Interview with Wayne Visser

Continued from Part 1

Question: How can one find the middle path between CSR and profit maximisation?

It is quite difficult to find the point of perfect balance between these two. Developing countries often find themselves faced with this problem. But it is necessary to seek and find the opportunities which allow cost reduction through steps aiming at environmental management. These are new business solutions that everyone is looking for today.

But in order to find these business solutions, it is important to have a strong system of governance, a well established civil society as well as pressure from the international community. In these cases, avoiding environmental issues could end up being more costly for companies.

One has to ask a simple question – what costs will I be facing ten years from now, if I avoid solving environmental issues today?

Economists have calculated that the money spent on climate change issues today could account for only about 1% of the world’s GDP. But if we leave avoid those issues now, then the costs could come to 20% of global GDP. This is the logic that we need to explain to our business community – by avoiding these expenses now you face much larger costs over a long term.

A few developing countries are bringing forward the concept of “environmental justice”, i.e. they are linking social issues to those of the environment. Their governments are coming up with legislation which encourages companies not only to spend on social issues. They demand that companies implement environmental programmes as well.

After all, it is the poorest layers of society that bear most of the ill effects of a polluted environment and it would be only fair for companies to deal with environmental issues as well.

Question: In our country, there are cases when companies are very active in philanthropy. Many people think that this is a “cheap” marketing ploy. How can one differentiate between them and draw the line between Marketing/PR and charity?

One first needs to understand the concept of strategic philanthropy. This is the theory of American academic Michael Porter. He says that companies should be involved with the philanthropy that deals with their area of business directly.

When a company works in agriculture, its philanthropy could be linked to food security issues. When that company is Coca-Cola, then its philanthropic work should involve water issues. In those cases, it is less likely that philanthropy will be used as a PR or marketing tool, because in reality it helps the business itself.

Corporate Social Responsibility is a much broader concept.

CSR is not about how a company spends the money it makes, but rather about how it makes that money. The weaker the link between CSR and the company’s main business, the higher the probability that it is being used for PR or marketing purposes.

There are a number of initiatives in the CSR industry that help us avoid these issues. One of these is the Global Reporting Initiative and its Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These are very similar in nature to accounting standards. Accounting methods and standards are similar for all companies.

Through these, companies present their social activities, such that society also gets a chance to see and evaluate them. This would make it difficult for companies to use CSR as a PR or marketing tool.

Go to Part 3

Tags: competitiveness, csr, wayne visser