By Andrea Montes, member of the Baud team.
According to the Corporate Social Responsibility Observatory, Corporate Social Responsibility is defined as "a way of managing companies based on managing the impact of their activities on their customers, employees, shareholders, local communities, the environment and society in general".
Corporate Social Responsibility conceives and proposes a new and integral way of understanding business.
However, its foray into the business world has been relegated to a far less ambitious and relevant back seat. Historically, Corporate Social Responsibility has been regarded as a department, an internal silo whose scope of action and impact was rather small. In many cases, it has even become a collage of one-off actions aimed at polishing the corporate image rather than an honest, cross-cutting commitment.
In recent years, we have seen the consolidation of a more conscious consumer, concerned about his or her social and environmental surroundings and also more demanding, who demands more responsible business, products and services from the brands with which he or she interacts. This imbalance between social demand and corporate response has taken a 180º turn in recent months.
During this global health crisis, consumers have witnessed how companies have become truly involved in improving their lives.
Brands, as never before, have committed to people’s well-being above their own profit and, thanks to this, have built very strong emotional bonds with their audiences. Today, CSR has truly led the policies of the vast majority of companies, delivering, at every moment of the health crisis, the value society so badly needed.
It is therefore inevitable to ask the following question:
What will be the role of Corporate Social Responsibility in companies after this global pandemic? Will they return to the cosmetic practices of the past or will a new social conscience emerge that will permeate the entire business?
The answer, for now, is an unknown, but, if companies are able to answer adequately, not only will their relationship with their audiences improve, but their legacy and social impact will be vastly more positive.
Corporate Social Responsibility today is not a static or predefined concept, but is constructed as a prism with an infinite number of faces that must be integrated into companies and evolve in step with society. After all, CSR has the potential and ambition to go as far as each company wishes:
- The essential pillar that defines the corporate roadmap, its products and services.
- A transversal commitment that permeates the entire professional hierarchy and all business processes.
- The ethical sieve that guides decision making, from the smallest to the largest.
- A tangible benefit that is directly perceived by all of a company's audiences.
- A more social, plural and responsible perspective on how to do business.
The great social power of companies has been exposed and it will be difficult for people to forget it.
We have understood that Corporate Social Responsibility is not a distant issue, but a business, social and individual commitment. Because CSR is activated by cultivating a certain sense of conscience in each company, in each employee, in each consumer, in each person.
In short, this reflection on the role of CSR in companies could be summed up in the great phrase that Uncle Ben said to Spiderman or, as in fact happened, that Franklin D. Roosevelt pronounced in his last speech to the public: "with great power comes great responsibility".