Companies weigh in on what it is worth to invest in CSR
As a graduate student with fascination for social purpose, I was specifically interested in attending the Advertising Research Foundation’s talk on corporate social responsibility last March 7, 2019. The conference is part of the Salon Series and the discussion centered on how sustainability programs are fundamental in any business operation. While the panelists agree that CSR is crucial to the attainment of their business objectives, they also agreed that choosing the right program or programs may be equally interesting and challenging. They all agreed that CSR programs should embody the goals and objectives of the company, as well as their core values.
The conference started with a short but thought-provoking remark from ARF’s president, Mr. Scott McDonald, Ph.D. “Corporate social responsibility is part of a broader trend that companies have been engaging in realizing that they don’t just sell things. ... But they also are about a ... dialogue with the society. Companies have stakeholders beyond their shareholders,” he said. While it is believably a trend among businesses, McDonalds explains how the conference will try to shed light on what it is worth for companies to invest in corporate social responsibility.
The first speaker was Viviana Alvarez of Unilever. She heads the company’s North America sustainability department. She talked about how her company makes sure that their programs are tied up with bigger societal goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nations.
Sue Burton, Bank of America’s senior vice president for enterprise marketing and social governance programs, focused her discussion on how environmental social governance policies are a priority for the bank. BOA highlights the important role they can play in order to ensure that the environment is preserved in a way that the future generations will benefit from it. They do this by aligning their business processes, systems, and procedures with environmental sustainability protocols. She illustrated how this worked for the company—an achievement not only for them but also for the social progress movement.
I am particularly hooked to the talk given by Ms. Alvarez of Unilever. As an FMCG company, I wanted to see how they are adaptive of the societal demands to do good to the world and the people around them. She started by talking about circular economies and inclusive capitalism—terms which have not existed back in the 90s. Unilever’s sense of purpose has been evident since its inception. Ms. Alvarez recounted how Unilever started its company in Manchester by trying to address disease prevention by means of an antibacterial soap. Having come from a broad background, Ms. Alvarez is a little bit intimate about the topic on CSR as this is something she is very passionate about.
“I tend not to talk about CSR [a lot] for the very reason that I don’t think it’s about corporate social responsibility. It’s an individual social responsibility,” she emphasized in the beginning of her talk. “The CSR trend is really a linear progression of philanthropy,” she added.
She insists that the efforts of every person within the organization matter more than what the general stance of the company is. This is a very good point since the employees themselves are the best reflection of the company. Individual and general employee advocacy may very well mean that the company has successfully instilled a genuine sense of concern for the society through its programs, projects, and policies. She cites that efforts taken by employees on a personal level, microplastic consumption for example, speak volumes of the effectiveness of their internal—and eventually external—CSR campaigns. For a developed country like the US, I was surprised to find out that only 60% of it has the facility to recycle these microplastics. If in the US, environmental sustainability is still an issue, how much more of a problem is this in countries like my own, the Philippines?
Ms. Alvarez goes on by saying that most, if not all, of their sustainability programs are anchored on the SDGs to ensure that the company is able to take part in solving problems at a larger scale. This is definitely a wise move on their part to make the impact of their CSR programs more significant to the larger world, and not just confine the positive change to what is reachable to the company and its stakeholders.
I used to have my eyes set on not-for-profit and government work as I think I am ultimately passionate about being part of the solution to contemporary social problems. However, Scott Elias, my professor in BIC Strategy opened up new perspectives for me—that I do not necessarily have to work for development organizations to be able to do what I am most passionate about. As more and more companies jump in to the bandwagon, the corporate world now cares about the society more than they ever did. This inspired me to tread on a new path, which is working for a private organization with business objectives that also tackle poverty and other pressing social issues.
