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Emergent Responsible Management

A Social Connection Model

  • Re-examines the concept of responsibility in corporate management and develops a new management model
  • Describes the case studies of five leading companies as models of emergent responsible management
  • Proposes applicable design and processes, with guidelines for adoption, required for emergent responsible management

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
  2. Responsibility Creates Value in Management

    • Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 1-10
  3. Beyond Accountability, Towards Responsibility

    • Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 11-19
  4. OMRON: Realising the Corporate Philosophy Driven Projects

    • Katsuhiko Kokubu, Kimitaka Nishitani
    Pages 33-43
  5. Bridgestone: Our Way to Serve

    • Hirotsugu Kitada, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 45-54
  6. Marui Group: Creating an Organisation Through Voluntary Participation

    • Hirotsugu Kitada, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 55-65
  7. Yahoo Japan: Problem-Solving Engine

    • Mitsunobu Ando, Hirotsugu Kitada
    Pages 67-75
  8. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group: The ‘Kizuna’ Activities

    • Kimitaka Nishitani, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 77-88
  9. Design of Emergent Responsible Management

    • Hirotsugu Kitada, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 89-102
  10. The Process of Emergent Responsible Management

    • Mitsunobu Ando, Hirotsugu Kitada, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 103-114
  11. Challenging SDGs with Emergent Responsible Management

    • Kimitaka Nishitani, Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 115-124
  12. Effects of Emergent Responsible Management

    • Katsuhiko Kokubu
    Pages 125-131
  13. Correction to: Emergent Responsible Management

    • Katsuhiko Kokubu, Kimitaka Nishitani, Hirotsugu Kitada, Mitsunobu Ando
    Pages C1-C2
  14. Back Matter

    Pages 133-136

About this book

This book proposes emergent responsible management as a new tool to address the infinite nature of managerial responsibility and discusses how to bring out activities based on infinite responsibility in organizations. Whereas the concept of responsibility of corporations has been brought to the forefront with increasing recognition of the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR), its essence has not been fully perceived, which has inevitably resulted in the restrictive feeling associated with organizational CSR activities. This book not only involves theoretical discussion by shedding light on the notions of ‘responsibility’ and ‘emergence’ underpinning the theory of emergent responsible management; it also provides practical insights with several case studies to examine how activities reflecting these fundamental elements have been practiced. In this way, the authors propose corresponding organizational design and process to encourage its continued practice. In addition, the effects of emergent responsible management and how it can be applied to new issues such as fulfilling sustainable development goals (SDGs) are also examined. The book is highly recommended for business practitioners as well as consultants who deal with CSR in everyday practice.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Katsuhiko Kokubu

  • Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Kimitaka Nishitani

  • Faculty of Business Administration, Hosei University, Chiyoda, Japan

    Hirotsugu Kitada

  • CSR Communication Association, Shinjuku, Japan

    Mitsunobu Ando

About the authors

Katsuhiko Kokubu is a Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan. He is currently serving as a Deanof the Graduate School of Business Administration. He also was a Vice President of Kobe University from 2019 to 2021.He completed his Ph.D. in Business Administration at Osaka City University. Professor Kokubu is a leading scholar of sustainable management and accounting. He has published more than 30 books, including Sustainability Management and Business Strategy in Asia(World Scientific, 2019) and 300 papers in leading journals including the Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Environmental Management, and Sustainable Production and Consumption.

Kimitaka Nishitani is a Professor at the Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University. He is also currently serving as the Deputy Director of the RIEB and the Center for Computational Social Science,Kobe University. He completed his Ph.D. in business administration at Kobe University. He was also an academic visitor at the School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, from 2015 to 2016. Professor Nishitani has published extensively on sustainability management, and social and environmental reporting in leading journals including Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Environmental Management, and Sustainable Production and Consumption.

Hirotsugu Kitada is an Associate Professor of the Faculty of Business Administration, Hosei University, Japan. He completed his Ph.D. in business administration at Kobe University. In 2012, he joined the Faculty of Business Administration, Hosei University as an associate professor and is concurrently an invited researcher at KDDI Research, Inc. He is also an expert for ISO/TC323 (Circular Economy) and, as well, was an expert for ISO/TC207 (ISO14007, Guidelines for Determining Environmental Costsand Benefits). His research interests encompass management accounting and sustainability accounting. His work has been published in leading journals including PLOS ONE and the Journal of Cleaner Production.

Mitsunobu Ando is a representative director of the CSR Communication Association. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree at Daito Bunka University, he worked for an internet advertising company for several years. In 2008, he became an independent consultant and has provided consulting services to listed companies regarding sustainability management in such areas as strategy formulation, third-party evaluation, web/report creation support, and information disclosure.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Emergent Responsible Management

  • Book Subtitle: A Social Connection Model

  • Authors: Katsuhiko Kokubu, Kimitaka Nishitani, Hirotsugu Kitada, Mitsunobu Ando

  • Series Title: Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0416-5

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-19-0415-8Published: 26 June 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-19-0418-9Published: 27 June 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-19-0416-5Published: 25 June 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2524-504X

  • Series E-ISSN: 2524-5058

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 136

  • Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations, 18 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Business Ethics, Business Strategy/Leadership

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access