Latika Khaneja is sure her new venture will be a success. She believes Collage Group?s alliance with UK-based social responsibility consultant Article 13 will bring specialised social responsibility (SR) services to Indian companies. On offer is a handful of global case studies that make one understand how a corporate can benefit from being a good corporate citizen. ?Like a DLF or an MGF can learn from a successful CSR strategy by a real estate developer from the US or UK,? she explains, ?the companies can benefit from our services which include evaluating and analysing the plans of individual businesses, tips on risk management, social responsibility training classes for company heads/board of directors and employees, and pointers on good governance, sustainability and marketing the good deeds. If a company takes each of its social initiatives seriously and cares to document it too, there are sure-shot chances of a good return.?
So if you get her right, you can earn profit from all those annual donations, monthly employee volunteering events and straight-from-the-heart speeches delivered at various industry fora, as today, a good social responsibility strategy sells too. In case you are interested, you can catch the Responsible Business Masterclass (a training session on SR practices) by Collage-Article 13.
Delhi-based corporate governance training and consulting firm, Nirvana Advisory Group also has something innovative to talk about. The organisation has recently come out with a detailed pro forma with questions, which once genuinely answered by a corporate can suggest where the entity stands on the social responsibility scale.
Other experts like Partners in Change (PiC) offer a company even more. It provides SR-related information on specific industries and sectors, assists a company in evolving SR strategies, helps in developing sustainable supply chains, trains manpower to build competencies and capacities on SR initiatives, identifies opportunities for multi-stakeholder partnerships, etc.
Doing their best to get corporate attention, the SR consultants are ready to deliver according to the needs. Says Viraf Mehta, CEO, PiC, ?It is apparent that CSR has made its entry into corporate boardrooms in more than just a token manner. At the least, there is cognition that corporates need to pay heed to not only how to make profits, but be equally concerned about how those profits are made. There is growing consciousness that if commensurate emphasis is laid on recognising and responding to the needs of all stakeholders, it will directly and positively impact not just stakeholder value, but also shareholder value. Further, while it is important to give back something to society in the form of social work and philanthropy, there is a greater understanding that if this were to be done strategically, the returns would be manifold.?
Companies agree. ?For any company a positive image is always a long-term goal. However this is only the tip of the iceberg. I feel that for any SR work, it needs to have strategic linkages to the core business and the few direct stakeholders of the business. When focussed on this, the key benefit that companies would derive is in the crucial area of risk management, both in the long and short terms, amongst its immediate community and environment at large,? says Sunam Sarkar, chief, corporate strategy & marketing, Apollo Tyres Ltd.
With so much action and reaction, it?s now up to a company to make a pick. Currently, India has organisations like Partners in Change (PiC), Business and Community Foundation (BCF), Nirvana Advisory, Article 13, besides a range of welfare organisations and industry chambers too to help a company exercise social responsibility. On the other hand, many companies prefer hiring public relations firms to spread the good word on their social endeavours, while a few futuristic ones like Shell India, Xansa and Apollo have left their SR programme to dedicated SR managers in the company.
As far as external expertise is concerned, some like Apollo Tyres keep exploring newer areas to do better than last year. ?In the past, we have worked with PiC, International Finance Corporation and other NGOs like CARE India and PSI (USA). The expertise from these bodies plays a major role, given that we are not complete experts in the fields that we are working in. These organisations ensure that we undertake the work in a planned manner, have the systems in place to ensure their sustainability. The experts also help us follow global practices and most importantly enable us to benchmark, incorporate new practices and work towards higher performance standards ? much like we would do in areas like manufacturing or R&D in our company,? says Sarkar.
The said external bodies and internal departments follow different methodologies to accomplish a company?s SR programme. The experts approach the companies, showing them the benefits they can draw from the alliance. Though many of these benefits are not monetary, the good acts are shown to deliver in strong relationships (with employees, shareholders and policymakers) and businesses based on it. ?Many companies want us to put in place an out-of-the-box SR programme which has not been tried by anyone in the industry. Today, no one wants to repeat what others have done. Here, we have to say that SR like any other business component follows the no-shoe-fits-all method. One needs to look within to come out with something new and genuine. A good strategy has to be specially designed keeping in view the long-term objectives of the company. If a company has the inclination and attitude to stick to the mission, we are here to help it create strong business linkages between SR, philanthropy and stakeholders value creation,? says Vikas Varma, CEO, Nirvana Advisory Group Pvt Ltd.
Agrees Amita Joseph, chairperson, Business and Community Foundation, ?Our major concern is that the company walks the SR talk and commits in concrete terms a percentage of profits after tax into SR, articulates a realistic and relevant policy, mainstreams it within business and does not confine it to a well-meaning CEO or use it as a PR or tax-saving exercise.?
Here comes the second lesson. There is no doubt that today an Indian company has ample support available on formulating a good SR strategy. What seems to be missing is the recognition given to the domain, the consultants, and the way a company follows them. So, are you ready to make your SR programme a success?