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Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility is the most in and talked about thing in today’s modern and globalizing village world.  However most of the people talking about it and most of the organization implementing it hardly know what actually CSR is. It was in the 1950s we saw the start of the modern era of CSR when it was more commonly known as SR or social responsibility. In 1953, Howard Bowen published his book, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, and is largely credited with coining the phrase 'corporate social responsibility' and he is perhaps regarded as the Father of modern day CSR.

According to Wikipedia “Corporate social responsibility is a type of international private business self-regulation that aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature or by engage in or support volunteering or ethically-oriented practices”. In other words we can say that Enterprises should not only be profitable tools, but also be responsible citizenships. Corporate practices need a world structure to exceed imposed standards, go beyond present governments, and set goals for sustainable development. Multinational enterprises are responsive to the stakeholders’ needs. Therefore, enterprises must focus on productive stakes in the global economy, and include social responsibility “which creates long-term sustainability for corporate success by meeting the needs of all suppliers, investors and employees” into their ownership advantage. The perspective and implementation of CSR has important consequences for Multinational Enterprises in fostering development. This article addresses the implication that pays attention to the active and passive ways of CSR in which MNEs or the Pre-MNEs can be affected in sustainable development.

Most of the people consider that crucial role and responsibilities for business in fighting poverty and acting responsibly in developing countries. It begins by proposing different ways to categorize the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries. CSR in developing countries is a rich and fascinating area of enquiry, which is becoming ever more important in CSR theory and practice; however it is profoundly under-researched.  In nut shell I can say that CSR is a thoughtful and practical way to give back to society. When businesses are conscious of their social and environmental impact on the world, they can benefit society by giving back and helping to find solutions to everyday issues, e.g. reduce carbon footprints to mitigate climate change. ... Change corporate policies to benefit the environment. Make socially and environmentally conscious investments., support improvement in literacy rate and health care, catering the hunger and thirst of down trodden society and by raising the living standards of the under privileged masses.

For every organization it has become quite essential now a day to comply with following four levels of social responsibility if it has to survive with a clear chit from the social media specialist and human right associations:

1.      Economics or the responsibility of the business to be profitable.

2.      The responsibility to meet the legal obligations.

3.      Businesses must comply with the law and regulations.

4.      Companies have a responsibility to act ethically and morally and to choose the action that will help the masses in general and their customers in particular.

Some of the core characteristics on which shows as how CSR is represented with different initiatives and processes ranging from voluntary activities are, managing external factors, stakeholder management, alignment of social and economic responsibilities, considering practices and values. Based on the shared characteristics following activities can be performed by a company to accomplish its CSR obligations:

Ø  Eradicating extreme hunger and poverty

Ø  Promotion of education

Ø  Promoting gender equality and empowering women

Ø  Reducing child mortality

Ø  Improving maternal health

Ø  Combating human immunodeficiency virus, acquired, immune deficiency syndrome, malaria and other diseases

Ø  Ensuring environmental sustainability,

Ø  Employment enhancing vocational skills, social business projects

Ø  Contribution to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund or any other fund set up by the Central Government or the Provincial Governments for socio-economic development,

Ø  Relief and funds for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women and such other matters as may be prescribed.

Once an organization or company decide to be a Socially Responsible corporate then it has to decide as how to carry out this activity of their. As many big corporations have endowment arms, such projects can be a challenge for startups that lack the budget for grand philanthropic gestures. But even a modest effort can pay dividends in both positive publicity and customer loyalty. Best ways to perform this responsibility are:

a.      Carry out a focused effort by defining your messaging.

b.      Seek suggestion by involving your customers.

c.       Go for achievable & measurable goals by creating a scorecard.

d.      Reach out by using social media like, Facebook, twitter, blogs, v-logs and YouTube.

e.      Enter into alliance and partnership with a third party.

f.        Get Media support and seek publicity for your efforts and initiatives.

g.      Take your stake holders and shareholders in loop by repurposing your CSR reports.

Corporate Social Responsibility, or “CSR,” refers to the need for businesses to be good corporate citizens. ... CSR goes beyond earning money for shareholders. It's concerned with protecting the interests of all stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which businesses operate. The basic advantage that a socially responsible corporate will gain out of its CSR initiatives is the improvement they had brought in the lives of their customer and general masses life so they can contribute better and become more productive citizens. CSR and sustainability are good for business.

In short I can simply say that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis., with the main intention of a CSR is to improve the transparency of organizations' activities. ... On one hand, CSR reports aim to enable companies to measure the impact of their activities on the environment, on society and on the economy on the other hand. Hence Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an organization's obligation to consider the interests of their customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the ecology and to consider the social and environmental consequences of their business activities. It’s a two way corridor for business enterprises as one one side it’s supporting the society by paying them back out of its profit for their betterment and uplifting their standards of living while on the other side it is generating good name and repo for itself thus indirectly attracting more customers and more profits. So I won’t be wrong in saying that for any organization and enterprise CSR is simply contributing to Self Resources.

BY: OVAIS ASAD KHAN