Principles of Responsible Management Textbook: Access & Pricing

We are happy to report that the first official UN PRME textbook “Principles of Responsible Management: Glocal Sustainability, Responsibility, Ethics” seems to be adopted quickly by a large number of business schools. The book was the most requested Cengage publication at the Academy of Management annual convention 2014 in Philadelphia. We recently received the US sales numbers which show that the book has found wide interest across schools. From anecdotal evidence in the authors’ networks, the situation appears to be similar among European business schools. So far, we have only heard from a handful of schools from Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

However, we see that the book is (due to the production costs of a first edition, and full-colour printing) somewhat more expensive than other books. We are currently discussing with Cengage how to bring the price down, but would like to offer some more immediate solution meanwhile. As our main objective in publishing this book is to reach as many students as possible and to contribute to the necessary transition towards responsible management education, we have searched for less pricy options than requiring a “traditional full print book for every students”. The following strategies have been used by book adopters around the world already:

0) Use the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese translations or the Indian (English-language) version of the book. A much more accessible/cheaper second (international) edition of the book will be published in 2019.

1) There is a google play version of the complete book that costs 27 pounds- less than half of the normal retail price.

2) There are dozens of second-hand copies online on Amazon, selling for half the price of new books- the choice is especially in the United States, where several large required courses finish every semester.

3) Several chapters are freely available online on google books.

4) If you give your regional Cengage sales representative some 6 weeks to prepare, Cengage will provide a customized print version of the book (it looks like a “normal” book, but includes only the chapters you need), which is much more inexpensive, as you only pay the chapters you want to use.

5) Buy only the chapters you need as ebook or rent the (e)book. Chapter prices vary between pdf and print single chapter purchase, but should be around 3-6 USD per chapter.

6) Use it for more than one course (e.g. an “Introduction to responsible management” based on Chapters 1-5; and “Responsible management across the business”, based on Chapters 6-15). For ideas on how to split it up into two course, please find course templates here .

7) Buy reference copies for the library, and make the extensive presentation set accessible for students on which they can then read up in library.

8) Make most out of your money by using for-free instructor materials which can be downloaded here.

9) Review if the textbook “Responsible Business” might be an alternative- please find a comparison of both books here.

If you have questions or you are aware of any other strategies to drive the price down and increase access, please let us know here.