This volume is a collection of papers from a 2011 conference organized by the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, the UN Global Compact, and the Principles for Responsible Management Education. Its purpose, as defined by editor Oliver Williams, is to “help people understand that business serves the common good” (p. 6) by producing good products and services and providing a “hand up” to those who lack the resources and skills to participate in the market. Filling this void, Williams says, can “greatly impact a company’s ability to operate, compete and thrive” (p.7).

That explanation is resonant with what is known as the “business case” for corporate social responsibility: the argument that tending to the interests of one’s stakeholders improves brand reputation; prevents protests and litigation; enhances the recruitment, retainment, and productivity of the best and brightest employees; and, ultimately, yields higher profits. The business case, however, is precisely what the editor and some of the volume’s other contributors lament: It is insufficient for the task of ensuring corporate responsibility. For example, companies that are not “consumer facing” brands need not be as sensitive to reputational risk, and cost–benefit analyses do not always favor the interests of a company’s stakeholders over those of their shareholders. If business is going to play a major role in addressing the world’s most pressing problems, including poverty, climate change, and inequality, these authors argue, there needs to be a moral foundation for action and a repositioning of the role of business in society to create what contributor and Boston College professor Sandra Waddock refers to as “a ‘common good’ conception of business” (pp. 382–385).

Although Waddock and several other contributors criticize the business case as inadequate and instead call for a rethinking of the role of business in society, other contributors—including Mark Kennedy, a former senior executive of Macy’s and U.S. congressman; business school professor James O’Rourke; and contributors from the private sector—promote it. This divide among the contributors over the meaning of corporate responsibility could have been developed as a very useful debate had the editor identified it as such by demonstrating more deliberation in framing and compiling the contributions. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Overall, the volume suffers from a lack of coherence, which is evident in other ways, starting with the title. Some chapters address the role of business in society, whereas others, which are interspersed with these chapters in no particular order, assess the effectiveness of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) or the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, if the purpose of the volume is, as its editor states, to demonstrate that “business serves the common good,” a justification for focusing on these two initiatives is lacking.

Also missing is a clear articulation of how these initiatives are linked to each other and to “sustainable development,” which is left undefined. Williams’ statement in the introduction that the MDGs gave the UNGC “added force” (p. 6) muddles the historical fact that the UNGCwas created in 2000 by then Secretary General Kofi Annan as a vehicle to get business involved in the projects of the UN—peace building, respecting rights, eradicating poverty, and catalyzing business support for the newly created MDGs. To do this, the UNGC tasks signatory companies with aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. A retrospective examination of how well the UNGC has done in achieving that vision is an important project, which would have been better served by a stronger editorial hand.

The book is divided into three parts. Each of the chapters in Part I, “Business and the Millennium Development Goals,” authored by a senior corporate manager, provides an example of business efforts that advance the MDGs. These are, overall, excellent examples of corporate responsibility, many of which have been featured elsewhere, including in UNGC publications. However, although it is useful to understand the corporate motive behind these initiatives, the chapters lack the critical objective analysis that can explain what these corporate acts represent. Neither do the later chapters in Part II, “Scholarship Advancing the Role of Business in Society” (which contains chapters by practitioners as well as scholars), or Part III, “Where Do We Go from Here?,” offer much help: The only direct reference I could find to these cases in the rest of the book was a passing reference in Williams’s own final chapter to the initiatives of Microsoft and Merck when he asks (but never answers) the question, “We know these companies did do something, but were these projects a result of simply voluntary philanthropy or a moral obligation?” Only Waddock offers us insight that the cases featured in these chapters do not reflect how our current capitalist system actually works. Without directly referring to the chapters in Part 1, she writes, “It’s something of a lost cause to expect all but the strongest individuals and companies to exhibit integrity” (p. 373).

A long-standing critique of the business approach to the MDGs has been that they do little more than provide a “tick the box” opportunity for companies to publicly promote the philanthropic work they are already doing. It does not represent a fundamental change to the company’s way of operating, under which the company may be doing harm through its operations even as some of its activities elsewhere in the company support the MDGs. It may be that this is the point Williams was getting at in the passage cited in the previous paragraph of this review, and one wishes he had elaborated on it.

International human rights standards provide an important benchmark for assessing corporate conduct, and several of the chapters address the subject. University of Notre Dame professor George Enderle provides a valuable exposition on what is widely considered the most authoritative standard on the subject, the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework, and the UN Guiding Principles that elaborate on the framework. He argues that John Ruggie, its author, missed an opportunity to articulate the moral foundations of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which can provide an “inner pole of self-commitment” that has a more powerful effect than enlightened self–interest—in other words, the business case.

The volume contains several worthwhile chapters that deserve our attention. However, a stronger hand at editing around a unified theme would have produced a book of greater value.