Strategic CSR - CSR in 2010

The article in the url below provides an overview of the major CSR stories in 2010.

Issues covered range from the BP Gulf oil spill, to the launch of ISO26000 (Case-study: ISO26000, p305), to the expansion of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A (Case-study: Primark versus Marks & Spencer, p198), to the release of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb) study.

In terms of both its breadth (range of issues and firms covered) and depth (facts and figures), the article is a very good summary of the past 12 months in CSR.

Have a good weekend.

David

Bill Werther & David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment (2e)

© Sage Publications, 2011

http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr2e/

Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/

The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

2010: A Year Dominated by Macro Trends

Rajesh Chhabara

December 3, 2010

Ethical Corporate Magazine

11

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/resources/pdfs/content/201012243226_review%20of%20year.pdf

Strategic CSR - Measuring CSR (ISO 26000)

On November 2, the International Standards Organization (ISO) launched the long-awaited ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility (Issues: Accountability, p303; Case-studies: ISO 26000, p305). The ISO press release announcing the launch is in the first url below, while the second url below contains the American National Standards Institute’s press release that accompanied the launch in the U.S. The goal of the guidance, as stipulated by ISO, is to build:

“… a truly international consensus on what social responsibility means and what core subjects need to be addressed to implement it. … [ISO 26000] is based on broad stakeholder input, including from developing countries, business, government, consumers, labour, nongovernmental organizations and others.”

Prior Newsletters have documented the complicated political negotiations that led us to this point (see Strategic CSR - ISO 26000, January 25, 2010). Integral to the five-year long process has been the broad, multi-stakeholder, multi-national participation, which can be seen both as its strength (inclusive and widespread adoption) and also its weakness (ambiguity and compromise):

“At the last meeting of the ISO/WG SR, in July 2010, there were 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organizations involved in the work.”

The resulting document and convoluted rhetoric reflect the complex negotiations. For example, in spite of many participants pushing for ISO 26000 to be a certifiable standard (like the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems), due to political disagreements among participants, the ISO 26000 is instead a “guidance standard” that is intended to be a broad guide, rather than a certifiable standard.

Confused? You should be.

In spite of this confusion, the claims accompanying the guidance/standard are ambitious:

“ISO 26000 provides guidance for all types of organization, regardless of their size or location, on:

1.    Concepts, terms and definitions related to social responsibility

2.    Background, trends and characteristics of social responsibility

3.    Principles and practices relating to social responsibility

4.    Core subjects and issues of social responsibility

5.    Integrating, implementing and promoting socially responsible behaviour throughout the organization and, through its policies and practices, within its sphere of influence

6.    Identifying and engaging with stakeholders

7.    Communicating commitments, performance and other information related to social responsibility.”

An overview of the guidance is presented graphically by ISO (and is not as difficult to follow as it first appears):

http://www.iso.org/iso/sr_schematic-overview.pdf

It will be interesting to see how ISO 26000 is implemented in practice. While many are concerned it will become a de facto standard if it becomes widely adopted and firms begin expecting compliance from suppliers, others are concerned that the document is insufficiently precise to be of value in implementation.

Have a good weekend

David

Bill Werther & David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment (2e)

© Sage Publications, 2011

http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr2e/

Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/

The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

ISO Multimedia News Release

ISO launches ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility

November 2, 2010

http://video360.world-television.com/ISO/MNRView.aspx?SiteId=T%2fmKFWuTRTQ%3d&locale=en-GB&storyid=rzkQrCawDK4%3d

American National Standards Institute

http://www.ansi.org/

The U.S. Certification body ANSI's U.S. press release about ISO 26000 is at:

http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/ANSI-announces-ISO-Social-Responsibility-Standard-586750

Strategic CSR - Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Strategic CSR Newsletter!

The first Newsletter of the Fall semester is below.

As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.

One consequence of the BP oil spill over the summer (although the trend is a more general one that is being driven by media favorites such as Walmart), is the dominance of sustainability (and, by that, I mean environmental sustainability) in the CSR debate.

This is understandable, but unfortunate. It is understandable because of the importance of global warming and the return of visible pollution to America’s shores, but it is unfortunate because the importance of CSR to the business community is so much broader than the cost-cutting benefits of sustainability.

In Strategic CSR, we deliberately emphasized the breadth of CSR, defining it as an all-encompassing business approach that invokes all aspects of operations. It is a strategic perspective of the firm, of which philanthropy plays only a minor role. Sustainability plays a larger role, but it is still only one part of a more comprehensive program.

As such, this semester, I will strive to focus on this broader perspective (perhaps the launch of the ISO 26000 CSR guidelines in October will help re-balance the debate), although I also want to comment on BP and will, undoubtedly, be influenced by the predominance of sustainability articles in the CSR coverage I read on a day-to-day basis.

Take care
David

Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment (2e)
© Sage Publications, 2011 http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr2e/

Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Posted by David Chandler at 7:27 AM Links to this post

Strategic CSR - ISO 26000

The article in the url below provides an update on progress towards the ISO 26000 standard on CSR that is due to be finalized in Copenhagen this May:

“As things look now, however, its passage to final approval is far from being a given. … As ISO’s first attempt at a “soft” (ie non-technical and non-management) standard, its goal was from the outset nobly ambitious but fraught with challenges. The draft ISO 26000 standard aims, in effect, to be the first global one-size-fits-all standard, providing guidance on social responsibility to all – and not just business – organisations.”

In spite of considerable progress, the article identifies three issues of contention that have arisen in the final stages of negotiations. The author categorizes these three areas of concern as “content, certification and cost”:

“On the content side, there is a bundle of unresolved issues. These range from concerns about the trade and competitive implications of the standard – the US government sent WTO trade lawyers to the last two negotiating sessions – through to its utility to SMEs and its consistency with existing intergovernmental-agreed norms.

The certification point was an issue of contention from the outset. Some proponents wanted a standard that could support claims of good practice. In the event, it was decided by ISO to develop a guidance standard that is not intended for certification.

The cost issue relates to ISO’s business model, where the organisation’s costs in developing a standard are recouped by sales of the standard. Here, a split has arisen between the ISO and the many participants who want the standard to be available free of charge, in keeping with the goal of maximising its uptake.”

The alternative paths forward lie between the pursuit of an absolute ideal versus the practical need to institutionalize the progress that has already been made:

“After five years of intensive negotiations, energy and budgets are also running low. A push to launch on schedule may increase the risk of a “no” vote by ISO member national standards bodies and probably create some media attention. But it is not clear whether most participants have the will to engage in a fundamental review of the text.”

Take care
David

Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther/


ISO 26000’s long and winding road
The long awaited ISO 26000 international standard on social responsibility is due to be launched this year. Paul Hohnen argues that its clear passage is far from certain
Paul Hohnen
June 7, 2009
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?contentid=6736