Not as a marketing tool.
In the turbulent economic era we live in, the issue of corporate accountability and responsible business becomes much more important. It has become obvious that many of the problems accumulated in the international economy was partly the result of irresponsible entrepreneurship by a large number of financial institutions worldwide. The diligence and effort for long-term business success, gave its place to a frenetic run for the immediate and temporary profit, with a clearly careless and irresponsible manner.
In the international business, especially in finance, a new entrepreneurship "ethos" prevailed, aptly characterized as short termism. Unfortunately the results of this anomaly dramatically affected the wider society, elsewhere less elsewhere more. Unfortunately Cyprus and Greece came to the focus of the cyclone.
Similarly, many countries and many people's lives around the world have been influenced and are influenced by the recent irresponsible entrepreneurship events by major automakers.
Both examples illustrate eloquently the importance of the practical implementation of a business strategy based on the three P (profit, people, planet), known as the triple bottom line approach (3BL). Any undertaking looking actually to maintain its profits in the long run (long-term sustainability), must take care of its people, the society in which it operates and the sustainability of the planet from an environmental perspective. Clearly, therefore, the exercise of responsible entrepreneurship is neither a luxury nor a matter of communication departments and advertising business. It is a matter that should be reflected in the DNA of the organisation and influence corporate strategy. To achieve this, the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be raised to the immediate attention of top management and the Board of Directors of the organization.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a strategic business management tool for a sustainable future. So is defined by the European Commission in a statement on its strategy for CSR. The Commission also proposes a new definition of CSR as "the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society". This requires a careful analysis of the impact of the action of each company and how these affect society and then the design of measures that companies can take to address these impacts. Think how different would things be if the banks followed what has been defined above as correct CSR strategy. If the Banks took into account ahead, the misery they might cause with their decisions to the general public, with their irresponsible run for temporary profits.
In our country, there is a general impression that CSR is exhausted in initiatives such as donations, scholarships, tree planting, provision of medical equipment, charity etc. All these social actions are beautiful and appreciated, but they are certainly not CSR.
The difference lies in the fact that CSR unlike charity, should be relevant to the business, the principal activity of each company. It is a strategic management tool that addresses the "how we operate our business”, and the impact of their operation on their profits, people and the planet as we mentioned earlier based on the triple bottom line approach.
CSR is about how we earn money in a business and not how we spent them. The money required for the integration of CSR into the DNA of the business should be regarded as an investment in the future of the company, the people and the place rather than simply as another cost.
As long as CSR is still perceived as a charity, it is evident that most likely there is no provision for how the company performs daily activities, if it destroys the environment, if it exploits its employees, if it pays its taxes etc.
With these in mind then, CSR should be discussed and decided primarily in Board of Directors’ rooms and secondarily in meeting rooms of the marketing and communication departments of our businesses.
Kyriakos Parpounas
General Manager
Green Dot (Cyprus) Public Co Ltd