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Corporate Social Responsibility programmes are now common place across the business world. What constitutes successful CSR, however, continues to be questioned, especially as the economic crisis dominates headlines.
Now, more than ever, Corporate Social Responsibility programmes need to earn their place in the business world. This week, three commentators are united in their recognition that there is a real value in maintaining and supporting CSR projects, but only if organisations ensure all projects contribute to the core business. The future lies in creating shared value, not simply charity for charity’s sake.
The first of these commentators, Mike Pandey who writes in the Economic Times, argues that Corporate Social Responsibility principally provides companies with a ‘tool created for giving back’. He questions, however, whether we have used the tool in the way in which it was first intended. He discusses the strain we have collectively placed on the Earth’s resources, suggesting that the economic downturn has forced us into a period of retrospection and introspection. He questions whether we have done enough to ‘pay back what we have taken’ from the Earth and suggests that this may be an empty promise for many companies and corporations. Some, however, have begun to live up to their promises, taking the first steps towards making CSR something real and valid within a company, for real benefit to the world around us. He concludes that a ‘greater collective effort is needed if we want a change, if we want a future’.
Julian Evans of the Wall Street Journal agrees that that the global recession has forced companies to reassess what their corporate social responsibility means to them. More so than Mike Pandey, Evan is hopeful that this is giving companies the opportunity to ensure that their CSR projects are core to the wider business values and intentions, rather than ‘marginal initiatives’. Very much in line with the central arguments that sit behind Creating Shared Value, Evans refers to the comments of Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google at Davos; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpDjcuYVWxo who said that he sees no difference between the social responsibilities of business and their fundamental business responsibilities.
Not only must a business use their CSR projects to support the wider business needs and objectives, this integration must then be clearly communicated through CSR reporting. Prakash Sethi writes on this issue for Ethical Corporation, stressing that a business’ CSR programme must have both business and social benefits if it is to be seen positively by consumers. He argues that companies need to ensure their corporate social responsibility reporting has a sense of true integrity. Sethi writes that the ‘new emphasis’ in CSR reporting is to focus on a company’s core business activities and their impact on the sustainability of the planet’s environment and inhabitants.
We aim to achieve this with Creating Shared Value. There’s a mutual business and philanthropic benefit to be had from projects that are sincerely devised to assist the world around us while furthering the values and needs of the business. One example of this is the work being done in Latin America to ensure that Creating Shared Value is at the heart of each stage of the value chain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNlEvxxp2fU
