Corporate  Responsibility  Module  

Lecture  One:  Introduc8on  to  CR    January  8th  2015  

Lecturer:  Tobias  Webb  Tobiaswebb.blogspot.com    

What  the  course  covers  1)  Introduc8on  to  CR.  A  brief  history  2)  How  to  make  the  business  case    3)  AMrac8ng,  training,  mo8va8ng,  retaining  employees  4)  Campaigning  NGOs,  who,  why  and  what    5)  Stakeholder  engagement,  who,  when  and  how  6)  Supplier  engagement  in  CR  7)  Reputa8on,  external  communica8ons  &  repor8ng  8)  Innova8on  for  sustainable  business      Plus  a  Revision  Lecture  in  week  nine    

Today’s  lecture  will  cover…  

•  What  is  CR?  •  Why  does  it  exist?  •  How  is  it  evolving?  •  Who  are  the  best  known  theorists?  •  A  brief  historical  tour  in  pictures  (It  would  be  useful  to  tape  this  part  in  par8cular)    

So  what  is  Corporate  Responsibility?  

•  It’s  an  o\en  messy  compromise  between  business  and  society    

•  It’s  both  a  source  of  innova8on  and  a  source  of  cost  to  many  large  companies    

•  It’s  a  reac8on  to  the  increased  knowledge  we  now  all  have  about  impacts  of  business,  about  the  costs  of  “nega8ve  externali8es”  and  a  debate  about  what  should  be  done  about  them  

Why  does  CR  exist?  

•  Public,  Media  and  NGO  access  to  business  impact  informa8on  has  grown  (plas8c  bags,  plas8c  in  the  oceans,  emissions,  deforesta8on,  human  rights  and  labour  condi8ons,  digital  privacy  etc)  

•  Because  not  everything  can  be  regulated  successfully  given  the  complexity  of  the  world  

•  Because  sourcing  footprints  and  opera8ons  /  sales  are  now  global  for  many  companies,  and  stakeholders  all  over  the  world  are  demanding  informa8on  and  results  from  business    

How  is  it  evolving?  

•  Whilst  corporate  accountability  is  not  new,  post  WW2  debate  started  out  around  the  “responsibili8es  of  the  businessman”  (Bowen,  Drucker  et.  Al.)    

•  Individual  good  works  evolved  to  corporate  philanthropy  to  corporate  ci8zenship  and  CSR  to  corporate  responsibility  in  the  1990s.  

•  Today,  the  term  increasingly  used  is  corporate  sustainability,  or  sustainable  business.  This  promotes  depth,  breadth  and  inclusiveness    

Who  are  the  best  known  theorists?    

•  Bowen:  Focused  on  social  responsibility  of  execu8ves  •  Drucker:  Values  based  approach,  consider  externali8es  •  Friedman:  Social  responsibility  to  improve  profits  •  Carroll:  Pyramid  approach:  Phil/Ethics/Legal/Economic  •  Freeman:  Advocated  social  rela8onships  as  strategic  •  Elkington:  Triple  BoMom  Line:  Social,  Environ,  Financial    •  Pralahad  &  Hart:  Empower  the  poor  with  innova8on  •  Porter:  Crea8ng  Shared  Value  over  tradi8onal  CSR    •  Many,  many  others:  Roome,  Grayson,  Handy,  Vogel,  Eccles,  Henisz,  Donaldson,  Waddock,  Ioannou  etc  

Corporate  Responsibility  History    

in  Pictures  1720  -­‐  2015  

1720:  The  South  Sea  Bubble  

1902-­‐4  

1911  

1962  

1965  

Friedman  Picture  1970  

1970  

Popula8on  Bomb,  1968,  Limits  to  Growth:  1972  

“Green  Revolu8on”  provided  30-­‐50  year  solu8on  

1972  

1972  

Bhopal:  1984  

Exxon  Valdez  1989  

Anita  Roddick,  1980s/90s  

Rio  Earth  Summit  1992  

1990s  

1995  

1995-­‐6  

1999-­‐2003  

2001  

2004/5  onwards:  The  Rise  of  China  

2007  

2010  

2011-­‐12  

2006-­‐today  

2012  

2013  

Ongoing!  

Weibo:  500  million  users  since  2009  

M-­‐Pesa:  Now  in  Kenya,  Tanzania,  Afganistan,  South  Africa,  India  and  elsewhere    

40%  of  Kenya’s  GDP  passes  through  M-­‐Pesa  today    

April  2013:  Rana  Plaza,  Bangladesh  

     

Further  resources:  Eleven  Reasons  to  be  Op8mis8c  

about  Sustainability  tobiaswebb.blogspot.com  

www.slideshare.net/tobiaswebb  www.eabis.org  

www.caseplace.org