Any time corporate citizenship makes a positive splash in the business press, that's good news for this field, which has fought long and hard against being marginalized. So we were pleased to see the August 15 Business Week story, "The Debate Over Doing Good."

"Companies have long paid lots of money – and lip service – to philanthropy and public service," write the authors, who interviewed Center director Bradley Googins. "But...managers from all parts of American business are increasingly seeing social responsibility as a strategic imperative."

Behind this change is the "so-called stakeholder theory," which says that companies must please not only stockholders, but suppliers, customers, employees, community members and even social activists.

The authors say that a strong impetus is employees: "A new generation of employees is demanding attention to stakeholders and seeking more form their jobs than just 9-5 work hours and a steady paycheck."

They also point out that companies who have not embraced a strategic approach have suffered as a result, pointing to Wal-Mart as an example of a company whose fragmented giving has generated little goodwill, despite it being a top corporate donor.