Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR and Social Impact

2012-01-18T16:06:00.000+05:30

At the beginning of the year, it is customary to make a list of top 5s or top 10s of several global events. I thought of delving into the top 5 reasons for companies to invest in CSR as well as key success factors. Weber Shandwick and KRC Research did in fact conduct a research in October 2010 and surveyed 200 CSR executives and have come up with the following 5 reasons/ success factors:
1. Having an Impact on critical issues in society and seeing an organization's value in action
2. Non-profits as partners are vital to the success of CSR
3. Almost 90% of the executives said that Senior Leadership Support drives CSR success
4. Companies prefer to tackle multiple issues as part of their CSR (environment, education, global development etc)
5. Employee engagement and Community Engagement are equally important factors for the success of CSR efforts.

The implications of the study is immense as it reiterates several beliefs that drives CSR initiatives as well as underline the importance of stakeholder engagement - both internal and external. The fact that companies are looking beyond checkbook philanthropy to actually making a social impact and actively engaging in societal issues is very heartening. It is also great news for Non-profit organizations as the large corporations view them as "valuable partners' who bring in the necessary expertise. It is also good to hear that companies are concerned about a variety of critical issues spanning education, environment and many other issues aligned to their core competencies and business objectives.

Overall, the outlook for CSR and corporates engagement with society looks positive and CSR investments are all set to increase in 2012 and beyond.

The know more about the study and its findings do visit: impact.webershandwick.com

Corporate Volunteering

2012-01-17T17:25:00.000+05:30

Corporate Volunteering is the buzz word in CSR. Many companies already have an employee volunteer program in place and many other companies are contemplating. As part of my research for this article I found that NASSCOM foundation has come up with a booklet on corporate volunteerism titled: "Volunteer in Action". This booklet provides the 'do's and don'ts of volunteering as well as testimonials from many volunteers. The booklet only skims the surface of what is a very popular but underutilized medium of employee motivation.

In fact, world wide there is a shift from traditional volunteering (e.g cleaning up the neighborhood, painting school walls, tree planting etc) to more technical form of volunteering aligned to Company's business vision and objectives. This is called "High Impact Volunteering". Thistrend to move up the corporate volunteering value chain to High ImpactVolunteering include: International Employee Volunteering as well as SkillBased Volunteering.

International employee volunteering iswhen companies send employees from one country to work in another. Thiscorporate citizenship strategy may be an aspect of a company’s globalvolunteering program in that employees from one region or market travelinternationally to volunteer alongside employees in another region ormarket.

Currently,only a few companies have employee volunteer programs that includeopportunities to go abroad. The recent report “Global Companies VolunteeringGlobally” noted five large multinational firms that have publicly committed toexpanding their international employee volunteer programs; BD, Dow, GSK, IBMand Pfizer. Besides the five noted in the report, a number of other companiesare currently investigating or enlarging their international employeevolunteering programs.

Skill based volunteering aligns employeevolunteering to the strategic business motivations and leverage the corporateassets and expertise to raise the bar and result in high impact. Employeevolunteering that is aligned to corporate strategy like stakeholder relations,customer focus, competitive context and leadership development have morechances of drawing on the workplace skills of employees and the company’sdistinct corporate resources.

IBM’s Corporate Social Corps is another classic example of skill based volunteering. According toStanley Litow, the VP of IBM CorporateCitizenship & Corporate Affairs as of February 2011, in just threeyears IBM sent a total of 100 teams to 20 countries around the world. These teamswere made up of 1000 employees from 50 countries in which IBM works. StanleyLitow, views these ‘citizen-diplomats’ as something more than a means to makingIBM more productive and profitable. These programs work towards a more civilsociety on a global scale, to the benefit of all.

To summarize, Corporate Volunteering is seen as a great tool to motivate employees as well as align the Company's goals and employee skills to the needs in the community.

Techno Pedagogy -what it means

2011-11-16T13:20:00.000+05:30

Information Communication Technology (ICT) programs in development field including Education has been around for many years now. Primarily these were driven by Technology companies or 'IT Vendors' with educationists and as a result education itself taking a back seat.
However, the encouraging news is finally teachers (other than computer teachers) are getting involved in ICT programs in schools. While the technology driven programs of earlier days was mainly confined to computer literacy, recent programs have evolved making subject teachers as the centre in designing the curriculum and integrating technology.
This approach known as Techno Pedagogy which implies the blending of technology with solid pedagogical principles is the way forward for new generation of education reforms. In this approach, ICT will not bypass the regular teaching staff in schools. Techno Pedagogy approach will continue to focus on technology but will have deeper and wider pedagogical relevance.
The University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education prescribe 3 components to develop techno pedagogy skills among teachers. They are: 1. meta-teaching, 2. technology exposure and 3. critical reflection. In Indian context, I find that teachers get to stage 2 without going through stage 1 and get struck there! Also their technology exposure is limited to "operating systems' or "office suite' that does not have any pedagogical relevance. Critical reflection is what is missing.
Thankfully, many organizations in India have realized this gap and are advocating for a more rigorous action, reflection process in the ICT initiatives in schools. This trend should be encouraged and teachers and educationists should come forward to evaluate, reflect and start teaching with technology rather than making technology an end by itself

Business and Professional Ethics

2011-09-21T11:27:00.000+05:30

Last week I was in Madurai as a panelist in a Seminar on Business and Professional Ethics. It was organized by the Dept of Management Studies, Fatima College. This timely theme highlighted many facets of business and ethics. Inevitably, it gravitated towards a discussion on Corporate Social Responsibility . What intrigued me was the speakers invariably gave examples from Western countries. While there are many large and even smaller companies in India which has done work at the grassroots level, none of it was presented. It somehow gave the impression that CSR is the exclusive purview of MNCs working in India.

Finally, one speaker stood up and said what is lacking in India is Self Esteem. We tend to be very negative when it comes to our own people and over enthusiastic when it comes to foreigners. Though India needs to catch up on lot of fronts compared to the advanced countries, if we continue to run down our own people, we will not reach anywhere.

My only prayer at the end of the seminar was: "Where the mind is without fear and the head held high...into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my Country Awake!

CSR Practitioners -some insights

2011-01-13T13:34:00.001+05:30

As more and more Companies embrace CSR there is a corresponding demand for competent professionals in the field. On the supply side, many young management and development professionals are keen to take up a career in corporate affairs. However, after joining they find the tasks ahead daunting and more so when their peers and managers do not recognize the work they do in the communities.The young CSR professionals in large MNCs /corporates do not have anyone to turn to. Sometimes even their reporting managers with a Communications or Marketing background may not understand what exactly they do.This makes them wonder what went wrong. They think they may be a complete misfit.

I find many development professionals who have built up a good career in NGOs coming to me and asking about switching to a career in CSR. Without trying to sound like I am putting them off, I often urge them to study the company that they plan to join and understand the CSR traditions within the company. Another suggestion is to network with CSR professionals, read CSR articles and develop their understanding of the challenges and constraints before venturing into CSR as a profession. If you are attracted only by the 'corporate tag' then you will not be ready to face the challenges ahead.

A recent article in CSR Asia - confessions of a CSR Practitioner brought out this very succintly. The author - a CSR manager - says: "I think one of the most challenging parts of my job is internal misunderstanding of what I do". My thoughts are resonated exactly in the above quote. It is a fact that CSR practitioners do not do enough internal stakeholder engagement.

Aspiring CSR professionals must be prepared to engage with internal stakeholders, top management in the long haul for their own good. If they are not prepared to take the initiative in educating their peers and managers within their respective companies - they may have to re-assess their decision.

NEN -1st Dot showcase for Student Startups

2011-01-13T10:32:00.001+05:30

The other day I was at the National Entrepreneurship Network's first dot showcase for student start ups. Sponsored by IBM and The Wadhwani foundation, the showcase provided a forum for student start ups to well, showcase their business model and interact with mentors and experts.

I had the daunting task of mentoring 2 student start ups. Mentoring techno-savvy youngsters of the digital generation should be challenging and I geared up by brushing up my 'techno-skills' by interacting with my son and daughter - who are way ahead and up to date on matters technical. Brimming with giga-bits of information disdainfully fed by my "i kids' I felt confident of not getting stumped by my prospective 'mentees' (whoever invented this word needs mentoring!)

After few minutes into the mentoring session, I realized I need not have gone through the troubles of 'updating' my technical knowledge. The 'studentrepreneurs' are very clear that technology is important, but they are not going to 'depend' on it. They were more concerned with how their technology will actually benefit the people.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that both the teams expressed genuine concern for the country, its youth and how their venture could play a part in improving lives of people through technology.

These young start ups are not chasing dollars blindly or just geeks fanatic about their gadgets. These are real social entrepreneurs who wanted to make a difference in society. I liked their motive and conceptual clarity. I returned from the mentoring session with the reassurance that the future of India has its mind and heart in the right place!

CSR -The Game Changer - Workshop by NASSCOM Foundation

2010-07-29T09:50:00.000+05:30

With more and more IT companies operating in India taking the CSR route, it is imperative to strengthen these efforts and provide a forum for sharing practices. NASSCOM foundation did just this on July 21st when they organized a workshop "CSR - The Game Changer" in Bangalore for its member companies.

The participants were given useful inputs on CSR strategy development and alignment with business goals. Participants also involved in 'developing CSR strategies' as part of a case study to get a hands on feel for coming up with sustainable CSR strategies.

Indian Companies lead by Example in CSR

2010-07-09T10:04:00.000+05:30

A recent article in Harvard Business Review by Dr Cappelli commends Indian companies for their social mission. The research covered 100 business leaders of top Indian companies and comes out with the finding that every executive interviewed described the main objective of their company in terms of a social mission.

The article draws on the examples of Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy's Pharma and INFOSYS among many other Indian companies. Of course the TATA's who 'also make steel' finds special mention for spending 65% of their profits for charity purposes.

The study concludes by saying that: "There is every reason to believe that these companies have done well precisely because they are doing good"

Another feather for Indian efforts in CSR, way to go...hope many more companies emulate the examples set by these top Indian companies

It is Official now, CSR keeps your employees happy!

2010-07-09T09:30:00.000+05:30

In the ongoing discussions on CSR, it is often said that Companies use CSR to motivate and retain employees. Now a recent study by the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) confirms that Corporate Social Responsibility is a great way to engage employees and linked to how committed an employee is to the company.

Spanning over 2000 workers around the world, the CCL study sampled their opinions on their company's CSR. The main findings are:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility programs are linked to how committed an employee is to an employer
2. Employee perceptions about CSR remained constant during the depth of the economic decline
3. CSR programs are not a panacea for retention issues - CSR is related to organizational commitment but not to turnover, so companies can't consider CSR as a magic cure for all retention issues

The study has come at the right time when Indian IT companies are again struggling with attrition as recruitment efforts are picking up. It gives a fillip to CSR efforts as keeping employees committed and happy will sure impact the bottomline of any Corporate.

Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

2010-02-18T18:15:00.000+05:30

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India released the Voluntary Guidelines for Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. The documents could be downloaded from the MCA website www.mca.gov.in

The comprehensive guidelines cover the core elements of Corporate Governance and CSR. Aimed at ushering in transparency in operations of small and big companies, the guidelines offer many suggestions. The CSR guidelines also specifies that every company should have a comprehensive CSR policy. The CSR policy should cover the following core elements:

Care for all Stakeholders
Ethical Functioning
Respect for Workers Rights & Welfare
Respect for Human Rights
Respect for Environment
Activities for Social and Inclusive Development

This is a progressive step and shows the intentions of the Government to bring in the much needed transparency and guidance for companies to discharge their social obligations. Hope Companies follow the guidelines in its true spirit and engage in inclusive and sustainable development

Business NGO partnership gets a boost in 2010

2010-01-05T17:53:00.000+05:30

At the dawn of a New Year, we have some great news on CSR front. In a recent survey by Industry body ASSOCHAM, 70 % of companies prefer to work with NGOs to implement CSR projects. This is a trend that has been growing in the last few years and hopefully will usher in the much needed professionalism and transparency in the discharge of public and community service.

The survey also noted that 58% of companies preferred to work directly with Govt. departments. This is a revelation as many companies shy away from directly partnering with Government for development projects. It is highly likely that even in this scenario, companies still rely on NGO skills and knowledge in project implementation.

Overall, it is a win-win situation and many NGOs are happy to partner with companies as their more traditional sources of funding through donor agencies had dried up. NGOs need to gear up to make the maximum use of this growing trend

Top 10 CSR Issues

2009-11-20T11:50:00.000+05:30

CSR Asia released the Top 10 CSR Issues Report that highlights the top 10 CSR issues for the next 10 years in the Asia Pacific Region. The 2009 report ranks the following as the top 10 priorities:
1. Climate Change
2. Corporate Governance
3. Labour and Human Resources
4.Environmental Issues
5. Partnerships with Stake holders
6. Regulation and leadership from Government
7. Community investment and pro-poor development
8. Product responsibility
9. Professionalisation of CSR
10.Bribery and corruption
In this context of growing importance of CSR and sustainable development, the professionalisation of CSR is imminent. A new breed of young professionals with solid grounding in development principles and management techniques is the need of the hour. Current CSR practitioners and professionals should share best practices and develop a comprehensive curriculum for the education and development of CSR professionals.

The full report is available at the CSR Asia website

Teacher training for 21st Century

2009-11-18T10:33:00.000+05:30

Education is the focus of many CSR programmes of corporate foundations and MNCs in India. When IBM launched its Smarter Education for a Smarter Planet Roundtable consultation in Chennai last week, there was a smattering of educationalists and NGOs who gave some insights into the role that teacher training plays in transforming school systems to become smarter and effective.

Panelists shared experiences from the field which showed that teacher education should be looked in the context of increasingly technology driven society. Teachers adept at using web 2.0 and social networking tools will be able to connect more with their students and peers and learn through collaboration and sharing.

More teacher training institutes have roped in specialists and professionals to train their teachers in using web 2.0 and other tools to align their skills to requirements of 21st century. IBM and many other IT companies too are sharing their technology expertise to make this a reality.

The Education Plus page of The Hindu Dt. Nov 16th carries details of this story

CSR Credits for Indian Companies

2009-11-18T10:19:00.001+05:30

Companies operating in India now have the option of 'earning' credit for CSR activities. They will even be able to trade these CSR credits in a CSR Credit exchange. This way companies that do not have CSR activities in their portfolio could 'buy' CSR credits from companies that have earned them.

Let us hope that this gives the needed fillip to CSR activities in India which is seeing a rapid upswing in these times of economic recovery.

Best corporate citizens 2009

2009-06-29T15:15:00.003+05:30

The acclaimed and trusted Corporate citizenship survey 2009 conducted by CRO is out. IBM tops the list of computer hardware companies at no. 3 in the list of top 100 best corporate citizens. Symantec tops the list for computer software development companies at no.23. The full list and the survey methodology could be accessed from: http://www.thecro.com/100best09

Once again, feedback is divided on this compilation with many people taking exception to CRO covering only big companies and leaving out efforts of smaller companies. Any thoughts on how small companies could get their voices heard?

Please visit and give your views.

CSR makes business sense even during economic recession

2009-06-25T10:15:00.004+05:30

Does CSR make business sense in this time of Economic Recession. Yes is the reaffirming answer from corporates across India. Many companies continue without any apparent cutbacks on CSR events and activities. In fact sustainability the core of Community development has become the mantra of companies doing business in these tough times.

Express computer on 22nd June had this article which analyze the CSR scenario against the backdrop of relentless downturn. It is heartening to note that India INC is tightening their purse strings rather than their heart strings.

You can read the full article here: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20090622/technologylife01.shtml

IT Companies gear up on CSR front

2009-06-12T11:45:00.004+05:30

Corporate Social Responsibility is slowly but surely getting its due importance in technology companies scheme of things. A recent article in dataquest, India Chicken Soup for IT, vividly describes several efforts by Indian and MNC IT companies.

The CSR article talks about IT companies partnership with NGOs and their work in the education sector. It is heart warming to note many Indian companies taking the lead and setting the trend in improving quality access to education. MNCs like CISCO, Microsoft and IBM in their own way also have been going it alone to work on various education projects.

While many of these CSR projects are in collaboration with NGOs, IBM is perhaps the only IT MNC that has partnered with Govt. Depts and working on a very large scale "Reinventing Education Project" Check out the Dataquest article for more details.

Clean Energy

2009-04-03T10:08:00.005+05:30

While the Tata Nano is making waves in India and across the Global Auto world for its smart design and affordability. However, the larger issue of energy conservation, environment pollution and smarter use of clean energy still remain.

In this context it is worthwhile to note the "Clean Energy for a Smarter Planet" initiative launched by IBM worldwide. IBM and Harvard University, Dept of Chemistry and chemical biology have joined hands on the Clean Energy Project. What really makes this initiative smart is the effective contribution of the World Community Grid members across the world!

World Community Grid simply uses the downtime of computers across the globe to add power to Research projects like the Harvard University clean energy project and other life saving research.

Check out this YouTube Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwSgy1WANn8 for an overview of this smart collaboration of IBM and some of worlds best researchers around the world to fight global warming and create cleaner and greener environment for all

Business Govt. Partnership to solve Urban Problems

2009-02-21T10:10:00.004+05:30

When we think of CSR, usually we think about rural poor and how CSR policies and programs have transformed rural communities. However, today's increasingly urbanized world, CSR initiatives could be an effective way to tackle the burgeoning urban chaos and pollution. Traffic congestion is one problem that every metro in every part of the world is struggling

It is common knowledge that congested roadways cost billions of dollars annually in form of sheer number of hours lost in waiting for the traffic to clear, and several billions of gallons of wasted fuel and not to mention the increased emissions from the idling vehicles!

Just like the successful partnerships that corporates have forged with NGOs and Govt. sector in rural areas, businesses should join hands with Govt. and NGOs that work on alleviating urban problems. I am yet to come across a CSR initiative that has addressed the urban problem of traffic congestion and the related pollution.

Readers who know of good CSR initiatives targeting urban problems, please share your views.

National Seminar on CSR

2009-02-14T12:58:00.002+05:30

Dept. of Social Work, Dr G R Damodaran College of Science, Coimbatore, India is organizing a 2 day National Seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility on 27 and 28th February 2009. Industry and NGO professionals, Social workers are expected to deliberate on CSR evolution and its current status in the Global Economy.

I am glad to note that Professional Socialwork students are taking interest in CSR and hosting this seminar. Corporates need the skills of community development and social work professionals to strategize and implement sustainable development programs. Seminars like this will go a long way in equipping the Social Work students with necessary real world skills. Businesses and Private Enterprises also will benefit from this exchange with academia.

2009-02-12T16:57:00.001+05:30

Business Voluntary Sector Partnership

2009-02-12T13:44:00.002+05:30

Partnership between Businesses and Voluntary sector is an accepted model for Sustainable development. Many Indian companies have realized this and have forged successful partnerships. To mention a few, Cisco Systems India and its partnership with Dr. Reddy's Foundation on livelihood systems, IBM India partnership with Bharthi Foundation for their Kidsmart early childhood education programs, Microsoft India and Development Alternatives on IT education etc.

Such Partnerships enable the company to leverage their core competency - mostly technology and managerial skills for the benefit of society at large. Similarly, NGOs with their grassroots experience and knowledge of local communities help the disadvantaged sections of society to benefit from the cutting edge technology that these companies have to offer. This win-win strategy is well documented in the CII Partnership Case Studies.

IBM CSR Survey - the CSR Value Curve

2009-02-09T12:58:00.000+05:30

An IBM CSR Study 2008 covering 250 companies globally, argues that "there is a shift in thinking from CSR as a cost or risk mitigation effort to CSR as a strategic goal that brings in new revenues" Apparently, many companies are growing up this "CSR Value Curve" from the lowest level of CSR seen as a legal compliance to the highest view of considering CSR as a Strategic Goal that brings in new revenues. Now the interesting question is how many Indian companies are there at the lower end of this CSR Value Curve? Please go through the full IBM CSR survey and let me know your views.

Top 5 CSR focus of Indian Companies

2009-02-06T10:47:00.000+05:30

The top 5 sectors of CSR focus of Indian companies as seen in their websites are as follows:

1. Health 2. Education 3. Environment 4. Community Development and 5. Disability / women empowerment

CSR or Philanthrophy?

2009-01-17T18:00:00.000+05:30

According to a recent pilot survey by CII in Tamil Nadu, ( see Express Buzz 13^th Jan) only 40 per cent of the companies practice CSR initiatives. The pilot survey, highlighted that a majority of the companies did not take CSR seriously and those who did, did it only with a philanthropic frame of mind. The pilot survey also revealed that more than 50 per cent of the companies made their employee welfare activities as part of their CSR initiative, not really contributing to an outside community or its development.

While companies in India have started taking tentative steps in the CSR direction, apparently there is a long way to go. Historically, Indian companies had always strong philanthropic activities mostly targeting their employees and their families. However, if CSR has to truly become the soul and DNA of a company, then it has to break away from employee welfare mindset and encompass sustainable development.

Indian enterprises should realize that a sound corporate strategy is actually profitable to the company.

CSR A Winning Proposition

2009-01-17T17:42:00.002+05:30

It is nothing but sheer coincidence that my blog started off on my birthday! I always wanted to put my thoughts on paper but was too lazy to begin. Finally, when I discovered it just takes few clicks to get my thoughts out there on the world wide web, I started right away.

What I intend to do in these pages is to share my experiences and thoughts on a subject that has become more than just a buzz word in the Corporate World. Corporate Social Responsibility is finally a ‘reality’. Enterprises have to look not only at the economic dimension of a company, but also at its ecological and social impact – the three pillars of CSR.

Companies in India have started to realize that CSR is a ‘win-win’ situation and are willing to take that extra step.