Corporate Social Responsibility

A practitioner’s guide

Corporate Social Responsibility

What exactly is CSR?

“A conceptp whereby y companies

p integrate
g
social and environmental concerns in
their business operations and in their
interaction with their stakeholders on a
voluntary basis”

EC Commission Green Paper 2001

“promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibilty”,
COM (2001) 366 Final

Corporate Social Responsibility

The momentum is increasing..

“I firmly
y believe,, as do manyy others,, that
voluntary business initiatives in the form
of corporate social responsibility can
play a key role in contributing to
sustainable development, while
enhancing Europe’s innovative potential
and competitiveness”

European Commission Vice President Gunter Verheugen,

N
November
b 2006

Corporate Social Responsibility

And it’s
it s now a global issue
“Power cannot be separated from responsibility.
For markets to expand in a sustainable way, we
must provide those currently excluded with better
and more opportunities to improve their
livelihoods..

“For multinationals
“F lti ti l andd other
th llarge companies,i it iis
clear that more work needs to be done…and by
doing so, companies will realise the full benefits of
engagement”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon,

Global Compact Leaders Summit, July 2007

Corporate Social Responsibility

This isn
isn’tt fluffy stuff ….

“For
For companies seeking sustainable long-term
long term
growth, there is only one convincing response
to the new landscape: identify the precise
location where commercial and social interests
intersect,, and move purposefully
p p y in that
direction”

Good Business, London

Corporate Social Responsibility

It’ss becoming central to planning
It

• “Social trends are about to bite you on the bottom line.

• “B
“Business
i action
ti on social
i l change
h iis no llonger
philanthropy.
• “It’s
It’s a form of long
long-term
term marketing”

Corporate Culture, London

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is recognised as a driver of
corporate
t competitiveness
titi
“There is no way to avoid paying serious
attention to corporate citizenship; the costs of
failing are simply too high..

“There are countless win-win opportunities

waiting to be discovered: every activity in a firm’s
value
l chain
h i overlaps
l iin some way with
ith social
i l
factors – everything from how you buy and how
you procure to how you do research

Professor Michael Porter,

Harvard Business School

Corporate Social Responsibility

A must
must-have,
have, not a nice-to-have
nice to have
“The goal is to leverage your company’s unique
capabilities in supporting social causes, and
improve your competitive context at the
same time”
time

“The job of today’s leaders is to stop being

d f
defensive
i and d start
t t thinking
thi ki systematically
t ti ll about
b t
corporate responsibility”

Professor Michael Porter,

Harvard Business School

Corporate Social Responsibility

Where my presentation fits

• I’ve worked in brands,, communications,, marketing

g at a
strategic level all my career
• With a variety
y of great
g clients
• When I started out, we didn’t think “CSR”
• Now it fits at the heart of any intelligent customer
customer-
focused strategy
• My focus will be from the perspective of the practitioner

Corporate Social Responsibility

What I will cover today

• The three stages

g of CSR
• How it is now such a potent tool
• How
H you can make
k it work
k ffor your b
business
i

Corporate Social Responsibility

The three stages of CSR

• The fig
g leaf
• The add-on
• The
Th seatt att th
the ttop table
t bl

Corporate Social Responsibility

Early days: The ‘fig
fig leaf’
leaf

• Ownership:
p the corporate
p affairs department
p
• An adjunct to messages designed to big up shareholder
messaging
• Charity/sponsorship focused
• Driven by all the wrong questions
• Such as: what does the chairman like?
• Or-
Or what does the chairman’s wife like?
• Assessment based on chairman/chairman’s wife
satisfaction not staff or customer response
satisfaction,

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility
Evolution: The add-on
add on

• Then the marketing

g directors g
got involved
• Understood the need to engage the customer
• That
Th t brands
b d ttoday
d are as very much
h about
b t esp’s
’
• Position their brand as one of the good guys
• And some good things started to happen
• Marketing
g and CSR began
g to become integrated
g

Corporate Social Responsibility

Two examples

Corporate Social Responsibility

Two examples

Corporate Social Responsibility

Two examples

Corporate Social Responsibility

And that’s
that s fine…up to a point

• Increasingly
g y complex
p emotional criteria
• Companies will achieve their purpose if they are driven
by
y customers both as consumers…and as citizens
• Citizens more and more concerned with issues, and
doing it right
• And it’s the same for employees, who want to “do their
bit”

Corporate Social Responsibility

Issues like…..

• Climate Changeg - Carbon Footprint

p
• Waste and recycling
• Animal welfare
• Sustainable sourcing
• Ethical supply chain management
• Health and Fitness
• Responsible drinking
• Sustainable Local Communities
• People Management

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is now a very potent tool

• The responsibility
p y not only
y of the Marketing
g Director
• But also the CEO, the COO, the strategy director
• And
A d th
the HR Di
Director
t
• “A company should not be just a brand to be built but a
cause to be believed in” (John Armstrong
Armstrong, Corporate
Culture)
• Let
Let’s
s look at some examples of CSR in action
action…

Corporate Social Responsibility

IKEA on CSR
“IKEA wants its products to have the minimum possible impact on the
environment. Products shall be manufactured in a socially responsible
manner. All suppliers must, within a specified period of time, follow the
IKEA code of conduct.
conduct Child labour is not tolerated
tolerated, working conditions
must be acceptable, and suppliers must adopt a responsible attitude
towards the environment”

Corporate Social Responsibility

Starbucks on CSR
“Customers want to feel good about the place they go and the coffee
they drink. Our employees, whom we call partners, want to feel proud,
when talking to friends and family about where they work. Farmers
want to know that they can depend on us for a livelihood that’s
that s
sustainable”

Corporate Social Responsibility

Shell on CSR
“The objectives of the Shell Group are to engage efficiently, responsibly
and profitably in oil, gas, chemicals and other selected businesses, and
to participate in the search for and development of other sources of
energy to meet evolving customer needs and the world’s
world s growing
demand for energy”

“Our role
“O l iis tto ensure th
thatt we extract
t t and
d deliver
d li th
them profitably
fit bl and
d iin
environmentally and socially responsible ways “

Corporate Social Responsibility

One of the pioneers….
Ben and Jerry’s

Corporate Social Responsibility

American Apparel

Corporate Social Responsibility

One of Britain
Britain’s
s strongest brands:

• John Lewis/Waitrose

• “A true partnership that’s a force for good…”

Corporate Social Responsibility

Core part of corporate purpose

Corporate Social Responsibility

Core part of corporate purpose

Corporate Social Responsibility

What’s
What s it doing for John Lewis?

• John Lewis and Waitrose named Britain’s favourite

retailers by Which (Consumers’ Association)
• Customers voted Waitrose and John Lewis Britain’s top
p
shops in 2006 and 2007 customer satisfaction surveys
by retail analysts Verdict Research

Corporate Social Responsibility

How major corporations assess the
impact of CSR
C
Commercial
i l advertising
d ti i CSR as unique
i selling
lli proposition
iti
Annual sustainability reports Presentation of corporate social and environmental
activities beyond required regulation
Corporate
p web-sites,, bloggs
gg Declaration of corporate
p philosophy
p p y and values as
well as visionary statements about CSR

Personnel magazines Stories about company’s CSR related activities

Conferences, networks, face-to-face
Surveys, rankings
Third party endorsers (media etc)
arguing “why”. Encourages members to act
accordingly
CEO or manager from company talks about
company’s CSR effort
Company is assessed by others on their perception of
the company’s
company s CSR effort
Experts mention the corporate CSR efforts in a
positive way.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Not just ‘conventional’
conventional brands
• 1987 Charlton Athletic FC had 4000 crowds and were in danger of
dying
• New community programme engaged thousands of young people in
sport and education – and employs 200+
• Now CAFC the hub of the community and 24000 attend each match

Corporate Social Responsibility

Not just conventional brands

Corporate Social Responsibility

 Not just conventional brands

Not just conventional brands

Corporate Social Responsibility

 Not just conventional brands

Corporate Social Responsibility

Not just big brands

Corporate Social Responsibility

So what’s
what s the magic ingredient?

• Intelligent,
g , integrated
g strategically-driven
g y CSR reaches
the parts that more conventional approaches cannot
reach
• Because it links in with people’s lifestyles, values and
belief systems
• Not just conventional, compartmentalised brand
preference

Corporate Social Responsibility

 OK. I get all that.
But could I make it work for my
my, or for a
client’s, business?

Corporate Social Responsibility

The answer is affirmative…

• You can’t be too small a company..

p y
• ..or a company in too marginal a field
• Everyone
E can benefit
b fit ffrom the
th right
i ht CSR programme
• Even sole traders
• It needn’t cost much at all
• And it’s becoming
g a must-have,, not a nice-to-have

Corporate Social Responsibility

Getting it right

• Hurdles to clear
• Hygiene
• Offence – strategic check list
• Planning
• Candidate ideas territory
• Execution
• Sticking with it

Corporate Social Responsibility

Hurdles to clear. Can we..

• Adopt
p and maintain a strategic
g approach?
pp
• Are the people who matter behind this?
• Will we b
be able
bl tto d
devote
t titime and
d resource?
?
• Are we prepared to engage with staff, with customers,
with partners?
• Do we really want to do this?

Corporate Social Responsibility

Hygiene (Defence)

• First,, we need to make sure we’re not going

g g to leak
goals
• Make sure the back door is locked
• Do a risk analysis
• This is mostly simple common sense
• And about ensuring we don’t look stupid when we get on
to the proactive stuff

Corporate Social Responsibility

Offence: strategic check list

• The p
proposed
p CSR focus must fit..
• ..with the DNA of the company
• ..its
it values
l and
d personality
lit
• ..its areas of activity
• ..its aspirations for the future
• Also with yyour staff
• With your customers (as citizens, not just consumers)

Corporate Social Responsibility

Planning..

• Brainstorm for ideas – g

generate long-list
g
• Workshop and refine with staff
• Evolve
E l andd research
h with
ith external
t l ttargett audiences
di
• Approach and recruit partners
• Finalise development phase, create programme, and
publish the plan internally
• Create the programme

Corporate Social Responsibility

Candidate idea territory

• ‘Saving
g the p
planet’
• Sustainability – local suppliers
• Community
C it sportt
• Supporting old people
• Regeneration
• Education
• Simple focused pro-bono

Corporate Social Responsibility

Executing the programme

• It’s not jjust about media – it’s embedded in the core

purpose
• But communications p
planning
g is important
p
• The right media channels
• And the right tonality
• Holistically, consistently over time
• With its influence informing company policies – including
HR assessment

Corporate Social Responsibility

Sticking with it..

• Keep
pggoing
g
• Keep monitoring – new issues appear and impact on
society,
y meaning
g consumers changeg too
• Evolve the programme all the time
• Celebrate success
• Have fun doing it

Corporate Social Responsibility

A final word…

• Increasingly,
g y, practitioners
p are streamlining
g the descriptor
p

• CSR is losing it’s “S”

• And becoming referred to increasingly simply as “CR”

• Reflecting its breadth and centrality to corporate activity

Corporate Social Responsibility

Thank you
y

Corporate Social Responsibility