Books
The Ethics of ESG - Critically Assessing the Environmental, Social and Governance Movement
Edited by Valentina Gentile, Eric W. Orts, Andreas Rasche, Alan Strudler
In recent years, new forms of investment have been created to direct funds towards companies performing well according to predefined environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators. This volume addresses moral, political, and legal questions about the legitimacy of ESG as a management and investment strategy. Some chapters argue that ESG strategies should focus on creating real-life impacts on morally significant problems, such as climate...
In recent years, new forms of investment have been created to direct funds towards companies performing well according to predefined environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators. This volume addresses moral, political, and legal questions about the legitimacy of ESG as a management and investment strategy. Some chapters argue that ESG strategies should focus on creating real-life impacts on morally significant problems, such as climate change, human rights violations, and corporate corruption. Other chapters instead examine the possibility that the long-term feasibility of ESG limits its moral ambitions, requiring ESG to be regarded as only a set of devices for minimizing risk in a way that protects financial gain. The book contributes a much-needed understanding of ethical interpretations of the ESG movement, which are likely to drive future social, political and legal developments.
Published by Cambridge University Press
In a world where ESG is both celebrated and contested, The Ethics of ESG offers a timely and critical examination of its evolving landscape. Valentina Gentile, Eric W. Orts, Andreas Rasche, and Alan Strudler bring together leading voices in law and business to explore ESG's theoretical roots, ethical dimensions, and practical challenges (with much nuance and insight). This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, investors, and business leaders who seek to better understand ESG-one of the most pressing corporate governance issues of our time.
Dorothy S. Lund - Columbia 1982 Alumna Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, New York
Once heralded as key to driving investment and business decisions to be in line with broader environmental and societal goals, the ESG movement is now widely debated – with questions about its content, effectiveness, and ideology. At this critical moment, The Ethics of ESG is a much-needed intervention. This book provides one of the most wide-ranging and sustained analyses of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of the practice of ESG. It brings together in one volume the latest thinking of leading scholars from a variety of disciplines, covering critical topics from a variety of perspectives. Those concerned about ESG may not agree with everything they read in this book, but they – and the future of the environment and society – will be better for having engaged with it.
Nien-he Hsieh - Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Sustainability, Technology, and Finance - Rethinking How Markets Integrate ESG
Edited By Herman Bril, Georg Kell, Andreas Rasche
This book explores the swiftly emerging nexus between sustainability, finance, and technology. Leading practitioners and academic thought leaders reflect on the ways in which technology and digitalization shape how sustainable finance professionals address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Together, the contributors identify three spheres in which technology shapes how investors make sense of such issues: ESG and technology: finance professionals need to know...
This book explores the swiftly emerging nexus between sustainability, finance, and technology. Leading practitioners and academic thought leaders reflect on the ways in which technology and digitalization shape how sustainable finance professionals address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Together, the contributors identify three spheres in which technology shapes how investors make sense of such issues: ESG and technology: finance professionals need to know about how technological innovations, such as chemical recycling for plastics, in the real economy shape firms’ ESG performance; ESG through technology: technological developments, such as AI and blockchain, can enable finance professionals to offer more fine-grained ESG analyses; and ESG as technology: the ESG agenda itself is influenced by technological developments that are not well understood by practitioners (e.g., data mining for Bitcoin creating significant emissions). Using practically relevant examples and recent insights from people working in the field, the book explores the linkages between sustainability, technology, and finance in different contexts and shows how practitioners can accelerate needed change processes. This book primarily addresses practitioners in companies and investment firms as well as students enrolled in executive education and MBA programs.
Published by Routledge
Buy on AmazonA great book and blueprint for our transition to a more sustainable future.
Rose Marcario, former CEO Patagonia
As the founder Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell’s unique insights have shaped the discourse in responsible business since the inception of the Global Compact in 2000. In this publication, Georg Kell and colleagues aptly capture the opportunities in innovative financing, technologies and accountability frameworks that raise the ambition for the private sector.
Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact
Sustainable Investing: A Path To a New Horizon
Edited with Georg Kell and Herman Bril
This book tells the story of how the convergence between corporate sustainability and sustainable investing is now becoming a major force driving systemic market changes. The idea and practice of corporate sustainability is no longer a niche movement. Investors are increasingly paying attention to sustainability factors in their analysis and decision-making, thus reinforcing market transformation. In this book, high-level practitioners and academic thought leaders,...
This book tells the story of how the convergence between corporate sustainability and sustainable investing is now becoming a major force driving systemic market changes. The idea and practice of corporate sustainability is no longer a niche movement. Investors are increasingly paying attention to sustainability factors in their analysis and decision-making, thus reinforcing market transformation. In this book, high-level practitioners and academic thought leaders, including contributions from John Ruggie, Fiona Reynolds, Johan Rockström, and Paul Polman, explain the forces behind these developments. The contributors highlight (a) that systemic market change is influenced by various contextual factors that impact how sustainable investing is perceived and practiced; (b) that the integration of ESG factors in investment decisions is impacting markets on a large scale and hence changes practices of major market players (e.g. pension funds); and (c) that technology and the increasing datafication of sustainability act as further accelerators of such change. The book goes beyond standard economic theory approaches to sustainable investing and emphasizes that capitalism founded on more real-world (complex) economics and cooperation can strengthen ESG integration. Aimed at both investment professionals and academics, this book gives the reader access to more practitioner-relevant information and it also discusses implementation issues. The reader will gain insights into how mainstream financial actors relate to sustainable investing.
Published by Routledge
Buy on AmazonThis book argues convincingly that sustainable investing is becoming mainstream, as increasing numbers of asset owners, investment managers and companies take steps toward addressing longer-term challenges facing businesses and society. The question is not whether these commitments are welcome – they are – but whether they will be anywhere near enough to address our climate crisis and accomplish the Just Transition so necessary in the decade ahead.
Al Gore and David Blood (Generation Investment Management)
This is an engaging book encompassing a wealth of knowledge for anyone interested in sustainable investing: from the experienced investor who wants to better understand the field of sustainable investing to the intellectually curious business leader who wants to learn more about what it is and how it can be practiced.
George Serafeim (Harvard Business School)
Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategy, Communication, Governance
Edited with Mette Morsing and Jeremy Moon
This upper-level textbook offers an original and up-to-date introduction to issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a global perspective. Written by an international team of experts, it guides students through key themes in CSR including strategy, communication, regulation and governance. Balancing critiques of CSR with a discussion of the opportunities it creates, it includes chapters devoted to critical issues such as human rights,...
This upper-level textbook offers an original and up-to-date introduction to issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a global perspective. Written by an international team of experts, it guides students through key themes in CSR including strategy, communication, regulation and governance. Balancing critiques of CSR with a discussion of the opportunities it creates, it includes chapters devoted to critical issues such as human rights, anti-corruption, labour rights and the environment. Pedagogical features include customised case studies, study questions, key term highlighting, practitioner pieces and suggestions for further resources. The book is also complemented by a companion website featuring adaptable lecture slides, teaching notes for cases and links to related resources. Tailored for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and business ethics, it is also relevant to non-business courses in political science, international relations and communications.
Published by Cambridge University Press
Buy on AmazonFinally, a text with the courage to stand up and tell CSR's whole wonderful, conflicted story. As savvy about corporate practice as it is about academic theory, this text will set the bar for all that follow.
Tom Donaldson (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
CSR in its best form! This is a pedagogically valuable, comprehensive, critical, and thought provoking textbook on CSR written by the leading experts in the field. It will be a compulsory reading for any student and academic interested in the changing responsibilities of business in a globalized world.
Andreas Georg Scherer (University of Zurich)
Building the Responsible Enterprise
With Sandra Waddock
Building the Responsible Enterprise provides students and practitioners with a practical, yet academically rooted, introduction to the state-of-the-art in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.The book consists of four parts, highlighting different aspects of corporate responsibility. Part I discusses the context in which corporate responsibility occurs. Part II looks at three critical issues: the development of vision at the individual and organizational levels, the integration...
Building the Responsible Enterprise provides students and practitioners with a practical, yet academically rooted, introduction to the state-of-the-art in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.The book consists of four parts, highlighting different aspects of corporate responsibility. Part I discusses the context in which corporate responsibility occurs. Part II looks at three critical issues: the development of vision at the individual and organizational levels, the integration of values into the responsible enterprise, and the ways that these building blocks create added value for a firm. Part III highlights the actual management practices that enable enterprises to achieve excellence, focusing on the roles that stakeholder relationships play in improving performance. The book concludes with a conversation about responsible management in the global village, examining the emerging infrastructure in which enterprise finds itself today. Throughout the text, cases exemplify key concepts and highlight companies that are guiding us into tomorrow's business environment.
This book is extremely readable without sacrificing attention to relevant studies. It does a wonderful job of translating research for those who do not spend their professional lives immersed in this topic.
Ann Buchholtz (Rutgers University)
It is a very timely and comprehensible read, even given its attention to academic literature. The authors present research findings in a readable fashion, lacing the details of studies with current examples to make the mundane come to life . . . Recommended.
Choice Magazine
The United Nations Global Compact
Edited with Georg Kell
This book is about a public-private partnership initiative of the United Nations: The United Nations Global Compact. The book reviews the first ten years of the Compact's existence (2000-2010) by pulling together exclusively commissioned chapters from well-known scholars, practitioners, and Global Compact staff. All authors reflect on what the Global Compact has achieved, what trends it may have to respond to, and what challenges...
This book is about a public-private partnership initiative of the United Nations: The United Nations Global Compact. The book reviews the first ten years of the Compact's existence (2000-2010) by pulling together exclusively commissioned chapters from well-known scholars, practitioners, and Global Compact staff. All authors reflect on what the Global Compact has achieved, what trends it may have to respond to, and what challenges still lie ahead when considering the political environment that the initiative navigates in. For the first time, practitioners from the business world and civil society, well-known academics who have researched the Global Compact, and Global Compact staff join forces to systematically discuss the initiative. The books contains chapter contributions by Huguette Labelle, Oded Grajew, Paul Hohnen, Guido Palazzo and Andreas Scherer, Carolyn Woo, Malcolm McIntosh and Sandra Waddock, Dirk Ulrich Gilbert, Pat Werhane and Regina Wolfe, Guy Ryder, Greg Unruh and others.
Published by Cambridge University Press
Buy on AmazonThis book offers a comprehensive analysis of the initiative's governance, its engagement mechanisms and, most importantly, its impact. I commend it to a wide global audience, and to all who want to learn more about the Compact's journey and its proven capacity to generate positive change for people and the planet.
H. E. Ban Ki-moon (UN Secretary-General)
This timely book reviews the UN Global Compact's strengths and shortcomings over its first decade and provides helpful guidance for all committed to mainstreaming responsible business practices and achieving real change through multistakeholder intiatives.
Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)
The Paradoxical Foundation of Strategic Management
This book is all about questioning 'conventional' assumptions in strategy research. I argue that strategy scholars are very skilled in obscuring paradoxes and, by doing so, sustain their traditional assumptions. The text deconstructs the theory of strategic management by using the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. Only a deconstruction of strategic management uncovers the many paradoxes that are at the heart of theorizing about 'strategy'....
This book is all about questioning 'conventional' assumptions in strategy research. I argue that strategy scholars are very skilled in obscuring paradoxes and, by doing so, sustain their traditional assumptions. The text deconstructs the theory of strategic management by using the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. Only a deconstruction of strategic management uncovers the many paradoxes that are at the heart of theorizing about 'strategy'. Despite conventional wisdom, I claim that paradoxes are very helpful in getting to know the limits of knowledge about strategic management. Thus, I explain how paradoxes can stimulate future theorizing about strategic management and why we should value them more than we currently do.
Published by Springer
Buy on AmazonThis book is a novel, refreshing and important contribution to the generally unreflective and programmatic approach widespread in strategy research.
Robert Chia (University of Glasgow)
Andreas Rasche is right: We have to think of strategy as being always already in deconstruction.Gunther Ortmann
Gunther Ortmann (Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg)
Articles
A Critical Examination of Corporate Environmental and Social Impact Measurement and Valuation
Stroehle, J., Gümüsay, A. A., Edinger-Schons, L. M., Vogel, A., Ebrahim, A., Rasche, A., King, A., Pucker, K., Barker, R., Reinecke, J., Michelon, G., Cooper, S., Etzion, D., Harji, K., Besharov, M., Mayer, C., Hsieh, N., & van den Terrell, E. (2025)
Journal of Management Inquiry, 35(1), 3–18
Monetary Impact Valuation for Sustainable Business
Edinger-Schons, L. M., Stroehle, J., Gümüsay, A. A., Berg, F., Besharov, M., Busch, T., Etzion, D., Harji, K., Hsieh, N.-H., King, A., Mayer, C., Michelon, G., Rasche, A., Reinecke, J., & Hoos, F. (2025)
Nature Sustainability, Vol. 8, No. 10, 1102–1104
Enabling Local Solutions to Global Challenges: The Interplay Between Paradox Knots and Paradox Salience in a Non-Governmental Organization Working in Uganda
Waldner, C., Schrage, S. & Rasche, A. (2025)
Organization Studies, Vol. 46, No. 3, 355-384
The Challenges and Prospects of Deliberative Democracy for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility
Gilbert, D.U./Rasche, A./Schormair, M./Singer, A. (2023)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 33, No.1, pp. 1-25
From Values to Value: The Commensuration of Sustainability Reporting and the Crowding out of Morality
van Bommel, K./Rasche, A./Spicer, A. (2023)
Organization & Environment, Vol. 36, No.1, pp. 179-206
Questioning Impact: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of Certification Standards for Sustainability
Jellema, S./Werner, M./Rasche, A./Cornelissen, J. (2022)
Business & Society (accepted, forthcoming)
Interorganizational Paradox Management: How National Business Systems Influence the Diffusion of Paradox Management Practices in Global Value Chains
Schrage, S./Rasche, A. (2022)
Organization Studies, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 547-571
Which Firms Leave Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives? An Analysis of Delistings from the United Nations Global Compact
Rasche, A./Gwozdz, W./Lund-Larsen, M./Moon, J. (2022)
Regulation & Governance, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 309-326
Managing Competing Demands: Coping with the Inclusiveness-Efficiency Paradox in Cross-Sector Partnerships
Henry, L./Rasche, A./Moellering, G. (2022)
Business & Society, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 267-304
Assessing the Legitimacy of "Open" and "Closed" Data Partnerships for Sustainable Development
Rasche, A./Morsing, M./Wetter, E. (2021)
Business & Society, Vol. 60, No.3, pp. 547-581
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility Research
Rasche, A./Waddock, S. (2021)
Business and Human Rights Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 227-240
The Legitimacy of Sustainability Standards: A Paradox Perspective
Haack, P./Rasche, A. (2021)
Organization Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 1-25
Exploring Student Perceptions of the Hidden Curriculum in Responsible Management Education
Høgdal, C./Rasche, A./Schoeneborn, D./Scotti, L. (2021)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 168, No.1, pp. 173-193
A Luhmannian Perspective on Strategy: Strategy as Paradox and Meta-Communication
Rasche, A./Seidl, D. (2020)
Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. 73, pp. 1-12
"Speaking on Behalf Of" - Leadership Ethics and the Collective Nature of Moral Reflection
Rasche, A. (2020)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 163, No.1, pp. 13-22
Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives on Sustainability. A Cross-Disciplinary Literature Review and Research Agenda for Business Ethics
de Bakker, F.G.A./Rasche, A./Ponte, S. (2019)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 343-383
Bullshit and Organization Studies
Christensen, L.T./Kärreman, D./Rasche, A. (2019)
Organization Studies, Vol. 60, No. 10, pp. 1587-1600
Politics, Governance, and Leadership: What Can We Learn From the Academy of Management’s Response to EO13769?
Davis, G. F., Anteby, M., Briscoe, F. S., Jennings, P. D., Karim, S., Kaul, A., Lazzarini, S., Özkazanc-Pan, B., Donnelly, P, Rasche, A., Tsui, A., Wright, T.A., & Zenger, T. R. (2019)
Journal of Management Inquiry, 28(3), 283–290
Corporate Sustainability Management and Environmental Ethics
Schuler, D./Rasche, A./Etzion, D./Newton, L. (2017)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 213-237
Big Data as Governmentality: Digital Traces, Algorithms, and the Reconfiguration of Data for International Development
Flyverbom, M./Rasche, A./Madsen, A.K. (2017)
Information Society, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 35-42
Managing for Political CSR: New Challenges and Directions for PCSR 2.0
Scherer, A.G./Rasche, A./Palazzo, G./Spicer, A. (2016)
Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 273-298
Decoupling Responsible Management Education: Why Business Schools May Not Walk Their Talk
Rasche, A./Gilbert, D.U. (2015)
Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 239-252
The Corporation as a Political Actor: European and North American Perspectives
Rasche, A. (2015)
European Management Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 4-8
Global Sustainability Governance and the UN Global Compact: A Rejoinder to Critics
Rasche, A./Waddock, S. (2014)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 122, No.2, pp. 209-216
Cross-Disciplinary Ethics Education in MBA Programs: Rhetoric or Reality?
Rasche, A./Gilbert, D.U./Schedel, I. (2013)
Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 71-85
The UN Global Compact: Retrospect and Prospect
Rasche, A./McIntosh, M./Waddock, S. (2013)
Business and Society, Vol. 52, No.1, pp. 6-30
Complete and Partial Organizing for Corporate Social Responsibility
Rasche, A./de Bakker, F./Moon, J. (2013)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 115, No. 4, pp. 651-663
Global Policies and Local Practice: Loose and Tight Couplings in Multi-stakeholder Initiatives
Rasche, A. (2012)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 679-708
The Dynamics of Standardisation: Three Perspectives on Standards in Organisation Studies
Brunsson, N./Rasche, A./Seidl, D. (2012)
Organization Studies, Vol. 33, No. 5-6, pp. 613-633
Institutionalizing Global Governance: The Role of the United Nations Global Compact
Rasche, A./Gilbert, D.U. (2012)
Business Ethics: A European Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 100-114
Accountability in a Global Economy: The Emergence of International Accountability Standards
Gilbert, D.U./Rasche, A./Waddock, S. (2011)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 21, No.1, pp. 23-44
Organizing Derrida Organizing: Deconstruction and Organization Theory
Rasche, A. (2011)
Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 32, pp. 251-280
Collaborative Governance 2.0
Rasche, A. (2010)
Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, Vol. 10, No.4, pp. 500-511
The Limits of Corporate Responsibility Standards
Rasche, A. (2010)
Business Ethics: A European Review, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 280-291
Leading Change: The Role of the Principles for Responsible Management Education
Rasche, A./Escudero, M. (2010)
Journal of Business and Economic Ethics, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 244-250
'A Necessary Supplement': What the United Nations Global Compact Is (Not)
Rasche, A. (2009)
Business and Society, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 511-537
As If It Were Relevant: A Social Systems Perspective on the Relation Between Theory and Practice
Rasche, A./Behnam, M. (2009)
Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 243-255
Researching Strategy Practices: A Genealogical Social Theory Perspective
Rasche, A./Chia, R. (2009)
Organization Studies, Vol. 30, No. 7, 713-734
'Are Strategists from Mars and Ethicists from Venus?': Strategizing as Ethical Reflection
Behnam, M./Rasche, A. (2009)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 84, No. 1, pp. 79-88
Toward a Model to Compare and Analyze Accountability Standards: The Case of the UN Global Compact
Rasche, A. (2009)
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 16, No.4, pp. 192-205
Opportunities and Problems of Standardized Ethics Initiatives: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective
Gilbert, D.U./Rasche, A. (2008)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 755-783
Corporations as Political Actors: A Report on the First Swiss Master Class in Corporate Social Responsibility
Rasche, A. et al. (2008)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 80, No.2, pp. 151-173
Discourse Ethics and Social Accountability: The Ethics of SA 8000
Gilbert, D. U./Rasche, A. (2007)
Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 17, No.2, pp. 187-216
From Stakeholder Management to Stakeholder Accountability: Applying Habermasian Discourse Ethics to Accountability Research
Rasche, A./Esser, D. E. (2006)
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 251-67
Media Articles
From Hamburg to Uganda: how an NGO learned to reinvent itself
(2026)
Waldner, C., Rasche, A., Schrage, S. (2026). From Hamburg to Uganda: How an NGO Learned to Reinvent Itself. The Conversation (27 January)
Development aid is often provided by large, international NGOs based in the Global North. These globally operating NGOs are under growing pressure to adapt the nature of their work – including administrative tasks – to the places where it occurs. However, this process of localisation is rarely straightforward. It’s not just about transferring responsibilities or adjusting ways of working to fit local contexts. It’s the contradictions within organisations that can distort or stall this process, which get left out.
ESG Rating Verordnung der EU – das Ende des ”Wilden Westens”
(2024)
Rasche, A. (2024). ESG Rating Verordnung der EU – das Ende des ”Wilden Westens”, Absolut Impact, 01/2024, p. 7
Er ESG-boblen ved at briste?
(2023)
Rasche, A. (2023). Er ESG-boblen ved at briste? Mandag Morgen, 10 October 2023
Den nylige afmatning på ESG-markedet er ikke ’begyndelsen på enden’ for bæredygtige investeringer. Tværtimod viser udviklingen, at markedet er blevet mere modent, og at vi ser ’enden på begyndelsen’ på mere impact-fokuserede strategier.
Sustainability Investing Is Changing the World Faster Than You Think
(2020)
Kell, G./Rasche, A. (2020): Sustainability Investing Is Changing the World Faster than You Think. Barron’s (Dow Jones), 25 September 2020
Sustainability and environmental, social, and governance investing used to be the buzzwords of activists. Today, c-suite executives and boards of corporations and financial firms are struggling to come to grips with these terms and the issues around ESG. Firms have an inkling that change in the investment world is afoot, but many have not yet realized that the forces driving ESG will soon force fundamental changes to their business.