Corporate Social Responsability (english version)

THE INSTITUTE'S DOSSIER

Redrawing Corporate Social Responsibility

May 2014

The Dossiers de l’Institut are a collaborative result of the work of BPI group consultants.

Publication director: Philippe BIGARD

Coordination and editing:Shwetha CHANDRASHEKHAR

Expert contributors: Audrey BARBEPawel SABALShwetha CHANDRASHEKHARAnne LEMAITREJean-Marie THUILLIERPhilippe BIGARDSabine LOCHMANN

Illustrations: Jean-Michel MILON All illustrations are from the blog of J.M. Milon (lamineducoach.fr) and were chosen and used with permission of the author. Reproduction is prohibited.

Other external sources and images used in support of this document are referenced and explicitly mentioned in the bibliography. Anything that is not referenced refers to the ideas developed by BPI group consultants and has been produced in-house. Therefore, use and citation of this file without permission of the authors is prohibited.

Institute for Leadership - BPI group - REDRAWING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - 3

When the wind blows, there are those that build walls and then there are those that build windmills.

Clare Woodcraft, CEO of the Emirates Foundation

4 - REDRAWING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - Institute for Leadership - BPI group

Table of contents1I A Historical & Philosophical Overview of CSR 7

Milton Friedman – The Agency Argument Against CSR 7

The Argument for CSR 8

2I International Lens – A National & Global Look into CSR 21CSR in Canada 21

CSR in the U.S. 23

France’s CSR Engagement 25

CSR in Italy 26

CSR in Spain 29

3I CSR’s Influence on Human Resource Management 33The Future of Business - Redrawing CSR 38

Maturity matrix - HR & Social Best Practices 41

4I Real-World Application – CSR Business Cases 43

5I BPI group – An Internal View of Corporate Social Responsibility 53

6I Closing Notes – Redrawing Corporate Social Responsibility 63

7I Sources 65Literature 65

Web sites 66

8I Appendix 67Videos 67

Books 67

Articles 68


Editorial

Globalization, the universal financial crisis, the incessant exploitation of natural resources and the relentless quest to strategically position the external organizational image are all collectively contributing to the increasing number of executives who want to align their organization with social responsibility and sustainable growth strategy.

Implementation of CSR (corporate social responsibility) has become not only the guideline of how a company can develop its business while making a better contribution to society and the sustainability of the planet, but also a way of doing business which is designed to deliver long-term profits.

In doing so, it is becoming apparent that Human Resources managers play a pivotal role in helping their organizations to achieve their goals of becoming socially and environmentally responsible firms while also aligning these objectives with financial performance metrics. This is as the Human Resources function today influences many key business processes which enable and foster the implementation of CSR practices and the development of a high performance CSR culture.

Reflecting this, a survey conducted by The Society for Human Resources Management indi-cates that in companies with strong CSR policies, employee morale was 55% higher, while business processes were 43% more efficient than in companies with weak or non-existent CSR policies.

Notably, despite sharing a mutual goal, CSR values adopt different forms not only due to the area in which they are applied, but also due to the specificity of the respective industry, culture, legal requirements, and organizational size.

Taking these aspects into account, it is a key responsibility of the HR function to provide the organization with tools that enable the creation of a workforce which encompasses the values, skills, trust and motivation in achieving CSR strategy goals. By doing so, the HR function encourages and nurtures the concept of the "triple bottom line," which is also referred to as the 3P model: Profit, Planet and People. The TBL suggests that companies should be formulating three different bottom lines: one being the traditional measure of corporate profit, the second being the bottom line of a company's social involvement and the third being the bottom line of the company's environmental practices.

Generally, the role of HR has primarily related to aspects of employment and workforce planning, compensation and benefits, well-being, safety at work and human development. Although, increasingly, we are witnessing a trend in which HR is beginning to embrace its role as the organizational advocate and manager of CSR.

This is as talent today is progressively seek-ing to affiliate itself with companies which are invested in their sustainable development and social responsibility strategy. Hence it is crucial for the HR function and the entire organization as a whole to prioritize compliance with CSR values and policy.

Audrey BarbeInternational Sales Development Manager BPI group


However, at present, CSR initiatives are not being effectively executed and handled by organizations worldwide. On one extreme, an emerging trend CSR is beginning to influence is the birth of "greenwashing." Greenwashing refers to companies who deceptively promote their organization’s products, aims and/or policies as environmentally friendly and socially responsible.

Furthermore, adding to the ineptitude of CSR today on the other end, there are several compa-nies and HR professionals who are executing innovative and socially responsible initiatives, yet not promoting their actions to the general public- consequently detracting its value to organizational stakeholders and the general public.

This is only a minute fraction of the problem the application of CSR faces today. As we head into the business world tomorrow, we must learn to effectually integrate corporate social responsibility based practices into the foundation of the way business is conducted.

In spirit, the following report examines and analyzes CSR trends today and tomorrow, and offers a lens into redrawing the conventional business approach to corporate social respon-sibility.


A Historical & Philosophical Overview of CSR chapter

1Corporate social responsibility has long been strategically edged as fitting to good business practices. Aggressively rousing two extremes, the topic of CSR poses two arguments: The first stub-bornly states that it is against common business sense to part with profit, wh i le the second disproves this by suggesting that conducting sustainable business through the inte-gration of CSR values is the only key to acquiring healthy bottom lines.

Historically, Corporate Social Responsibility has etched its place into discussion and practice since the inception of business. As echoed by Mark S. Schwartz in his 2011 book, Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach, the widespread assumption that the concept of CSR is only a recent sensation is not entirely accurate. In fact, even the notion that CSR has developed only over the last century is a fallacy.

Social responsibility in a business context has been discussed and debated since the very beginning of business activity. Tracing back to the Code of Hammurabi almost 4000 years ago, a Babylonian law code and one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world, builders, innkeepers, and farmers were required to avoid acting negligently by causing death to others, or were condemned to punishment. Furthermore, responsible busi-ness practices have been outlined in the doctrines of the world’s religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which have existed for thousands of years, as the early conceptu-alization of CSR was broadly based on religious virtues and values such as honesty, love, truthfulness and trust1.

Milton Friedman – The Agency Argument Against CSRProgressing forward, the infamous modern debate of CSR was conceived and given prom-inence in the 18th century when Milton Friedman, a disciple of The Wealth of Nations author and economist Adam Smith, suggested from a conservative point of view that there is only one social responsibility of business, which is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.

"There is one and only one social responsibility of business -- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."

Milton Friedman, New York Times Magazine, September 1970

Although Friedman does mention this corporate motive to be in alignment with ensuring that businesses must remain without fraud or deception, this loosely termed statement provides room for great misconception about what it truly means to be an organizational entity oper-ating amidst societies of people who are employees, consumers, stakeholders, voters and taxpayers alike.

1 Cheng et al.,2014


According to Milton Friedman, the principle that a business as an enterprise has social responsibilities is an ignorant statement, as it implies that a business is then a person, not an artificial system, as only people can have responsibilities, and business as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities.

Hence, the individuals who hold “responsibility” within a corporation are rather individual corpo-rate executives - these are employees of the owners of the business and they have a direct responsibility to their employers. This responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, and generally, in respect particularly to corporations, this desire is to make as much money as possible while conforming only to basic rules of the society - including law and ethical custom.

Thereby, if a corporation is seeking to increase overall profits by opting for a decision which may prove to be inconvenient to its community, it is entirely ethical, as it is complying with its business’ or rather employers’ desires of cutting expenses and maximizing profits, as a corporation generally seeks to do, and duly fulfilling its primary responsibility to its owners.

Secondly, Freidman’s agency argument elaborates that the corporate executive is an agent of the stockholders of a company and would be exercising a distinct “social responsibility” of his own, if he were to spend the organization’s ‘money’ in a different way which does not complement the stockholders’ desires, or as how they would have spent it.

In this sense, corporations must comply with their role as an agent of its stockholders by only conducting actions they desire. This ultimately is to increase profits by minimizing costs, because when management is hired, they are selected by stockholders of the business to facilitate management in such a way that would directly benefit the stockholders.

In addition, Friedman states that a corporate executive does not have the social authority to make policy choices, and possibly lacks moral and social expertise, and should therefore avoid moral distractions by focusing on their specialized role of turning a profit.

The Argument for CSR

The Grassroots of CSR in Europe: Father Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, Count Albert De Mun & The Birth of Social Catholicism The grassroots of Corporate Social Responsibility were also prevalent in European history. In 1848, Father Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler from Germany was initiating a new way of approaching the social and economic devastation caused by the Industrial Revolution2. Through his ministry, he started a movement known as “Social Catholicism.”

Identifying the early foundation of capitalism stained with ruthless competition and harsh individualism, he not only challenged the socialist and capitalist mindsets of his day, but also offered specific solutions which foreshadow current day management strategy.

To note, at an assembly of German bishops on September 5, 1869, he listed the following, which, he maintained, “eliminate or at any rate diminish the evils of our present industrial system” – an early depiction of CSR values:

1 the prohibition of child labor in factories

2 the limitation of working hours for factory workers

3 the separation of the sexes in the workshops

4 the closing of unsanitary workshops

5 Sunday rest

6 the obligation to care for workers who are temporarily or permanently disabled

7 the appointment by the state of factory inspectors2 Sister, 1953


Continuing forward, Count Albert de Mun (1841-1914) a French pioneer in the Catholic Social Movement amidst the horrors of the Civil War, resolved to devote his life to serving workers.

Among De Mun's most notable contributions to social reform in France was his decisive support for labor legislation. Through his speeches, articles, and organizations, he wielded a powerful influence in creating a public opinion favorable to state intervention to improve working conditions. As spokesman in the Chamber of Deputies for the conservatives who favored social reform, De Mun introduced many bills and amendments on labor questions, served on legislative commissions, and played a leading role in the debates on social laws.

The program of laws which De Mun proposed may seem moderate enough today, but three decades passed before many of his recommendations were adopted3. The reforms he advocated included the regulation of hours of work and the prohibition of night work for women and children, a fifty-eight hour week with a Sunday holiday, four weeks of rest for women after childbirth, compulsory accident and sickness insurance, old age pensions for farmers and for industrial workers, joint arbitration councils, minimum wages for sweatshop industries, encouragement of profit-sharing plans and cooperatives, the abolition of child labor, the protection of small rural holdings, and international cooperation on labor legislation.

The Modern Day CSR Advocates The 20th and 21st century has begun to encompass transformations in perspective as opposed to those of Smith and Friedman, with opinions such as those of Joseph Stiglitz, former Chief Economist at World Bank and a Nobel Prize winner, who suggests that-

“Whenever there are externalities–where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay, or for which they are not compensated–markets will not work well.”"I think it would probably be preferable to create clear standards of expectations, because "corporate social responsibility" are words that mean very different things for different people.

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a 2001 Nobel Prize winning Economist

Edward Freeman’s Stakeholder ApproachIn fact, dating back historically, there have been loyal and staunch advocates of the social responsibility of business much before it became engrained into mainstream business culture.

As a world leader in business ethics and strategic management, R. Edward Freeman's foun-dational work in his book, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, published first in 1984, argues that management must balance its relationship amongst all stakeholders, or else, risks the sustainability of the firm. He reflects that corporations must not give prevalence to their shareholders over local community members, despite the inevitable truth that there will be occurrences when one group will benefit at the expense of others.

Fundamentally, Stakeholder Theory is a theoretical explanation of how business actually oper-ates. The approach suggests that for any organization to be successful and sustainable, it has to create value for all its shareholders. This includes consumers, clients, suppliers, employees, local communities and shareholders. A key point it validates is that placing primacy to any one of these stakeholders in isolation translates to negligence. This is because the interests of all stakeholders must marry in alignment, and it is the respective job of management to examine and critically analyze how exactly these various interests will travel in harmony along the same direction.

3 Sister, 1953


Stakeholder theory systematically analyzes the impact that organizations have on those who "affect them or are affected by them"4. The company’s managers "should on the one hand manage the corporation for the benefit of its stakeholders in order to ensure their rights and participation in decision making and on the other hand management must act as the stockholder’s agent to ensure the survival of the firm; to safeguard the long term stakes of each group".

Stakeholder theory is rising in application within multinational companies, who in many cases are more powerful than nations. These multinational corporations (MNCs) are able to recog-nize the distinct link between shareholders and long-term wealth. Moreover, companies and local authorities are realizing how important responsible management is, and thereby the significance of sustainable development.

Considering how important all stakes are for a company to steadily survive in the marketplace, it is clear that sustainability is no easy feat for any organization today. Hence, Stakeholder Theory wisely suggests that a community of groups can together create something that no one of them singularly can create alone.

ISO 26000According to the Commission Green Paper (2001), 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.

Amongst other things, this definition helps to emphasize that an important aspect of CSR is the interactions enterprises have with their internal and external stakeholders- namely, employees, customers, neighbors, non-governmental organizations, public authorities, etc., as emphasized above.

Notably, stakeholder theory is an important part of ISO 26000, which is the only international standard designed to provide organizations with guidelines for social responsibility.

According to ISO 26000 an organization should:

� identify its stakeholders;

� be conscious of and respect the interests of its stakeholders and respond to their expressed concerns;

� recognize the interests and legal rights of stakeholders;

� recognize that some stakeholders can significantly affect the activities of the organization

� assess and take into account the relative ability of stakeholders to contact, engage with and influence the organization;

� take into account the relation of stakeholders' interests to the broader expectations of society and to sustainable development, as well as the nature of stakeholders' relation-ships with the organization;

� consider the views of stakeholders that may be affected by a decision even if they have no formal role in the governance of the organization or are unaware of their interest in the decisions or activities of the organization.

Business’ Relationship with Society Posing a considerable argument for CSR, Mark Sagoff, one of America’s foremost environ-mental philosophers emphasizes that we must question whether what we want for ourselves individually as business entities is consistent with the goals we would set for ourselves collectively as citizens.

Adding in to this perspective, Peter Singer, Australian ethical and political philosopher best known for his work in bioethics and his role as one of the intellectual founders of the modern animal rights movement, points out that when we humans change the natural environment in which we live, that we often harm ourselves.

4 Freeman, 1984


These two key points inform us that the business as an entity does not operate in isolation- it in fact is fueled day in and day out solely on its interdependency with its community and all respective stakeholders. Thereby, it is evident that organizations have a special responsibility to protect the communities within which they operate - especially in preserving their very own self-interest.

As evident, the role of business in society has borne a profound transformation in the last few decades. While companies have been given increasingly greater freedom, they have also been held responsible for a range of issues that were previously considered the sole responsibility of the state. At present, whether we accept it or not, business is expected to voluntarily promote efforts to mitigate climate change, protect human rights and safeguard the environment.

Operating within a multi-tier economic, social and environmental playing field, the organization of today can no longer afford to conduct business in a solely linear fashion, as it has been accustomed to for so long.

The Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility TodayToday, simply put, CSR refers to an institution which insists that companies as well as local authorities and offices voluntarily take into account the interests of social and environmental concerns in their business operations, and additionally also consider relationships with groups operating in their environment – namely, stakeholders.

This model enables profit generating organizations to take into account social interests such as: environmental issues, honest relationships with customers and employees, owners and investors, suppliers, competitors and the local community.

The modern concept of CSR was proposed in 1953 by Howard R. Bowen - who is considered as the "father" of CSR. In his book "Social Responsibility of Businessmen", he introduced for the first time the term "corporate social responsibility" and developed the first of its definition. His thesis was a basis for discussion on the phenomenon of social responsibility for a long time. According to Bowen’s definition, corporate social responsibility is a "duty of managers to implement policies and make decisions regarding business in a manner which is consistent with the goals and values of our society."

Interestingly, during Bowen’s time, and even long after, it was assumed that corporate social responsibility was only an attribute entitled to entrepreneurs, as opposed to how it is embraced today – as an organizational duty.

The first doctrine of corporate social responsibility was contrived by an American industrialist and philanthropist, one of the richest men of his time: Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie wrote that "wealth should be regarded as a sacred trust, managed by the possessor, into whose hands it flows, for the greatest good of the people". According to Carnegie, the concept of CSR is primarily based on the principle of beneficence, according to which the wealthy members of society should help those who are less privileged, such as the unemployed and the disabled, the sick and elderly.

The idea of CSR expectedly also has its fair share of opposition. This includes, amongst others, Milton Friedman, who had a negative preconception about the interdependent relationship between the actions of society and the environment. His opinions were largely based on the belief that the ultimate goal of the enterprise should be to multiply its profits, with a key focus on shareholder expectations and realities of the free market - which are both based on consumer interest rather than public interest. Outlined in more detail, the debate against CSR suggests that a company’s activities should be focused solely on the implementation of economic assumptions, and not on moral actions. It further elaborates that CSR based decisions are often imposing, which can lead to unnecessary animosity among management.

Despite the opposition which CSR faces today, it is becoming a practice which is emerging as crucial to long-term sustainability. Although there is no universal definition of a socially responsible company, usually it refers to an organization which operates with transparent


business practices based on ethical values, compliance with legal requirements and respect for the community and the environment.

Essentially, CSR propels that in complement to the prioritization of profit, the company is responsible for its whole impact on its surrounding communities and moreover, the planet. Specifically, the "people" it refers to are the company’s stakeholders who include: employees, customers, business partners, investors, suppliers, retailers, and both governmental and civil society. Conversely, stakeholders are increasingly expecting companies to adopt business conduct which is more environmentally and socially responsible.

Today, more and more companies realize that in order to maintain efficiency and compet-itiveness in a rapidly changing business world, they need to become socially responsible. In the last decade itself, globalization has blurred boundaries in the marketplace, while the emergence of post-modern technology has accelerated time into an easily quantifiable commodity. Contemplating these changes in the corporate environment, there is an increasing need for companies to develop their risk management ability and to effectually protect the reputation of their brands, and due to the advent of globalization, embracing CSR practices positions organizations at a fiercely competitive level in attracting skilled workers, investors and consumer loyalty.

A common misconception about CSR is that it merely subsists of community based philan-thropic and charitable services, which is entirely not the case. Although engaging in these types of initiatives is not irrelevant, as it allows companies to create a good equation with members of its local commu-nity, limiting CSR only to philanthropy can have a negative impact on organizational climate. Notably, an organization must be comprehensive in its CSR approach to include the governance of working conditions of employees and its external suppliers in addition to considering accountability for the environment it operates in.

Distinctly, Archie Carroll was one of the first scientists to have made a distinction between the different types of organizational responsibility. He termed it as the “Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility” for corporations. Fundamentally, Carroll defined the primary duty of the enterprise to be its economic responsibility, which involves ensuring profitability. The second responsibility outlined in the model is an organization’s legal responsibility; its duty to act in accordance with the framework drawn up by the government and the judiciary. Following, the company’s third responsibility is an ethical obligation which comprises of remaining rightful to stakeholders and its own operating environment. Finally, the company’s fourth commission is its discretionary responsibility, which refers to proactive and strategic behavior that may help the company and the society, or both, such as contribution of resources to educational, cultural or social purposes.

Why is CSR a Necessity Today?The conclusions of research on CSR progressively point to the evident fact that incorporating corporate social responsibility practices in business is crucial for the long-term stability of a company.

Companies, who blindly and narrowly are enticed by the profit motive alone, without concern for a wide range of stakeholders, will face external discrepancies in the long term. Thus, companies must be able to understand the needs of their stakeholders in a broader sense and duly recognize them as interdependent factors to their success. For example, the stra-

Discretionary Responsibilities

Ethical Responsibilities

Legal Responsabilities

Economic Responsibilities

Archie Carroll Model of Corporate

Social Responsibility


tegic management of human resources is interconnected to customer satisfaction, and it is essential for companies seeking to understand customer needs to align themselves with the fluctuating market by effective self-management. This is as success in the corporate world is not linear; there are several implicit factors which must be taken into consideration to arrive at a holistic perspective of what contributes to the sustainability of the enterprise.

Duly, Corporate Social Responsibility is gradually gaining deserved importance in discussion of its broader role in society. Its emergent number of supporters rightfully draws attention to the clear impact of business on the world around us, and moreover to the fact that social and environmental concern is crucial for sustainable development and survival.

In effect, the implementation of CSR practices within all facets of the organization is a key element to build lasting value and a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is primarily due to growing expectations from society at large with respect to how business should be conducted in the 21st century.

The Triple Bottom Line – Why CSR Cares about the Planet & People alongside ProfitsFittingly so, the topic of CSR draws light to the triple bottom line. Contrived in 1994 by John Elkington, a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development, the triple bottom line refers to the allocation of three distinct bottom lines which place emphasis on profit, people and the planet.

The first one outlines the conventional summation of corporate profit, fundamentally, the bottom line of the enterprise’s financial profit and loss. The second refers to the organization’s account of ‘people’ which measures how socially responsible an organization has been throughout its operations in respect to its human capital. The third bottom line of the company aims to assess its impact on the ‘planet,’ configuring how environmentally responsible it has been.

Parting ways with a one metric measurement of success, the TBL suggests that success can be defined otherwise. It offers a non-linear approach to organizational sustainability. Aiming to quantify and examine the financial, social and environmental performance of the enterprise, the TBL is a holistic approach to conducting business which is morally conscious and strategically profitable.

Overall, the long-term benefits of corporate social responsibility should be examined when considering embracing a CSR based company culture.

The following outlines how CSR impacts the 3Ps – Profits, People and the Planet:

PROFITS • Maximizes profit due to sustainable business practices• Company growth and development • Increased competitive advantage in marketplace • Strong incentive for innovation & product development• Positive external and internal organizational reputation• Increased customer and investor interest• Increased customer and stakeholder loyalty• Increased reduction in costs due to operational efficiencies

PEOPLE • Increased employee satisfaction and motivation • Increased interest of applicants• Greater talent attraction and retention • Positive organizational image among employees• Improvement of organizational culture• Improved public relations with community and local authorities• Increased employee engagement and consequent performance

PLANET • Environmental risk reduction• Environmentally friendly products• Reduction of raw materials wastage • Reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions


Global CSR – The Brundtland Commission Due to the emerging recognition and interest in CSR amongst organizations and their stake-holders, the United Nations established The Brundtland Commission in 1983, aiming to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together. The result of the committee’s unison was a report published in 1987 that among others defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Moreover, the report clearly indicated the strong correlation between social, economic and environmental factors in respect to sustainable development as illustrated below.

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The Brundtland Commission also played a key role in incentivizing the formation many other organizations, initiatives and institutions designed to promote sustainable growth and social responsibility among societies and business.

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In 2010, the International Standardization Organization (ISO) launched a standard in address-ing sustainable development and social responsibility: ISO 26000, which is the only interna-tional standard designed to provide organizations with guidelines for social responsibility, as mentioned previously. This standard helps to clarify what social responsibility is, by helping businesses and organizations to translate principles into effective actions and shares best practices relating to social responsibility on a global scale.

Its universal application allows for use of ISO 26000 in all types of organizations (small to large businesses, communities, NGOs, trade unions, etc.) regardless of their size, field of activity and location. Furthermore, ISO 26000 complies with several major international founding documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conventions of the International Labour Organization, which reflects its international accord.

Social Responsibility: 7 Core Subjects

More than 90 countries participated in the development of the ISO26000 standard, with more than 100 organizations actively taking part in the process in France alone. As an internationally communal tool available for all organizations, ISO26000 propels business practices which positively contribute to society at large. Additionally, it is important to note that many of the rules and best practices described in ISO 26000 may already be imposed by the current legis-lation system. In accordance, BPI group as a leading HR consulting firm, wholly acknowledges the necessity for CSR and hence took part in the standard development process and today continues to embrace CSR practices in its daily activities.

Extensively, there are several potential areas of action for the inclusion of Corporate Social Responsibility in daily business practices. For example, each country can deem which activ-ities can be considered as a social responsibility, such as the degree of energy efficiency, establishing a code of ethics, the programs implemented for the local community, reliable information on labels, etc. Then, the consequent development of standards and appropriate regulations can encourage the implementation of CSR principles.

Corporate Social Responsibility Methodology

As mentioned, CSR activities are not limited to conventional volunteering and charity based work, which are relatively easy to implement and assess. CSR practices extend beyond the vicinity of frontline activities, as they include all exchanges of the company- both internal and external. Hence, it is crucial to adopt a systematic approach and methodology that clearly defines how to implement CSR. Some companies, like Danone and others, develop their own tools which guarantee continuous improvement, as they identify and prioritize both stakeholders and required action.

Due to the fact that CSR commands long-term commitment, businesses may not be able to apply policies within all facets of operations. For this reason, organizations should decide which areas it will take action in as its first step. Next, once the company decides to engage in CSR activities, it should duly take the right steps to identify and create an action plan.

CSR involvement decision-making

The decision to become socially responsible can often be seen as a small step which is merely consequent to legal requirements. However, CSR means much more than that. It means a new way of thinking about company protocol. It entails thinking about the organization as an interdependent entity, not one which is entirely autonomous. Moreover, the decision to become socially responsible is a decision which requires company executives to have a great thorough understanding of the organization’s relationship with its direct stakeholders, and indirect stakeholders- the general public.


An organization first needs to answer 3 key questions during the CSR involvement deci-sion-making process:

1) What is CSR? 2) Why do we want to do engage in CSR? and 3) What are the ultimate potential benefits and costs?Subsequently, only when executives are completely convinced of the necessity of CSR, will it become a part of the firm’s strategy. At this point, the right actions to be undertaken can be defined in order to achieve the company’s strategic goals.

Definition and prioritization of stakeholders

According to ISO 26000, when addressing its social responsibility strategy, an organization must understand three integral relationships:

� Between the organization and society An organization should understand how its decisions and activities impact society at large. An organization should also understand society’s expectations of responsible behaviour concerning these impacts.

� Between the organization and its stakeholders An organization should be aware of its various stakeholders. The decisions and activities of an organization may have poten-tial and actual impacts on these individuals and organizations. These potential or actual impacts are the basis of the "stake" or interest that causes the organizations or individuals to be considered stakeholders; and

� Between the stakeholders and society An organization should understand the rela-tionship between the stakeholders who are affected by the organization, on one hand, and the expectations of society on the other. Although stakeholders are part of society, they may have an interest which is not consistent with the expectations of society. Stakeholders have unique interests with respect to the organization which can be distinguished from societal expectations of socially responsible behaviour with respect to any issue.

Once a company understands these three relationships, it is ready to define and recognize its stakeholders. A company should also take into account that the organization, stakeholders and society all have different perspectives.

The primary step for organizations when prioritizing its stakeholders includes the assessment of the relationship between its stakeholders and itself, and moreover of the mutual impact they have on each other. Subsequently, the company can illustrate the result on a matrix, which helps to signify the dialogue from the two previous criteria. This includes:

i. Engaging in dialogue with key stakeholders, little known or unknown;

ii. Supporting information with important stakeholders, little known or unknown;

iii. Continuing the dialogue with major stakeholders, and already well known.

Definition and prioritization of actions and action plan

In a similar manner to prioritizing stakeholders, a company should define and prioritize activities to undertake. The identification of relevant policy areas is a prerequisite for the determination of priorities of action. According to ISO 26000, an organization should "develop a set of criteria for deciding which core subjects and issues have the greatest relevance and are the most important."

The policy should include the specifics of the organization, including an analysis of the current situation, in terms of risks, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses. In order to design an apt plan of action to address priorities within the organization, a company should:

� Determine the importance of the issue - assess the risks and opportunities relating to action;


� Assess the current performance of the organization in this field (its strengths and weaknesses);

Once a company defines and prioritizes its stakeholders and its consequent actions to execute, it is ready to define an action plan. This action plan should include all allocated resources to each respective action. At this point there are two challenges for HR, first, to define its own resources for implementation of action and second, to support others within the department during this process.

Sustainable reporting & investment

An important part of the decision making process when considering a long term investment is the comprehensive analysis of a company’s governance. Duly, many companies include their main assumption of management, long term strategy and CSR activities in their annual performance report along with additional financial information.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) founded in 1997 in Boston is a non-profit organization which was established to promote sustainable development and to provide Sustainable Reporting Framework for companies around the world. A sustainability report is an organi-zational report that gives information about economic, environmental, social and managerial performance.

Internal benefits resulting from sustainable reporting include: � Increased understanding of risks and opportunities � Emphasized link between financial and non-financial performance � Influencing long term management strategy and policy, and business plans � Streamlining processes, reducing costs and improving efficiency � Benchmarking and assessing sustainability performance with respect to laws, norms, codes, performance standards, and voluntary initiatives

� Sidestepping blame in publicized environmental, social and governance failures � Comparison of internal performance, and between other organizations and sectors

External benefits of sustainability reporting include:

� Mitigating - or reversing - negative environmental, social and managerial impact

� Improved organizational reputation and brand loyalty

� Enabling transparency to external stakeholders about company’s true value, tangible and intangible assets

� Demonstrating how the organization influences, and is influenced by expectations of sustainable development

According to a survey conducted by GRI, Accounting for Sustainability and Redley Yeldar in 2011, over 80% of respondents share that additional financial information is very useful and relevant to their decision-making process when analyzing an investment. This reflects the need for comprehensive, transparent, and thorough information about company performance during the investment decision making process. In order to benchmark organizational sustainability performance, S&P Down Jones provides Sustainability Indices which assess how a company is performing – sustainability wise. The index is a response for increasing investor needs and an emergence of investor willingness to diversify their portfolios by investing in companies which embrace industry-wide best practices with regard to sustainability and social respon-sibility. In recent times, visible social and environmental changes and an incline in acknowl-edgement of all related issues played a strong incentive for investors to invest particularly in socially responsible companies and create a separate investment category known as Social Responsibility Investment (SRI). From 2007 to 2010 alone, SRI assets increased more than 13%, while professionally managed assets overall increased less than 1%.


5 Great Socially Responsible Funds

1. Parnassus Equity Income

2. Neuberger Berman Socially Responsible

3. Winslow Green Growth

4. Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax Exempt

5. Domini International Social Equity

Higher Education: Training for Top Management

Another sign of societal evolution which depicts the growth of socially responsible thinking are schools and universities around the world which provide dedicated CSR and sustainable development courses. Specifically, the influence of corporate social responsibility on MBA programs is rapidly evolving as a result of the economic difficulties over the past five years. Following the 2008 financial crisis, and protests around the world against the perceived greed fostered in some industries, there has been an upsurge of blame placed at business schools for failing to ingrain the importance of CSR values on their students. According to the Association of MBAs, only 20% of UK MBA courses have a mandatory CSR module. Whereas, on the other hand, more business schools are beginning to provide CSR dedicated MSc and MBA courses.

Global Ranking - Top 10 MBA Programs with Corporate Social Responsibility Curriculum

1. Harvard Business School, Harvard University

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

3. INSEAD

4. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

5. IE Business School, IE University

6. Columbia Business School, Columbia University

7. Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

8. London Business School

9. The Kellogg School of Management

10. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan


CSR Rating Agencies: What is Their Global Impact? A 2010 Journal of Business Ethics Study by Steven Scalet & Thomas F. Kelly - Summary of Findings In the last two decades, there has been a pronounced growth of CSR rating agencies that assess corporations based on their social and environmental performance. Steven Scalet & Thomas F. Kelly investigate the impact of CSR ratings on the behavior of individual corporations in their study. They examine in particular to what extent corporations adjust their behavior based on how they rank. Their primary finding is that being dropped from a CSR ranking appears to do little to encourage firms to acknowledge and address problems related to their social and environmental performance. Specific rankings appear not to have a widespread effect of influencing firms to acknowledge negative CSR events and publicly present plans and actions to address them. Whether firms

are well or poorly ranked, they appear to focus on and publicly discuss their “positive” CSR activities. The study discusses the wider significance of these results as well as the overall significance of CSR rankings for a global economy. It suggests that to fully understand the significance of CSR rating agencies for a market society, it matters to know their actual impact on corporate decision making. Regardless of the reasons that motivate agents to seek information about social responsibility, CSR rating agencies are an industry that has emerged to provide non-financial assessments to guide decisions for investors, consumers and many other stakeholders. Whether rating agencies are assessed from a strategic or larger moral perspective, the relationship between rankings and firm behavior is a fundamental concern for anyone interested in the development of the CSR movement and the impact of rating agencies on the social performance of corporations.

An exchange between John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, and the late Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman offers a particularly illuminating contrast between these two competing points of view. Mackey writes, ‘‘It is the function of company leadership to develop solutions that continually work for the common good.’’ Friedman responds: The differences between John Mackey and me regarding the social responsibility of business are for the most part rhetorical. Strip off the camouflage, and it turns out we are in essential agreement. [Whole Foods Market] has done well in a highly competitive industry. Had it devoted any significant fraction of its resources to exercising a social responsibility unrelated to the bottom line, it would be out of business by now or would have been taken over.

Source: Scalet & Kelly, 2010

A CSR Must Read - Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World by Aron Cramer & Zachary Karabell (2010) From their work with these Global 1000 companies, authors Cramer and Karabell know firsthand how business can successfully grapple with big-picture issues like resource scarcity, supply chain complexities, and the diverse expectations of government and the public. In Sustainable Excellence, they tell the story of how Coca-Cola and Greenpeace collaborated on a refrigerator that fights climate change. They show how companies like Best Buy and Nike are transforming the very products they sell to deliver more value to consumers with less waste. They recount how GE and Google created an innovative partnership that is developing "smart grids" that radically reduce energy use. And they show how business leaders like Starbucks' founder and CEO Howard Schultz put sustainable excellence at the center of his company's business strategy.

Through these and other fascinating stories, Sustainable Excellence makes the case for a different way of doing business--one that will define both business success and economic vitality in the 21st century.

Source: The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire


Morningstar Socially Responsible Investment IndexThe Morningstar Socially Responsible Investment Index was created jointly by Morningstar Japan K.K. and the Center for Public Resources Development, a non-profit organization. Companies are reviewed based on a thorough analysis of their performance on governance/accountability, market (consumers/customers, suppliers), employment, social contribution, and the environment. (January 2012)

FTSE4Good Global Index The FTSE4Good Global Index has been designed by FTSE, which is an independent company jointly owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange. Companies on the FTSE4Good Global Index have met stringent social and environmental criteria, and are positioned to capitalize on the benefits of responsible business practices. (September 2011)

Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index was developed jointly by Dow Jones & Company and SAM Research to assess corporate sustainability. Companies are reviewed based on a thorough analysis of economic, environmental, and social performance. (September 2013)

Vigeo Vigeo assesses both the performance of companies and organizations and their level of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management. They assess the degree to which companies and public corporations take into account environmental, social, and corporate governance objectives, which constitute risk factors and business opportunities for them in the definition and implementation of their strategy and policies.

Oddo & Cie Oddo Securities propose analyses that generally take into account ESG issues which have a financial impact on the companies in their business sector. They also provide services that monitor the day-by-day non-financial news at companies.

Ethibel Pioneer & ExcellenceForum Ethibel, which maintains Ethibel Investment Registers, is an independent consultancy agency for socially responsible investments that advises banks and brokers offering ethical savings accounts and investment funds. Ethibel Excellence Investment Registers is a universe for the investment composed by highly scored companies from a social responsibility perspective. This universe is continuously updated and monitored. (October 2013)

Standard & Poor’s Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, the world's leading provider of credit ratings, provides transparency not only on a company's financial fitness but also its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.They specialize in exploring how ESG issues affect creditworthiness. They have also established an Environmental Finance Global Industry Focus Team (GIFT) to promote the global consistency and analytic rigor of their environmental finance sector analysis, including global carbon markets, climate change finance and clean energy.


International Lens – A National & Global Look into CSR chapter

2CSR in Canada

Canadian organizations recognize the value of incorporating CSR prac-tices into their organizational infrastructures. This form of operating responsibly and ethically is a direct reflection of Canadian values which thrive on promoting and contributing to the sustainable development of domestic and global communities.

Canada as a nation is a strong advocate of CSR. The Government of Canada requires and urges all Canadian companies working both domestically and internationally to respect all applicable laws and standards, to operate transparently and in consultation with local and foreign government policy in order to ensure business activities are conducted in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. The Government of Canada works with organiza-tions in the country, civil society groups, foreign governments and communities, as well as other stakeholders to foster and promote CSR thoroughly (Government of Canada, 2014).

Canada’s CSR StrategyIn March 2009, building on its long-standing commitment to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Government of Canada released Building the Canadian Advantage: A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector.

This is enforced by the government’s belief that Canadian companies are often instrumental in bettering the lives of people in the communities in which they operate, as these comple-mentary initiatives will provide the tools, guidance and advice they need to meet and exceed their obligations with respect to corporate social responsibility.

The specific initiatives are:

� Creating a new Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor to assist in resolving social and environmental issues relating to Canadian companies operating abroad in this field. A competency-based selection process will be launched shortly to identify qualified candidates for this position.

� Supporting a new Centre of Excellence to be established outside government as a one-stop shop to provide information for companies, non-governmental organizations and others.

� Continuing Canadian International Development Agency assistance for foreign govern-ments to develop their capacity to manage natural resource development in a sustainable and responsible manner.

� Promoting internationally recognized, voluntary guidelines for corporate social responsi-bility performance and reporting.


The four pillars of the Strategy are:

1. Support for host country capacity-building initiatives related to resource governance and for host countries to benefit from these resources to reduce poverty;

2. Promote the following widely-recognized voluntary international CSR performance guidelines:

� The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (DFAIT chairs and provides the secretariat for Canada’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines);

� The International Finance Corporation Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability;

� The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights; and

� The Global Reporting Initiative

3. The Office of the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor;

4. The development of the Centre for Excellence in CSR1.

The CSR Strategy was informed by consultations undertaken with a number of stakeholders, including the "National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries," as well as recommendations made by the former Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT). In 2006, the Government of Canada organized the multi-stakeholder National Roundtables, which provided an opportunity to encourage a practical and solutions-oriented dialogue on ways to expand the knowledge and capacity of Canadian companies to conduct their operations in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner.

Active Promotion of CSRCanada’s network of diplomatic missions abroad actively promotes CSR guidelines through seminars, conferences, workshops and other activities involving companies, representatives of host governments and civil society; and provides advice to companies and stakeholders related to CSR.

Canada promotes CSR in a number of multilateral fora including the OECD, the Group of Eight, the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, the Organization of American States, la Francophonie, and the Commonwealth.

Canada’s efforts are further advanced by including voluntary provisions for CSR in its most recent free trade agreements (FTAs) and foreign investment promotion and protection agree-ments (FIPAs). Canadian companies, civil society, and government have been at the forefront of efforts to create a global consensus on responsible mining and sourcing practices to address the phenomenon of “conflict minerals” in the gold, tin, and tantalum and tungsten sectors. Canada supports the OECD Due Diligence Initiative for responsible supply chains of conflict minerals. In addition, Canada has provided strategic funding of key projects towards peace and prosperity in the Great Lakes Region and provided funding in the 2009-2010 fiscal year to 50 corporate social responsibility projects and initiatives in over 30 countries around the world2.

1 Government of Canada, 20142 Government of Canada, 2014


CSR in the U.S.CSR is recognized as a critical component to business operations by American organiza-tions today. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs leads the Department’s engagement with U.S. businesses in the promotion of responsible and ethical business practices. As shared by the U.S. Department of State, the mission of the CSR office is to:

� Promote a holistic approach to CSR to complement the EB Bureau’s mission of building economic security and fostering sustainable development at home and abroad.

� Provide guidance and support for American companies engaging in socially responsible, forward-thinking corporate activities that complement U.S. foreign policy and the principles of the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) program.

� Build on this synergy, working with multinational companies, civil society, labor groups, environmental advocates, and others to encourage the adoption of corporate policies that help companies "do well by doing good."

EB’s CSR team coordinates a cross-functional, intra-departmental, and interagency team to provide support and guidance on major areas of responsible corporate conduct, including:

- Good Corporate Citizenship - Contribution to the Growth and Development of the Local Economy - Innovation - Employment and Industrial Relations - Human Rights - Environmental Protection - Natural Resources Governance, including the Kimberley Process - Transparency - Anti-Corruption - Trade and Supply Chain Management - Intellectual Property - Women's Economic Empowerment

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a unique forum where the governments of 34 democracies with market econo-mies work with each other, as well as with more than 70 non-member econo-mies to promote economic growth, prosperity, and sustainable development.

Source : U.S. Department of State

OECD Guidelines: Concepts and Principles

1. The Guidelines are recommendations jointly addressed by governments to multinational enterprises. They provide principles and standards of good practice consistent with applicable laws and internationally recognised standards. Observance of the Guidelines by enterprises is voluntary and not legally enforceable. Nevertheless, some matters covered by the Guidelines may also be regulated by national law or international commitments.

2. Obeying domestic laws is the first obligation of enterprises. The Guidelines are not a substitute for nor should they be considered to override domestic law and regulation. While the Guidelines extend beyond the law in many cases, they should not and are not intended to place an enterprise in situations where it faces conflicting requirements. However, in countries where domestic laws and regulations conflict with the princi-ples and standards of the Guidelines, enterprises should seek ways to honour such


principles and standards to the fullest extent which does not place them in violation of domestic law.

3. Since the operations of multinational enterprises extend throughout the world, interna-tional co-operation in this field should extend to all countries. Governments adhering to the Guidelines encourage the enterprises operating on their territories to observe the Guidelines wherever they operate, while taking into account the particular circum-stances of each host country.

4. A precise definition of multinational enterprises is not required for the purposes of the Guidelines. These enterprises operate in all sectors of the economy. They usually comprise companies or other entities established in more than one country and so linked that they may coordinate their operations in various ways. While one or more of these entities may be able to exercise a significant influence over the activities of others, their degree of autonomy within the enterprise may vary widely from one multinational enterprise to another. Ownership may be private, State or mixed. The Guidelines are addressed to all the entities within the multinational enterprise (parent companies and/or local entities). According to the actual distribution of responsibilities among them, the different entities are expected to co-operate and to assist one another to facilitate observance of the Guidelines.

5. The Guidelines are not aimed at introducing differences of treatment between multina-tional and domestic enterprises; they reflect good practice for all. Accordingly, multi-national and domestic enterprises are subject to the same expectations in respect of their conduct wherever the Guidelines are relevant to both.

6. Governments wish to encourage the widest possible observance of the Guidelines. While it is acknowledged that small- and medium-sized enterprises may not have the same capacities as larger enterprises, governments adhering to the Guidelines never-theless encourage them to observe the Guidelines’ recommendations to the fullest extent possible.

7. Governments adhering to the Guidelines should not use them for protectionist purposes nor use them in a way that calls into question the comparative advantage of any country where multinational enterprises invest.

8. Governments have the right to prescribe the conditions under which multinational enterprises operate within their jurisdictions, subject to international law. The entities of a multinational enterprise located in various countries are subject to the laws applicable in these countries. When multinational enterprises are subject to conflicting requirements by adhering countries or third countries, the governments concerned are encouraged to co-operate in good faith with a view to resolving problems that may arise.

9. Governments adhering to the Guidelines set them forth with the understanding that they will fulfil their responsibilities to treat enterprises equitably and in accordance with international law and with their contractual obligations.

10. The use of appropriate international dispute settlement mechanisms, including arbitra-tion, is encouraged as a means of facilitating the resolution of legal problems arising between enterprises and host country governments.


France’s CSR Engagement

Recent legal evolutions at the EU levelThe European Commission is encouraging European countries to integrate CSR into their poli-cies and practices of all public and private stakes. A proposal for a directive on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information has been made in April 2013 (the examination by the European Parliament and the European Council is momentarily unknown). This proposal sets the necessity to make non-financial reporting compulsory. Over 18,000 companies will have to observe this new obligation (this comprises of companies with over 500 employees, companies whose statement of account is above 20 million euros, and companies whose turnover is above 40 million euros). Companies will have to provide non-financial information on environmental and social issues, on respect for human rights, on policies fighting against bribery, and on gender equity policies. For each, they should describe their policies, give an account on the results, and give an evaluation of the risks on these five issues and how they propose handling it. Although, the rule offers companies the possibility of not disclosing all information, provided they explain why they choose to opt out of doing so. With this proposal, it is very clear that extra-financial information is becoming a key element in the private market place. But, public companies also have to comply to some CSR obligations. A directive on public procurement has in fact been adopted on January the 15th 2014 (Le mieux disant met l'Etat au défi). It aims at enhancing CSR in public procurement processes. European countries are required to integrate non-financial criteria in their procurement processes, and to consider CSR during production and manufacturing. The public contract will also outline concerns about gender equity, balance between professional and personal life, environmental protection and respecting the International Labor Organization standards. This new directive has been reciprocated well in France thus far. In fact, a new public CSR initiative has been recently launched in the country, reflecting how Europe’s legal requirements are influencing and shaping the establishment of CSR amongst domestic businesses.

CSR in France: a lens on the CSR platform In France, a law regarding extra financial reporting has been in place since 2001. It was followed by the two “lois de Grenelle” in 2009 and 2010, which make it compulsory for large organizations to publish an annual report on CSR. Under the influence of the European Union and after a continuous lobbying of diverse actors from NGOs to employee unions, France has arrived at a new agreement. On June the 17th 2013, the government launched the CSR platform. It aims at creating a space where all the actors concerned by CSR can share their point of views on CSR, talk about concrete actions that have been or should be put in place, all in order to reach a certain degree of coherency on this large subject. The government of France hopes that this new platform helps organizations to implement CSR actions in large but also small companies (La législation française en matière de reporting extra-financier). The ambition is to spread awareness amongst French citizens on CSR related issues. The platform is made of 48 members split into 5 different colleges which are organized by specialty: public administration, employer representatives and members of professional associations (national association of HR directors, college of CSR directors, etc.), unions, NGOs and lobbying groups, and researchers (two economists specializing in CSR, one expert on gender equality and another on HR).

The president of the platform is Patrick Pierron, national secretary of CFDT (one of the five main unions in France) and he is primarily in charge of the government of CSR policies. Michel Doucin has been designated permanent general secretary of the platform. Since 2008, he has been ambassador in charge of bioethics and CSR. After several discussions, it has been decided that members could voluntarily join one of the three working groups. Each of the three groups will focus on a specific theme. The issues to be discussed are the following:


� CSR, competitiveness and sustainable development in SMB. This working group has three main objectives:

- Identify all good practices of companies with less than 5,000 employees; - Try to define and measure the economic advantages gained due to CSR, and evalu-

ate if measurement should vary between sectors and amidst the size of companies; - Identify how to promote CSR in those companies and help them to integrate CSR

actions into their practices.

� How to improve financial transparency and companies’ governance on sustainable development by integrating European and international legal evolution on the subject?

- Identify all the different legal frameworks on extra-financial reporting (at a national and international level);

- Identify the tools that could help gain leverage in the promotion of responsible governance, that could help share the added value of business, and that could help develop responsible finances.

� How to enhance responsibility of companies on their value chain, meaning on their subsidiaries and their suppliers?

- Enhance the development of responsible purchases; - Promote fair competitiveness; - Precisely outline the extent to which companies should be responsible towards

their subsidiaries; - Promote the adherence of international legal frameworks

The following insights into CSR in Italy and Spain are shared as released by the updated edition of CSR Europe’s Guide to CSR in Europe. Offering an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) currently, the country insights have been developed by CSR Europe’s national partner organisations based upon their areas of operations. Topics covered in each chapter include national CSR policies and legislation, key drivers of CSR, main organisational actors, and recent developments in various thematic areas including environment, supply chain, human rights, equal opportunities, community engagement, and sustainable products and services (A Guide to CSR in Europe, 2010).

CSR in ItalyCSR Policies and LegislationAfter the Italian Multi-Stakeholder Forum launched by the Labor Minister Maroni in 2004-2005, there were no longer high level CSR initiatives by the national Government or Parliament. While initiatives were often promoted locally with a bottom-up approach by some Regions – Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Emilia-Romagna – with very active legislation and programs. The current Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Sacconi, published in 2009 a White Book on the Future Social Model, focusing on subsidiarity, employability, health and safety and equal opportunities. On the other hand, the activities of the Foundation I-CSR, established by Maroni to promote CSR, were further scaled down. The debate around the “social market economy” has been recently gaining ground, with the powerful Economic Minister Tremonti committed to promote, in collaboration with OECD, “global legal standards” based on propriety, integrity, transparency. Also having the Italian Tajani as Commissioner of DG Enterprise and Entrepreneurship might represent an opportunity to revive government interest in CSR.


Key Drivers of CSRThe key CSR drivers in Italy currently are climate change, safety in the workplace, high unemployment with youth unemployment also hindered by skill shortages, an increasingly diverse workforce (ageing population, lowest female activity rate in Europe, lack of culture in the integration of a large number of immigrants, up until a few decades ago many Italians were emigrants).

Degree of Public Awareness on CSRAwareness with the public at large is growing, but their understanding remains relatively limited. On the contrary, in the most progressive sectors of the business community, accord-ing to a recent survey (link) conducted by Fondazione Sodalitas with the CEOs of 45 leading companies about the future of CSR in Italy, substantial progress has been achieved recently in integrating responsible and sustainable competitiveness into company strategies and related mainstreaming practices.

Environment � National Action Plan: Italy, as an EU country, signed the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 and it also now belongs to the EU ETS schemes. Italy approved on April 28th 2010, the CO2 Emissions National Allocation Plan for the new plants of the ETS system, effective from 2009 until 2012. Italy approved on June 11th the National Action Plan for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency, requested by the European Directive 2009/28/CE, which foresees that Italy will achieve the 17% target of renewable energy use by 2020.

� Main Environmental Challenges: Key challenges include the dominance of oil/gas as energy supplies, inefficient waste management (high level of waste production, still low recycling rates in many regions, predominance of landfill disposal) and water scarcity in several regions. The most relevant environmental challenges are: costal erosion; sea level rises along the costal areas; air pollution, mainly in the Pianura Padana geographic area, and in the cities located in this region. Levels of PM10 and other pollutants are often higher than maximum permitted levels.

� Energy and Eco-Efficiency: Companies and sectors (such as glass, ceramic and cement industries) which are expected to reduce their gas emissions have been identified and their reduction targets assigned. In recent years, the progress in achieving Kyoto objectives has been slow at the national level, due to reluctance by businesses and government due to their claim that it could be damaging for an economy still relying heavily on manufacturing. However, the economic crisis had a positive impact in the CO2 emission reduction, and it’s now foreseeable to achieve the Kyoto target (-8% for Italy).

The renewable Energy sector grew thanks to the introduction of an incentive scheme (“Conto Energia”) that is the most generous in Europe. It is estimated that the production of renewable energies by 2008 was 60,5 TWh, while by 2020 107 TWh should be produced (a majority of this derived from hydroelectric) in order to meet the targets of the action plan.

Public Awareness on EnvironmentRegional and local levels demonstrate good awareness and carry out successful initiatives. There are different forms of incentives for private citizens and for companies: Green and White Certificates, “Energy Account” and detraction from taxes. Consumers are becoming greener, but this is still a relatively recent phenomenon. At a National level, there is an increas-ing awareness of this issue: the Ministry of the Environment has recently launched the SCP (Sustainable Consumption and Production) Strategy in order to favor and spread models of sustainable consumption and production.


Supply ChainThere are no national programs or partnerships related to supply chain control, while manage-ment systems are widespread with Italy ranking number one worldwide in SA8000 certification. Several suppliers of big companies are involved in the control process. Additionally, many Tuscan SMEs are certified through the regional Fabrica Etica process. Requirements on control of environmental aspects are also becoming increasingly important.

Human RightsItalian laws, in general, respect ILO standards on human rights and working conditions. The rights of employees are described in the Law of Work Protection covering work safety, trainings and working conditions. An important document that has been published and diffused is the “OECD Guidelines on CSR focusing on SMEs”promoted by the Italian Foreign Ministry in the context of the project “Sustainable development through the Global Compact”.

Equal OpportunitiesGender equality is an especially important issue in Italy, as women’s activity rate is considerably behind the rest of Europe. Commitment by companies to well structured diversity management programs is still rather limited. A big step forward has been the launch in October 2009 of the Italian Diversity Charter by leading business networks and the network of Equality Bodies, with the patronage of the Ministries of Employment and Equal Opportunities. By September 2010, about 80 companies, employing more than 500.000 people had signed the Diversity Chart.

Conversely, integration of immigrants and foreign workers is well developed in some compa-nies, especially those with a high percentage of foreign employees.

Community Engagement � Perceived role of businesses in the local community: Italy has a long tradition of company philanthropy, evolved in time from paternalism to partnering with NGOs.

� Cooperation between local communities and businesses: There is encouraging growth in Corporate Foundations, established also by SMEs, to enhance effectiveness of philan-thropic programs. The first baseline survey on Italian Corporate Foundations, conducted in 2009 by Fondazione Sodalitas in partnership with Università Cattolica and Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, allowed this emerging community to surface and profile its key features and challenges.

Employee volunteering, first adopted by multinationals, is gaining ground also with Italian companies, including SMEs.

Sustainable Products and ServicesThe number of SMEs working on sustainable products is growing, especially in the mass market. There are also some good examples of innovation in the service sector (especially for waste management and green energy). The new Sustainable Products and Services Program of the Ministry for Environment is promoting Green Public Procurement and local programs to increase green consumer policies. In this respect, a working group between different levels and departments of Government, Control Bodies, NGOs and best practice companies was recently established.

Main CSR ChallengesThe main CSR challenges in Italy are engaging public authorities in the CSR debate and enforcing a strategic approach towards CSR involving the organization as a whole, especially the products and sales departments.


CSR in SpainCSR Policies and LegislationSpain’s national government has been gaining prominence in CSR areas, especially during the last 4 years and some important legislation has come into force:

� LISMI. Ley 13/1982, Law for the social integration of handicapped people, among other measures it establishes the obligation of hiring a minimum quota of 2% of handicapped people in companies with more than 50 workers. (It also establishes alternative measures).

� LO 3/2007 for the effective equality between women and men. Organic law passed in 2007 that pursues to guarantee the effective equality between women and men within all fields, especially within the labor market.

� Ley 30/2007 on Public Procurement and PRE/116/2008 the Green Public Bid Plan of the

� General Administration of the Government and its Public Bodies. Environmental and social criteria are included under certain requirements for the hiring of Civil Servants.

� Royal Decree 221/2008 by which the State Council of Social Responsibility of Companies is set up3. It’s a multi-stakeholder advisory body for the State Government regarding CSR that includes representatives from different key areas for CSR such as public administra-tions, enterprises, trade unions or organizations and institutions focused on CSR.

� Royal Decree 1615/2009, for regulating the granting and use of the distinctive “Equality in the Company.” At a regional level, there have been some interesting initiatives like a Corporate Citizenship Law in Valencia (11/2009 of 20 November), a bill of law of steward-ship and governance in Baleares and a bill of law of CSR in Extremadura.

Key Drivers of CSRAccording to the 5 working groups created in the State Council, there are 5 key areas in Spain:

� Diversity management, social cohesion and cooperation development

� CSR to face economic crisis: CSR contribution to productive economy

� Transparency, communication, CSR standards and Reporting

� Social Responsible Investment

� Integrating CSR in Education Scheme.

Main CSR ActorsThe main state actor is MTIN, Ministry of Labour and Immigration, who is in charge of CSR. Spanish regions (Comunidades Autónomas) are also approaching CSR in a formal way. Islas Baleares (Balearic Islands) has created the Dirección General de RSE4. Other regions such as Cataluña, País Vasco and Andalucía are taking action.

Other organizations pushing forward CSR agenda are:

� Forética as a multistakeholder organization (including companies, NGOs and universities),

� Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad as a business organization,

� Asepam, the Spanish association of Global Compact or the different

CSR Observatories promoted by workers and NGOs.

Degree of Public Awareness on CSRIn relation to CSR awareness, Spain has a long way to go. According to Informe Forética 2008 90% of big companies know what CSR is about but only 49.3% of small companies carry it out. In this sense, CSR is present in the vision, mission and strategy of most large companies in Spain. Nearly 80% of them have generalized policies on the subject and the creation and consolidation of specific units within the organization. On the other hand, only 48.3% of Spanish consumers could identify what CSR was according to the same report.


Media CoverageCSR specialist media has been developing in recent years, especially online. Broader media are just starting to cover CSR (normally within special reports). The economic crisis has rein-forced media interest on CSR as it’s seen as a way out of it.

EnvironmentIn 2007, the Spanish Government developed “Spanish Climate Change and Clean Energy Strategy” in defining ongoing actions and establishing objectives together with a follow-up plan, assessment and verification. For public procurement please refer to section 2. Among main Environmental Challenges are greenhouse gas emissions, water availability, demographic change, as well as unsustainable urban development.

In the National Climate Change and Clean Energy Strategy there is one chapter dedicated to Energy Efficiency, with objectives, measures and indicators. Foretica’s report or Informe Forética 2008 shows a consensus on the origin of Climate Change; more than 80% of the people interviewed acknowledged it and agreed that it has been produced by human activities together with natural phenomenon.

Supply ChainAccording to Informe Forética 2008 Spanish companies are aware of the importance of complying with Human Rights in their Supply Chain and with their workers (and so do customers) and it appears as one of the top issues to label a company as socially responsible. Nonetheless, only 12% of companies develop any kind of social or environmental audits for their suppliers to monitor if they are working on it.

Human RightsNo big problems in relation to Human Rights in companies operating just in Spain, medium risk in relation to immigrant workers, especially in the construction sector. Multinational companies are working hard on these issues abroad, especially in relation to supply chains. Multi-sectoral research conducted by Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad shows that implementing Suppliers Code of Conduct has become an increasingly common practice in enterprises in order to protect their own public reputations.

Equal OpportunitiesAlthough strong public involvement (with initiatives such as the Equality Ministry, Organic Law for the effective equality between women and men, Diversity Charter,…) is still one of the biggest issues in Spain. Big companies, with more than 250 employees, are compelled to develop equality programs but there are also voluntary initiatives both public (Distinction of equality) or by other organizations (i.e. Charter de la diversidad).

Community EngagementCommunity Engagement is extensively developed in Spain especially thanks to Savings Banks and their social programs, and thanks to the Foundations created by big companies which work hard in this area.

Sustainable Products and ServicesAccording to Forética’s report (Foot note 1) nearly 40% of Spanish consumers have given up buying products produced by irresponsible companies. Around 55% declared that they would pay more for a product from a responsible company if they could be 100% sure about it. Another report on the issue was published in 2008 by CECU11 (Consumer associ-ation) Another research study published by Club de Excelencia is “Consumo Responsible y Desarrollo Sostenible”.

Company Best PracticesBest practices presented to the 2007 and 2008 CSR Spanish Marketplace El Mercado de la RSE carried out by Forética can be downloaded, and organized by up to 12 categories.


Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad has joined best practices in the field of CR in the “Best Practices Catalogue in Corporate Responsibility”.

Main CSR ChallengesThe main challenges are to bring CSR to SMEs, and to generate greater consumer awareness. Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad in collaboration with PWC and Madrid City Council has developed an initiative to help SMEs plan their strategies on CSR15. Specific CSR issues could be equal opportunities and CSR management, and the relation of CSR to the economic crisis.

The Role of CSR in India India is widely regarded as a country in which corporate social responsibility has long played an important role. National and international nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies are involved in the public debate in the business community and the media. However, the involvement of the business community is concentrated among a few long-established family-owned companies that contribute a significant amount in the field of CSR, in both theory and practice. The Indian subsidiaries of German companies are bound by their parent companies’ guidelines for socially responsible behavior, but how these guidelines are actually implemented is left up to each subsidiary. Their CSR activities focus on their employees (providing training and improving social security), the environment and aid efforts within India or in the region, which are currently concentrating on providing help to tsunami victims. Public policymakers are seeking to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth, and calling on private enterprise to contribute its share.There is no evidence of CSR activities in the informal sector of the Indian economy, which is responsible for slightly less than half of GDP and employs some 93 percent of India’s workforce. Indeed, workers in this sector are afforded no rights or protections whatsoever, and all indications are that no efforts are being made to fight poverty, promote education or health, protect the environment or encourage employee participation in business development.The UN Global Compact seeks to promote the CSR activities of businesses in India. However, it has not succeeded in involving important NGOs, or most importantly, the unions. The UN Global Compact is not well known within the business sector or the NGO community. For some time now, German development organizations (GTZ, InWent) have been cooperating closely with the country’s important trade associations. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce has developed its own approach to CSR, and provides conceptual and advisory support for German companies in India.While CSR is not at the top of the agenda of German political foundations, some of them are starting to devote more attention to this area. The German government, represented by the Ministry of Labor, is working to achieve greater international cooperation on CSR under the Heiligendamm Process, which includes India as one of five outreach countries. Talks have been held in the context of a formalized partnership between Germany and India. Representatives of the German business community meet with embassy officials at least once a year, during their monthly business lunches, to discuss CSR.

Source: German Embassy, New Delhi


The Role of CSR in China Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is receiving more attention in China, although it still plays only a marginal role for the majority of Chinese companies, particularly private ones. Large state-owned companies and companies that invest in China are expected to increase their social involvement, which will no doubt have an effect on small and medium-sized enterprises as well.

Foreign companies have traditionally been active in this area, and they are increasingly involved in environmental and labor-protection projects. Generally they are guided by their own corporate standards. As domestic and foreign private companies engage in direct competition, they are recognizing that social responsibility can be used as a tool in marketing their products and increasingly resonates with the growing middle class, which has the resources to purchase these products.

CSR receives little media coverage. After the Sichuan earthquake in the spring of 2008, however, it was obvious that the efforts of domestic and foreign companies were recognized and appreciated.

Source: German Embassy, Beijing

The Role of CSR in South AfricaICompanies’ social responsibility is an important topic in South Africa with respect to the economy, the state, and public opinion. There is active support from the government as well as domestic and foreign companies. In response to a 2005 survey by Trialoge of more than 100 stock exchange-noted companies in South Africa, 73.5% of those surveyed said that they take corporate citizenship “very seriously,” 24.5% said that they take it “seriously.”The social involvement of companies in South Africa reaches back to the time of social grievances during apartheid. Until 1994, many companies invested actively in social initiatives since the state saw no need to act on behalf of the colored groups in the population. Business recognized that the poor living conditions of the black majority were putting the brakes on economic development. In this context, the “Urban Foundation,” which was established in 1976 (today: National Business Initiative, NBI) set as its goal the improvement of the quality of life of the black communities.Since 1994, political change and the efforts to balance out the unequal distribution of wealth from the times of apartheid have driven CSR forward in South Africa. Decisive for the involvement today is the “Black Economic Empowerment Act” (BEE) of 2003, which was set up by the government and specifies the advancement of historically-disadvantaged groups in the population. Especially the “Corporate Social Investment” guidelines of the BEE have a supporting effect since with their assistance, CSR programs are formalized and the results can be communicated.In 2003, companies spent 2.35 billion RAND (approximately 193.4 million EUR) for social programs in South Africa. Companies’ expenditures in the CSR sector thus correspond to approximately half of what international donors gave for comparable activities, however only 1% of the total that the state invests in social projects each year. The trend indicates increasing expenditures in the CSR sector.

Sources: German Embassy, Pretoria / Stef Coetzee, CSR-Towards a new paradigm


CSR’s Influence on Human Resource Management chapter

3Today, as organizations face economic crises, structural upheaval, societal changes, environmental degradation, inter-nal and external conflicts, they are seeking for a concrete solu-tion which may offer sustainability in the days to come - a solution w h i c h provides value in creating a better today and an even better tomorrow. With CSR emerging as the novel approach to conducting business currently, it is becoming more apparent that the pull between organizational goals and CSR based goals is a product of the aim to co-create both private and public value.

A 2012 Harvard Business Case Paper, Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It, proposes that: “The heart of CSR’s concept rests on the ability of a company to create private value for itself, which in turn creates public value for society.”It continues to elaborate a key reality for organizations who seek to adopt CSR into the core of their business operations – a point which examines the analysis of value creation. For example, top management of large corporations who are required to inexcusably adhere to their business’ figures will not place the concept of creating shared value at the top of their priority list. Whereas, when concerning smaller players in the marketplace, namely, smaller organizations, it would not be financially viable to pursue identical CSR goals which market leaders, and expectedly, larger, more successful organizations seek after. Hence, in this situation, the kind of shared value a smaller organization would strive for would have to be streamlined and more appropriately outlined in order to truly benefit proportionately from the value it creates through its CSR efforts.

Issues such as these are exactly why the application and integration of CSR requires the involvement and mediation of the HR function. The bottom line is essentially that the effective and active integration of CSR influences and impacts all company activity, deeming it as a substantially demanding process in which HR plays a key role.

The collaboration of CSR with HR management efforts will lead an organization to several fundamental changes concerning objectives, priorities, and respective course of action required. Ultimately, this will necessitate a strong commitment and acknowledgement of the necessity of the proposed changes from top management as well as from each key player within the HR management team.

Looking back for example, the history of strategic integration of CSR values dates back to at least the 19th Century in the UK where the innovative working practices of Quaker organiza-tions such as Cadburys and Rowntree Mackintosh put employee welfare and ethical behavior at the heart of their business values (Rangan, Chase, Karim, 2012).

As mentioned in the introduction, HR plays a significant role in leading and coordinating various aspects of CSR. This is as social responsibility is directly related to a company’s values, as it naturally involves people and their relationships. Identically, organizational culture greatly influences how people interact and their following contributions to society, as the nature of a company’s internal culture determines how employees view CSR related issues. According to Fernandez, Junquera & Ordiz, organizational culture and HR decisions are critical components for creating a sustainable competitive.


Moreover, several CSR based guidance standards, such as ISO 26000, directly involve the integration of socially responsible values into HR management. These include the efficient and effective use of human resource capital, intellectual and competency development which contribute to sustainable development and compliance with human rights and justice among people.

The HR profession has a three-fold role in CSR. Firstly, HR needs to make sure people management practices are ethical and in alignment with the organization’s long-term objec-tives. Secondly, it needs to implant corporate responsibility values by providing the right support and training. To execute this effectively, HR has a role in learning and developing its scope in the years to come. Next, the third and most critical aspect involves embedding CSR ethics into the organizational culture itself. This is where the question of strategic management comes into play, which is primarily about being able to ask and address challenging questions – at top management level.

According to the Global Reporting Initiative, which provides 79 environmental, social, and business performance indicators measuring sustainability, there are as many as one-third of them which fall under HR’s responsibility. Taking into account the stakeholder’s approach of CSR, undoubtedly, employees are defined as the key stakeholder group and their perspective on CSR can be summarized to include fair remuneration, effective communication, learning and development opportunities, fulfilling work, a healthy and safe working environment, equal employment opportunities, job security, competent leadership, community spirit and social mission integration. Considering that the adoption of CSR requires many changes in company philosophy and employee behaviour, HR can assume the role of the change agent. Tailored work design, training, performance and rewards management can be novel ways to facilitate the change arising from the newfound CSR strategy.

HR in the Change Management ProcessTo successfully incorporate CSR strategies into organizational operations, they need to be carefully integrated into a company’s strategy, structure, culture and processes. During this course, a key challenge CSR poses to organizations is the transition from a target driven culture to a value driven culture. This requires a company to revise its strategy, mission, and values, and to provide a message to all stakeholders about internal reorganization, and company goals and priorities, which will ultimately result in a shift of activities, behaviours and perceptions. Likewise, considering that social and human related matters are key facets of CSR, the active role of HR in the process of the company’s strategy revision is evident to say the least. As a department which has regular exchanges with all divisions across the organization, HR is well positioned to provide an objective view across units. Moreover, if a navigation committee is to be formed, the HR function should be playing a critical role on it.

HR’s Role in Shaping CSR Recent research shows that HR is not currently recognized as a true partner in determining sustainability strategy, nor is HR a key implementer of sustainability programs. In a survey of more than 700 corporate social responsibility (CSR) and HR professionals in the United States, only 6% of respondents confirmed that HR was involved in developing CSR strategy and 25% maintained that HR was involved in implementing CSR strategy. Yet, 89% of respondents said that CSR is important for attracting top talent, improving employee retention (85%) and developing the organization’s leaders (81%). This demonstrates a significant disconnect—and an opportunity for human resources to bridge the gap. The HR function clearly has an impor-tant role to play in designing and implementing CSR strategy, but it has not yet achieved an influential position as it must seek to do in tomorrow’s workplace.

The Power of Leadership in Delivering CSR ValuesLeaders, as figureheads and controllers of human resources, have a strong influence on employee behaviour - so also on their commitment to CSR. Hence, it is essential that senior


managers embody and embrace pro-CSR attitudes and behaviours in their daily activities – as they must "walk the talk" and act as a leading example for their employees. Otherwise, there is a real risk of decline in employee engagement which may impede successful implemen-tation and development of CSR policies within the company. As we are able to witness, HR has a major impact on CSR, as it plays a role in the recruitment of managers and leaders of the organization. Therefore, HR can continue to foster a pro-CSR perception amongst top management by recruiting candidates with both transformational leadership characteristics to provide vision, engage stakeholders and drive changes and transactional leadership qual-ities to coordinate tasks, manage information, control finances, set objectives and monitor efficiency.

Education and communicationThe effective implementation of CSR practices requires thorough commitment and the contri-bution of all employees within the organization; not only top management, as often assumed. Thus, a detailed plan outlining all activities related to communication, education and overall awareness of CSR related matters is crucial in establishing a clear channel of exchange with employees. HR needs to serve an educative role in raising social consciousness in areas such as ethical management, leadership, performance management, non-discrimination and well-being.

Talent acquisition and developmentThe effective implementation of CSR initiatives relies on well-informed, experienced and devoted employees with CSR-oriented values. According to a report published by Net Impact in 2012, 72% of students share that a job where they can make a social or environmental impact is an important life goal to them - ranking above having children, wealth or a prestigious career. Moreover, 35% of them said they would take a 15% pay cut to work for a company committed to CSR. Hence, as evident, it is essential to promote a company’s CSR activities to all stakeholders including prospective employees, as CSR is a highly respected and valued organizational practice in today’s business world. This is partly because it directly has a significant impact on strategizing wage related matters and on the recruitment process itself. The exercise of explicitly embracing CSR activities clearly indicates the overall values of the organization and any CSR-specific job requirements and thus should be compulsory as part of an organization’s CSR culture. Likewise, to complement organizational CSR practices, HR can utilize personality tests to configure applicants’ characteristics and values during the process of screening applicants. Then, after acquiring suitable talent, it will become the organization’s responsibility to provide training and development programs to help the employee understand, adopt and contribute to progress in CSR initiatives.

Employee engagementEmployee involvement contribute to CSR in multiple ways. One of the important part of CSR is quality of employee’s work-life that results also from engagement. "Organizations around the world are discovering that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a powerful way to encourage employee engagement". Many international companies encourage employees to do volunteer work, as this not only gives them a sense of purpose and engages them with their employer, it also provides them with new skill sets, which in turn can be useful to the business". Taking into account the fact that high level of employee engagement reduce turnover, improve reten-tion and productivity, crucial becomes for human resources departments involve employee in CSR initiatives Moreover, effectively managed CSR activities could in some cases substitute trainings and thereby it influenced also development and training strategy.

Performance and reward managementCompensation and performance management are critical components of the HR function in determining the long-term sustainability of an organization’s most coveted resources - its


people. In effect, HR practitioners understand very well that "what gets rewarded gets done," as detailed from the Expectancy Theory, which fundamentally propels that organizations must relate rewards directly to performance in order to nurture and foster greater heights of produc-tivity. Providing employees with appropriate compensation acts as a catalyst to motivate their behavior to achieve company goals. Thus, HR has significant influence over work design and should work closely with line departments to serve as the coordinator for matters on job description and specification and job evaluation. The total reward and recognition program, including base salary, incentive pay, long term incentives and other non-monetary recognition benefits (such as award programs, employee of the month, promotions, career path planning, etc.), needs to be aligned with the company’s CSR values and strategy. It is essential to set CSR related goals between the supervisor and the employee to ensure that they both truly understand how to accomplish their objectives and also how to measure their achievement. This allows both the supervisor and employee to feel a greater sense of commitment to their goals – a key in paving way to increased productivity and engagement.

Ethics management – Promoting ethical practicesWhen approaching CSR, it is important to avoid defining it to merely legal compliance, as it also comprises of "ethical behaviour that goes beyond the letter of the law," as ethics are almost an inherent part of all HR policies and processes affecting employees’ work-life and livelihood. Areas of internal ethics management include: respect for human rights, embracing diversity, providing equal employment and rewards, and opportunities to employees and job applicants irrespective of their demographic characteristics. Moreover, building an organizational culture which supports ethical behaviour impacts both the organization and its external stakeholder community. Notably, it is imperative to consider that there is a risk of overemphasizing only the financial aspect in respect to ethical CSR related issues because matters such as employees adopting unethical practices involving providing misleading information to customers to get sales or making up fictitious accounts to fool management into believing their superb perfor-mance are given precedence over other matters. Hence, HR should play a significant role in the management of ethics through developing policy and procedure manuals on employee terms and conditions, suggesting expected employee conduct to guide behaviour, and including ethical standards indicators in the performance and rewards management system.

MonitoringThe performance management system, CSR monitoring and feedback, which can be termed as the CSR audit, involves the administration of all CSR-related activities such as the management of individual CSR-related performance assessments. With the direction for more socially, environmentally, and ethically conscious organizations, it has become a rising trend to hire an external CSR auditor. Before an organization hires an external consulting company to review its CSR performance, the HR function should first internally review how well it has contributed to CSR initiatives. Once HR has done this thoroughly, the scope of long-term success in other CSR-related activities can be expected to substantially increase. During this process, the information required to review CSR policy and activities, can be gathered by using a questionnaire or survey amongst employees involved in CSR or influenced by CSR activities. With this information in hand, HR can compare its organization’s CSR performance against generally accepted or pre-set standards and its own organizational core values, as well as against the specific needs of stakeholders to determine which areas are thriving and which areas require improvement.

Revision and InstitutionalizationFor activities/areas which are not meeting their previously set goals, it is crucial to investigate the respective root causes, entirely understand them, find practical solutions, assign adequate resources and rectify them. Sometimes when certain activities fail to meet their set benchmark, it could require appointing more realistic CSR goals, postponing them to the next fiscal period or investing in strong support initiatives such as effective education and training.


In addition, CSR policies and processes may need to be revised to rectify previous inade-quacies and oversights in order to acknowledge change in circumstances. In other words, weaknesses identified during the CSR audit provide a basis for revisiting and revising the planning and implementation process.

On the other hand, for CSR areas which are successful in meeting their goals, it is essential to institutionalize their respective initiatives, associated structures, processes, learning, and support systems in order to set an example for similar future CSR endeavours. This can help in establishing formal, integral and sustainable standards, as clear documentation on effective practices outlining how things should be done are a vital tool for any organization seeking to maintain and develop their CSR initiatives. On the other hand, failed CSR attempts also provide valuable learning opportunities, and so it is important to also note "what not to do."

HR challenges: improving HR policyDue to the fact that HR is crucial for implementing CSR policies and best practices, it is very important to rightly examine and manage CSR-HR policy. This is because CSR-HR policy supports not only risk, but also opportunity management.

Four central challenges HR faces when directing and improving CSR and HR policy:

1. The HR Department’s internal issues

2. The lack of clear social responsibility framework in the HR policy

3. The lack of support and commitment from top management and employees

4. The obligation to comply with the law

According to a survey conducted in an accounting firm of 500 executives in 2007, half shared that environmental and sustainability issues were the responsibility of Operational Departments rather than HR. In the same year, a CSR Pilot Study conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management in the US found that only 34% of HR respondents monitor the CSR aspects of business within their organization.

To overcome these challenges, HR practitioners should first recognize CSR as a fundamental responsibility within their scope of operations. Only when HR professionals themselves fully acknowledge their critical role in administering CSR within their organization, will they be able to convince top management to assign them with the role of a CSR champion.

Progressively influencing an organization’s CSR practices is definitely not an overnight feat. It takes great organizational initiative, effort, and perseverance in addition to individual employee knowledge, skill, and ability to make a profound and lasting impact. Being able to take on a principal role in CSR will provide HR a great opportunity to raise its strategic profile and have a more enriched and positive influence on employees.

As a part of this report in Chapter 4.2, we have included a section titled "Maturity Matrix – HR and social best practices" which outlines exactly how to address certain CSR issues and how to deal with consequent challenges.

How to implement HR/social best practices?Once the incorporation of CSR strategy within the organization is initiated, HR becomes primarily responsible for governance and regulation during this process to ensure all activities are effectively and efficiently being conducted. According to ISO 26000, there are 4 - 7 core subject areas which directly affect HR and in which HR should play a key role in overseeing. While in this phase, HR faces two main challenges:

Questioning – Which area and which practices should be directly affected by CSR in my company? As well as in my suppliers’ and subcontractors’ companies?

Improving – What can we do better? In a more efficient way? In line with best practices? By asking these fundamental questions, CSR is leveraging the power of innovation to improve business in all its dimensions.


Below is an example of one activity that we included in the attached Maturity Matrix regarding HR and social best practices. Proposed actions based on our experience and relative to 4 core ISO 26000 subjects are:

� Community involvement and development

� Organizational governance

� Labour practices

� Human rights

The Future of Business - Redrawing CSRThe future of CSR lies in two things: authentic and effective application and organizational agility. If CSR continues its peripheral orbit around theory, we will not see the future of social responsibility any differently than where we are at presently. And presently, what we are mostly a witness to is pseudo change and moreover, pseudo CSR.

Hence, as we progress towards the shift to the post-change organization, we will have two choices two make: one being to opt for authentic CSR with a defined purpose, clarity and real impact, and the other being continuing a superficial journey which refutes the strategic integration of CSR into management values and practices.

To effectively manage this paradigm in shift, the future of the corporation will have to reconcile with its core: its human capital. What this will mean, will be to re-humanize the way business is conducted by redrawing the role of CSR within organizations today.

Time Magazine’s 2012 publication, “Are Companies More Powerful Than Countries?” shares that the world’s largest companies are moving on and moving ahead of governments and countries that they perceive to be “inept and anemic.” Operating in isolation from local issues domestic markets, there is a great foreshadowing occurring which indicates that large organ-izations may soon take over much of what government itself does.

With such a reality, business leaders have a vast and demanding task on hand- to put CSR to work.

Outlining a model called CSR 2.0 (Visser, 2011), CSR thought-leader Dr. Wayne Visser iden-tifies the hallmarks of a truly sustainable company. He sketches out five essentials which are central in examining whether a company is truly incorporating CSR which is both transform-ative and concrete -

Creativity (C)

Does the organization inhabit itself in innovation, the concept of social enterprise and free-range imagination as a way to solve its biggest social and environmental challenges. This is as conventional CSR standards and guidelines have a tendency to nurture a check-list approach in which compliance is given top priority over actual and effective change – which ultimately is only facilitating an endless journey with no true progress.

Scalability (S)

Are the designed solutions able to scale? Authentic CSR requires a rapid movement away from case studies and pilot projects towards universal application and integration. Best industry practices must be shared as public knowledge across companies, sectors and globally in an initiative to promote the development of a learning based culture. This at times may mean 'choice editing' - when companies make critical decisions on behalf of consumers based on their values, i.e. refusing to offer both sustainable and unsustainable products, such as Walmart exclusively selling Marine Stewardship Council certified fish or CVS removing tobacco products form their shelves. This approach does not eliminate risk, as for example, this deci-sion for CVS is estimated to cost a potential lost revenue of up to $2 billion.


Responsiveness (R)

Is the effort really responding to the needs of stakeholders or is it just a public relations effort? Unilever's strategy to 'double in size, halve their environmental footprint and lift a billion people out of poverty' is genuinely responsive to the issues of the day (environmental degradation and the human condition).

"Glocality" (2)

Combining global principles with local application in a way that meets both sets of needs.

Circularity (0)

Does the effort help to move to a circular economy where zero waste is a possibility?

Dr. Wayne Visser further shares:

"We used to think this was just a dream, but there are more and more companies -- Fuji Xerox in their Asian operations has now reached 98.5% recycling of their products. We have companies like Interface with their 'mission zero' -- zero environmental impact by 2020."

Redesigning the Human Workplace: Emotional Wellness and Business A key aspect of redrawing the fundamentals of modern-day CSR involves acknowledging a vital aspect of business: the process of re-acclimating work culture with human values and moreover, placing emotional wellness as a top business priority. Top management is aware that the ultimate success of their organization relies heavily on the welfare of their employees. However, unfortunately, most executives give inadequate or no importance to the physical, mental, and emotional health of a company’s employees. Neglecting human assets is one of the foremost errors an organization must strive to correct in adopting CSR values. If business’ primary focus transfigures into monetary investment for the maintenance of a company’s machinery, supply chain and customer relationships, the people who sustain the organization’s life will suffer. This crucial element of the CSR system earnestly requires organizations to hold genuine and complete care and concern for all employees.

With employers beginning to discover the linear relationship between accomplishing corporate goals and employee well-being, serving to improve and maintain the overall health of employ-ees within an organization as part of a holistic CSR approach is imperative.

These CSR success elements include the following:

� Improving health of all the employees within the organization

� Offering the best financial support which encourages the use of valuable services to protect the employee health

� Officially assigning employers, purchasers, and individuals with roles of responsibility for health and associated productivity

� Emphasizing a cultural focus on improving health and fostering well-being

Redesigning the Human Workplace: Diversity, Inclusion and Business A second key element in reengineering conventional business practices by adopting socially responsible systems is to acknowledge the power of diversity in the corporate landscape today. Diversity plays a key role in business success, as it allows organizations to draw from top talent regardless of discriminatory criteria. The inclusion of different ethnic, religious, sexual identity and gender groups in the workplace may make some uncomfortable, but the future of CSR and the success of business activity does not lie in a comfort zone, it awaits us in the territory of growth and the unknown. Hence by layering diversity as a chief CSR fundamental, by delivering training sessions on diversity, building mixed team dynamics and directly linking diversity to the company's strategic solutions, organizations can make great strides toward promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace – a CSR imperative.

Most large corporations routinely provide some form of diversity training for employees, with-out venturing into concrete application of diversity in ideas, practices and values. Companies


seeking to renew their culture through a CSR based approach, should offer diversity training which focuses on how people, despite their apparent differences, are at the root the very same, deserving the same respect and accommodations as others. Once management begins to deliver training such as this which will encourage open discussion on the topic, they need to reinforce the message by being the prime example of acceptance. This can be done by demonstrating inclusive acts as part of standard management practices.

Unlearning age-old conjecture which has portrayed differences as unwanted is the first step in adopting a shift in internal organization culture. Companies today are beginning to recognize differences for what they actually are: a considerable opportunity for growth, for learning, for innovation, and moreover, for evolution.

Hence companies which are seeking to grow, and aspiring to succeed utilize values of diver-sity in their workforce as a competitive advantage. Mostly because they recognize that this form of corporate social responsibility leads to growth of exchange, the ability to understand a wider range of market segments and the ability to expand internationally with greater ease.

Closing NotesThe HR department is usually beset with ever-growing responsibilities of CSR and a lack of direction in respect to application and strategic integration. Hence, it is essential to recog-nize that to truly integrate CSR into strategic management principles, all functions within the organization must be asked to take part in the integration of socially responsible driven values, policies and regulations. Sure enough when this is attempted, this will be the first step towards authentic and genuine CSR application.

A key factor organizations today will have to battle is one against pseudo-change. Pseudo-change is a commonly present, yet largely neglected business reality today. It refers to the intentional or inadvertent implementation of a change effort which does not address the problem it is designed to, but instead engages in activities that only offer and suggest the superficial appearance of change.

Well into the 21st century, it is imperative that this paradigm shifts. Standing at an impelling crossroads, companies today must begin to recognize that CSR is no longer simply an option to conveniently align with, nor a branding strategy or short-term solution, but rather, a crucial necessity which should be incorporated into corporate policy. This is attributable to the relentless fact that CSR will become central to the way society and moreover, the economy operates in the coming years, as global markets increase in complexity and as consumers and workers evolve as more morally obliged individuals.

As social and environmental concerns incline, today’s and tomorrow’s workplace will have to become engaged in the communities within which it operates, acknowledge global planetary preservation issues, acclimate to limited resources, and embrace new ways of conducting business.

As we are able to see, CSR has been victimized by inaction for far too long. This is perhaps because it has required a redefinition which supports its amorphous nature, and one which encourages its holistic application.

But mostly perhaps because Corporate Social Responsibility has needed to be entirely redrawn.


Maturity matrix - HR & Social Best Practices

ISO 26000 Core Subjects

HR & social issues

Maturity Level N°1 (planning,

awareness, compliance)

Maturity Level N°2 (implementation and actions of progress)

Maturity Level N°3 (optimization, monitoring, innovations)

Maturity Level N°4(maturity, continuous

improvement, institutionalization)

ISO 26 000Subchapter

Labor practices and working conditions

Employment responsibility during downsizing projects

• Compliance with social dialogue and local labor law

• Transparency, fairness for employees engagement

• Resettlement help for employees (outplace- ment programs)

• Employment and territory stakeholders involvement

• Develop managers general awareness during the sensitive period before collective redundancy

• Develop Psychosocial risks awareness of key stakeholders

• Financial measures for salaries

• Individualized and qua- litative approach for OP programs

• Psychosocial risks action plan (for both the employees made redundant and the ones that will be staying)

• Actions to lower the impact of the jobs losses in the local territory

• External and internal career transition process built with stakeholders

• Follow-up and monitoring results

• Conditions of work and social protection

• Employment and employment relationships

• ILO Principles

Community involvement and development

Contribution to local economic development

• Identification of key local economic issues

• Identification of the key impacts of the organization regarding employment and skills

• Identification of territorial impact in case of collective redundancies (in terms of employment)

• Support local economic development (dedicated actions)

• Implication of the stakeholders to facilitate job and people redeployment (restructuring project)

• Revitalization aspects (mandatory in France when downsizing project)

• Support development of local programs related to CSR

• Support entrepreneurship and value creation

• Innovative approaches regarding territory revitalization and people redeployment (“integrated platform”)

• Voluntary and proactive actions towards the local economy and the communities in order to help the territory being more attractive

• ROI approach and follow-up

• “Bottom of the pyramid” business model

• Employment creation and skills development

• Wealth and income creation

The complete version of the maturity matrix can be provided as a separate document as per request



Real-World Application – CSR Business Cases chapter

4The following nine real-world business cases illustrate an authentic integration of CSR driven management initiatives. Organization names have been kept anonymous to prevent reader bias.

Non-business partner:

Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted

Year of implementation and impact:

2011 - present

CSR issues addressed:

Employment, diversity & equal opportunities, Stakeholder engagement, Products & services

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTOnly 30% of the 180,000 blind and partially sighted persons in Norway are employed. Given that human resources are expected to become scarce due to demo-graphic change, Organization A saw an opportunity to increase the employability of this group and tackle a key sustainability issue.

The goal of this partnership was to create a business system that was accessible and user-friendly for all

users regardless of their mental and physical health. Cooperation between Organization A and the Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (ABP) includes innova-tion and software development (ERP-system based). The parties contribute their complementary expertise which ensures that high quality software and collaboration on marketing communication give ABP clients access to new tools and communication channels.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTBy voluntarily following the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Organization A has made the ERP-system accessible to people with partial and full loss of sight. Through the cooperation with the ABP, Organization A was able to engage with the key stakeholder group and develop its product in close cooperation with this group.

Over the past two years, ABP has been involved in the validation and testing process to ensure that Organization A’s software meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), which define how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. The project has been a front runner in this field. It is expected that in the near future the Norwegian government will implement the requirements in this area. Driving an important infor-mational campaign, Organization A contributes consid-erably to creating positive attitudes towards employees with disabilities among employers and the general public.

As a positive side-effect, the ERP-system has become more user-friendly and healthier for everyone, e.g. through reduced use of mouse.

ORGANIZATION A

IT - Hardware Software & Services


ORGANIZATION B

Financial – Banks & Building SocietiesYear of implementation and impact:

2013 – 2016


Community impact/ engagement, Products & Services

SUMMAR Y OF THE PROJECTOrganization B launched "Your Choice, Your Project", an innovative online tool for employees of its company throughout Europe. The aim was to involve staff in the final stage of the decision-making process for the alloca-tion of extra grants for projects implemented by non-profit organisations, in a perspective of sharing and dissemina-tion of philanthropy and solidarity. The initiative involved 9 of the 22 countries where Organization B is present (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine) providing a total amount of EUR 2,614,000 and focused on two main topics:

1. Job market inclusion of young people affected by marginalisation or in a vulnerable position

2. Degenerative diseases (such as dementia) that affect the aging European population

INNOVATION ON AND IMPACTA key innovative aspect is the "direct online voting" process, allowing employees to raise their awareness of social issues and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution proposed by the project. Also the "calls for proposals" designed by Organization B feature innovative aspects, developed according to the "action-research" model applied to social entrepreneurship, thus ensuring sustainability, possibility to scale up and replicate and the flexibility of additional contributions to adopted projects by group employees. The main direct impact of "Your Choice, Your Project" were 58 social solidarity projects funded with EUR 2,614,000. The initiative was highly appreciated by Organization B’s employees as demon-strated by a strong participation in both voting and also frequent offers to actively support projects as volunteer

"ambassadors". The Project strengthened employees’ identification and affiliation to their company and posi-tively influenced their motivation. Also the reputation of Organization B in communities which benefit from the Project was greatly enhanced.


ORGANIZATION C

Packaging, Fulfilment Non business partner:

Local authority, Local university

Year of implementation and impact:

2008 – present


Employees health & wellbeing, Employees impact/ engagement

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTOrganization C had undertaken a workplace health audit, funded by a partnership between the local authority and a local university, to assess both the reported and actual health of its workforce and its link to workplace produc-tivity. The results of audit showed that the employee sickness absence and turnover level, which were impact-ing on productivity, product quality and the company finances is unacceptable by company senior manager. he workplace health audit found that most of the work-force displayed low levels of physical health, even among younger workers. Forty five per cent were smokers and over 60 per cent reported drinking to excess at least once a week. The audit also found low levels of physical activity (aside from their work) and poor dietary choices.

Alongside its health audit, Organization C conducted its first ever employee attitude survey. Of most concern, the survey found that only 48 per cent of employees were satisfied with their jobs, 28 per cent were actively looking to leave the company and 56 per cent would consider alternative employment.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTCallahan decided to introduce a wider range of workplace initiatives with the following objectives:

� To improve employee quality of life both inside and outside of the workplace

� To raise staff awareness of health and well-being issues

� To improve the health and physical fitness of its employees

� To reduce the incidence of work-related injury and illness

� To improve productivity, employee attendance and staff morale

To implement them company built an on-site gymnasium for use by both staff and their families, hire full-time well-being advisor workers, the staff canteen now offers only health options and all employees are entitled to two free meals per shift. In addition, Organization C has developed a relationship with a nearby leisure centre who provide a range of regular activities and classes which staff can undertake at reduced prices including tennis, badminton, tai chi, yoga and climbing. The innovative aspect have been indicative that allow employees to take advantage of tax and NI savings on bike purchases in order to commute to work.

Importantly, the wellbeing initiatives have been put in place as part of a wider set of HR policies and practices designed to engage staff, for example, the establishment of a company council, an employee suggestion scheme and more formal performance management practices.

In order to monitor the impact of the wellbeing initiatives, Organization C conducts an annual health audit and employee attitude survey. One year after the wellbeing programme was started the results indicates:

� Employee absenteeism well below the sector average

� Reduced cost of hiring temporary workers

� Increase in reported employee satisfaction

� Increased productivity

� Reduced employee turnover and intention to quit.


ORGANIZATION D

PharmaceuticalYear of implementation and impact:

1997 – present


Employees engagement, Recruitment process

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTIn order to introduce Organization D’s way of effective management and implement corporate CSR values across the organization, Organization D proposed meth-odology which originates from the company’s vision, values, commitments and fundamentals. This consisted of three managerial tools: sustainability reporting, the Balanced Scorecard and the use of facilitators. All of these tools clearly show Organization D’s commitment toward financial, environmental and social responsibility – all aspects which are in line with the triple bottom line (TBL) approach.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTA very innovative aspect of this CSR approach was Organization D’s use of the Balanced Scorecard in its financial and non-financial targets which are a part of the remuneration package at the company.

Non-financial performance is guided by measures for the company’s impact on the TBL.

Even though, there are difficulties in quantifying the impact and effectiveness of CSR activities especially the impact of management initiatives to external stakehold-ers and environment, Organization D makes an effort to attempt one in a specific area. Their results show them the financial impact of CSR driven activities that refer to cost efficiency, lower employee retention cost, productivity benefits, lower insurance cost and higher market values.


ORGANIZATION E

IT & communication Year of implementation and impact:

2005 - present


Employees engagement, Non-discrimination, Work-life balance

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTOrganization E implemented a gender equality-oriented program "Women in Power." The aim of this is to ensure equal opportunities for men and women in manage-rial positions. The project is also supposed to prepare women for promotion and development.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTOrganization E has organized a discussion forum, which can be used by everyone to exchange views on equal rights/emancipation. Moreover, this initiative helps to recognize the problems and barriers women in the labour market face to a greater degree. Detailed problems and ideas are discussed at special employee meetings and through the company’s intranet. This allows senior female managers to counsel junior women who aspire to work in managerial positions. Organization E has also estab-lished a follow-up of this program which is a system of training for women to help them find the balance between their career and family life. Also it is in aim to help them understand the unwritten rules of men in the corporate world. This includes the existence of self-promotion and atypical stereotypes.


ORGANIZATION F

IT & communicationYear of implementation and impact:

2000 - present


Work-life balance, Wellbeing, Non-discrimination,

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTIn 2000, Organization F decided to standardize shifts and work hours throughout the whole organization. Full-time Organization F operators work seven 12-hour shifts over a two-week period, on the basis of four days one week, and three days the next. When the work hours were changed, employees were offered job sharing, either on the day or night shifts. Job sharing refers to a work system in which two people share a full-time job between them, splitting equally the number of hours worked.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTIn order to participate in the job sharing system, employ-ees were obligated to submit a claim along with justifi-cation. Mainly, single parents and women benefit from the opportunity to share a job and all of them point out family life as an advantage of this system. Other benefits that were noticed by employees was a feeling of work-life balance.

Also Organization F’s managers have seen benefits aris-ing from job sharing such as higher productivity and a high level of retention of highly qualified and well-trained talent.


ORGANIZATION G

Public sector - cityYear of implementation and impact:

2000 - present


CSR awareness and implementation

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT AND BACKGROUNDOrganization G, a city in Europe, is inarguably the most prosperous and dynamic area in the country. Yet its adja-cent boroughs face higher levels of unemployment, social exclusion and child poverty than elsewhere in the country.

Hence, Organization G as a city is currently working closely with public, private and community sector bodies to bring lasting economic and physical regeneration to the city and its neighbouring boroughs. This project offers support to companies in the city and its neighbouring boroughs, that are interested in starting up or devel-oping authentic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs that fit their size, sector and experience.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTOrganization G is best known for its flagship newcomers program which offers free CSR support for up to 70 companies every year through a range of workshops, guides and templates, signposting and dedicated account management initiatives. The city’s programs are supported by over 100 contributor businesses, which provide support by sharing their expertise of CSR. Since the year 2000, more than 450 business have adopted the newcomers program. Moreover, 70% of newcomers have managed to start and establish an internal CSR business structure without any particular dedicated CSR resources from the city.


ORGANIZATION H

Food productionYear of implementation and impact:

2006 – present


Societal health and well-being

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECTLaunched in March 2006, Organization G’s “Green” Foods was established through a joint venture between Green Bank (the “bank of the poor") and Organization G Foods.

The mission of company is to reduce poverty by bringing health through food to children using a unique commu-nity-based business model. Although the company has to be profitable – profits from the first plants are needed to finance the construction of new plants – the success of the project will above all be judged on non-financial criteria: the number of direct and indirect jobs created (milk producers, small wholesalers, door to door sellers), improvements to children’s health and protection of the environment.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTThe “green” yogurt has been specially designed to make up for the nutritional deficiencies that many Bangladeshi children suffer from. Reduced from cow’s milk produced locally and date molasses, “green” milk contains the natural calcium proteins needed for growth and bone solidity. Also enriched in micronutrients, an 80 gram pot is enough to cover 30% of daily needs for a child in vitamin A , iron, zinc and iodine.

Organization G’s “Green” Foods has planned to set up and launch as many as 50 production plants during the ten years between 2006 and 2016 for what is in accord-ance with an aim in creating as many jobs as possible within the local community. Moreover, in order to ensure environmental protection, each plant will use renewable energy through the fixtures of solar panels and rainwater recovery systems which reduce the risk of depleting groundwater levels.


BUSINESS CASES

Fair trade - goldSUMMARY OF THE PROJECTAround 50% of the global demand for gold is for jewellery and the jewellery market was estimated at 137,6B$ in 2010, making it one of the world’s largest categories of consumer goods. But for the 100 million people globally who depend on artisanal and small-scale mining for their livelihood, the reality is exploitation, poor and difficult working conditions, complex and non-transparent supply chains and unfair prices for products. As is the case for other Fairtrade certified producer organizations, Fairtrade and Fairmined offers mining organizations and their communities a better deal.

INNOVATION AND IMPACTMiners develop a long-term business relationship with their commercial partners and get a fair price for their gold, along with the Fairtrade Premium for investment in economic, social or environmental improvements. The Standards ensure that the Fairtrade and Fairmined gold has been extracted, processed and traded in a fair and responsible manner. This means:

• Strengthened miners organizations - Miners have the opportunity to empower themselves through their organization. They form groups to give themselves better bargaining power with traders, to get a fairer return for their produce, and gain greater control over the jewellery supply chain.

• Improved working conditions - Fairtrade and Fairmined certification requires mandatory use of protective gear and health and safety training for all miners.

• Freedom of association and collective bargaining - Certified miners’ organizations must recognise the right of all workers to establish and join trade unions and collectively negotiate their working conditions.

• Responsible use of chemicals - Certified miners must use safe and responsible practices for management of toxic chemicals in gold recovery, such as mercury and cyanide. Chemicals have to be reduced to a minimum, and where possible eliminated over an agreed time period.



BPI group – An Internal View of Corporate Social Responsibility chapter

5Recognizing the growing prominence of CSR for both our clients and ourselves as a socially responsible HR services provider, we, together with our International Business Unit and Institute for Leadership conducted a survey regarding Corporate Social Responsibility to examine internal and external perceptions and assumptions on the subject. All consultants involved in commercial activities within our network were invited to complete the survey. This allowed us to collect responses from people interacting with a diverse set of clients, from various demographics, located in different economic and social environments.

The survey was conducted between July 30th and September 10th, 2013, in 14 countries. Participants answered 14 questions regarding both their clients’ and their own personal expe-rience and knowledge about CSR. The results enabled us to assess our CSR policy and social responsibility related initiatives - particularly regarding the involvement of HR management.

The survey results shared that 83% of respondents assessed their knowledge about social responsibility as fair or good. However, only 45% of all respondents (and 17% of respondents from emerging markets) were aware of the establishment of the ISO 26000 standard – a key to the foundation of corporate CSR application.

Additionally, 59% of respondents around the world and 83% of respondents in emerging markets observed an incline in interest in CSR services amongst their clients. They attributed this emerging interest to their clients’ needs for brand differentiation, customer engagement and good PR. Up to 83% of all respondents, with 100% of them from France suggested that CSR should be given more prominence in organizations and particularly should be a focus within businesses with a concentration in providing HR services.

Notably, respondents of our survey shared that the most important aspects of social respon-sibility policy include local development, human development, training in the workplace, compensation, benefits and social protection as the Top 3, while they rated governance and organization, management, health and safety at work as the least important.

Furthermore, respondents also indicated that they developed an increase in trust for organ-izations which adopted CSR values, and additionally shared that CSR, despite its altruistic nature, does also offer a form of positive PR for commercial activities, deeming it a mutually beneficial exchange between businesses and their respective communities.

As reflective in the results, the need for organizations to care for the domestic communities in which they operate within is becoming an increasingly emergent demand in terms of CSR objectives. As stakeholders, consumers, employees and citizens, people are recognizing the need for corporations to hold true to transparency, accountability, and moreover, authenticity – mostly due to the nature of the information age we exist in today. With the ease of access to information presently, corporate reputation has largely become a top priority for organizations seeking both success and stability in the marketplace.

Employee engagement

Customer engagement

Brand differentation

Innovation

Cost savings

Sustainable growth strategy

Good PR

16%

11%

10%

9%22%

17%

15%


Conclusively, the survey results strongly indi-cate that it is imperative for organizations to implement and develop socially responsible policies and practices. Acknowledging the considerable shift in stakeholder expectations today and also the progressive trend which shows more and more companies beginning to observe CSR policies in their daily opera-tions, it is critical as modern day businesses to speak in the same "language" with clients.

As enterprises operating in an aggressively competitive market, functioning on the leading edge of strategy by expanding organizational knowledge regarding social responsibility and further addressing CSR as a business tool for growth is key in creating long-lasting value.

Executive Summary:• 83% of survey participants found CSR to be a potentially valuable topic to focus upon

as a HR services provider• Respondents noticed a 59% increase in interest in CSR amongst their clients • The most important aspects for companies regarding human rights and labour prac-

tices within CSR policy are local development and human development and training in the workplace

• Company information about CSR involvement increases internal and external trust and is a good measure for PR in RFP processes

What aspects regarding to human rights and labour practices in CSR policies are the most important for your clients?

1 Local development

2 Human development and training in the workplace

3 Compensation, benefits and social protection

4 Employment and wxorkforce planing

5 Social dialogue

6 Discrimination and culnerable groups

7 Governance and organization

8 Management

9 Health and safety at work


Industry Thoughts On CSR - BPI group Event: How Can Social Dialogue Drive Business Competitiveness?

In the context of the International Women's day 20147th of March 2014

Dominique de la GARANDERIE (Senior Associate Attorney, specialist in labor law, La Garanderie & Associés)CSR is most definitely a competitive asset. This is a proactive approach that transcends rigid frameworks. What’s more, CSR is evolving in a context of relative freedom even though, in keeping with the French habit of regulating, legislation has nevertheless been passed. Lastly, CSR was for many years viewed as a communications tool. But today, major enterprises take CSR very seriously and they have had positive feedback. There is an established link between performance gains from investing in extra-financial factors and financial performance.

Brigitte DUMONT (Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Orange), said that Orange had already included employees on its board of directors within the scope of the group’s CSR policy [before law made it compulsory in 2013]: As for CSR, there is currently a strong trend to include more extra-financial criteria, which is a welcome development. CSR is not about philanthropy, but a different way of looking at business and relations within the company. At the same time, the efforts made by companies in the area of CSR merit real recognition, notably in financial ratings.

Laurence LAIGO (expert at the 1st Minster Office) observed that behind an apparent confidence in social dialogue, authorities nevertheless proposed legislation, meaning that in reality there is no room for any innovative approach to negotiations.

Carole COUVERT (president of the CFE CGC trade union) pointed out that social dialogue is rarely mentioned in career résumés, but the issue of the career itineraries of men or women who are engaged in labor relations needs to be addressed, along with their redeployment. Also, good corporate citizenship must be reconciled with consumer expectations.

Blandine TRIDON (Chief Executive, Groupe Labellemontagne, President of the Savoie young executives center) noted that Labellemontagne practices CSR every day. The company manages ski lift concessions under a public service delegation contract and its business is by definition very seasonal. But this in no way creates job insecurity for its employees, since the collective bargaining agreement established the right to renew employment contracts. On the other hand, the employment catchment areas where the Labellemontagne group operates are sometimes limited. The solution is flexibility, enabling the company to find people with the skills matched to needs.


An interview with Sabine Lochmann, Managing Director of BPI group What is the responsibility of business today?

Today, the responsibility of business is threefold: it is to simultaneously generate wealth while supporting the growth and development of innovation, all whilst ensuring the ethical management of business practices. With modern day shareholders expecting much more from their investments than they did decades back, businesses now must seek to reward growing expectations in order to sustain themselves as competitive entities. This applies particularly for global companies who possess power which oftentimes exceeds the power of a state. With such influence, there definitely brings about a greater sense of responsibility towards ensuring sustainable development. Factors such as respecting employee treatment by regulating working conditions and not endangering life in respective communities of operations, all attribute to the unique responsibility and role of business in the marketplace today. Overall, organizations now considerably impact what can happen tomorrow for the generation to come. Duly, they have to ensure that they do not cause a threat to a whole sector of activity due to an absence of ethics and furthermore a lack of balance between understanding sustainable growth versus greedy growth.

Is corporate social responsibility an imperative for organizational success?

CSR has been a part of the DNA of some companies ever since their origin of operations. Historically, this is apparent when we refer back to paternalistic management. But today, CSR is becoming more prevalent and necessary as organizations today stand in a role of significant impact and influence - more so, as models for political advocates and public citizens to follow. This has transfigured the idea of social responsibility for business as a tool and moderator to manage several risks in regards to their various stakeholders. It also acts as a platform to be more accountable - not only for the immediate time, but also for the coming generation. We are now living in a world which is welcoming a new cycle of how things are being done. With everything moving faster and faster, and with the acclimatization of the digital revolution, CSR is now no longer a long-term business aspiration, but a current reality. It should be recognized and appropriately addressed globally by organizations, as it dictates the future of business entirely. From employee engagement- which is a critical element to organizational productiv-ity and health, to market sustainability, CSR is a core component to what will determine the success on business in the days to come.

Is CSR a concept which is realistic in real-world application?

Yes, CSR is absolutely realistic in application. It is pliable in nature, so businesses may choose to adopt it holistically or simply integrate its more readily available aspects. Personally, I recognize the importance of creating value as an organization for the environment from which you draw from – whether that be human capital, natural resources or living communities. Because we as organizations carry with us a size which has the potential to draw a legacy, it is essential to build value despite what you may destroy along the way. This is essentially the spirit of corporate social responsibility – an entirely applicable business practice. Moreover, CSR is a form of organizational leadership which offers the challenge of how to behave when there are tough decisions to be made. This then brings into question the disparity between a mid-range CSR and a long-term CSR model; both which require very different decision making criteria. But overall, CSR is a concept which is realistic in application as it is simply a business attitude which approaches value creation by reframing CSR from a business penalty into an incredible business opportunity to build, create, and strengthen systems which can leverage growth for the future.

How can organizations with no previous background in socially responsible business practices begin to adopt a CSR enforced work culture?

There is always a key challenge to address within every company. Whether the challenge is internal or external in existence, what makes all the difference is how an organization as a whole chooses to meet this challenge. In the case of adopting CSR values with no previous experience, the beginning of this objective lies in creating a clear and solid foundation within the

Sabine LochmannManaging Director – BPI group


business’ internal structure. This is done by providing employees with a clear business mission and vision through the means of a simple and efficient structure set with clear boundaries. Every grand possibility begins with a small step in the right direction. Likewise, allowing the birth of CSR within the organization is promising when approached essentially from the bottom up. This is a critical first step in breeding a socially responsible, value infused, corporate spirit.

What is the future of CSR in the next decade?

The future of CSR now lies in diversity. What organizations should understand today is that the presence of diversity within the company plays a considerable role in fostering sustainable business values, as it brings about different people who share different ideas and allow for hybrid collaboration in vision which would not have been conceived without a mix in percep-tion. Diversity further encourages organizations today which are seeking to walk along the path of CSR to adopt a 360 degree approach. What this means is to be open to learning, growing and developing as an organization from all aspects. Being present amidst radical change in the way we work and live today, the notion of corporate social responsibility has lent its meaning to sharing wealth with the community. It has grown to embrace the responsibility of providing for the environment in which you are working. This is all in an aim to offer the new generations to come with stability and possibility.

In a few words, what does CSR essentially mean to you as a business leader?

As a business leader, the integration of CSR values is what makes me proud of working in and for a company.

Closing Remarks:

Jean de la Fontaine’s infamous fables share one story about a father and his children in which the father assures to his children of a treasure in his garden once he passes away. Upon his death, the children dig and dig, only to find nothing of the sort. After some time, they come to the realization that the true wealth their father was referring to was that the joint effort and collaboration in work that the children endured together to achieve their one mutual goal of finding the treasure.

As businesses operating in an extremely complex climate, we can adopt one simple lesson from this fable ourselves which is that true wealth is not simply monetary. For example, when you partake in unreasonable pollution and environmental degradation, money cannot fix this by renewing life. There is only so much finances can and will achieve. True wealth lies much beyond the numbers. It echoes in a place which speaks of how you help the community and society, and what you impart to the people around you for a time when you will not be there anymore.


As organizations, we have been speaking about corporate social responsibility in theory, aggressively, for the past five years. Although, if examined closely, the present application and integration of CSR values in France, and globally, is not an organizational reality. In fact, the idea of CSR today inclines more toward a strategic marketing tactic which aims to maintain a positive external image to consumers and stakeholders without any actual and concrete action.

Indicative of this, I have personally come across several large companies in the past few years who have claimed to thoroughly incorporate CSR values into their business practices, whereas the reality of the situation was entirely different. These companies stated that they did not have the budget required to actually implement their initial CSR goals, but regardless, went ahead to misleadingly portray otherwise through their organizational communication efforts. This leads us to recognize that the discrepancy between what is being said and what is being done is an apparent reality in regards to corporate social responsibility today.

Initially, when the concept of CSR was introduced, it mostly addressed the environment and the preservation of natural resources. Although, as emergent recently, CSR has transformed into much more than merely governing our external environment. Now, CSR regards the significance of caring about the internal environment within the company, and caring for our most valuable resource – human capital.

Recently in France, a new law which was passed in June 2013, La loi sur la sécurisation de l’emploi (LSE) depicts just how fundamental CSR values are for businesses today. The LSE has provided CSR with a public platform which holds organizations responsible for the well-being of their employees. It gives attention to communities within companies, allowing employees to express themselves, which in turn helps to improve social dialogue at every level of the company – an integral element to CSR.

Consequently, as we can see, today, CSR is captivating the larger percentage of the popu-lation because it is engaging us in a critical discussion on the importance of employment. Specifically, it is opening up the future to workers by ensuring the utilization of their talent.

To note, in France, when we talk about CSR, we mainly focus on the journey of humans in their professional evolution. Even though this is only one aspect of CSR, it is likely the most important, as it is the people in the workforce who define its perennial existence.

As we at BPI group believe, it is most critical to now address the overall well-being of work-ers - essentially, helping our national and global talent pool to live better and to enhance their employability by developing themselves professionally and evolving themselves personally. Likewise, recognizing the value in effective social dialogue, we strive to be key players in making CSR a relevant topic of discussion.

When deliberating on social responsibility, we ought to recognize that CSR is a duty which a company has the option to adopt, and definitely not an obligation of any sort. Hence, when integrating CSR into organizational operations, authenticity is fundamental for the successful establishment of the system.

Three key points of consideration for organizations contemplating CSR as a business tool are:

1) Currently, the economic crisis we are in is enabling us to recognize and reinforce the importance of CSR. This is particularly because during an uncertain time such as this, the need for talent management is placed in emphasis. Being so, as the prominence of talent management grows in France and worldwide, CSR is becoming a tool in helping talent attraction and retention in the days to come.

2) As with any product which is being introduced into the market, CSR has already made its initial entry and breakthrough, and is currently being gradually accepted and discussed as it is in its phase of growth. This means that it will soon arrive at a phase of product maturity – a time when thorough integration of CSR will become common-place.

Jean-Marie ThuillierAssociate Director BPI groupDirecteur des Practices, des Métiers et de L’Innovation


3) It is key to note that when speaking of CSR, all stakeholders in the company should be accounted for. CSR does not merely include acknowledging externalities. It is a holistic strategy which involves addressing the fair treatment of all relative groups: employees, consumers, citizens, taxpayers, subcontractors and unions.

Now, as we head into an era of integrative CSR management, the greatest challenge we face as organizations is to justifiably answer to the ROI (return on investment) of being socially responsible. With a lack of concrete evidence illustrating exactly how CSR positively enhances the bottom line, being socially responsible has to prove its cost in order to become a reality in the world of business both today and tomorrow. Hence, as we will begin to see, the future of CSR will witness an improvement in real application, contingent on its ability to prove its impact. And by doing so, ultimately CSR will enable the reconciliation of human values to the corporate workplace.


Today, there is no longer any question about whether CSR is an objective which is worthwhile pursuing or not. Presently operating within environments which demand social responsibility, CSR has become a business necessity rather than a mere option. With companies having become public entities in the past decade, it is essential to ensure that organizational brands thrive in the marketplace. For this reason alone, the adoption of CSR values into management infrastructure is required - as it simply makes good sense.

As we have been a witness to and participant of, there have been radical changes to the model Adam Smith has proposed about the responsibility of business. It is still valid that companies are here to generate wealth, but it is essential in our global world to also critically consider externalities in our environment. This is largely because we have new responsibilities as we become more powerful entities – and this new power is initiating a new distribution of roles to maintain the national and global community alike - as both healthy and wealthy.

In particular, in France, CSR is extremely valuable because one of our national problems is the lack of acute business sense. Due to our cultural underpinnings, business activity is not valued enough. Hence, we have yet to, as a national society, widely acknowledge that business is the only way for growth. This is primarily attributed to our lack of knowledge about what a company is and how it works. Duly, this negative view about how businesses function, is a product of associating the enterprise with layoffs rather than output and productivity, while equating organizational bureaucracy with unreasonable compensation.

In light of this, the application of CSR values to the core of organizational culture suggests to the French, and likely global population, that we need our companies in order for our country to retain itself as both a competent and thriving nation. In addition, CSR has the potential to become a wonderful and effective lever in helping people to appreciate the world of business and its enriching contributions to the economy and moreover, the welfare of society.

It is becoming clear that CSR now is entering a new era. For years, it has usually been a placeholder in financial reports, but now it is not the case anymore. There is now an authentic attempt to truly integrate CSR into strategic management regardless of company size. With organizations recognizing ultimately that CSR is not just an option which is convenient, but rather now the most efficient and effective way to do good business, CSR is gradually transfix-ing itself into a business world reality as its multi-dimensional nature can no longer be ignored.

As a powerful way to conduct business in a global world where employees are also citizens and citizens are also voters and consumers, who in turn are also taxpayers and stakehold-ers, social responsibility has affixed itself always from theory alone. However, despite this progressive shift, we face a paradox today when dealing with the application of CSR, as we have to walk the talk. With fragile and ineffectual internal organizational infrastructures, we have to first and foremost begin to adopt CSR values by caring for our human capital. This is the beginning of anything: the first step of any CSR approach. Being a socially responsible business begins first with the well-being of employees, as your workers are the advocates and frontrunners of your organization.

With that being said, CSR is also a difficult feat today as it is greatly challenging to arbitrate between conflicts of interest. Win-win outcomes are a rarity in the business world and not always possible, as the interest of stakeholders are not always corresponding to the interests of employees. In fact, they rarely match, and hence you have to arbitrate between several conflicts of interest which involve all shareholders: employees, people, subcontractors, etc.

In addition, when closely contemplated, what we are beginning to discover is that CSR also includes the adoption of relatively new and innovative ideas, both internally and externally. One such key element of the future of CSR will be in the consideration and strategic application of co-opetition. Co-opetition involves cooperation with people you are in competition with. It explores a terrain which studies how to cooperate within competitive environments and how to conduct business in a way which is much simpler yet much more effective. It suggests that we have to be smart enough to combine competition and cooperation, as competition is not entirely antagonistic. In this sense, it is reflective of CSR values which similarly suggest

Philippe BigardDirectorInstitute for Leadership - BPI group


that sustainable business activity lies in combining various interests of various shareholders. Markedly, CSR obliges you to appreciate the intricacy of management in a more enlightened manner, and less through a lens which is solely black and white.

Straying away from theory and into the domain of concrete application, CSR faces a very big challenge in proving itself as a profitable return on investment. As a new frontier which compa-nies are exploring, we have to acknowledge that the application of CSR is a huge challenge which will be very difficult to overcome. To get true results will be an arduous journey, as we are far from where we should stand, both socially and environmentally.

Hence, it is crucial as organizations that we need to take a calculated risk and venture into establishing CSR as a business reality - although, at the same time, we must not undertake difficulties which are impractical to address. For example, to be noted, a very real question CSR brings to the forefront is the question of scale of values. The concept of CSR cannot be necessarily regulated globally. For example, what is considered treating an employee well in Canada differs greatly in India or Tunisia. Hence, CSR prompts us to examine whether we can accept differences in these standards and moreover, to which extent.

If we do not have this kind of progressive dialogue about real world business issues, big companies will continue to hide behind the shadow of their CSR branding and continue their unethical behaviour without intervention. So the key is to not make CSR a new layer of constraints, but rather a wonderful opportunity to reconcile the French community with its economy.

Moreover, as consultants, we have a key role to play in the sensibilization of our clients and partners to convince them that CSR is the right direction to rediscover what it truly means to be a company. Also, it is the best answer we can imagine to the big question of social innovation.

At present, people – particularly young talent, no longer seek to work just for a salary. They want to be making an impact in their society through the span of their career.

Unaware of the holistic aspect of business, there has been a divorce between French compa-nies and the national society, so CSR can unite this rift. The CSR spirit is the best solution to this and is absolutely required if we want to get out of the never ending economic crisis in France.

Business is the only way of safeguarding our social model and we need to become better at doing this.

A key message which needs to be widely embraced is that companies are not creating money by ‘evil’ means. The national population needs to understand that you can do business in an ethical way, as business is about taking care of your people and secondly, it is about safeguarding people in the community – while simultaneously generating profit in order to stimulate the economy.

An additional reason CSR is an investment for any organization is because a new organiza-tional model opens your company up to new networks – a key for success and sustainability in the marketplace.



Closing Notes – Redrawing Corporate Social Responsibility

chapter

6We resist change, yet seek novelty. Traversing on the same edge of the sword, we pursue organizational greatness. However, altogether indulged and comforted by familiarity, we cringe at the possibility of operating any differently than we have been accustomed to. Are we as organizations today simply apathetic to our needs for growth? In misalignment with our ‘values?’ Or more so, unwilling to weave the new into our way of the old?

Blissfully cemented in our versed customs, we must acknowledge that we cannot become what we aspire to be tomorrow by remaining what we are today. When closely examined, it is evident that organizations over time have become products of man’s inclination for habit. Synthesized by the greed for profit and amalgamated by a blind ambition to conquest our competitors, we have neglected the most critical element the enterprise requires for long-standing success: sustainability. More specifically, Corporate Social Responsibility.

Directional, definitive, and precipitant, corporate social responsibility is strategically begin-ning to etch its place into the world of business today in an aim of remaining in its vicinity permanently. Unifying ethics with corporate practices and reconciling morals and values with organizational culture, CSR has made its arrival heard and is here to stay.

In the past decade, as the business climate has been shifting, CSR has been propitiously suggested as crowning to good business practices. Since its inception, the concept of business’ role of becoming socially conscious has transformed into a necessity for compa-nies vying for a deep-rooted standing in the marketplace. This is partly attributed to the technological revolution and as consequent, partly credited to globalization. Hence, the larger international population which is composed of consumers, suppliers, subcontractors and stakeholders, is becoming more morally inclined and socially aware, as they are swiftly welcomed into the information age.

Yet unfortunately, at present, the topic of CSR has been saturated and moreover, diluted in its definition. This is mostly because it has garnered an unfortunate stance as being more spoken and deliberated upon than executed and practiced.

As a concept so theologically demanding, CSR requires meticulous and effective handling in order to successfully deliver its intention of humanizing and endearing capitalism. This brings us to address three main points as part and parcel of the CSR debate through our comprehensive research:

1) Are we entering an era in which CSR values will be entirely applied in all facets of stra-tegic management? Hence, will a redefined model of CSR help to concurrently design a new model of management for the workplace of tomorrow?

2) Will the thorough integration of CSR policy into all organizational practices offer a viable solution to management issues such as employee engagement, well-being, productivity and satisfaction? Furthermore, will the incorporation of CSR values into corporate culture essay social issues such as poverty, child labour and environmental degradation as declining occurrences?


3) Lastly, but as importantly, is the real-world employment of CSR reserved only for large organizations? For developed nations? Essentially, for the wealthy?

Operating in the 21st century, there is a great discrepancy between what is being said and what is being done. Unaware of how to authentically integrate CSR into corporate practices, companies today are failing to recognize the opportunity they have to grow and evolve much beyond the foresights of their predecessors. As an example, in historic retrospect, Milton Freidman was credited with affirming that the only responsibility of business is to generate profit.

Yet, we have come a long way since then to recognize that we in fact, live in a society which is much more multi-dimensional than Friedman acknowledged. We have consumers to please, suppliers to manage, subcontractors to direct, stakeholders to satisfy and entire markets to influence. If our only responsibility in such a role were to simply conduct business, in neglect of social issues, we would be decrying the most valuable resource known to mankind: mankind himself.

As we are able to understand, the ways in which we have been operating have been primitive in vision. It is now that our journey as organizations of today begins. We have to methodically plan ahead. It’s a peril of life and the cycle of business, because if innovation in management does not form the greater part of our organizational tapestry at present, we can consider it a warning sign for defeat tomorrow.

Evidently, our organizational culture needs a facelift. We need employees to collectively understand the significance of CSR and its direct effect on business. The enterprise of the 21st century can no longer acquaint itself with old traditions. We need to seek new directions in defining what it means to be a successful business. If we cannot take care of the commu-nities which hold our consumers and stakeholders, then we cannot expect their loyalty on this two-way street. Hence, we must embark on a journey to marry CSR values into our organizational culture, and ultimately evocate what we know into successive action.

However, making the decision to adopt CSR as a principal organizational value is only the first step to internal transformation and reengineering of business practices. The actual application and integration of socially responsible values is a perpetual balancing act.

As this report examines, reaching a consensus on CSR is a challenging feat. This is primarily because the interests of stakeholders are oftentimes in conflict. What this essentially proposes, is a new management problem which needs to be efficaciously addressed. To note, employees have entirely different expectations from their company than a shareholder would. Therefore, it is fundamental for businesses to enlarge their organizational objectives in order to encompass effective management of this prevalent difference in priorities.

Despite this, though CSR integration into business practices is an arduous path, it is an equally rewarding one. However, it does demand a mastery of the art of arbitrating between various organizational interests and stakeholders. The complexity in application is where most organizations fall short. What companies today must embrace is that the art of management lies in the relentless practice of mediation. The cold hard truth stands before us: not all stake-holders can always be completely satisfied, and not all situations can be entirely win-win in outcome, but a middle ground does exist - one which offers the incorporation of Corporate Social Responsibility and one which fosters sustainability – the key to the future of business.

Shwetha Chandrashekhar BPI group Intern Top 10 National Finalist, Focus 2040


Sourceschapter

7LiteratureLam, H., Kahare, A. (2010). HR’s Crucial Role For Successful CSR, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol.3 No.2 2010

Sharma, S., Sharma J. (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility: The Key Role Of Human Resource Management, Business Intelligence Journal - January, Vol.2 No.1 2009

Cohen, E. (2010). A Necessary Partnership for Advancing Responsible Business Practices

Carolle, A. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility, Business Horizons, July – August

Garriga, E., Mele, D. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory, Journal of Business Ethics 52,

International Organization For Standardization (ISO (2010). Draft International Standard ISO/ DIS 26000, Guidance on social responsibility

International Labour Organization (2008). ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization

European Commission(2013). Golden Book of the first European CSR Awards

Melcrum. (2006). Engaging Employees in Corporate Responsibility: How the World’s Leading Companies Embed CR in Employee Decision-making. London, UK: Author

Maxwell, G. (2008). Case Study Series on Work-Life Balance in Large Organizations, Society for Human Resource Management.

Count Albert de Mun: His Theory of the Social Apostolate, Sister Miriam, O. S. U., The American Catholic Sociological Review, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1953), pp. 13-24

Scalet, S., & Kelly, T. F. (2010). CSR Rating Agencies: What is Their Global Impact? A 2010 Journal of Business Ethics Study. Journal of Business Ethics, 94(1), 69-88.

Visser, W. (2011). The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. Wiley.

Schwartz, M. S. (2011). Corporate social responsibility: an ethical approach. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press.

Cheng, K., Low, P., Ang, S. L., & Idowu, S. O. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia: Practice and Experience . Springer.

Chase, L. A., Rangan, K., & Karim, S. (2012). Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It. Harvard Business Case Paper, Working Paper.


Web siteshttp://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sustainable-business/corporate-socialresponsibility/

http://corostrandberg.com/

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home

https://www.melcrum.com/

http://www.shrm.org/

http://www.iso.org/

http://corporate.walmart.com/

http://www.csreurope.org/

http://www.ilo.org/

http://www.un.org/

http://www.theheartofthecity.com/

http://www.danone.com/

http://www.yunussb.com/

https://www.ic.gc.ca/

http://www.state.gov/e/eb/eppd/csr/

www.finyear.com

www.diplomatie.gouv.fr

http://www.csreurope.org/guide-csr-europe

http://www.csr-weltweit.de/

http://www.oddo.fr/

https://ratings.standardandpoors.com/about/who-we-are/Our-Approach-to-Corporate-Social-Responsibility.html

http://www.vigeo.com/csr-rating-agency/

http://www.csrwire.com/


Appendixchapter

8Videos

Due to its strategic character social responsibility is very important topic from the perspective of companies’ management. Please find bellow links to information videos and interviews with executives of various companies who tell about their experience related to this topic.

� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0NkGtNU_9w about CSR

� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdkYieDuVvY IBM

� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbcVzeTKxp8 McDonald’s

� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w0x_RAgsjY Dell

� http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiivSxLyEUI KPMG

� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a79RQ5ZMrdo Unilever

Morover, many interesting videos regarding CSR and sustainable development you can finde on www.ted.com.

BooksVery valuable source of knowledge on CSR is books, which amount in book stores can surprise. Based on list of most popular books on goodreads.com and our experience we create the list of "must read" CSR books. They all show that CSR should be consider as way of doing and thinking about our business and life that enable long term development.

� The Triple Bottom Line: How Today’s Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success -- And How You Can Too by Andrew W. Savitz, Karl Weber, 2006

� Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause by Philip Kotler, Nancy Lee, 2004

� Milton Hershey: Chocolate King, Town Builder by Charnan Simon, Sarah De Capua, 1998

� Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus, Karl Weber, 1999

� Fair Trade and How It Works by Jacqueline Decarlo, 2011

� In Good Company: An Anatomy of Corporate Social Responsibility by Dinah Rajak, 2011

� CSR for HR: A Necessary Partnership for Advancing Responsible Business Practices by Elaine Cohen, 2010


ArticlesThat newspapers and magazines very often are the first source of some ideas for executives. Especial when this ideas are related to company’s strategy and possibility of development. Knowing the power of shape opinion and view publisher, also as social responsible company, should included articles regarding CSR.

The list shows easy available worth reading articles:

� An Innovative Approach to Funding CSR Projects by Theo Vermaelen, Harvard Business Review, June 2011.

� Column: It’s Time to Take Full Responsibility by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business Review, October 2010.

� Corporate Social Responsibility in Mexico and France: Exploring the Role of Normative Institutions by Maribel Blasco and Mette Zølner, Business & Society, June 2010.

� Just good business, Special report: Corporate Social Responsibility, The Economist, January 2008.

� Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, Harvard Business Review, December 2006.

� Building the Green Way by Charles Lockwood, Harvard Business Review, June 2006

� The Path to Corporate Responsibility by Simon Zadek, Harvard Business Review, December 2004.

� From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harverd Business Review, May 1999.

THE INSTITUTE'S DOSSIERS

The Institute's Dossiers are a distillation of the knowledge drawn from the experience of BPI group consultants, and represent all activities, areas, and countries, in which the Institute for Leadership team has conducted research. The Institute for Leadership is BPI group’s dedicated center for analysis and forecasting.

Dealing with major contemporary questions in the fields of management, HRM and social issues, the Institute's Dossiers aim to offer various insights in order to provide guidance over the medium / long term. They are intended to allow everyone to form as enlightened an opinion as possible.

As exercises in applied research, these folders have a practical purpose as well. Today the HR and Social fields are facing unprecedented questions whose solutions may be crucial to avoiding a number of significant challenges and dysfunctions.

Each folder proposes a new analytical and thinking perspective on issues related to contemporary transformations of work and labor relations, as well as the significant challenges they pose to all stakeholders: business leaders, human resources managers and directors of social relations, staff repre-sentatives and trade union stakeholders, managers, employees, students or researchers, consultants.

To all, we wish a pleasant and informative reading experience. As always, this folder is also published on the Institute for Leadership website, where everyone is invited to express his/her reactions, critical or complementary perspectives in order to push the debate for innovation and social advancement forward.

Philippe BIGARD Director of the Institute for Leadership - BPI group

Directeur de la publication : Philippe Bigard Coordination : Shwetha Chandrashekhar

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Corporate Social Responsability (english version)

Leadership & Management

redrawing csr

csr values

manager of csr

social responsibility

csr strategy goals

strong csr policies

nonexistent csr policies

frances csr engagement