Corporate Social Responsibility

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Corporate Social Responsibility
An introduction to
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Objectives for this session

• At the end of this session, you should be able to
  identify and describe
• A definition for CSR
• Reasons for having a CSR programme
• Objections to CSR
• What makes a CSR programme
• How a CSR programme is communicated
• Principles of reporting for CSR
• Some alternative viewpoints on CSR

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What is
Corporate Social Responsibility?
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Also known as Corporate Citizenship Corporate
Responsibility Responsible Business
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Definition
Specifically, we see CSR as the voluntary
actions that business can take, over and above
compliance with minimum legal requirements, to
address both its own competitive interests and
the interests of wider society.
Source www.csr.gov.uk
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Why CSR?

• Consumers investors growing expectation for
  organisations to behave responsibly
• Consumer awareness Green and Ethical
  consumerism
• Legislation HS, EPA, Sustainability, Codes of
  Practice
• Globalisation Adoption of Best Practice,
  Consumer Legal Acceptance.

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Business advantages of CSR

• Human Resources
• Recruitment, retention and morale of Staff
• Risk Management
• Investment in ethical brand equity
• Greenwash effect?
• Brand Differentiation
• As USP
• Build brand loyalty
• Reputation and brand attractiveness

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Business advantages of CSR

• Business Development
• New markets, products and services
• Resources Management
• Better management and conservation of strategic
  assets
• Stakeholder Management
• Better internal and external relationships
• Freedom of operation reduce government, public,
  NGO intervention in organisation

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Corporate Social Responsibility
adds value
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Why not CSR?

• May take management focus away from core business
  activity
• May appear cosmetic without genuine social
  benefit
• May make organisation more vulnerable to
  revelation of bad / unethical business practice
• A restriction to free trade?

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Economist, Milton Friedman says
The social responsibility of business is to
increase its profits.
What does it mean to say that "business" has
responsibilities? Only people can have
responsibilities.
in a free society there is one and only one
social responsibility of business to use its
resources and engage in activities designed to
increase its profits so long as it stays within
the rules of the game, which is to say, engages
in open and free competition without deception or
fraud."
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Some of the most common ways in which CSR is
demonstrated

• Specialist adopted projects
• Corporate charitable donations
• Voluntary schemes for staff
• Staff fundraising activities
• Changes to organisational operations

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The four components of CSR

• Economic
• Legal
• Ethical
• Discretionary

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Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility
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General values statement

• Organisations should develop a general values
  statement which reflects their stance towards CSR
• This may form part of a more comprehensive
  Mission Statement
• Should define ethical framework that guides the
  accomplishment of the overall mission of an
  organization within a society

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Example Organisational Focus
JP Morgan Chase
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Example Environmental Focus
Coca Cola
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Example Customer Focus
Home Depot
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Example Employee Focus
Johnson and Johnson
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Example Stakeholder Focus
Credit Suisse
United Technologies
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Example Social Focus
Bristol-Myers Squibb
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Reporting CSR

• CSR projects may be administered and communicate
  achievements via
• A dedicated CSR section or department
• The HR department
• Business development section
• Public Relations department
• Directly via CEO and / or Board of Directors

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Reporting FormatsThe Triple Bottom Line

• This means expanding the traditional reporting
  framework to take into account performance in
  terms of
• Social (People)
• Environmental (Planet), as well as
• Financial (Profit)

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Reporting FormatsThe Triple Bottom Line

• Concept developed by John Elkington in 1994
• Expects organisations to be responsible to
  stakeholders interests rather than
  shareholders profit
• Related concepts
• Full-cost accounting
• Social entrepreneurialism
• Social and natural capital

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Other sources for CSR reporting
Sustainability Guidelines developed by the
Global Reporting Initiative (www.globalreporting.
org)
SA800 certification developed by the
international human rights organisation Social
Accountability International. (www.sa-intl.org)
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Other sources for CSR reporting
The Green Globe programme for benchmarking,
certification and performance improvement, based
on Agenda 21 proposals from the 1992 Rio Earth
Summit (www.greenglobe.org)
ISO 14000 international environmental management
standards (www.14000.org)
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Other sources for CSR reporting
The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
framework and mechanism designed to encourage
businesses to adopt CSR policies (www.unglobalcomp
act.org)
The FTSE 4 Good Index measures the performance
of companies who meet globally recognised CSR
standards. (www.ftse.com/Indices/FTSE4Good_Index_S
eries)
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Alternative sources of information
www.corpwatch.org
www.naomiklein.org
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In conclusion

• In this session we have looked at
• What is CSR
• Why CSR is likely to be come more widely adopted
• The business case for CSR
• The Value Statement (Customer, Employee,
  Stakeholder and Social focus)
• Reporting and Accountability options for CSR
  including the Triple Bottom Line concept
• CSR and social criticism of international
  organisations