Bradley Googins, executive director, Centre for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, has done much to change the perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from charity to an investment in community. In an interview with FE?s Nistula Hebbar, he talks on CSR, his top five picks in CSR among American companies and on his perception of corporations as monasteries of the modern world. Excerpts:

In an earlier interview, you had said that you consider big corporations and businesses as the new monasteries of the modern world. Please elaborate.

It was said in the context of the influence and power which big corporations wield. In the pre-modern world, monasteries held a position of authority, which is now held by corporations. As governments shrink and corporations become global, this position gets strengthened. The global economy is increasingly driving our society, which of course, drives one to think about whether we want to engage with an economy or a society. Increasingly, one has to engage with society to engage with the economy and that is where CSR steps in.

Do you think many corporations measure up to this comparison?

I don?t see any courageous or visionary leadership and that?s a part of the problem with CSR. Mostly, its been perceived as charity and not an investment in community. Expectations are now shifting and brand differentiation and trust in businesses and brands are increasingly making crucial differences to bottom line as well.

Which are the top five companies in the US which you feel have the best CSR practices?

In the United States I would say IBM, Wal-Mart, General Electric, Levi Strauss and Timberland have impressed me. The case of Walmart is especially heartening, since nearly five years ago, it was a poster child for irresponsibility. Then, there was a turn around in their thinking and last year they called a conference in China with all the people from whom they bought their products, and handed over a new sustainability model. So, it has been quite a turnaround.

What about Indian companies?

The Tatas of course are an extraordinary example of a long tradition of investment in community and this also stems from their trust model. But in India, as well as in the United States, it appears to be a long continuum from looking at CSR as charity to community. One company in Chennai that I think, has an innovative CSR intervention, was Hot Breads, which had a social enterprise model of training chefs and bakers. The unit was self sustaining and created an investment in people and improved brand perception. There was another initiative by a company which is setting up an emergency response system on the lines of the 911 call service in the United States. In fact, the last article written by CK Prahlad in the Harvard Business Review has been very illuminating on Indian CSR practices.

How has the global economic slowdown affected CSR initiatives. Do you think that companies are reluctant to spend on CSR initiatives in the era of shrinking bottom line?

In fact, the reverse is true. In situations like a recession, there is a general erosion of trust in business and continued decline of trust of consumers hits business. The slowdown also comes as a time when transparency and social technology are at an ascendance. Along with a difficult market, you have a situation where one Facebook entry badmouthing your product could see you face a large scale boycott. While earlier, you had one newspaper or TV channel talk about your product, now you have online communities disbursing various views. In such a situation, online technology has to be leveraged and investment in communities stepped up for brand differentiation and brand trust.

Another interesting feature is the performance of the BRIC countries during the slowdown. The way their economies survived the slowdown points to the evolution of the global economy and also to the need for CSR intervention in building educational programmes for skill development?a carryover of capital and human capital negotiated through communities.