Do people know what CSR really means?
I’m surprised by the number of people who ask me “What’s CSR?”
There are thousands of weird initials out there, any of which can mean something different depending on what industry you’re talking about. These are people who work in companies of all sizes and shapes and even people who work in companies with corporate social responsibility (or corporate sustainability and responsibility) programs.
If I told someone I worked in IT or HR, I don’t think anyone would ask “What’s that?”
Not that the acronym itself should be important, but what does it say about the practice? Does it simply point to poor communication about CSR within companies? Or does it suggest that CSR is not valued by all managers and teams? Or worse, that in reality, not every company has embraced CSR as part of its culture?
Perhaps CSR needs a hip makeover, like the trend away from HR (human resources) to people and culture. That’s one side of the move towards “shared value”.
Shared value is more than just a brand change or CSR facelift though; it’s proponents say it moves away from just making contributions to charities or being seen as a responsible corporate citizen, and encourages companies to see themselves as operating in an ecosystem, knowing that improving that ecosystem for everyone is good for business.
Mark Kramer, one of the leading proponents of shared value insists companies “that turn to collective impact will not only advance social progress but also find economic opportunities that their competitors miss” (Mark Kramer and Marc Pfitzer. “The Economic System of Shared Value”. Harvard Business Review, October 2016).
Whatever you call it, this notion is built on the belief that companies must be about more than just profit. Tying the success of your organisation to profit alone is not sustainable. Most of us can bring to mind examples of companies that have come undone due to focus on profit at all costs: Enron, Lehman Brothers and, more recently, Wells Fargo. Many of these failed companies had CSR programs designed to tick the boxes of good corporate citizenship, but, I would argue, it wasn’t part of their values.
In a future post I’ll look at the early days of CSR, how it started, and some of the revolutionaries like Antoine Riboud. From this I believe we see that the recent moves toward shared value and other corporate/social philosophies are really extensions of the same belief: That caring for the places and people where you do business, is good for business.
