CSR for sustainable solutions – Do you think its possible?

Marketing Theory — By Alyssa on May 17, 2011 8:55 pm

Business during its early stages considered only increasing shareholder value and making profit have been their only concern. Profit motif and free enterprise has been the center of attention. However in the recent times there has been an increased awareness about the responsibility of corporates towards society and environment. These responsibilities include environmental concerns, business for local communities and good working conditions for workers. Corporates were forced to look into their own ethical practices which directly or indirectly had a major influence on the social, financial and environmental sector. This gave rise to the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The fundamental principle of CSR is that business should go beyond profit making. Any business enterprise is constituted of people. But when it comes to real business, there is always a tendency to see these people as customers, partners, investors, suppliers or vendors. This takes away the human nature of business. What CSR intends to do is to bring back the “people”.

There are number or arguments that goes against CSR. Some consider that this method lowers economic profit and efficiency. Less responsibility on the individual which means that there is more responsibility on business. However the positives of CSR are many.

CSR makes business transactions more transparent. Most corporate powers are disorganized sectors. Balancing of power equations with responsibility is one of the main encouraging factors of CSR. These types of business relation are concerned about long term profits rather than short term benefits. This means that they are here to do real business and to improve value. In addition to these, CSR is also concerned about the social problems that hinder business ventures.

Corporate social responsibility is not something that is new. The only difference is that it took such a long time for us to recognize the value of such responsibilities. With the advent of industrialization, there was a major shift in the way of thinking among business key players. Humans where considered as machines. Unions were broken down and people were asked to work overtime without any concessions or extra payments.

Environmental concerns too were written off. The disastrous consequences of such grave measures continue to haunt us through environmental disasters. In such a situation a proper regulatory body to take into account the various corporate responsibilities is necessary.

Corporate Social Responsibility aims at four kinds of responsibilities.

• Economic responsibilities
• Social responsibilities
• Legal responsibilities
• Environmental responsibilities

A successful company manages to balance all the four responsibilities in the right manner. But it is also a challenge to balance all the four of them. Business for Social Responsibility, a United States based Business Corporation and International Business Forum, a London based business corporation are leading the world towards a new mode of business philosophy. These institutions have reputable associate resources and there is an increased demand for corporate involvement in social matters. Developing countries like India, Brazil and Egypt also have dedicated CSR associates.

Responsive and friendly customer care services are a step forward towards good CSR initiatives. Substantial number of electronic gadgets and machineries are released every day in the market. While most companies take huge initiatives to market their products through advertisements, enough determination is not taken to improve customer satisfaction.

The business machinery has a complex working pattern. Sometimes everything works by pure logic, sometimes it works by imagination. Take the case of jewelries. Things like jewelries and antiques have an emotional attachment to it. Corporates sometimes take advantage of this and market low quality products, increasing customer dissatisfaction. CSR initiatives can also empower health system of a nation. Through intelligent partnerships with government agencies, corporates can add great investments in the health sector, thereby transforming an organized social change.

James Gallager writes for the customer service courses blog. He has more than 10 years of C.R.M. working experience and trained a lot of small business customer care managers to deal with the top customer service software.

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Tags: advertisement, advertisements, business enterprise, business relation, business ventures, corporate social responsibility, customer service, ethical practices, free enterprise, good working conditions, increasing shareholder value, quality product