By Sarah Stephen & José-Carlos García-Rosell

The pandemic caused by the corona virus, SARS-CoV-2, has brought countries to an eerie standstill, one that has not been witnessed in the recent past. As countries and individuals slowly emerge from lockdowns, there is a growing awareness of severe ramifications for businesses, society, and the issues at the intersection of business & society. At such a critical juncture, scholarship has the potential for leading the world into a renewed relationship between individuals, businesses, and societies. Consequently, the co-editors of Business & Society explained their vision via an editorial and an accompanying post on the Business & Society blog.

As part of this call, the Business & Society blog invites members of the community to submit contributions relating to the three broad themes, as follows:
1. The processes and mechanisms through which society responded; Developing strategies for future mobilisation of resources and support for societal problems.
2. Organisational responses; Insights on how similar changes can be achieved in the future and how businesses can (and should!) respond to broader societal challenges.
3. Future of business: business models, socioeconomic systems, and alternative business models.

By facilitating conversations on these themes, we are joining the COVID-19 Insights forum endorsed by Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS), Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment (GRONEN), Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), Organizations and the Natural Environment Division of the Academy of Management (ONE), Responsible Research for Business and Management Network (RRBM), and Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management (SIM).

Instructions for potential contributions:

• Three broad themes: More information is provided by the co-editors in their blog post & in the editorial. A potential contribution must fit one (or more) of these themes.
• The blog posts may be composed in the form of commentaries, opinions, perspectives, recommendations, or reviews.
• In the first instance, email the following to the Blog Editor (Sarah Stephen):
  • a 100-200 word abstract of your proposed post (PDF). This should clearly indicate the connection to one or more of the three themes (the final blog post has a word limit of 600).
  • a brief academic CV (PDF).

The Blog Editor can also be contacted if you require any information on the process.

We look forward to you joining us on this journey of delivering impactful conversations on business and society.