Corporate Social Responsibility

K. K. Bhagat
 CSR
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
is a growing concept around the world.
It frequently is indistinguishable from
similar concepts such as corporate
sustainability, corporate sustainable
development, corporate responsibility,
and corporate citizenship.
 Definition ?
• CSR does has no consensus definition. Many
people believe it to be the private sector's
way of integrating the economic, social, and
environmental imperatives of their activities.
From this viewpoint, CSR closely resembles
the concept of sustainable development and
the so-called triple bottom line
 Challenge
• How to integrate such a subjective concept
into corporate structures and processes,
particularly in a way that will be broadly
accepted ?
 The Background
• This term was invented by John Elkington in
his 1998 book, Cannibals with Forks: The Triple
Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. It
represents the net profits from economic,
environmental, and social activities of the
public corporation during the reporting
period.
 The Issue
• As pointed out by Wayne Norman and Chris
MacDonald of the Univeristy of Montreal, in
Business Ethics Quarterly (April 2004), it's a
nice concept but how does a company apply it
in the real world?
 The Problem
• The problem is putting a monetary value on
environmental and social works in a way
comparable to that put on economic
activities, and equally acceptable to auditors
and corporate regulators.
Why Corporate Social Responsibility
occurs:
- for economic, social, and environmental bottom lines
- to get ISO 14000 which reviews environmental
impact
- community pressure to do so
- to enhance reputation
- as a branding exercise
- to improve community relations and public image
- to enable employees to enjoy new levels of
responsibility and leadership skills
- to improve employee satisfaction, morale and loyalty
- to get a sense of fulfillment as a result of contributing
to the community
 What some companies consider as
CSR:
• - education for employee families
- plant trees to offset own pollution
- labour welfare
- training courses
- supporting nearby hospital, school, etc.
- donating through own Charitable Trust
- minimizing garbage creation
Companies notions that they are doing
CSR or don't need to:
• - contributing to GDP of country
- providing employment
- don't pollute
- concentrating on better products for
customers
- ensuring good working conditions
 Think about it
• The health of communities, employees, and
consumers is often invoked in demands for
better corporate social responsibility. Should
corporate entities be held accountable for the
health consequences of their business
practices and products? Will the corporate
social responsibility movement have an effect
on international health?
 Some Examples
COMPANIES WHO RECENTLY WON THE
BUSINESS WORLD -FICCI FOR CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (report courtesy
Business World )
 LUPIN
• WINNER No.1 : LUPIN .....In the last 14 years
since it was set up, LHWRF has put up 125
schools (either singly or with government
help), provided for drinking water facilities in
80 villages and helped 25,000 people cross the
‘poverty line’.
 CANARA BANK
• WINNER No.2 : CANARA BANK.....each of its
47,000 employee donates three rupees per
month to a social cause of their choice—Rs
16.9 lakh annually. And that’s outside of what
the bank spends on CSR annually: roughly Rs
10 crore or 1% of its profits
 AMBUJA CEMENT
• WINNER No.3 : Gujarat Ambuja Cements
.....touching the lives of 4.5 lakh people in
nearly 300 villages.
 FEAR
• F – FALSE
• E – EXPECTATIONS / ESTIMATIONS
• A – APPEARING
• R – REAL
 FEAR FACTOR
• FEAR IS GENERATED FROM OUR
FEELINGS.
• A STUDY CONDUCTED IN UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN SHOWED THE
FOLLOWING
60 % OF OUR FEARS ARE
TOTALLY
UNWARRANTED; THEY
NEVER COME TO PASS
 20 % OF OUR FEARS
ARE FOCUSED ON OUR
PAST, WHICH IS
COMPLETELY OUT OF
CONTROL.
10 % OF OUR FEAR ARE
BASED ON THINGS SO
PETTY THAT THEY MAKE
NO DIFFERENCE IN OUR
LIVES.
OF THE REMAINING 10%,
ONLY 4 – 5 % COULD BE
CONSIDERED
JUSTIFIABLE!