Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, has made it's way into the hearts of organizations nationwide. It has become the foundation of every marketing scheme, business plan, and public relations campaign done by organizations today. But what exactly is it? CSR is most easily understood as the way a company manages their business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. Sounds sweet right?
I'll admit, it had me at first too. Who doesn't love hearing about the new "green policies" companies are practicing, or that 5 cents of every dollar of their profits are being donated to cancer research? If those things don't immediately warm your heart than you'd have to be without a soul. However, the business world has a track record of hidden agendas, and a mind set focused on making that next sale, so I can't help but question their "do good" intentions when it comes to CSR. There is no doubt that the things these companies are doing as CSR are in fact good for the community. But it is important to think about what the driving force behind these costly do-good acts might be.
Corporate Social Responsibility costs time, money, and resources. An organization would not make these sacrifices if they didn't expect to see positive returns. CSR is the start to a very strong advertising campaign. An organizations thought process goes a little something like this- if consumers know the money they're spending is going to better a cause than they will want to buy more of that particular company's products. So, although the company may see some temporary set-backs in cost, they will experience greater returns in the long-run.
Another argument against CSR is that organizations are simply using it to cover up some of their not-so ethical business practices. BP was able to hide behind their CSR strategies for some time; unfortunately they ignored their not-so ethical practices a little too long, and are now faced with possibly the worst case of Corporate Social backfire as they clean up their ignorance from the Gulf of Mexico.
In the case of Corporate Social Responsibility Friend v. Foe, I find the defendant guilty of being nothing but a phony ad campaign.
I enjoyed this post on Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns. I think another argument against them is that as long as the company is profitable and generally a good community neighbor, then they are doing their job of contributing to the betterment of society.
ReplyDeleteYou need four more posts, Emily, so this weekend might be a good time to do some blogging. Keep up the good work!