5 arguments for CSR work in a company

Why a company must demonstrate commitment to CSR? This is the "big question"

Many consultants and managers use only one argument: CSR will make your business more profitable. However, I think that's not the only argument and, moreover, if you want to make money fast, CSR is not the recommended route.

So I propose a five arguments that convince managers and presidents of companies, where profitability comes last:

1) Be a better business: working the economic, environmental and social indicators following international guidelines (GRI, ISO26000, SGE21 or other) forces you to work better, it forces you to manage improvement indicators and forces you to update your company according to XXI century standards.

2) Strategic positioning: CSR is working in the medium and long term, by forcing the company to rethink its strategically position and vision.

3) Investment: the effort to be better strategic planning company and force companies to invest in many different areas.

4) Strengthening the brand: the effort to be better company in the long term projection and reinforce investment reinforces, undoubtedly,  the brand image of companies.

5) Performance: Finally, as a logical consequence of a good job in the above, will the expected profitability in the medium and long term.

The President of the Stock Exchange of Colombia was made clear in the presentation of the sustainability reports of Ecopetrol and Telefónica: CSR has a positive effect in the stock value of a company in the long term. This is not magic, but the logical consequence of an effort by the company in terms of continuous improvement, strategy and brand investment.

Urra Miguel Canales

@ Miguelurra

Tips: profitability, investment, branding, CSR arguments

Corporate Social Responsability in NGOs

Many NGOs argue that, because of their social work, automatically they become socially responsible organizations, but this is not so: the automatism "NGO = CSR" does not work. CSR implies transparency, excellent management, dialogue with stakeholders, business ethics and high labor standards and these aspects are not automatic, but are planned, socialized and reported.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provides, in addition to the general guidelines G3, G3.1. and the future G4, a number of very interesting sector supplements, such as airports sector, construction, event management, electricity, financial sector food processing sector, media, mining, oil, gas... and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

This supplement for NGOs explores six aspects:

• Effectiveness: Does the NGO their goals? Do you really contributes to social change?
• Economic impact: NGO presents annual accounts? Are audited and balanced?
• Fundraising: Where does the funding for the operation of the entity?
• Work ethic: Does the NGO labor standards? Does volunteering abused?
• Transparency: with special emphasis on fundraising and data protection.
• Marketing ethics: How far does the NGO when attracting partners and funds?

In the GRI database are 11,091 sustainability reports. Of these, only 271 are for NGOs and social organizations and only 37 have used the supplement for NGOs.

To download the supplement for NGOs, click here. For NGOs memories made with the supplement, follow these links:

• The GRI report (lead by example)
• Amnesty International
• Ability Options

Miguel Urra Canales
@miguelurra

Tips: sustainability report, CSR, GRI, NGOs

An operational definition of CSR

When one begins to investigate or develop CSR projects, always tends to find a definition to guide the investigation and actions to take. As CSR is a relatively recent concept (remember, for example, the GRI was established in 1997 and ISO26000 Guide was adopted in 2010), there is still no consensus definition technically or academically. For example, we find the following:

Adela Cortina defines CSR as "voluntarily assume the consequences of the company in the social and environmental. Therefore goes beyond what is required by law. This is clearly in English, with the distinction between accountability and responsibility, and not just about accountability, which requires the right but assume a responsibility that is not legally required, but the company voluntarily assumed, therefore goes beyond the law itself "(Cortina, A. 2002).

Another example could be found in the Green Paper "Promoting a European framework for corporate social responsibility company" adopted in 2001 by the European Commission defines CSR as "the voluntary integration, by enterprises, concerns social and environmental concerns in their business operations and their relationships with their partners". Ten years later, in 2011, the same European Commission publishes the "renewed EU Strategy for 2011-2014 on corporate social responsibility", which proposes "a modern interpretation of CSR" from a basic definition: "The corporate responsibility for its impact on society".

Internationally, the GRI methodology does not provide an explicit definition of CSR, while the ISO26000 Guide defines it as "an organization with responsibility for the impacts that their decisions and actions cause in society and the environment through ethical behavior and transparent to contribute to sustainable development, including health and welfare of society, taking into consideration the expectations of its stakeholders, complying with applicable law and consistent with international norms of behavior, and is integrated throughout the organization and put into practice in their relationships" (ISO 2010: 4).

A new operational definition

For my projects and research, I created an operational definition, that is:

CSR is the excellent management of an organization in the economic, social and environmental issues, both internally and externally, from an ethical perspective and the principles of voluntary participation and transparency.

For example, a socially responsible hotel is one that excellently manage the economic, social and environmental issues, both internally and externally, from an ethical perspective, on a voluntary and transparent. If you forget or fail externally transparency would not be a socially responsible hotel.

The same could apply to an airline, an oil company, a supermarket... I think that this definition does not leave out any loose theoretical guides the actions and also allows a basic check on whether a company is or is not socially responsible.

Miguel Urra

@ Miguelurra

Tips: CSR definition, sustainability, research, socially responsible

Presentation

I take this first post to introduce myself.


I am Spanish, but I live for a year in Bogota with a wonderful woman. Today, I´m working as a consultant on issues of CSR and social entrepreneurship in PROIKA SAS and I´m teacher of Social Work at the Fundacion Universitaria Monserrate.


Social worker and sociologist (specialized in Social Management and Social Intervention) with five years experience in the areas of corporate social responsibility, strategic planning, business process facilitation and associative design and evaluation of social projects. Important teaching and research, leading innovation projects and being recognized with several awards. Convinced by Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta that "Economic revolution will social or not be; social revolution will economic or not be".


I´m very proud to say that I have travelled all over the world: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, Egypt, Tunisia, Australia and New Zealand.