What emerges when a market emerges?

Purpose – What emerges when a market emerges? Does giving emphasis to the term emerging markets not represent a form of economic reductionism, neglecting the social context in which a market emerges? In this respect, CSR can be seen as a contribution from the business community, one that does not separate the economic and social dimensions in this process. However, more global approaches are needed to face today's challenges and to reflect on the criteria to be borne in mind. This paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – For this reason, the paper feels it might be useful to respond to the question posed in the title, in dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (CV). The latter represents one of the few current attempts to provide a global and integrated view, incorporating specific guiding values and criteria for action. This paper is thus divided into three parts entitled: in times of globalization and crisis: integral human development as a criterion; the CSR challenge: the company, sustainability and the common good; and the continuing challenge of business in society. Findings – The main finding is that CV's contribution may be to provide criteria to analyze what one has to bear in mind when talking about emerging markets without reducing this vision merely to economic terms. It is necessary to consider criteria such as: integral human development; the common good; intergenerational justice; the cultural context; ethics integrated within the economy and moral responsibility. All of these are fundamental. Originality/value – This paper questions the message, which is sometimes oversimplified in the case of emerging markets, to the extent that it forgets the social context. Dealing with this omission allows one to present new challenges both as part of these countries' CSR agendas and in the call for both local and global governance.