BY MARSHAD BARRY
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a strategy is an essential part of your business as it builds your company’s reputation and addresses the self-imposed responsibility of companies towards society in areas such as the environment, the economy, employee well-being and competition ethics. CSR activities consistently helps forge a stalwart and stronger bond between employees and organizations subsequently paving the way for both employees and employers to feel more connected with the world around them. It is undoubtedly important for both consumers and companies.
American Economist Howard Bowen, often cited as father of CSR because he affiliated the responsibility of corporation to society published a book in 1953 which advocated for business ethics and responsiveness to societal stakeholders named “Social Responsibility of the Businessman” elaborates intricately on the subject matter.
CSR is a broad term utilized for different types of humanitarian action and can simply be summarized into four ares. The first is “Philanthropy”; a situation where the organization uses their funds strategically to help needy people to solve their long term problems (like donating Tube Wells , Building Community centers etc.) The second area is “Labor”; an instance where the organization considers the welfare and satisfaction of the work force, encouraging them and making them happy.The third is considered as “Environment Conservation”; where an organization focuses on energy serving, water wastage, waste management, recycling, emissions, eco-friendly office, etc. Last but not the least, the fourth area is “Volunteerism”; where an organization considers the donation of time and talent to create a direct and immediate impact on society.
Some benefits a company may gain through CSR is, the improvement of the corporate reputation which will enhance the broadening audience and increasing consumer trust. For example, a study from the University of California, Berkeley showed that firms with better CSR ratings maintained higher stock prices. Apart from this it will also aid an organization to get more brand visibility, increase revenue and higher sales, increase the customer loyalty, reduced operational costs, improved recruiting ability, increased access to investment and partnership and the increase of good will and value of the company.
To gain the maximum benefit of CSR, organizations should not have a second thought on broadcasting their CSR activities presuming that some may misunderstand it as a marketing tactic as it is indeed an opportunity to encourage more social responsibility in the corporate sector. In this case organizations involved in CSR can utilize print and electronic media , social media, blogs and other modes of media to highlight the improvements, actions and investments.
Any organization which aspires to exercise CSR activities is advised to use a CSR strategy. The larger companies which invest heavily on CSR often take it as a part of business strategy. When an organization is planning and preparing a strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility, it certainly is similar to designing any other business strategy which can begin by considering the long-term vision whilst taking into account, the short term and long term goals of the organization. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may relatively be a new concept for some organizations but undoubtedly every business organization is able to implement and benefit by serving humanity especially at a crucial time like this where countless lives are in dire need of support and assistance, to survive.
