The article in the url below deals with the prospect of firms’ CSR activity contracting during the expected economic recession:
“It is easy to imagine corporate social responsibility being the first fad that companies abandon during the downturn.”
This might be true, except for the fact that Wal-Mart’s CEO, Lee Scott, has chosen now to reaffirm his firm’s commitment to raising the profile of sustainability throughout operations:
“Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's chief executive, told a meeting of 1,000 Chinese suppliers in Beijing: "I firmly believe that a company that cheats on overtime and on the age of its labour, that dumps its scraps and its chemicals in our rivers, that does not pay its taxes or honour its contracts, will ultimately cheat on the quality of its products."”
The more I see and hear Scott speak on this issue, the more I am convinced he is genuine and, more importantly, is articulating an effective business case for CSR. In making this case, he is driven less by morals or ethics (a subjective minefield from which no firm emerges unscathed) and more by focusing on maximizing the long term value added by his organization:
“Hearing Wal-Mart say this still produces splutters of disbelief. … But Mr Scott has been talking this way since 2005, when he promised Wal-Mart would "sell products that sustain our resources and the environment".”
Two issues remain. First, it is not clear how comprehensive this ethos is throughout Wal-Mart and, as a result, what happens when a decision consistent with Scott’s message to “sustain our resources and environment” increases costs, rather than decreases them? And, second, Wal-Mart’s business model still relies on fostering economic growth through mass consumption and disposal/waste. The second point, in particular, might be a question for society rather than Wal-Mart (although, given the firm’s size, it is becoming hard to distinguish the two), but it still poses a threat to Scott’s claims to sustainability over the long term.
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
An ethics lesson from an unlikely quarter
Skapinker, Michael
829 words
28 October 2008
Financial Times
Asia Ed1
11
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto102720081602378640
