Corporate Social Responsibility – Much More than Philanthropy

Having worked for a large multi-nation consulting company for over 15 years I have a longstanding interest in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. Last semester, I did a group presentation on the topic with Akosua (who has already blogged on the subject here). For anyone who is interested in the area, I have included a bibliography of around a dozen useful academic articles that the end.

I was therefore disappointed when Dr Brown in his guest lecture, placed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) very much in the context of corporate philanthropy, even relying on a nearly 30 year old annual report to make his point, which gives some idea of how outdated this thinking might be. He seemed to regard it as a development that corporations were now targeting their philanthropy towards organizations and causes specifically relevant to their industries, rather than just donating to worthwhile charities and the arts. His 2007 article for the most part contains the same outmoded thinking. CSR has moved way beyond philanthropy and some even argue that philanthropy is not CSR, that it is the corporate equivalent of blood money to use an emotive metaphor.

CSR, today, is almost exclusively discussed in the context of business ethics and environmentalism, based on constructs such as sustainability accounting and the Triple P – People, Planet, Profit - bottom line. It is about Corporations taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, stakeholders employees & the general public.

One question that often gets asked is if CSR is just a marketing ploy, another example of greenwash. For some organizations, many of the biggest corporate donors included, the answer is very definitely yes. They talk the talk but don't walk the walk. However, for many more, and a growing number, the commitment is very real. One only needs to look at what they are doing to see which ones are serious and which ones are not. The three links below offer some examples which you can judge for yourself.

Walmart Sustainability News
Sears Sustainability Initiatives
Anheuser Busch Corporate Responsibility

There is a well-know management maxim that “what gets measured gets delivered,” which readily explains why some companies who measure what is easy rather than what is right perform poorly. What helps make CSR real is that it can be measured, and therefore monitored and managed, very effectively. Some of the formal measurement approaches include:

Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines
SA 8000 Social Accountability International Standards
AA100 AccountAbility Principles Standard 2008
Good Corporation Standards

A quick look at these will show how comprehensive they are, and also that some are more suited to particular industries that others. The Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines are probably the most widely used and cover a number of dimensions in detail with specific, quantifiable and credible metrics. The dimensions/categories they look at are:

• Economic Performance Indicators
• Environmental Performance Indicators
• Labor Practices and Decent Work Performance Indicators
• Human Rights Performance Indicators
• Society Performance Indicators
• Product Responsibility Performance Indicators

A second thing that makes CSR real is that consumers respond to it, creating a virtuous circle. Socially conscious consumers look for an organization's CSR credentials – Early adopter organization's build up and promote their CSR credentials – Mainstream consumers are affected by this CSR marketing and begin to look for an organization's CSR credentials – Mainstream organizations start to build up and promote their CSR credentials to stay competitive – Consumers start comparing different organizations' CSR credentials – Organizations start improving their CSR credentials, and so on. The following are some studies that show how consumers respond to CSR.

Fleishman-Hillard/National Consumers League Study 2007
BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2009
Consumer Attitudes in Ireland - BITCI/Ipsos MORI Poll, 2009

Based on the Fleishman-Hilliard study, 82% of the American public now thinks that it is extremely important (50%) or very important (32%) that congress should work to ensure CSR and the following percentages ranked each of these criteria as their number 1 priority.

• 29% Treats/pays employees well
• 15% Goes beyond law to protect environment
• 14% Responsive to customer needs
• 9% Contributes to community beyond taxes
• 8% Shares values
• 3% Gives to charitable causes
• 3% Ensures good profit for shareholders

The third thing that makes CSR very real, and increasingly so, is public discourse. A post-modern, structuralist view would hold that we create our own reality through discourse. I'm not going to go into a long discussion of that here but for anyone who is interested it is worth reading Corporate Social Responsibility through the Lens of Communication Theory and Research. Grushina, S. (2008). Conference Papers - National Communication Association, 1

Corporate Social Responsibility – Bibliography

A New Generation of Global Corporate Social Responsibility.
Stohl, C., Stohl, M., & Townsley, N. (2006). Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-36.

Corporate Social Responsibility through the Lens of Communication Theory and Research.
Grushina, S. (2008). Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1

Corporate social responsibility: investigating theory and research in the marketing context.
Vaaland, T., Heide, M., & Grønhaug, K. (2008). European Journal of Marketing, 42(9/10), 927-953.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing: An Integrative Framework
Isabelle Maignan, O C Ferrell. Academy of Marketing Science. Journal. Greenvale: Winter 2004. Vol. 32, Iss. 1, p. 3-19

Perceptions and perspectives: corporate social responsibility and the media
Ralph Tench, Ryan Bowd, Brian Jones. Journal of Communication Management. London:2007. Vol. 11, Iss. 4, p. 348-370

Walking the Line: External stakeholders define corporate social responsibility.
O'Connor, A., Shumate, M., & Meister, M. (2007). Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1.

Guest Editorial: Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility
Podnar, K. (2008). Guest Editorial: Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(2), 75-81.

The Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: United States and European Union Multinational Corporations
Laura P Hartman, Robert S Rubin, K Kathy Dhanda. Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht:Sep 2007. Vol. 74, Iss. 4, p. 373-389 (17 pp.)

Taboos in Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse
Tomi J Kallio. Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht: Aug 2007. Vol. 74, Iss. 2, p. 165 (11 pp.)
Abstract (Summary)

Corporate Social Responsibility: Views from the Frontline
Lisa Whitehouse. Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 63: 279–296 DOI 10.1007/s10551-005-3243-0 . Springer 2006

Corporate governance, communication, and getting social values into the decisional chain
Stanley Deetz. Management Communication Quarterly : McQ. Thousand Oaks: May 2003. Vol. 16, Iss. 4, p. 606-611 (6 pp.)