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In Good Company: Singh on CSR

~ Connecting the dots between Business, Society & the Environment

Tag Archives: CSR strategy

As ICRS Launches UK’s First Professional Body for Sustainability Professionals, Questions About its Efficacy

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Aman Singh in Capitalism 2.0, CSR

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aman singh, Capitalism 2.0, climate change, corporate social responsibility, cse, CSR, csr certifications, CSR strategy, employee engagement, guardian sustainable business, iema, jo confino, Jobs in CSR, jobs in sustainability, Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement, supply chain, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainable business practices, The Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability


With the launch of its first professional body, has sustainability lost its edge? >> Interesting albeit controversial take by Guardian Sustainable Business’ Jo Confino.

Does the sustainability sector need one more professional accreditation?

As you’ll see from the comments section, the opinion on that is divided down the middle. And while we all probably have also an opinion to add depending on our background, longevity of work in the sector and where we stand on the idealism scale, the discussion reminded me of my first “CSR workshop.”

Conducted by the Center for Sustainability & Excellence [CSE] group and certified by the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment [IEMA], the workshop had all the telltale signs of a robust professional certificate curriculum.

From comparing the leaders vs. the laggards in “CSR practices,” the emerging trends in CSR reporting and the regional differences in how corporations were interpreting “corporate social responsibility,” to writing a CSR plan for my company that encompassed sustainability factors as well as social and economic goals, the curriculum was rigorous and gave me a lot of information to process and use for years to come.

It also gave me a moniker – CSR-P – that I have used over the years to indicate that I am a CSR Professional.

Did it invite curiosity? Often.

Did it help explain my credentials and experience more credibly? Sometimes.

More importantly, the workshop made me think. It made me dive into research. It taught me materiality and helped me sift between greenwashing, whitewashing and the many other labels of our sector. And it also opened up a path for me that otherwise would have remained superfluous and intangible in definition.

But back to Jo’s article: Do we need one more professional accreditation?

Probably not.

But as the sector grows, divides, integrates and subsumes within organizations, we do need groups/associations to allow sustainability professionals to learn from each other’s challenges, share best practices and grow the cadre of professionals integrating CSR and sustainability into their skill sets and mindsets.

And if this critical mass of influencers and practitioners can then influence other professionals – HR, Accounting, Technology, Finance, etc. – to shift their thinking and modus operandi to align with our mutual goal of preparing ourselves to coexist in a shared / new / circular / no waste [pick your preference]  economy, that would be a win.

Not only for the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability but for our entire sector.

Thoughts? Leave a comment or connect with me @AmanSinghCSR.

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Changing Gears at JPMorgan Chase as a CSR Strategy Evolves

09 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, CSR reporting, CSRwire

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000 jobs mission, 100, aman singh, Brand Management, Business, clean energy investment, community development, Corporate Governance, CSR, CSR report, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, CSRwire, Disclosure & Transparency, ESG, impact investing, jamie dimon, jobs, jpmorgan chase, Leadership, mark tercek, peter scher, small business investment, social finance, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability, Sustainability Report, the nature conservancy, transparency, Wall Street, Work culture


In the wake of the financial crisis, your industry continues to face high scrutiny and low trust. How is society better off because of what JPMorgan Chase does?

That’s how The Nature Conservancy CEO Mark Tercek starts off his interview with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon – featured prominently at the beginning of the financial behemoth’s latest Corporate Responsibility Report. While the interview is meant to address the heightened focus on transparency improvements in risk management and operational sustainability, the key idea is to highlight one main issue: trust.

In fact Tercek’s first question is telling of the intent and content of the interview that follows.

To drill deeper and learn more about JPMorgan Chase’s sustainability activities in 2012 as well as how the institution prioritizes intangibles like customer trust, ethics and responsible leadership into its business strategy and operations, I turned to Peter Scher, EVP and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility.

Leveraging all of its Assets to Invest in Communities: A Bank’s Citizenship Journey

“The most important thing we want to convey through the Report is that we’re using more than just our money and resources to make a positive impact. [Our]scale and global reach puts us in a unique  Peter_Scher_JPMChaseposition to not just spend money, but use the core expertise of our company and employees to make a difference for our clients and communities,” he started, adding, “We want to focus on using all of our resources to support our communities.”

In 2012, JPMorgan Chase raised and provided $2 trillion in capital and credit for its clients worldwide. It also donated more than $190 million to nonprofits in 37 countries while its employees volunteered 468,000 hours in local communities.

“We’ve helped over 77,000 U.S. veterans find jobs working with other companies through the 100,000 Jobs Mission. We see investments in our community as long-term investments, just like we would look at investments into our business,” Scher explained alluding to CEO Dimon’s quote in the report:

If we can help our clients grow around the world, they will in turn generate the jobs, small business growth and other economic activity that builds strong, vibrant communities and generates more sustainable economic growth and prosperity for all.

But how does that contextualize into day-to-day operations at the bank?

A couple of ways. Our clients and our business are key components of our communities, not just pieces of a balance sheet. For example, some of our clients are municipal governments, hospitals, and healthcare institutions. We help them provide vital services to people,” he said.

“In 2012, we provided $85 billion to nearly 1,500 nonprofit and government entities in the U.S. and around the world. Despite the crisis in Europe, we didn’t pull out of our investment commitments. We continued to provide billions of dollars in credit and financing to European clients – corporate and sovereign. That was a testament to our values as a company and underlined how we approach business. We are part of these communities for the long run.

At the height of the financial crisis in the U.S. three years ago when lending was lean, JPMorgan Chase announced increased lending to small businesses to boost the economy. It made good on that commitment and today is one of the largest lenders to small businesses in the country. “We also hired 1,000 small business bankers to help us find small businesses to invest in. This commitment has small business lendingincreased every year since then – from $7 billion in 2009 to $11 billion in 2010 and $17 billion in 2012,” explained Scher.

Despite the increased lending and a resolute desire to beat a deepening crisis by focusing on core competencies and a community-based approach, 2012 was a tough year for the financial leader.

We had significant trading losses which cost us money and embarrassment – more the latter since we made record profits in 2012. It also showed that we weren’t immune to making the mistakes other companies made. What we were proud of was that we didn’t try to hide any of it or explain it away,” he said.

For example, the bank – after Dimon’s very public apology – made its Control agenda a top priority leading to a re-prioritization of its major projects and initiatives, deploying massive new resources, and dedicating critical managerial time and focus to the effort. Specifically, the bank:

  • Established a new firm-wide Oversight and Control Group separately staffed and reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer with the authority to make decisions top down, in command and control fashion.
  • Appointed a business control officer in every line of business to report jointly to the line of business CEO and the firm-wide Oversight and Control Group.
  • Staffed every major enterprise-wide control initiative with program managers and oversight group managers, including COOs.
  • Made it mandatory for the Operating committee to meet regularly with regulators to share information and hear any criticisms.

I have worked in a lot of different public and private institutions during the course of my own career and have not found one that doesn’t make mistakes. The real test is how we address them. And at JPMorgan Chase, starting with the senior leadership, there was never any effort to hide or explain away our mistakes. In fact, there was a commitment that we were going to use them as an opportunity to become a stronger company,” Scher added.

Building a Culture of Responsibility

Corporate responsibility can be challenging at any company. Particularly for one that belongs to a sector that remains as tarnished for its dealings of the past decade today as it were in 2008. What is JPMorgan Chase doing to shift the mindset and modus operandi of its industry?

Well, we’re starting at home, with our 260,000 employees in more than 60 countries – and we’re letting our employees know how the firm contributes to their communities,” he said.

Are JPMorgan Chase employees driving the demand for non-financial disclosure?

Yes, there’s demand from many of our stakeholders, including our employees, to know how we match up in our actions versus our commitments. We’re also starting to see demand from our clients. The financial crisis really focused people’s attention on what companies are doing and could do to help contribute in a positive way to the community,” Scher emphasized.

“The fact is, if our communities are growing, that’s good for us as a business. More growth means more banking services – and we want to be a part of their future. Besides, clients want to know that companies they work with are responsible and thinking of their impact on society.

Global Footprint, A Comprehensive CSR Strategy

With a substantial community investment commitment as well as programs to rehire military veterans, bolster investment ties among cities in the US and worldwide through its Global Cities Initiative, and impact investing goals – principal investments focused on emerging markets added up to $50 million in 2012, clean energy investments –over $6 billion in clean energy investments in 2012 deployed, the bank is leveraging its global footprint effectively to grow the global economy.

JPMorgan Chase CSR ReportIt’s also trying to help address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

For example, urbanization.

Half the world’s population already lives in or around cities. That’s going to increase to 70 percent in the next few years. That translates into a lot of challenges for what our infrastructure can support: energy, healthcare, water, job creation, etc. And for us as one of the largest lenders for these projects, that has significant ramifications.”

“So we’re trying to use our resources and expertise to help address these challenges. We’re working on understanding how policymakers are dealing with these across the world and trying to bring in some creative thinking to help them shift as the economies transform. We’re also thinking of how we can finance energy exploration and development in a more sustainable way.”

“In the U.S., for example, a lot of these investments have focused on natural gas. We’re identifying best practices and creating a risk assessment framework to help us influence our clients’ policies and procedures and help them conduct their energy operations in a sustainable manner,” he explained.

And how is the bank’s Social Finance arm faring? It launched in 2007 to serve the new and growing market for impact investments – new business models that deliver market-based solutions for social impact.

According to Scher, JPMorgan grew its Social Finance principal investments to nearly $50 million in commitments for funds focused on helping improve the livelihoods and quality of life of people living in poverty around the world, with a particular focus in emerging markets. “In addition to making principal investments, we’re also working to help shape and grow the field of impact investing, by providing client advisory services and data-driven thought leadership,” he added.

At the end of the day, with a Report that runs into 90 pages replete with data, interviews and the makings of a comprehensive CSR strategy, JPMorgan Chase seems to be pulling all the strings it has available to make a positive impact on its constituents – with some appreciable humility thrown in for good measure.

Originally written for and published on CSRwire’s Commentary section Talkback on August  1, 2013.

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2011 in review @ Singh on CSR: 5 Months, 31 Blog Posts, 9,500 Visits

08 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

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aman singh, aman singh das, Brand Management, BSR 2011, citizen journalism, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communication, CSR journalist, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, economic value, employee engagement, In Good Company, mainstream media, net impact 2011, Occupy Wall Street, shared value, social media, sustainability, sustainable business, sustainable business practices


The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,500 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

While I won’t bore you with the stats, here are the top three winners of 2011:

  1. Net Impact and BSR 2011: 7 Days, 2 Conferences, 5 Trends in CSR & Sustainability
  2. Does Expending Resources on CSR and Sustainability Destroy Economic Value?
  3. CSR and Sustainability in Mainstream Media: Citizen Journalism Or Simply Shared Value?

Thank you to all of you for a tremendous year! I value your support, trust, readership, comments, courage and enthusiasm to say, do and compel others toward the right action.

Here’s to expanding our “small world” of CSR and sustainability slowly but surely, one person at a time in 2012!

– Aman

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PepsiCo’s Sustainability Communications Manager: “Want to Work in CSR? Focus on Service”

08 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, Guest Author

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Americorps, brand management, Career advice, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR jobs, CSR strategy, daniel pellegrom, Job search, job search in CSR, Jobs in CSR, jobs in CSR, jobs in sustainability, marketing, Netflix, Peace Corps, PepsiCo, PR, Reed Hastings, Social Responsibility, Teach for America


Earlier this year I had the pleasure of joining a variety of leaders in CSR for a roundtable luncheon. Aman Singh chaired the conversation and people from Edelman, Best Buy, Humana, Boeing and Northern Trust discussed some of the CSR issues our companies face today.

But this blog is not about the roundtable. It’s about the question Singh asked at the end of our lunch: What advice would I give to aspiring students and professionals who want to work in CSR?

Here’s what I said:

I believe students should not focus so much on getting the right job in CSR right away; rather they should focus on getting diverse experiences that will serve them well should they go into business later.

It’s these diverse experiences that bring fresh perspective and will help exponentially in defining and driving CSR, sustainability and corporate citizenship in the future.

My answer stems from personal experience.

After college, I joined the Peace Corps and worked on providing water, sanitation and heath care in Ghana.

Then, it didn’t seem like living without electricity, bathing in river water, and building schools and rain catchment systems would lead to much of a career in business.

But today as a senior manager for sustainability communications at PepsiCo, I work with partners like water.org and recently attended World Water Week in Stockholm, where PepsiCo launched a report on positive water impact with The Nature Conservancy. I believe coming to a job via a less traveled route, and having learned about important global issues makes one more effective within their company.

There are lots of people in politics, media and business who have benefited from the perspectives only a service program can provide.

In fact, one of my favorite quotes is from Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix who was a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 80’s in Swaziland. He said:

Once you’ve hitchhiked across Africa with 10 bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn’t seem too intimidating.

While I am most familiar with Peace Corps, there are many other service programs like Teach for America and Americorps that provide the same depth of realistic perspective. I am a believer in service, but there are other options too – work for an NGO, travel, teach — just get out there so you can bring something new to the discussion.

— By Daniel Pellegrom

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Net Impact and BSR 2011: 7 Days, 2 Conferences, 5 Trends in CSR & Sustainability

07 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

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Al Gore, aman singh, aman singh das, Anheuser Busch, Bea Perez, brand management, Brand Management, Brian Dunn, BSR 2011, Business, Carlos Brito, cause marketing, Coca Cola, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, ethical leadership, Events, Hanna Jones, hyper transparency, Liz Maw, Management, net impact 2011, Nike, Occupy Wall Street, Ofra Strauss, PR, radical transparency, risk management, Scott Wicker, shared value, Social Enterprise, Social Responsibility, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainable business practices, transparency, UPS, Vail Horton


There couldn’t have been a better way to end 2011 than the ambitious and cheerful Net Impact conference followed by Business for Social Responsibility‘s (BSR) annual conference.

Last year marked the inaugural year for my participation in both conferences. I came back encouraged, informed and enthused about the work ahead of us. [See: Can MBA Students be Taught Humility? and The Sustainability Jobs Debate] This year – perhaps because I have been deeply immersed in the CSR space – I feel a bit bereft, despite invigorating conversations and inspiring keynotes.

Don’t get me wrong.

While the Net Impact panels once again illustrated an incredibly knowledgeable student body set to graduate in coming years, BSR attendees and speakers showcased high aspirations and a deep understanding of the complexity of issues that face us today.

Throughout the seven days, I was continually questioned: Did you learn something new? What trends have you identified from all that you have heard? And each time I thought, what’s missing? Why am I not coming up with any articulate answers? Is my brain fried or is it something else?

On Friday, finally, sitting through a six-hour flight back to the east coast, it hit me. The CSR sector had grown up.

As a receiver of information, I was among familiarity, maturity. While last year the conferences motivated and inspired, this year the conversations focused on strategies, case studies, examples, successes and failures.

As Dave Stangis, VP of CSR for Campbell Soup articulated at a panel on Blue Sky Thinking during NI11, “CSR is no longer about identifying the business case. Today, we have evolved from questioning why to answering how.”

The Net Impact panels focused on nuts and bolts, dos and don’ts, a far cry from years past. The BSR roundtables featured honest evaluations, admittance of failure, collaborative statements of success and practical tips for newcomers.

Here then, are the top five trends I observed at two of the year’s most well-attended conferences on corporate social responsibility, innovation and sustainability:

1. We LOVE Shared Value:

Michael Porter’s “creating shared value” has appealed to the corporate sector like no other concept in recent years. Not corporate social responsibility or corporate sustainability, citizenship or conscious capitalism. There seems something so potent about shared value that CSR and sustainability executives cannot stop talking about it! A year ago, they would tell me “CSR is embedded in our DNA.” Now that statement has evolved to “Our culture has always been about creating shared value.”

Point is, CSV offers us nothing more radically new than the concept of CSR. It dictates the same concept of stakeholder engagement, mutual benefits, holistic bottom lines. But it has resonated by removing the morality that responsibility instantly dictates. For CSR and sustainability executives who have to make the business case to their C-suite, creating shared value provides them with their business case.

2. Familiarity breeds contempt

I found several attendees tell me how repetitive some of the sessions were, that they didn’t learn too much that was new or revolutionary. Perhaps it was because the same folks were attending the conferences every year? Earlier this year I wrote on Forbes’ CSR blog that instead of attending the conferences every year, we should send a colleague the following year so that we can actually widen the net of information and inspiration.

This continues to hold true: Chances are, every year there will be some common denominator at these conferences. With issues like energy conservation, water scarcity, poverty, community relations and employee engagement remaining the overarching topics, why not let one of the non-converted/uneducated learn next year?

Lesser chance of you suffering from conference fatigue.

3. Where are the CSOs?

In September, Ellen Weinreb, a prominent CSR and sustainability recruiter, released a report titled CSO Back Story*. Essentially, the report tracks every executive with the title of chief sustainability officer among the U.S.’s publicly traded companies. Her research points to 29 such individuals. While it omits the many hundreds of officers holding a wide breadth of titles ranging from CSR director to VP for sustainability and social responsibility, the report pinpointed several best practices and the continuing lack of standardization on how companies define, prioritize and implement corporate responsibility.

But I digress. [See what Corporate Secretary had to say about the report or download the complete report here.]*

Point is: Only two of the 29 CSOs Weinreb identified were in attendance at BSR: Coca-Cola’s Beatrice Perez and UPS’ Scott Wicker. Both were named CSO sometime this year. Where were the others? Wasn’t the conference meant for CSR and sustainability executives to come together for three days of knowledge sharing and benchmarking? What happened this year?

4. The Emotional Quotient

Both conferences featured wonderfully articulate keynote speakers, including KaBoom’s Darryl Hammond, Keen Mobility’ Vail Horton, Nike’s Hannah Jones, Al Gore, Strauss Group’s Ofra Strauss, Anheuser Busch’ Carlos Brito and Best Buy’s Brian Dunn.

While they discussed CSR and sustainability from their unique pedestal, the common denominator was the emotional connection they demonstrated with their cause, their brand, and their philosophy.

Hammond discussed how his childhood taught him the importance of play in a kid’s life. Strauss emphasized how her consumers and conflict-ridden Israel continues to teach her the right way of conducting business, of stakeholder engagement, of business being the real power in solving social problems.

Dunn on the other hand, focused on humility, responsible leadership and the importance of connecting with employees and consumers.

While last year’s speakers evinced more pragmatism, a businessman’s stoicism, this year the air held tension, an unspoken worry that things were going wrong too quickly, that we all needed to wake up. Quickly. The speakers were talking of soft – un-businesslike some would say – attributes: Social responsibility, connecting, respect, and the human condition, even destitution.

What had happened?

Let’s see: A recession that instead of leveling off, seems to be spreading across generations and countries for starters; a growing understanding that each of our actions – and inactions – impact many others in the world; a disastrous lack of trust for business; and a generational divide that seems to be holding the current decision makers accountable for their decades of excess.

Is business leadership finally waking up to their societal stakeholders?

5. Occupy Wall Street: Ignore or Engage?

Almost every keynote brought up this mass of undefined protestors that have continued to expand beyond American borders. Net Impact’s Executive Director Liz Maw opened the 2011 conference by asking attendees to “Occupy Wall Street but from within.”

Al Gore said, “Business must respond,” and that “it wasn’t a question any more.”

Ofra Strauss showed a three-minute video of the protestors equating them to civil unrest and a grassroots movement of discontent that business has to recognize and address.

At my BSR panel on hyper-transparency I brought up this commonality in one of my responses and posed a question for the audience: Will business ever think of these protestors as stakeholders? To my surprise, Jeff Mendelsohn from New Leaf Paper said that he and fellow attendees had, in fact, invited the Occupiers during a recent conference and that “The dialogue proved very productive for business and the protestors.”

Will anyone else follow?

*Full disclaimer: I worked with Weinreb on the report.

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Sustainability & Social Media: Trends, Challenges, Solutions

30 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in Uncategorized

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aman singh, aman singh das, brand management, Business, Chris Jarvis, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR strategy, employee engagement, Events, leadership, management, prezi, Singh Solutions, Social Media, social media, social media and sustainability, social media trends, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainable business practices, Work culture


On Monday I was at the Conference Board’s Center for Sustainability annual summit to present on sustainability and social media. I decided to try Prezi after having seen Realized Worth’s Chris Jarvis use it with aplomb at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship’s annual conference earlier this year.

Here then is my presentation:

Sustainability and Social Media Trends

And while you’re at, why not take this quick survey on the relationship between brand management and social media?

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11 Challenges for Corporate Sustainability: A Review

24 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, CSR reporting

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Accountability, aman singh, aman singh das, benchmarking sustainability, brand management, Brand Management, Business, conference board, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR events, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, ethics and compliance, Events, global reporting initiative, GRI, innovation, integrated reporting, Leadership, leadership, Management, risk management, social media, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, supply chain, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability reporting


Early this year, at the Global Reporting Initiative’s official launch in North America, Director of the Conference Board’s Center for Sustainability David Vidal asked a room full of senior CSR and sustainability executives:

What are the top three reasons for your company’s reluctance to embrace sustainability—and adopt sustainability reporting?

Now, as I prepare my keynote presentation for the Center’s annual summit next week on Innovation, Sustainability & Social Media, the answers to David’s question six months ago remind me of how quickly some businesses — and the sustainability space — are evolving.

Here’s what I wrote then on Vault’s CSR blog:

——————————–

The responses that came from an audience representing the glitterati of the corporate social responsibility world might surprise.

Keep in mind that a majority of them (I’m almost tempted to say all) don’t need another lecture on the business case for CSR or sustainability, are active advocates, and represent companies that–for a multitude of reasons–recognize the link to their bottom lines.

What these responses point to, however, is the continued sense of reluctance across senior leadership toward combining the social and environmental with corporate. The path to effective CSR isn’t a linear process by any means and these responses should help those who continue to struggle with mental and ideological barriers within their companies.

Because knowing the challenge is half the battle.

As you go through these, make an elementary checklist. Which of these sound familiar? How did you tackle them? Do any seem/remain insurmountable in the current corporate reality of thrift and inflexibility? Share your perspectives by leaving a comment or connecting with me @AmanSinghCSR.

And, without further ado, and in no particular order:

  1. Doubt
  2. Liabilities
  3. Denial
  4. Resources
  5. Causality
  6. Lack of Global Standards
  7. Benchmarking
  8. Lack of comparative credibility
  9. Uncertainty
  10. Fear of the unknown
  11. Fear of the known

——————————–

My estimation is that this list continues to evolve depending on the industry, the chief in charge, and even by which quarter we are in.

In coming days, I will review these challenges  — after hearing from some of business’ most eminent executives at the Annual Summit —  and hopefully shed some light on how some businesses’ have indeed managed to overcome them, and found advantage in doing so.

Stay tuned!

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Does Expending Resources on CSR and Sustainability Destroy Economic Value?

13 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

≈ 11 Comments

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aman singh, aman singh das, Aneel Karnani, BP, brand management, Brand Management, Business, business strategy, Campbell Soup, CEO Network, Commitforum, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, Dave Stangis, Ethics, ethics and compliance, Events, Fenton, Gerry Sullivan, Green, green jobs, Leadership, Management, Paul Herman, risk management, shared value, social enterprise, Social Impact, social responsibility, Social Responsibility, Starbucks, Sustainability, sustainability, sustainable business


Corporate Social Responsibility isn’t about giving money away and adopting the latest cause of activists. CSR and sustainability are approaches to business operation and execution that build employee engagement, improve environmental performance, create positive social impact, enable operational efficiency, reduce cost, foster innovation, strengthen relationships with customers and consumers and ultimately…create business advantage.

That was Dave Stangis, VP for Corporate Responsibility with Campbell Soup Company responding to University of Michigan Professor Aneel Karnani’s infamous editorial in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.”

Then, the argument was “capitalism versus corporate social responsibility, CSR versus profits, and where an idea like CSR fits into a business’ main objective, which is to make profits for its shareholders.”

Despite numerous debates [Fenton’s BIG CSR debate] and as many editorials and reports [Why There Is a Case for Corporate Social Responsibility], the inequity of the idea — or the perception that being responsible will cost a company money and therefore is an expense business doesn’t need — prevails.

But the actual essence of this debate no one can seem to pinpoint. Are we fighting over semantics or strategy?

Is it the misperception that CSR is a cost, a tagged on responsibility, and therefore, unnecessary for companies? Or that CSR is completely estranged from the notions of capitalism as Professor Karnani believes — and is, in fact, the wrong argument?

Since his controversial editorial, Karnani of course has continued to incite criticism for what many call an “extremely shortsighted and narrow view.”

Now, the associate professor of management and strategy for Michigan’s Ross School of Business is headed to New York City to debate his argument in real-time on the occasion of the CR COMMIT! Forum 2011, organized by Corporate Responsibility Magazine and NYSE Euronext [Details below].

Fashioned as an Oxford-style debate [DEBATE: RESOLVED that when companies expend resources on corporate responsibility and sustainability they destroy economic value], Karnani will be joined by Gerry Sullivan, president of the VICE fund, on the pro-markets side.

On the pro-sustainability side will be Paul Herman, CEO of HIP Investor and Dr. Vinay Nair, founding partner of Ada Investments and adjunct associate professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School.

In a sneak peek, I talked to three of the debaters [Dr. Nair couldn’t make it] on the essence of their arguments as well as: How does each of them define CSR?

Take a read:

Thriving on the Value of Vice

Gerry Sullivan from VICE funds believes in the power of capitalism. His funds select well performing stocks of tobacco, alcohol, gaming and weapons companies because they believe that, “Vice industries tend to thrive regardless of the economy as a whole.” Anyone reminded of the root of the financial collapse?

“I believe in capitalism because it ensures that products and services coming out are tested on the profit mandate and ultimately are good processes because they come through the interaction and the ability to gain profit,” he said.

Fair enough. Historically, companies who do well tend to share more.

Making Too Much of CSR?

“My biggest fear of CSR is that people want to make more of it than it really is. A company’s ability to employ better people and deploy profits is the real goal. Everything else is settled by the market,” he continued.

But clearly there is a differentiator between companies that invest in their community and immediate environment over the long-term and those that focus on short-term yields?

Affirmative, says Paul Herman.

Citing the ever quotable example of BP, he said, “When you look at their track record, BP was not a good corporate citizen and lost 40% of shareholder value in just a few months post the oil spill. Companies are not prepared for the volatility of climate change and its effect on cash flows and natural resources.”

Further, “Research from Wharton School and other academics has shown measurably that companies that help solve social and environmental problems can enjoy a higher shareholder and portfolio value,” he said.

“This decreases risk for business and increases value,” he added.

CSR Cannot Dictate Social Enterprise, But Profits Can

Because it had begun to sound like a battle between two followers of capitalism with opposite operational ideologies, I asked Karnani to step in.

“Companies can maximize profits and social enterprise at the same time, which is why capitalism works well. This is where Paul makes a good argument. Of course companies should do all this,” he said.

“But we don’t need CSR to make this argument. It’s as simple as ‘make the money, help employees.’” he added.

Here is where the caveat comes in however, he said. “This isn’t always true. When markets fail, we cannot appeal to companies to sacrifice profits for CSR and it is naive of anyone to think that all the stakeholders are always aligned in their interests. If this were true, we wouldn’t need the study of economics,” he argued.

His solution? Going back to what he had argued in the WSJ editorial last year: Government regulation.

And this is where my problem with the debate starts: How can government regulate behavioral change, cultural perceptions, and a deteriorating environment? Or are we now talking of CSR as a program, an initiative, a fundraising for charity opportunity?

If so, was Karnani suggesting the route the Indian government took recently by “mandating 2.5% of net operating profits must be spent on CSR” by all publicly traded companies?

Perhaps, although we won’t know till the live debate at the COMMIT! Forum.

Back to Square One: What the heck is CSR?

Clearly, the next question: How are these men defining corporate social responsibility? Intentionally or not, I had hit the nail on its head.

VICE Funds: “CSR is Green, And It Isn’t Generating Green”

According to Sullivan, “CSR is embedded into green and green hasn’t generated green for most companies.” Also blaming the government for supporting “and pumping a ton of money into green jobs,” which many say has been a failed effort at reviving the economy, Sullivan continued:

The internet bubble taught us that having pool tables and kegs doesn’t make the companies money. If the jury is still out on whether good companies will do good things, I say they’re smart enough to treat their employees well. You don’t need CSR for that.”

“I would like the companies I invest in to not be socially responsible but responsible to their shareholders and producing products that the government can use to generate revenue. I certainly hope that these companies think highly of their employees but I’m less inclined to think that they would give up profits over socially responsible activities.

HIP Investor: “CSR is Generating Top Line Growth”

For Paul, the question isn’t about green or management. “You start by asking yourself what social or environmental problem you are solving. Companies who are doing well have a core mission of improving the world in some way and making money while doing so.”

Citing the example of banks, he explained, “Banks were started to help people grow their income and wealth and became more integrated in their communities.”

“Starbucks in the U.S. spends more on the health care of its employees than the coffee beans because they support a better quality of life for employees and a higher labor standard.”

The argument, at least for Herman, isn’t about the validity of CSR anymore. “It’s about generating top-line growth and bottom-line profits. That’s why employees and investor relations teams are key in solving this paradigm,” he concluded.

Karnani: “If CSR is Beyond Making Money, Then It’s Not Making Money”

“CSR is a very confused notion. If you just mean businesses doing good for society, then capitalism is actually good [for society]. If CSR goes beyond ‘making money,’ then it’s not about ‘making money.’ When a company does something socially useful and loses money over it, that’s CSR. And definitionally, CSR loses money,” he concluded.

Confused? Irate? Redeemed?

Want to attend the COMMIT!Forum? Register here or connect with me on Twitter @AmanSinghCSR for a special discount code. The Forum begins on September 26, 2011, at the Javits Center in New York City and offers a full two-day agenda complete with a CSR careers symposium, keynotes and workshops.

And if you cannot make it, stay tuned here for more coverage.

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Marsh & McLennan’s 2010 CSR Report: Holistic, Aspirational, But Lean on Data

07 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR, CSR reporting, HR

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Accountability, aman singh, aman singh das, brand management, Brand Management, Business, Business Ethics, Chief Diversity Officer, Chief sustainability officer, Christine Salerno, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, CSR, CSR communications, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, Elizabeth Barry, guy carpenter, HR, Kathryn Komsa, Leadership, management, Management, marsh, mercer consulting, Michael Connor, oliver wyman, shared value, Silvia Davi, social responsibility, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, supply chain, Sustainability, sustainability, Work culture


“Our corporate social responsibility is our best kept secret.”

What compels a company with 52,000 employees and with over 140 years of systems in place to publish a CSR report?

For professional services giant Marsh & McLennan, as CSR Director Christine Salerno put it, there was an urgency “to put a stake in the ground.” The company, following shortly on the footsteps of a rebranding initiative [from Marsh to Marsh & McLennan], released its first CSR report, complete with a press briefing at its New York headquarters, late last month.

At first — and second — glance, the Marsh CSR report is 21 pages of text and very little data. What the executives present at the briefing, however, had to say, was far more enlightening and worth noting.

After Silvia Davi, head of corporate communications and brand introduced the panel — an all-women team of Chief Sustainability Officer Elizabeth Barry, Chief Diversity Officer Kathryn Komsa and Salerno — Barry started off with some forward-looking statements.

1. Sustainability

“We were doing a lot [in sustainability] but we needed structure. Now we can gain much more from the same efforts by implementing them as part of a long term strategy,” she said, adding that, “This is not about today, this is about tomorrow.”

Our work in CSR is our best kept secret. Now we have decided to collaborate and communicate our successes and challenges because colleague education and engagement are key to the success of our sustainability strategy.

Pointing to a slide that charted key accomplishments since 2010, Barry noted that a majority of the data points were yet to occur. For example, the company is set to launch an internal “Green Traveler” program aimed at helping employees’ cut down their carbon footprint by educating them on telecommunication alternatives, etc. Also to follow later in the year: A “Paper Reduction Campaign” as well as a “Sustainability 101 Training Program.”

“I want everyone in the company to know that they are committing to a longterm strategy,” she emphasized. “Sustainability starts with people and our behavior and if every colleague made one tiny change, the impact collectively can be huge. It’s not a quick process but it is truly more sustainable.”

2. Diversity & Inclusion

The mission for CDO Komsa, who started in her current role in 2009, was “to create an enterprise-wide diversity and inclusion strategy.” “Our challenges are finding the right talent, resources, and the right market share in a multicultural world,” she said, adding a common refrain among the B2B sector, “Our raw material is our people and a diversity platform becomes a great way of creating shared value.”

Komsa also touched on an issue that has had insurance companies scratching their heads in recent years: How do you make a career in insurance sexy and attractive?

Noting that this is a big challenge and opportunity for Marsh, Komsa emphasized that her, “Team’s leading initiatives in coming months will be to tie in the four companies [Oliver Wyman, Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Mercer] and rebrand the insurance industry by emphasizing how we source our talent.”

3. Community Relations, Volunteerism, Philanthropy

Marsh and McLennan's 2010 CSR ReportSalerno who is an ex-investment banker chose to begin with a review of past challenges: “This is something that has always been done. What has been missing is the communications piece. There has been no cross collaboration internally within the units.”

“Our business case is to make sure that our CSR activities are creating impact in the communities we operate in and for our employees,” she added, noting that, “An engaged employee wants to stay. We want to make sure we are attracting the right people.”

The connection between CSR and recruitment is an increasingly acute problem for recruiters, especially in the B2B sector, where the commodity for sale isn’t so much a physical unit but organizational culture, intellectual growth and innovation. How do you leverage CSR as a recruitment strategy? [Join me at one of eight breakfast sessions on analyzing this very question starting next month.]

“Students coming out of college want to work for companies that are doing the right thing. Our strength is our people. So how do we use our biggest assets to create maximum impact?” Salerno responded.

4: Climate Change

In response to Business Ethics Publisher and veteran journalist Michael Connor’s question about setting goals on climate change, Barry pointed to the unique challenges of operating in cities like New York, where most companies don’t own their real estate. “Goals are hard for a professional services company. And when you add a lease to the equation, it becomes even harder. In most cases, we are in the middle of 10-year leases so in the interim, we are finding other ways to set goals, like how to reduce our real estate portfolio altogether.”

5: What Does Successful CSR Look Like for a Fortune 250 Company?

Employee engagement has always been a huge component of my blogs in the past because I truly believe that getting your employees on your side is half the battle for most companies struggling with reputation issues. They can be your best brand ambassadors and I asked the Marsh team what success looked like for all their CSR and sustainability efforts: A significant decrease in air travel, a certain number of LEED certifications, an internally set women and minority retention rate, or something else?

Repeating that they launched the CSR report as a way of putting a stake in the ground, Salerno emphasized that, “Employee engagement is a crucial piece and trying to quantify our efforts and rolling out a system to measure our activities has them talking.”

“We’re getting the information out there and they are discussing it,” she said, to which Komsa added that, “piles of resumes have been pouring in because the work we do aligns with someone’s values. That means our employees are talking, which is a huge win for us.”

Barry, however, might have put it best:

“This report doesn’t have as many foundations but it is an important story to tell. We don’t have all the answers but we do want to get started on finding them.”

At the end of the day, Marsh isn’t looking to solve the water crisis or achieve a zero carbon footprint. Their goals are moderate and their CSR report reflects a forward-looking attitude that is encouraging.

That they have a team in place approaching CSR strategically — and a lot more holistically than many other companies — is the right start.

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Revisiting the PR Take on CSR: “Corporate Responsibility is Not Public Relations”

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by Aman Singh in CSR

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aman singh, aman singh das, Better Business Bureau, brand management, Brand Management, Business, Career advice, careers in CSR, cause marketing, consumer education, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, corporate values, CSR, CSR blogger, CSR communications, CSR strategy, Edelman, employee engagement, Events, Green practices, Jobs in CSR, Leadership, leadership, management, Management, Michael Holland, philanthropy, PR, shared value, social responsibility, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, sustainability, what is CSR?


Last year, the Better Business Bureau hosted an event titled Good Business 2010, where the day-long agenda was to analyze the increasing confluence of public relations (PR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Here’s what I wrote then on Vault’s CSR blog:

A Belief System For Your Company

Edelman’s EVP for CSR-New York, Michael Holland while highlighting his firm’s approach, emphasized that corporate responsibility was emerging increasingly as an indelible part of brand management for companies, although North American companies, while initially slow to embrace it, were quickly getting on board.

Defining CR as “A belief system for a company” he broke its significance for companies into three segments: 1) the social and legal aspect; 2) its immersion into the operational model; and 3) how to leverage it for competitive share in the marketplace.

What is the ROI for corporate responsibility?

Citing a recent survey conducted by McKinsey, Holland said that the business case for corporate responsibility had never been clearer for companies. “Companies that paid attention to CSR in the last three years reported an increase in their share price of 43% against a 12% increase for those who didn’t.” At the same time, profits for the first segment of companies increased by 16% versus 7%. I’ve often noted that metrics and numbers speak louder than words. These then, need no further explanation. See more results from the McKinsey survey.

Noting that the pressure for accountability was no longer the voice of a few dedicated advocates and had shifted to mainstream demands from all stakeholders for a company, Holland stressed that the tipping point was already here: “CR cannot be ignored any longer. Shareholders, employees and clients are demanding it.”

What is corporate responsibility all about?

Holland, interestingly, chose to answer this by focusing on the key misconceptions about corporate responsibility. Funnily enough his counter-intuitive tactic worked, bringing up several questions from the audience. He put it like this:

CSR ≠ Green
CSR ≠ Strategic Philanthropy
CSR ≠ Public Relations

CSR isn’t PR, it’s About Your Business Strategy

I have discussed in the past the huge difference between conducting brand management and reputation-building and immersing CR as a culture of change into your company’s strategy. I asked Holland how he advises clients to walk that fine line.

“First of all, it needs to start from the top. Secondly, it needs to part of a company’s communication strategy. And finally you need to define what it means to track the progress of your corporate responsibility. The problem is that the marketplace believes that CSR is cause marketing and philanthropy. Our task is to overrule that and teach them that actually it’s about business strategy.”

——————————–

Now, with several communications firms announcing CSR practices, where are we headed with the confluence of PR, brand management and CSR? I turned to the latest entrant in the field, Ruder Finn. Take a read.

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