Of course, in times of prosperity, CSR was considered as a luxury by some, consisting of taking a certain set of measures or initiatives, creating a positive, ethical or altruistic image. The underlying idea was most clearly that these same corporations would drastically reduce or even abandon their CSR involvement in times of crisis. Hence, CSR may not be a major component of corporate strategy, as it used to be thought. However, facts and figures analysis do not seem to validate this assertion, but indeed contradict, as more and more organisations publish CSR policy reports. Another significant fact is the positive evolution of SRI, at national and European levels.

In consequence, one would believe that laws of the game have changed since the 2008 (and subsequent) crisis. The perceived values of responsibility and sustainability are evolving. The global economical agents, such as the consumers, investors, employees or the public sector, are less accepting of disrespectful attitudes towards environment or human condition. The same applies with regards to the pursuit of short-term profit making, source of the crisis we are all experiencing. CSR seems then to progressively become a fundamental condition to the sustainability of market globalisation, and even an opportunity. Organisations are experiencing a long-term changing process, which can be seen as a maturity crisis, fuelled by their (mis?)understanding of the evolution of their economical, social and environmental roles within the society, these roles being especially challenging to combine in the short term, however totally compatible in the long.

The analysis of this evolution will be able to be approached under various axis :

Sectorial approaches to CSR
CSR and culture, CSR in the service industry (banking, tourism, public sphere…), CSR and utilities (particularly the energy), CSR and financial sectors …

CSR and Markets Globalisation
CSR and international management, CSR and sociocultural norms, CSR and its evaluation metrics, CSR and competitive advantages, CSR in and via the BRICS, CSR and anomalous behaviour, CSR and European institutions …

CSR and marketing
CSR and customer quality management, CSR and its setting up process, CSR and the need for legitimacy, CSR and customer relationship management, CSR and corporate image impact, CSR and evaluation of its implementations …

Paradoxes of CSR
CSR and States/Public Authorities disengagement CSR and the new situation of the private organisation within a liberal economy …

CSR and Information Systems
CSR, Stakeholders and Requirement Engineering, CSR and Business Process Modelling, Analysing, designing and/or implementing sustainable reporting systems, CSR and cloud-computing complementarity, issues, paradoxes, ​CSR and Knowledge Management Systems, CSR and Enterprise Resource Planning systems, CSR and Customer Relationship Management systems …

This list regroups some non-exaustive examples of themes on which communication will be considered. The Congress aims to be an exchange space between organisations' representatives and academics. The goal is to show in which circumstances and how a financial and economical crisis situation may impact a management concept, which has progressively imposed itself as a necessity. The occasion must be taken to identify new issues, analyse and theorise them. Finally, as for the previous congresses, the international nature allows communication to be proposed in any of the three following languages: English, French or Spanish.