THERE is a tendency among some corporate mavens to liken their CSR activities to token activities meant to spread some goodwill and, hopefully, improve the public relations aspect of said institutions. These acts of tokenism strike one as being both short-term and self-destructive in nature. In the first place, people are not stupid. They can probably spot photo-op tokenism a mile away, and if they do keep their silence, it is probably only out of respect for those involved.
If we look at a given organization, especially a corporation which ultimately looks to its bottom line in almost any given situation, CSR is sometimes the orphan child in the organization simply because it does not do enough for the bottom line. Instead of building it as an integral part of a business model, it becomes tail-end Charlie in the allocation of company resources. As a result, these token activities do not realize their true potential in providing platforms for energizing both the company and its stakeholders, especially in how they relate to their various publics.
The maxim that “One cannot give what one does not have” is very true in the case of CSR. How can a company postulate a program of social responsibility if it does not practice business ethics and foster an atmosphere where officers and employees are encouraged to think and act in ways that benefit each other, the corporation, and society in truly meaningful and positive ways? For example, can a company say it is socially responsible if it does not pay a decent wage, use environmentally friendly means of production, eschew wasteful consumption, or share some of its largesse with the less fortunate? There are many ways of measuring if a company is socially responsible, but we are not in that business. We can only exhort and provide positive cheer from the peanut gallery.
December 30th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Dear Eric,
What can I say? AMEN AMEN!
Digoy F
December 24th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
CSR is a concept most people missuse and often abuse. This comes out as purely dole outs, donations and photo opportunities.
Any organization will be out of their mind if they do not look after their bottom line, as always i believe that CSR is more of plowing back profits to the community. CSR is not just providing ample salaries to employees. Taking care of the environment etc…
For some CSR is considered as guilt management… After taking so much from everyone, they give a least a little back. Logically it should work, people perceive the organization as a more socially accepted one despite everything else it has done that placed itself to where they are now.
For others CSR is tax exemption, especially in the Philippines. This is one way of increasing your expenses erstwhile decreasing your declared profit. Thus a significant cut on the taxes. Declare totally depreciated items as newly acquired ones.
There are more to it than just corporate philantrophy, CSR should be a core value, something they should believe in and not something as a way around government regulations and should not be just a photo opportunity.
Eric A