Social Business

Special Issue on Social Business from the Australasian Perspective

Guest Editor: Professor Richard J. Varey, The Waikato Management School, and Founding Member of the Editorial Board, Social Business

Submission of papers deadline: 1 December 2014

Social Business is a new journal launched in 2011 that seeks to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, experience, insights and ideas about the theory and practice of social business.

While the notion of ‘social business’ is central to all the world’s great philosophies, its application and implementation has been overshadowed since the Industrial Revolution of the mid-Eighteenth century by theories of competition and what has come to be known as ‘Anglo-Saxon’ capitalism. It has become clear that, while this approach has brought many benefits to affluent western style economies, it is unsuited to two thirds of the world’s population who survive at the bottom, or Tier 4, of the world economic pyramid. The need for an alternative business model became increasingly apparent during the second half of the 20th century and was widely aired in leading business publications such as the Harvard Business Review and Business Week as well as a number of books such as Sen’s Development as Freedom and de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else.

The revival of interest in social business has been led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus who, in his book, Building Social Business, calls for a new dimension for capitalism as an approach for "harnessing the energy of profit-making to the objective of fulfilling human needs" and creating "self-supporting, viable commercial enterprises that generate economic growth even as they produce goods and services that make the world a better place".

Although Prof Yunus has a preferred model of social business as a ‘non-loss non-dividend company’, in his writing he recognises that there are many approaches towards addressing the same problem – the elimination of poverty and enhancement of human welfare. The journal provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience between academics and practitioners working towards this goal.

While the basic objective of social business is easily stated, its achievement calls for a radical re-appraisal of our ideas for the conduct of profitable business from top down to bottom up. And, in doing so, it brings into sharp relief many of the issues that confront global society in the twenty first century.

This special issue provides an opportunity to take stock of the work being done by colleagues in Australia and New Zealand. Scholars are invited to submit papers that summarise the key findings of their research, review current issues, highlight key learning from cases, or propose a future research agenda. It is anticipated that emerging scholars may publish their doctoral and early research work in this collection. …[Read More at the full Call for Papers]

For the full Call for Papers and details about how to submit visit the journal CFP webpage:

http://www.westburn-publishers.com/sb-call-for-papers/

For more details about Social Business visit the main journal webpage:

www.socialbusinessperiodical.com

 

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