Judge Business School launches new book, Multinationals in their Communities

The research and ensuing book have been co-authored by Dr Michael Pollitt, Reader in Business Economics, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Dr David Bek, a freelance research consultant, and Dr Ian Jones, Management Lecturer at Somerville College, University of Oxford and visiting academic fellow at Henley Management College. A paper of the same title, summarising the findings of the book, was recently awarded the Best Paper Prize at the 11th European Business Ethics Network UK Conference held at the University of Gloucestershire Business School, Cheltenham on April 12 and 13, 2007.

Dr Pollitt commented: “Our findings have shown that multinationals offer a rare ability to link local, national and global communities and have the capacity to impact significantly on the quality of social relations within the communities in which they operate. A key way they do this is through their corporate citizenship projects, funded as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes, such as youth training, venture capital funding or community healthcare.”

The book analyses the nature and effectiveness of these projects, by examining multinationals operating in South Africa, Mexico and Poland and through detailed case studies of Diageo, Anglo-American, GSK and Vodafone. “We have been able to demonstrate how multinationals can leverage their community

engagement activities to greater effect and play a more significant role in building socially successful communities in developing countries,” commented Dr Jones.

Commenting on the award-winning research and the resulting book, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, said: “One of the differentiating factors of Judge Business School is the close links it fosters between businesses and research, and the access and collaboration it can draw upon from the larger University of Cambridge network. The Centre for Business Research is an interdisciplinary research centre hosted here at the School, successfully linking Economics, Law, Geography, Engineering, Social and Political Sciences, and Land Economy with Management Studies. This collaborative research on multinationals is a great example of this “agora of knowledge” in action.”

The book will be officially launched on 12 June 2007 at an evening event sponsored by Anglo American in London, where Professor Mark Casson, University of Reading will make an address considering what multinationals should be doing to increase their social contribution. This will be followed by a presentation by Dr Pollitt and Dr Jones entitled “Building community through multinational cooperation; understanding good practise” and concluded by panel discussion and drinks reception.