UNRISD Deputy Director, Peter Utting, will give a presentation on ‘The Changing Roles of Business in Poverty Reduction’ at the Institute for Advanced Studies and Department of Politics and International Relations, Lancaster University on 17 April 2009. His presentation will be part of a seminar entitled ‘Cultures of Competitiveness: Social and Environmental Dimensions’. It will be the fifth research seminar supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and will examine the potential and limits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of inclusive development, as well as how civic activism prompts new socially and environmentally-oriented attempts to incorporate ‘ethical governance’ and human security concerns into cultures and practices of competitiveness.
Since January 2008, the Institute for Advanced Studies has organized a series of research seminars under the theme of ‘changing cultures of competitiveness’. The series aims to provide a context for presenting and promoting interdisciplinary analyses of competitiveness as a body of knowledge and related policy. The previous four seminars covered the following topics: cultures of competitiveness: discourses and knowledge brands; financialization of competitiveness; competitiveness, global production and labour relations; changing cultures of competitiveness in education.
For his presentation at the seminar, Peter will examine the changing role of business in growth models and policy regimes conducive to inclusive development. He will also assess the potential and limits of CSR from the perspective of inclusive development as well as highlight the importance of multi-disciplinarity for understanding the potential and limits of CSR.
For more information about the ESRC research seminar, please
click here.