Week 2 The principles of CSR

Our environmental performance throughout this year is described in detail in this Environmental Review. The following are key achievements of which we are particularly proud. Best ever compliance with drinking water quality standards at 98.9% Avoided a hosepipe ban and maintained drinking water supplies to customers despite extreme summer drought and harsh winter Certificate of Endorsement for contribution to improvements in the quality of the River Thames Significant improvement in sewage effluent consent compliance, rising to 98.5% Best ever compliance with sewage biosolids recycling to agricultural land 100% compliance with sewage biosolids dispersal at sea Won eight environmental awards Achieved and exceeded policy target to improve energy efficiency by 10% by 1996, against projected levels from 1992 baseline Thames Water Environmental Review 1996

A historiography of CSR 1970s Employees; environment 1980s Stakeholder theory v shareholder value 1990s onwards Citizenship 2000s sustainability

Ethics v rules Regulation of corporations Sanctions for misbehaviour Or Ethical understanding Culture of responsibility

Network society The global village McLuhan, 1967 Collapse of the nation state Rise of the MNC IT changing power structures

The social context Rights & responsibilities decoupled A culture of greed Risk & rewards decoupled The consumer society Globalisation (Americanisation) of culture Semiotic society

The political context The New Right New Public Management The End of History thesis De-regulation

The economic context The cult of shareholder value Short-termism The Free Market Globalisation and the global corporation

Accounting Value creation or expropriation Profit Short termism Internal focus – for shareholders only

There is no reason to think that shareholders are willing to tolerate an amount of corporate non-profit activity which appreciably reduces either dividends or the market performance of the stock. Hetherington (1973)

The principles of CSR Accountability Sustainability Transparency Disclosure The Social Contract

Alternative principles of CSR Enlightened self-interest Utilitarianism Citizenship Being in society

Some questions 1. What is socially responsible behaviour? 2. How can we define CSR? 3. Can CSR be applied to non profit- seeking organisations? 4. Is CSR in opposition to financial success?

Accountability Concerned with an organisation recognising that its actions affect the external environment Implies the assuming of responsibility for the effects of those actions Implies a reporting of to all parties affected Implies a reporting to external stakeholders Implies a recognition that the organisation is part of a wider societal network

Characteristics of accountability Understandability to all parties concerned Relevance to the users of the information provided Reliability in terms of accuracy of measurement, representation of impact and freedom from bias Comparability, which implies consistency, both over time and between different organisations

Transparency The reporting of the external impact of the actions of the organisation can be ascertained from that organisations reporting Pertinent facts are not disguised within that reporting Of particular importance to external users of such information

Some more questions 1. How to we decide if any action is socially responsible? 2. How do we measure CSR? 3. Do we need to regulate corporations to ensure CSR? 4. Can we devise a framework for CSR?