CSR: Why-How

 

In the last few decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an essential concept in modern business. There was a time when the concept was perceived as nothing more than high-minded optimism. Today the business world has come to realize the importance and power of proper CSR usage.  For decades, the issues around CSR have been defined, yet its implementation remains hazy to many.

There has been considerable debate and discussion on how does a company can use CSR to create shared value This is especially important in the present social media age. One major problem has been that there has been inadequate understanding of the concept among its practitioners To plan CSR strategically the need to understand the roots of CSR as a concept is essential.

CSR, as a concept was first heard about in the 1950s. In his 1953 book Social Responsibilities of the Businessman published in 1953 Economist Howard Bowen put out the first comprehensive definition of  CSR, According to Bowen social responsibility “refers to the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society.”

The concept of social responsibility gained support and became more popular in the 1960s,. Issues like Civil Rights, the Vietnam War, pollution and overpopulation motivated millions of Americans to take to the streets and demand change all these together and separately impacted business. Business learned from the 1960s that there was the need to reflect to public concerns, and to adapt to constantly evolving issues.

Evidence of this change became visible by the 1970s, when companies like Ben & Jerry’s and The Body Shop built their brands around addressing social and political issues first and foremost. In the decades following, brand integrity and outreach grew in importance. Companies found that they could no longer be seen only as a producer of products, but also as an agents  responsible for social, political and environmental change.

 In this age of the internet and fast and easy communications, consumers are demanding more from the businesses they buy from. Stakeholders and the community have repeated indicated that companies should do more to set right the adverse impacts they have on the communnity

Several studies over the past years have shown that consumers will purchase a product because a company supports the issues they care about.  Good public image is essential for companies and consumers use their money to either support or downgrade the company. For long-term survive and sustainability, companies need to use their CSR programmes to grow.

CSR practitioners are often unable to decide on their CSR strategy According to David Chandler, in his book Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation, has identified  five major components of strategic corporate social responsibility (SCSR) which directly answer this question:

1. CSR must be incorporated into company planning processes and corporate culture.
2. All of a company’s actions directly reflect core operations.
3. Companies must listen to their stakeholders’ desires, and have their opinions influence decision making.
4. A company must shift from a short-term perspective to a mid- to long-term one.
5. Companies must optimize shared value created.

The author suggests that CSR should work hand-in-hand with all departments of the business, to secure the best results for the company at large. CSR has to be  used as an essential tool in business decision making, aligning the goals of shareholders, employees and customers toward a better and more efficient company. This is the most challenging facet of CSR application.

There is no common fit for all companies. For every company CSR has a different meaning and therefore their response is not the same. Each company needs to create policies and programmes which answer the needs of their employees and customers among other stakeholders. The effects of CSR outreach are often not immediately visible. Often taking years for results to manifest

However, CSR  does build stakeholder interest and loyalty. Yet companies very often find it difficult to effectively harness the power of public good will. There is need to bridge this gap through proper networking involving all stakeholders.

Employees and customers want to take action on the issues they care about, and will encourage their friends to do the same, thus driving engagement to your company’s action hub. When used in conjunction with social media campaigns and challenges that reward sustained action, our clients have seen amazing results.