Reading the review of the recently published book “Followership,” by Barbara Kellerman, in the url below made me think about the firm/stakeholder relationship in regard to CSR:
“As the author explains: "Bad leaders . . . cannot possibly do what they do without bad followers. They depend on them absolutely."”
Replace “leaders” for “firms” and “followers” for “stakeholders” and I think the same message applies within a CSR context. The book asks:
“… why we follow leaders with whom we find fault. … "The answer is self-interest. We calculate that the benefits of following outweigh those of not following; and we calculate that the cost of resisting is higher than the cost of going along."”
Firms can benefit from adopting a proactive stance regarding CSR, but, in general, most firms respond best to the needs and demands of their stakeholders. Firms that are deemed to be ignoring CSR can only continue to do so, therefore, as long as they are supported sufficiently by their stakeholders (their customers, in particular). Too often, CSR activists criticize firms for following their self-interest, but fail to criticize stakeholders for not demanding more of firms and being unwilling to leverage what influence they have over firms to ensure their expectations are met—to act as “activists” or “diehards” in Kellerman’s typology.
As a society, we will get socially responsible firms once we demonstrate that that is what we want and are willing to pay for.
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
A debate for all good leaders to follow.
By STEFAN STERN
705 words
14 February 2008
Financial Times
London Ed1
Page 14
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e8c6526-daa0-11dc-9bb9-0000779fd2ac.html
