CSR – or just a facade?
CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies not only focus on themselves any longer. It is important “to serve in one´s own interest as well as those of society”, that is the broad definition taught at business schools. Every well-known company has a CSR branch nowadays. But is it real or just a facade? A halo that clears the company´s as well as the consumer´s conscience? Hence, the following questions will have to be answered (or at least discussed) in the next few weeks:
Let´s start with the first one. The impact of CSR, its “popularity” reveals the need for change in our society. Somehow, capitalism has to be purged and we feel like we need to justify our consumption. We all become “eco-friendly” and fall for (sometimes false) labels signifying some products as superior in terms of sustainability. But frankly, do we all really mean it? And more importantly – do the companies mean it? Did we simply create a parallel world, where we all act ethically and everything is fine? Many bloggers deal with this questions, mostly depicting their disapproval of the concept of CSR, because it is – according to them – a “big fat lie“.
None of the comments made on the bloggers´ articles defends CSR:
One states:
“To me it sounds like CSR is one of those things that sounds better on paper than what is actually does when it is actually put into action. […]”
whereas another has the same point, claiming:
“It seems that the only reason anyone cares about environmental disasters is because they have economic implication in the future. It’s just like the BP oil spill. Its not the oil polluting the waters that anyone seems to care about, its the pollution in the waters causing loses to local businesses that is actually forcing public outcry. So its not just companies that have to pretend that they care about the environment, its consumers and small businesses too that are forced to pretend that the care about the environment”.
So generally speaking, CSR does not seem to have a good reputation among web users. But nevertheless, it has another aspect that is not to be left unnoticed, an aspect worth acknowledging the advantages of CSR.
According to Craig Smith, professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility at the INSEAD business school
“[t]he upside is that more companies are realising that corporate responsibility and sustainability are linked to competitiveness; and sustainability could very well be the next major change businesses need to adapt to […]”. Stuart Rose, CEO of Marks and Spencer (supposedly the UK’s greenest retailer) declared that “particularly for companies that are concerned about their reputation and are here for the long term, [CSR] is an investment and it’s a necessary investment that they need to make to protect their reputation, apart from motives they may have for doing the right thing”.
Thus, the ultimate question that still is uncertain remains: CSR – doing the right things with wrong motivation? Follow my next blog posts for further explanations, aspects, and opinions on this topic!
Hey! I really liked your blog because you chose an interesting, up to date topic and presented it in a great structure. It was a clear way to set up two guiding questions and then find out what others think about it. I liked that you didn’t only include a professional’s opinion, but also what other bloggers like us think about this topic. The way you inserted the quotes in another color made your post easy to read. I am really interested in what else you find out about this topic!
CSR ,as it seems , is being severely criticized. Nicpic dealt with a similar topic trying to explain the real value of CSR and finding out whether it is just a marketing tool. It is really difficult to answer these questions because there are lot of aspects that have to be taken into account and it is not really appropriate to generalize since each case is unique and different. The question that you posed at the end puts it in a nutshell and I am partly convinced that some companies use CSR to do the “right thing” with the wrong motivation,though, for example protecting their reputation and maximizing profits.
What I really enjoyed was one blogger’s opinion: “Its not the oil polluting the waters that anyone seems to care about, its the pollution in the waters causing loses to local businesses that is actually forcing public outcry.” That was also my impression when the BP spill issue was all over the media. No one actually cared about the damage that it had caused. All they cared about was the economic impact, for local businesses and BP itself. Nevertheless, I believe that CSR can also serve the society’s interests and that there is a good concept behind it that should be used in a morally acceptable way.
I am looking forward to your next posts on this topic. Maybe my opinion will change.
Dear nourann,
I have to admit that I am a little bored of the topic CSR. But because I like your lasts blogposts soo much, I gave it a try 🙂 I like that you include quit a lot opinions of webusers on this topic this time! I also think that your caricature is pretty funny. It supports your thesis in a ironic way and it gives the serious topic of CSR relief.
Nevertheless, I think it would have been nicer, if you could have include deeper information about CSR. Then it would be less superficial, since your topic provide a lot potential. That is actually the only point, I have to critisize.
Good blogpost and I am looking forward to part 2 🙂
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What a well-structured and informative blog post Nourann – very well-done! I like how you began by asking the two main questions after a short part of introduction. The citations of professionals just fit in perfectly in the reading flow.
In contrast to xxanh I consider the lenght and the profundity of your article just right, because it was your aim to answer the questions and this has been realized by you, indeed.
As an advice for your next blog post: try to connect your post to those of others, i.e. rosepanama wrote a nice post about CSR, too: http://hitthenailonthetop.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/csr-from-a-managers-point-of-view/
Looking forward to part 2!
Thanks for the advice HAS, I will definitely do that for my next posts!!
Like xxanh, I have to admit that it is really difficult to find an aspect of CSR that hasn’t been talked about before. However, you manage to give a really nice statement to the first question. The second question is very important I think and the citations were very well-chosen, but I would have appreciated your personal opinion in detail. I always like reading your posts because you have a very fresh view on things, so I was a bit disappointed by the amount of citations in relation to your own text.
Nevertheless, you did a great job as always and I look forward to your next post!