The Development of Governance Structures for Corporate Responsibility

This research reports three major findings: First, there is increasing CEO leadership for the corporate responsibility agenda of the firm. Second, governance structures developed over time are now increasingly making use of corporate responsibility committees. In 2002 about 15 percent of the firms were using a CR committee, the number had increased by 2008 to more than 60 percent. Third, firms with a CR committee in place outperform others in the Corporate Responsibility Index.

While this paper gives a good insight into which structures companies set up to deal with the corporate responsibility agenda, interviews with practitioners would help to understand why this is the case and in which direction the governance of corporate responsibility is expected to evolve.