Previous

Page - 7

Is There One Solution That Fits All?

The second and more difficult task would be to quantify / institutionalize a set of standards to measure the performance on the social scale. However, such an institutionalization is precisely what creates the problems. Vast diversity of businesses makes it impossible to have off-the-shelf solutions.
Even if we were to develop such a solution, the changing social realities / cultures and tastes would invariably make these standards irrelevant / inconsequential. Hence, the need is for a loose framework of rules. These rules must not be compliance rules, rather reporting / information dissemination rules.

1. Incorporation of a Societal Initiative statement. Apart from the vision and mission statements, this statement would provide the necessary direction to any corporate responsibility actions undertaken.

2. To view profits as not just end in themselves but as rewards from the society for undertaking activities beneficial to sustainable growth.

3. The aim of the organization is to disseminate information regarding its role as a legitimate and powerful member of the society. As any member of the society has his/her responsibilities towards and accountability to the society from which it draws its support and resources, so too an organization must fulfill its responsibilities and provide accountability to the society. Our contention is not that most modern organizations are not doing this, but rather that they must be made public through a transparent engagement with the media, government and civil bodies.

4. The notion of corporate social responsibility differs from country to country. Clearly, local cultures affect how consumers expect companies to behave as does the response and type of product that a company will sell in a given country. Sometimes culture and economics combine to produce different products.

Fitted in the framework of the stakeholders of an organization, there is accordingly a need to re-look at the entire role of businesses.

Next

* Contributed by: -
Saurabh Goswami & Malini Pande,
II Year Students,
IIM Kozhikode.