Gary Harouff Social Responsibility Tips

By Sylvia Kittens

Corporate social responsibility is an important-sounding phrase, but what exactly is it? Well, increasingly nowadays corporations have to be seen to act in a social, ethical and responsible manner. This arose because of the changing perception of the environment, the developing world and all the other issues of our time. Corporations have a huge influence over all these things - often a negative influence, for example in cutting down rainforests and employing children to make shoes for westerners. Social responsibility is the effort to give something back and improve, not exploit, conditions in poorer areas of the world.

Social responsibility isn’t just an ethical concern - it makes good business sense too. Every time a consumer doesn’t buy a brand of clothing because they’ve heard it’s made by children it hurts the business they’ve shunned. Consumers vote with their wallets and it’s important to present a good company image, otherwise you risk people choosing someone else.

So how can corporations embrace social responsibility? After all, there’s probably some kind of outlay involved and no-one likes spending money where they don’t have to. Well, cultural change within the institution is normally the first port of call. It’s imperative to change the attitudes of management so that they understand being socially responsible can actually benefit the business further down the line. The perception of your company within the target market can make or break your business in the long-term.

It’s important that if your company does take a stance on a social issue, it’s an issue that your customers care about or something that you have a direct impact upon. Beware of taking on debates with already strong pressure groups as you run the risk of getting a lot of bad press. It’s even more important that whatever issue you take on, you’re thoroughly prepared. You need to understand that you’re in this for the long run so if you make any bold claims be sure to follow them through. You should also be able to counter any bad publicity, not to mention answering all the questions you receive when you talk about what you’re doing.

The best corporate social responsibility comes from within the company, when members really care about change for the better and embracing new ideas. Sometimes it’s easier to get an outside agency to help with this - pr consultants for example who have done it all before and can help you see where change is necessary. If management-level staff embrace social responsibility this trickles down to the rest of the company a lot easier than if the change is forced from the outside.

By EnRico Nestler

With the increasing number of scandals occurring, companies are trying to establish trust with their stockholders and customers through corporate social responsibility. In the history of corporate social responsibility, there have been many models developed in an attempt to classify corporate responses to social issues.

In the early stages it was argued that a company’s main goal should be to gain legitimacy in society through different strategic approaches. This model had three ways in which a company responds to social issues. The first is social obligation, in which companies only respond to the legal requirements. This is below the standards of society.

The second level is social responsibility which refers to the company acting at society’s standards. The final level is social responsiveness which is the company exceeding society’s standards. The next step in corporate social responsibility is a three-dimensional outline for corporate performance.

The first dimension of corporate social responsibility deals with motivation for socially responsible activities, mainly economic, legal, discretional and ethical activities. The second dimension deals with societies’ concerns, like environmental and product safety issues. The third and final dimension has to do with the range of the different levels of response, going from doing nothing, to going above and beyond everyone’s expectations. These two models show the degree to which a company is committed to being socially responsible.

Companies are beginning to notice the benefits of corporate social responsibility. An Interactive poll showed that 79 percent of Americans take corporate citizenship into account when deciding whether to buy a particular company’s product.” This shows just how important it is for companies to be concerned about how society views their company. If society learns about a scandal within the company, they will lose trust in the company and might purchase a competitors product. However if they keep high standards they will gain loyalty with their customers.

An overwhelming percentage of company executives believe that the development of a corporate social responsibility plan will lead to an increase in business benefits but a heavily debated issue is if there really is a relationship between corporate social responsibility and a company’s financial performance.

A socially responsible company can gain access to extra capital through investment capital. Many investors take notice if a company is socially responsible and are more likely to invest in a socially responsible company. Socially responsible investing is one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing areas in the financial world.