W08 Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Certified B Corporations (B Corp), Real Solutions for Real People, and what makes a successful social impact company are the main ideas and topics from this week's lesson material. 

DEFINED: Corporate Social Responsibility is: 

  • an outlet of social innovation 
  • an exciting and upcoming industry and holds many possibilities for social innovators 
  • a type of business self-regulation with the aim of being socially accountable; how companies measure and control their impact on society. This includes a company's contributions – both negative and positive – to the economy, environment and greater community.  
  • striving to positively contribute to the public, the economy &/or the environment.
A company/business who is CSR benefits in two ways: 

  1. by improving its brand image. When customers or clients see evidence of social responsibility, they tend to respond positively. 
  2. high employee morale. Morale tends to be sustainable higher at companies that invest clear effort and resources into ethical and socially responsible behavior. 
Lego, is an example of a CSR company. The toy company has invested millions of dollars into addressing climate change and reducing waste. Lego's environmentally conscious efforts include reduced packaging, using sustainable materials and investing in alternative energy.

Starbucks is also a CSR business, implementing a socially responsible hiring process to diversify their workforce. Their efforts are focused on hiring more veterans, young people looking to start their careers, and refugees.

The assigned video 'Triple Bottom Line and Sustainability: the Science of Good Business' (https://youtu.be/2f5m-jBf81Q) was inspirational to view. The sketches were spot on in getting me connected with the message that to achieve sustainability we need to comply with social and environmental conditions while meeting human needs with ecological constraints. Ultimately we’re all dependent on photosynthesis and is tied to multiple levels of sustainable activities. I better understand that "the economy is a means to an end, not the end itself".  I have a better perspective on integrating sustainability into the world as "three nested circles, where the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment". 

There are many reasons why CSR has become more popular in recent years, and from this week's study there are two of these reasons that stand out to me. One reason for an increase in CSR is an increase in knowledge on the negative impact that humans are having on the earth and that the current lifestyle is not sustainable. The second is there's an increase in awareness of fairness and equality among societies and work places. 


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