Interesting topic for a Friday right? Well, it can certainly be controversial as well as gratifying, depending of course if you and your company are doing your part
in respects to Corporate Social Responsibility. So what does it exactly mean, well, according to investopedia.com it means: a corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on the environment and impact on social welfare. The term generally applies to company efforts that go beyond what may be required by regulators or environmental protection groups. Corporate social responsibility may also be referred to as “corporate citizenship” and can involve incurring short-term costs that do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but instead promote positive social and environmental change.
So now I ask you what are you doing? Or are you telling yourself, we do nothing for corporate social responsibility. Well while I may not be an expert on the subject matter, I do think I know some initial steps you can take in identifying whether or not your company is doing the right thing.
The first step in figuring out how your company is exhibiting Corporate Social Responsibility is taking a look at your materials and or supplies. Examine and identify where these items are coming from. This can apply to a manufacturer and even a contractor. An easy example would be do you have wood coming from the Amazon rain forest where workers are paid one US dollar a day? I know bad example, but you catch my drift. In that example you are certainly not being compliant with what corporate social responsibility stands for. I seemed to have jumped a bit ahead here in my example. Another important aspect to remember is if your raw materials are being sourced in let’s say South Africa is it socially responsible to have them processed in China or Vietnam? The answer is no! As part of Corporate Social Responsibility you should technically have them processed in the land of its origin. Consider the economic impact of that statement, I know business is business but you’d be doing the ethical, social right thing by keeping that work there. Consider that this could possibly change the social class disparity that the world sees. Also, by keeping the processing of the raw material in that country of origin you are also doing the environment a favor.
In summary your homework over the weekend is to really think about how your company is being socially responsible. Is it included in your mission statement or in your corporate objectives? Do you have an actual Corporate Social Responsibility Report that the general public can access? Well, if you don’t take a look at Tiffany, yes the jewelry company, they are one of the best at being corporate socially responsible and they have a comprehensive report as well. Wouldn’t you rather do business with a company like that?