Corporate Social Responsibility is about more than being ‘Green’ – part 2

If you haven’t had the chance to read part one of this piece the link is here. Within that post I looked at how Corporate Social Responsibility has evolved over the last ten years, how companies chose to associate or disassociate with the idea of enacting a CSR plan and the general perception of consumers, clients and the public at large. Previously I explored some of the reasons companies were not moving the needle when it came to CSR whether that was by default or design. What I think is important to note is how broad the mechanisms of being ‘socially responsible’ as a company actually are. Better still it’s not a process that a company should be graded on by saying ‘doing this brings more value than doing that‘ – what truly brings value is a company doing something positive and the more changes the better – it’s looking at the scope of possibility that displays just how effectual a business can become when aligning itself to a cohesive CSR strategy.

San Francisco, 2010 (Image Courtesy Dhiren)

The comprehension is very overdue, a trend that was in danger of becoming accepted wisdom in too many circles was implying that sustainability or sustainable practices had to infer that a company was ‘green’. Both the misunderstanding of that compounded with the diversionary air by some meant that less was achieved. Being ‘Green’ was seen as the finish line rather than a component of being a responsible company. Many smaller businesses asked themselves ‘how do I become more green’ and when an answer was not apparent the idea of enacting a CSR program was often bypassed. Fortunately that is now changing, the fuller concept of sustainability — items such as working conditions, community impacts, human rights, product safety, access to education and health care, community consultation and donations is now more likely to be under consideration by many companies. Within companies teams are formed that develop, review and respond to corporate “responsibility”, global marketing is under more scrutiny than before in terms of the design and distribution of products and services for the financially disadvantaged both nationally and in internationally.

Companies are spending more time appreciating that a level of good citizenry is required on a local, national and global scale. Making products that can negatively impact the general population in terms of overall health,  product safety, access to clean water, and visible planning from a factory design to the emissions of waste.The higher mantle that CSR now resides upon has been brought about by what were called whistle blowers a generation ago but now are citizen activists. People who expect that the provider of their chosen goods or services are being responsible and transparent in their actions. Bridging your company to provide active involvement with this process is beneficial to all parties.Being a company with an enacted commitment to CSR is now more than ever not just a popular notion it is the right notion and your customers and clients are becoming more vocal in their expectations. At Miratel we value the principals of our CSR initiatives and consider them at all times with our business decisions. We’ve been doing that since our inception as we feel it genuinely does matter.

The reality is that the full development of social responsibilty/sustainability remains at a very early point but the ongoing changes provide cause for optimism.