The ultimate test for any operations manager is whether he or she can develop
an operation which meets the challenges and decisions that lie ahead for the
organization. In the preceding 20 chapters, we have outlined many of these
challenges and decisions, and placed them in the context of the nature and
purpose of operations management. In this final part of the book we examine
an issue that is far wider than operations management, but with which
operations management is intimately connected – corporate social
responsibility (CSR). It is important to operations management because,
of all the functions of any organization, it is operations management which
can have the most practical impact on its CSR performance.