Monday, August 2, 2010

Corporate social irresponsibility

Responsibility is a big word. So when the words ‘corporate social responsibility’ are treated as casually as Rahul Mahajan treats women, it takes a disaster like the BP oil explosion to jolt businesses out of their complacence. Today, CSR has become part of a marketing mix of a company. Corporates expect due publicity out of every CSR activity they undertake, however insignificant it might be. I don’t think we can actually save tigers by signing online petitions and writing blogs. But if a company expects people to know about its philanthropic causes, I don’t think their concerns are misplaced. It’s human tendency to feel more gratified when we help people when others are looking. A business entity is no different? The problem arises when it does not fulfill its primary responsibility. British Petroleum spent a lot of time and money to change its image. Companies which exploit natural resources like those in oil & gas, mining, steel sectors, have a tough time managing their image. A minor slip and hell breaks loose. BP tried to present a more humane face to its business: it changed its logo to a more colourful one; rechristened itself ‘Beyond Petroleum’ and initiated several CSR activities in the markets where it did business. But all those efforts have gone down the Gulf of Mexico. The situation was exacerbated by the puerile reaction of a cornered CEO who said, “I want my life back” at a time when his company was responsible for one of the biggest environmental tragedies of our time. If BP had paid as much attention to its operations as it did to burnish its image, it would have done a lot of good to the company, its shareholders and to the planet. A single act of irresponsibility undid years of corporate social responsibility efforts. Some of Union Carbide’s slogans sound so ironic in hindsight, ‘Safety is everyone’s priority’, ‘A hand in things to come’, ‘More jobs through Science’. I think companies would work in the service of the society if they fulfill their primary responsibilities first, and then focus on CSR.

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