to inclusive and sustainable development efforts or remain part of the deeply entrenched problems of inequality, poverty and injustice in the Global South. The 19 chapters make important and novel contributions from both empirical and theoretical angles. They provide in-depth and critical analyses of the potential and trade-offs of business operations towards achieving various economic, social and ecological goals in the Global South. The editors have also developed innovative ideas for future theoretical and methodological pathways in business and development studies. This collection is a must-read for researchers, students, development practitioners and policy makers who work at the interface of global business and international development and are interested in the historical trajectories and contemporary challenges of involving the private sector in global development agendas. - Andreas Neef, Professor in Development Studies, The University of Auckland, New Zealand The demise of both statist development strategies and extreme forms of market fundamentalism has created the space for a more nuanced view of the potential contribution and associated limitations of the private sector as an agent of development. This book is a pioneering attempt to bring together the different strands of research that address the role of business in development. It goes beyond a narrow focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and a preoccupation with the business case that tends to characterize the international business literature. The contributors bring a wealth of theoretical and empirical insights from their engagement with development issues often based on extensive fieldwork in the Global South. It will be essential reading for students and others interested in the opportunities and problems that business involvement in development present. - Professor Rhys Jenkins, Director MA in Globalization, Business and Sustainable Development, School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK This important collection provides a rich body of conceptual and empirical chapters that cover a breadth of issues on business and development studies. It underlines need to understand better the interactions between state, business and society in the development process, and to consider this both as a critical research agenda and a discipline in its own right. - Khalid Nadvi, Professor of International Development, Global Development Institute, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UK