Industry

Books

Creative Capitalism: Coversations with Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Others – Michael Kinsley
If you have a low tolerance threshold for self-righteous Americans then this may not be the book for you, however it does have some interesting ideas about how CSR could work in the real world.

Dead Aid: Why Aid Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa – Dambisa Moyo
Slightly off-topic but well worth a read, it’s very short too if that's a plus point for you.

Let My People Go Surfing: the Education of a Reluctant Businessman – Yvon Chouianard
Part autobiography, part business manual, by the founder of Patagonia, this is pretty much the only book on the subject of CSR in the outdoor industry.

Misguided Virtue – David Henderson
Interesting critique of CSR, written by an economist. Critiques of CSR are usually written by economists, with varying degrees of writing ability.

The End of Poverty: How We Can Make it Happen in Our Lifetime – Jeffrey D. Sachs
Good to read in conjunction with Dead Aid.

The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility - Jeremy Moon et al
Wouldn’t recommend this as light bedtime reading, but if you want to be able to spout academic theory ad nauseum then this is a good one. It is about the only place that gathers all the major past and current thinking on CSR in one place.

Articles

Outdoor Gear Special - Ethical Consumer Research Report
Excellent company by company breakdown of the outdoor industry. In my opinion the marking criteria they use are extreme to the point of being regressive, but it does address how serious some of these issues are.

The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase it Profits – Milton Friedman
The Granddaddy of CSR critique. You can find it online, everyone cites it and definitely worth reading first-hand.

The Sustainability Imperative – Daniel Etsy and David Lubin
Written for the Harvard Management Review and available free online, a good business argument if your interest is in the environmental side.

Websites

Any brand's website should give some information about its supply chain - it's very interesting to note the differences between some of them.