The Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway recently suggested in The Economist that the recession will prompt businesses to send their corporate social responsibility (CSR) directors on a “gap year, indefinitely”.
That would be no bad thing – which might seem like a surprising admission from a representative of a sustainable development organisation. Let me explain.
CSR started out very well-intentioned. But it has become divorced from the business, and confused with charity, philanthropy or ‘being nice’.
It's the quasi-marketing aspects of CSR that are likely to be slashed in the downturn, because they are seen as discretionary spend
In some cases it has also become an adjunct to the marketing department – and it’s these quasi-marketing aspects of CSR that are likely to be slashed in the downturn, because they are seen as discretionary spend.
Much CSR has become too focused on what a business does with its profits. But what is more important is how companies make those profits in the first place.
This is where things like the implications of climate change on the supply chain, emerging markets’ desire for poverty alleviation, emerging markets for people at the bottom or middle of the pyramid, and so on, become increasingly critical considerations for companies.
How companies take serious account of these factors will determine their long-term survival. Their sustainability is intrinsically linked to the sustainability of the planet’s resources and its people.
In the short term, of course, the focus for most organisations has shifted closer to home. It is inevitable and quite right that they should concentrate on surviving what looks set to be a very difficult two or three years.
Cutting costs and investment is part of the survival strategy, and investment in sustainability will suffer along with other areas. You can’t contribute to a sustainable world if you go bust.
Yet the trick is not to mothball sustainable initiatives. Indeed, they may even help organisations survive the recession by helping with either extreme efficiency or extreme innovation.
