Padma PeguThere is growing respect for ‘sustainability’ as a philosophy and a practice for businesses. It is this respect that is driving the sustainability movement, perhaps with greater gravity than any other motive. The other motives include the motive of targeted public-relations building and the motive of business’ cause alignment.
There is a moral basis and a business basis to the sustainability factor. And then there is the time basis. Every age has its agenda and fair share of leitmotifs. So it is that the 21st century is defined by unapologetic consumption on the one hand and emerging shades of its nemesis on the other
For businesses, globalised workforces and supply chains have brought in their wake environmental pressures and synonymous business liabilities. In an article in Harvard Business Review, David A Lubin and Daniel C Esty write that ‘externalities’ such as carbon dioxide emissions and water use are fast becoming material – meaning that investors consider them central to a firm’s performance and stakeholders expect companies to share information about them.
At the same time, with the hype around corporate responsibility and accountability becoming more persistent, consumer awareness about such terms is gaining ground and starting to find some relevance in their attitude towards the companies that drive their consumption, or even towards companies that dabble in the earth’s natural resources. Agreed, there is cynicism about the ways companies operate, but that does not take away from the expectation that these companies would abide by a certain standard of ethics in their operations. Thus, while the business benefits of a stated corporate responsibility policy are not evident, companies certainly cannot ignore the imperative of having one.
To be sure, there is an inherent ambiguity about the subject. Since CSR denotes a voluntary code of conduct, many would say there is no imperative and urgency to the finer details of execution. After all, there is a fine difference between ‘doing’ and ‘seen to be doing’. So, is CSR simply a very clever way to increase corporate power and assert credibility? Is it a podium for marketing/communications people who are smart enough to see CSR as a great opportunity for a public relations campaign?
For a long time, CSR has existed without serious responsibility. To an extent, that is changing. In the meantime, it is very important that the questions and answers keep coming. From whichever source.