you
mass layoffs and record profits at the
same time managers salaries scarcity of
Natural Resources and imminent climate
catastrophes morally questionable
advertising child labor corporate fraud
financial crisis and the Occupy Wall
Street movement these are just a few
examples you may have heard about under
the topic of sustainability business
ethics where corporate social
responsibility these themes raise
questions about justice for current as
well as for future generations
we want to ask corporate social
responsibility CSR for short what is
this this man made headlines a few years
ago in 2004 Angelo galati
learned from investigators that he was
chairman of the board of several
companies set up by his employer the
Italian mill key concern Parmalat Angelo
however had not even heard of those
companies at Parmalat he was only
responsible for the switchboard you can
imagine how the story goes
corporate fraud at its best bogus
companies cooking the books bribery
accounts in the Cayman Islands the whole
works the tasks of corporate social
responsibility is to prevent these and
other morally reprehensible practices
which can weaken society damaged
companies and hurt employees more and
more companies have realized the
relevance of moral practices in their
businesses even though they have not
always sufficiently implemented CSR yet
concrete preventative measures are often
labeled risk management a term more
commonly used for avoiding financial
risks and damage to a company's
reputation
no one likes bad press right thus
companies define clear rules so-called
compliance or value management systems
for example you can accept a bottle of
wine from the supplier but you have to
pass up a golfing trip to Hawaii
however risk and compliance management
are only one aspect of corporate
responsibility correctly understood
firstly CSR is not just about preventing
bad practices like corruption and fraud
and so on secondly this approach does
not question a company's business
activities as such in fact compliance
management could be an efficient control
mechanism even in organizations like the
Mafia the more challenging question is
how can companies contribute to a good
society through good business practices
oh that's easy they say will create a
charity foundation or donate a lot of
money and thus do good wrong that won't
hurt and may even help but it's not
systemic change
the important thing is CSR is about how
companies make profits not about how
they spend them corporate social
responsibility must not simply be the
repair center of capitalism it has to
demand systemic change in a market
economy this requires a new role for the
key players in this game companies must
become not only economic but also moral
actors what's required and important is
a stronger integrative perspective based
on a system of guilt illogical values
and which is closely related to the
company's core business this means
social and ecological criteria must be
taken into consideration for example in
the treatment of employees organization
of the production process offered and
produced products and services and
responsible business practices of
suppliers the so called
supply chain by the way virtuous
managers or the Honorable merchants
alone will not suffice
we need employees of integrity at all
levels of the company but we also need
organizational structures and clear
rules but relying on a code of conduct
is also short-sighted because in extreme
cases it means act according to some
given rules which is the opposite of
ethical reflection namely actual
thinking about good and evil right and
wrong in other words CSR is always about
both individuals and institutional
structure in business ethics one speaks
of individual ethics and institutional
ethics but isn't that unrealistic
shouldn't the state do more to promote a
good and fair Society grant it it is
unrealistic and that's exactly why such
questions are important business
ethicists don't just ask what the world
is like but also what it should be like
how it ought to be at the very least we
want to suggest where the journey should
lead at the same time we want to make
practical
suggestions about how to embark on that
journey one speaks of questions of
justification on the one hand and of
implementation on the other preferably
in that order the state particularly
through politics and law can contribute
to the implementation of corporate
responsibility but only within a limited
range if we look at society from a
bird's eye view we can spot different
social systems the economic systems the
political system the justice system for
example one can speak of the
functionally differentiated society we
live in about 60 or 70 years ago some
German economists came up with an idea
that led to the development of the
social market economy as we know it
particularly in Europe the thought that
a market economy should be embedded in a
political framework that determines the
rules of the game this underlying idea
is still important but it has become
distinctly more difficult to rely on the
state alone societal differentiation has
progress because most systems have
internationalized globalization as the
magic word that applies to most systems
but not all of them politics and
particularly law tend to be bound to one
country's borders while the economy
above all is highly internationalized
and globalized this makes effective
regulation difficult thus it is now not
only about the classic rules of the game
but also about the moves of the players
the corporations in a changed and
changing world and beyond politics and
law civil society in particular NGOs
have gained a strong influence on the
economy as both vicious watchdogs and as
partners of business in the society of
the 21st century we find new rather odd
hybrid constructs under the notion of
soft laws these are collective
individual commitments to comply with
certain social and ecological standards
such as collective industry agreements
or the UN Global Compact so companies
are supposed to operate responsibly is
anything really happening
there is no clear answer to that
question the cynics say that CSR is like
teenage sex everybody says they are
doing it but few actually are and those
who really do it do it rather badly the
truth is more nuanced of course in the
area of corporate responsibility there
is also the good the bad and the really
ugly more and more companies deal with
CSR and take the first steps towards
responsible business practices we can
definitely observe a distinct effort
even though it is still a delicate
little plant and of course there are
still those who misconstrue CSR as a PR
instrument and simply want to greenwash
or blue wash their company and
unfortunately there is still companies
that don't give a damn about questions
of corporate responsibility and which
even trample on justice got all that
let's sum it up first csr stands for a
corporate social responsibility second
csr is based on the question of good
business for a good society today and
tomorrow
third corporate social responsibility is
not charity it is about how companies
earn their profits not how they spend
them fourth it takes employees of
integrity and appropriate organizational
structures to realize CSR it is a matter
of individual and institutional ethics
fifth politics continue to play an
important role but in a globalized world
the effects of regulation can be limited
and thus sixth companies play an
increasingly important role seventh soft
laws are new governance mechanisms based
on company's self commitment
finally csr has arrived in business
practice it is necessary to support
these developments professionally but
also to provide critical perspectives
with respect to them research on issues
of corporate responsibilities -
beginning and future developments will
be exciting to see it is unclear whether
a good and fair society can be created
with the help of companies but it can't
be created without them oh we almost
forgot
besides corporate responsibility there
is also consumer responsibility you can
practice that the next time you go
shopping and there may be more from us
on that topic
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