Investopedia defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as “a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. Businesses have numbers of normative frameworks to follow for achieving CSR. Future-Fit Business Framework is one of them. How do you feel the communities are essential to corporate?
One of the notorious cases is the one drinks brand’s dehydrating communities case. The plant has to be fed with water to maintain the operation. In one of their functional areas, a desert area, wells were drying up. Local farmers were ending up in catastrophe situations – a severe decline in water levels leaving them on cultivation hardship.
In another country, the drink company engaged with paramilitary in anti-union activities that their workers and their families were under a death threat. As one of the world’s recognisable brands, the drink company encountered a crisis of ethical standards. The company was far from being “an outstanding corporate citizen in every community.” The case may seem extreme; it happened.
Community involvement does start with a corporate’s social contribution in expanding employment, education, promoting culture and arts, community health, and other forms of stakeholders’ commitment, and considering the community before the corporate project planning. The corporate is supposed to engage in socially responsible behaviour. The drink company’s case addressed environmental issues and human rights in their operation. Their acts already breached the regulations on the basic, while CSR is more than legal obligatory.
Community involvement lies in your corporate strategy and policy. Be specific in particular community groups and activities, plan long term in a focused sector. Trust between the corporate and the community will develop your reputation and support.
By: ANewR Consulting Limited, a digital environmental consultant headquartered in Hong Kong since 2008. Our expertise has grown into the context of air and water qualities, noise, green building, waste management, and remediation. With extensive know-how in environmental planning and assessment, feasibility study and policy review, ecological design, monitoring, and audit (EM&A), ANewR has matured to be a leading management consultancy. Standing in the digital transformation reign, ANewR has participated in various environmental digital projects – interactive 3D visualisation, immersive automation virtual environment, Virtual reality, automation system, and monitoring platforms.
(Website: https://anewr.com, LinkedIn: ANewR Consulting Group, Twitter: ANewR – Everyday Newer,YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnpvmxnR9hbNxytSfBdfV8Q/videos)
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