| Doing Well by Doing Good |
Doing business in ways that respect human rights, ethical values, communities and the environment has not only become the mainstream in the last year but also proved to be worthwhile (profitable). A global survey by IBM in February 2007 said that companies believe that when they are more open with stakeholders and place social responsibility at the core of their business strategy they will be more competitive, attract and retain the best talent, and gain access to new business opportunities.
For an increasing number of companies, herewith big corporations as well as micro firms, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has transformed from “making a charitable donation” to an integral part of their policy and a tool that can motivate employees, strengthen brands and earn benefits for their image and reputation.
“From a fringe movement fuelled by social activists and religious investors, CSR has charged the mainstream, influencing consumers, shaping public policy, and attracting investment dollars along the way,” says the New CSR Blog.
Following the trend, our team undertook the job to analyse several major CSR blogs in order to make a snapshot of the key topics and CSR areas that mostly concern consumer generated media. Climate change, an area which also includes sustainability and eco-efficiency, and CSR in the supply chain were of major interest to bloggers. Blogs discussed topic such as the implementation of CSR, different CSR initiatives and the impact of CSR on business results. The IT industry’s efforts towards implementing CSR and making it an integral part of business strategy received greatest prominence across the blog space.
Overall the analysis has shown a positive trend in the implementation of CSR practices, although there are, as bloggers admit, the so-called greenwashing companies that use PR tactics to promote their sustainability and CSR excellence when the facts say otherwise.
In his blog Susdev.Info, Jonty Whittleton, comments on a BBC story by Rebecca Swift: “The author mentions how many of the environmental adverts we’ve seen in recent years actually all use the same narrow range of green colours/naturally-inspired imagery in their adverts, across the spectrum of brands and products. The reasoning for this seems quite simple - to try and connect consumers with a product and it’s claimed environmental credentials on the simplest possible terms i.e. people see the archetypal features of a healthy environment and automatically associate that with the brand or product.”
The triple bottom line concept, which incorporates environmental and social performance in traditional corporate reporting, was also of interest to bloggers.
In conclusion, it can be said that CSR has developed a long way from simply donating to good causes and has become an integral part of the business strategy of corporations as well as a positive contribution to business success. |
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Analysis of CSR issues and topics discussed in CSR blogs
Key findings of the analysis |
 • The media analysis of CSR-related issues captured 162 relevant posts in major CSR blogs in the period March 2007 – March 2008.
• Of those 41% spoke of CSR in general and did not mention any CSR area in particular. These were included in the analysis but are not displayed on the graphs.
• Climate change was the most salient CSR area featuring in 34% of the posts.
• Triple Pundit, Terra Infirma and the Triple Bottom Line were the three blogs most actively writing on climate change.
• Triple Pundit mentioned a McKinsey report which surveyed global executives from various industries. According to this report: “Of the 60% that say climate change is an important factor in making overall corporate strategy, most of those who responded thus are in Asia (71%), China (68%) and Europe (65%).Corporate reputation, media attention to climate change and customer preferences were cited most frequently as influencing factors among companies that take climate change into consideration.”
• All top three blogs writing on climate change paid attention to the Carbon Disclosure Project. Terra Infirma wrote “The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)'s fifth annual report into the carbon emissions of FTSE 500 companies shows that 76% of those who responded to its survey have put emissions reduction schemes in place, compared to just 48% last year. This is significant as the 383 companies who did respond are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions totalling almost 7bn tonnes per year - 14% of the global total. US businesses didn't fare so well, with only 29% of respondents reporting reduction schemes.”
• The second most popular area in terms of volume was CSR in the supply chain with 19 mentions, or 12% of the posts. It was chiefly related to posts about how different companies intended to implement or were already implementing CSR in their supply chains. Featured among these were Nike, Timberland, HP, Intel, GE, etc.
• The most active blogs in this area were HP's CSR in Europe, Middle East and Africa and the blog of Marc Gunther, a senior writer at Fortune magazine.
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• "’Sustainable Supply Chain Management’ is probably one of the most challenging areas of CSR, but it can also have tremendous impact,” HP's CSR in Europe, Middle East and Africa blog wrote.
• Other salient areas were Innovation with 12 mentions (7% of the posts), Working conditions & Employability with 9 mentions each (6%).
• Fleishman-Hillard (FH)’s CSR blog was most active in writing on working conditions, health and safety.
• “The survey found that a majority of Americans believe that the most important thing a company can do to be viewed as socially responsible is “treat their employees well.” It also found that Americans wear different “hats” when they evaluate a company’s social responsibility commitment—viewing that commitment, by turns, as employees, as investors, as customers, and as voters,” Tony Calandro wrote in the FH CSR blog citing a national survey by FH and the National Consumers League
• The most prominent topic across blogs was Implementation with 62 mentions, or 36% of the posts. The majority of the posts were about particular methods companies used to implement CSR practices or general reports/surveys on the issue. Supply chains and climate change were the areas in which companies most often implemented CSR policies.
• This was closely followed by Initiatives with 51 mentions, or 31% of the posts. Again, the majority of posts rather focused on initiatives by particular companies, e.g. Siemens, H. J. Heinz Company, REI stores, etc. Most of the initiatives were found to be carried out in the climate change area.
• Other prominent topics were Business outcomes with 26 mentions (16% of the posts), CSR trends with 20 mentions (12%) and Benefits for image and reputation with 14 mentions (9%).
• IT was the industry which attracted the most coverage featuring in 15% of all posts. The most commented CSR areas regarding the IT industry were Climate change and CSR in the supply chain. The most prominent topics were Implementation and Initiatives. |
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• The CSR initiatives of IT companies that attracted most attention were Google‘s alternative energy technology projects, IBM’s employee programmes, HP’s comprehensive supply chain management strategy and Sun Microsystems’ being the Silicon Valley company with lowest carbon emissions.
• Apple was mentioned as an IT company criticized for its less-than-environmentally friendly practices, such as using toxic materials in products and offering inadequate or no e-waste recycling, disposal or take-back programs.
• “Leading IT companies in general are making real and substantial commitments to becoming more energy efficient, reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, and minimizing pollution. It’s a good thing and it couldn’t come at a better time as by instituting such change transnational IT industry leaders can blaze a clean and green tech trail in developed and developing nations alike.” The Triple Pundit blog wrote.
• The food industry came in second in terms of volume featuring in 7% of the posts. The most prominent CSR areas regarding the food industry were again Climate change and CSR in the supply chain and the most prominent topics - Implementation and Initiatives.
• Jeff Frank, VP marketing at Lawson Software, discussed product safety as a fundamental component of food companies’ CSR efforts on his Frankly CSR blog. Product traceability was mentioned as one of the solutions to help food companies address the food safety issue and increasing health concerns by consumers.
• Retail was third in terms of coverage featuring in 5% of the posts. Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, was the single chain that attracted most of the attention, with Marks & Spencer, Toys R Us and Mattel being among companies mentioned as well.
• “To me, Wal-Mart is nothing less than the CSR turnaround story of all time. No company that I know of has made more progress on more issues of corporate responsibility more quickly than Wal-Mart.”, says Marc Gunther in his blog.
• Geneva-based ethical reputation research firm Covalence issued a report which concluded Marks & Spencer and Wal-Mart drove the ethical agenda of retailers, which was dominated by environmental issues in 2006-2007. Marks & Spencer was seen as a proactive leader in the report while Wal-Mart as more of a reactive leader. |
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