Some ten years ago we would have thought that Corporate Social Responsibility was an activist-driven fad limited to Green-Peace members, but in today?s seamless global markets where Corporate Brands are fighting hard to influence customer masses and employees altogether, Social Performance is fast becoming a driving component in managing Corporate Reputation. But are we in tune with benchmarks in first world economies? And what answers do we have to this question: ?To whom are our businesses responsible??

A recent Opinion Leader survey on Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) conducted by the leading Burston Marsteller in partnership with the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum has brought significant contribution to the CSR debate. Let?s see the main findings: 71% of opinion leaders cite ?Leadership that looks beyond the short term? as the most important CSR factor; 53% define CSR as ?treating employees with respect?; 35% think ?environment responsibility? as important to CSR ; 30% expect a ?commitment to local communities?and only 5% regard ?charitable donations? as important. The above gives us an interesting idea of the spectrum and scope that CSR may cover and above all confirms that Corporate citizenship should be considered as a legitimate and permanent feature of business landscape.

The ?Kaya? riots that exploded in 1999 was a strong enough signal for the Beachcomber Group to launch the ?Fondation Espoir et Development? whose main aim was to facilitate the social integration of vulnerable groups. After more than 3 years of operation Malenn Oodiah, the inceptor of this project states that ?With a recurrent budget of Rs 10m, the FED is now a structured organization and is a considered as a reference in terms of corporate citizenship.? The FED illustrates a visible transition from some uncoordinated PR, sponsoring and social actions to a coherent social policy set in a specific corporate framework with well defined guiding philosophies.

The only way our Corporations will make the difference is by identifying specific activities, committing appropriate resources, building sound project teams around them, making sure they are well communicated internally and externally and defining strong links with corporate strategy. Otherwise we will end up in blood donations, ad-hoc activities like charity walks, street cleaning, sports-sponsoring etc, which do respond to felt needs. But our society has a big ?supply? of social problems and corporations should be accountable to society. It?s a question of matching the supply to the demand in a more effective manner.

The other example of socially sound corporate behaviour and practice is provided by the Social Report of the British American Tobacco Mauritius (2002-2003) which by any standards shows world class performance parameters and sets the example both in terms of coherence and commitment. This highly structured corporate initiative abides by the Global Reporting Initiative, adopts the most rigorous reporting standards (the AA 1000 Standard) and is verified by an internationally recognized independent social auditor, Bureau Veritas. Conscious of the controversial nature of the traded product and the resulting health hazards, Mohammad Abdul Aleem, GM, explains that the BAT?s Social Report is an effective means to ?strike a balance between achieving our commercial objectives and fulfilling our social responsibilities through mutually agreeable solutions.?

It is also very important to realize that a new generation of consumers is fast emerging. In Europe it is common that consumers are increasingly critical when it comes to social and ethical issues and come forward with very demanding expectations. They are very organized and constitute powerful pressure groups. The ?sustainable commodity? and ?sustainable development? movements illustrate this very well. Where do our consumers and Consumer Associations situate themselves here? While our consumer mass need to sharpen their actions, our CEOs and Top Management teams can improve their commitment to societal expectations with a strategic perspective. Only then we can talk of socially correct corporate behaviours?

<B>Ashraf Oozeerally

[email protected]</B>