COSMIC International Conference

International Conference on

April 29th, 2010 Pisa, Italy

Organized by: Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

In cooperation with:Center of innovation and Conceptual development of New Products, Universitat de Girona, Spain Fondaca‐ Active Citizenship Foundation, Rome, Italy Empolese Valdelsa Cluster Development Agency, Florence, Italy

Sponsored by:European Commission: Directorate‐General for Enterprise and Industry Global Compact –United Nations, Italian Network

Background

The conference is a follow up to the Cosmic Project, “CSR oriented supply-chain management to improve competitiveness in the textile/clothing sector”. It represents one of the projects of the European Commission – Enterprise and Industry DG, within the Program “Fostering CSR in European Industrial Sectors”. The overall objective of this Program is to improve the CSR performance of European industry, thereby improving its contribution to sustainable development and enhancing its competitiveness.

The call for papers is aimed to demonstrate the links between CSR and competitiveness. Nowadays it is widely recognised that Europe cannot compete on costs’ factors with developing Countries, and companies must focus on non-price factors. Moreover, the environmental and social sustainability is a key objective that Europe wants to achieve.

Topic areas:

• Supply side analysis and Innovative processes: about dynamic efficiency and on CSR adopted models.
• Market demand side analysis: analyzing the upstream phases of the distributive systems, by identifying the main intermediaries and distribution channels. Another interesting aspect is about the preferences of the end consumers.
• Credits and insurance system analysis: investigating the role of financial and insurance institutions in stimulating CSR policies among companies.
• Public policy analysis (international, national, and local levels): about the supporting role of public policy, in the promotion of CSR management models and other volunteer tools among companies.