Learn throughout this article what corporate social responsibility means , its important benefits and how to apply them – all the details!
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility can be defined as the various obligations that organizations must have with the community that surrounds them on a voluntary basis.
When companies demonstrate a commitment to implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) effectively and promptly within their organizations, they have a direct and immediate positive impact on the lives of people in their communities. This is because CSR encompasses various programs that can help foster the economic, social, and educational development of a region.
This type of action means that organizations, companies and establishments are not only committed to their workers or their benefit, but it is also possible to incorporate corporate social responsibility within the business vision. Since this is based on each of the business values that can be had, as well as sustainability and the care that must be taken with the environment.
It should be noted that corporate social responsibility is considered a relatively new concept that emerged after the digital transformation. This as a consequence of globalization and that the ecological conscience was taking more strength making the clients of the organizations demand the respect and care that the environment deserves.
Benefits of social responsibility
Getting our company or brand to start working under this concept can contribute many advantages. The benefits of corporate social responsibility can be divided into direct benefits and improvements to the environment. If we manage to establish a good social responsibility program, we can be sure that when we communicate it, we will begin to experience changes both inside and outside the organization, which are:
direct benefits
When we refer to direct benefits, we are talking about the changes that we will have within our organizations thanks to the application of this concept.
Best work environment
It is important to highlight that, as we have already mentioned, the concept of corporate social responsibility within each of the organizations must be born from the values that the company manages.
Consequently, it is possible to work in an environment where values, respect and tolerance among colleagues is essential for good performance within our organizations. Getting each of our workers to identify with our brand in a more emotional aspect and commit to each of the projects that we will generate within the communities.
Increased confidence in investments
One of the benefits achieved by organizations that manage a good corporate social responsibility plan is the trust that grows among shareholders and potential investors.
The fact that our brand manages this concept means that the risk of bad publicity or criticism is minimized to its maximum expression. This is because our market and consumers see us as a completely responsible organization, both with ourselves and with our environment.
In the same way, the shareholders or possible investors know that the organizations that manage this concept have the capacity to endure over time and to operate correctly, for which there is a minimal risk that is run when they invest the capital in U.S.
Better positioning
As we all know, technological advancements have opened up new ways to communicate. Social media is here to stay, and marketing trends focused on these platforms allow millions of people to discover our brand quickly and efficiently. If you'd like to learn more about this topic, check out the following link: Digital Marketing Trends
Being able to communicate our social responsibility plan through campaigns makes our corporate image improve significantly within the market. Since we managed to project a close and friendly image with respect to our environment. Fundamental characteristics in marketing where it has been shown that organizations that manage to have a close relationship with their consumers achieve an important position in the market.
Improvement of the environment
These benefits of corporate social responsibility are those that are reflected in the environment of our organizations.
economic and social development
One of the greatest benefits provided by corporate social responsibility are the actions that directly benefit the people in the environment in educational and financial matters.
That is why it is important that community organizations agree on social responsibility programs to attack each of the vulnerable aspects within the community.
Honesty in business activities
One of the values that we must handle if we work under the concept of corporate social responsibility is honesty. This is a value that will mark each of our commercial activities.
It is of no use to us as an organization to publicize a social responsibility plan if we are not going to execute it or worse carry it out in a bad way. It is of utmost importance to return to the importance of the value of the word and carry out each of our business promises.
Ecological impact
When we come to the conclusion that as an organization we want to be under this scheme, we become fully aware of the care that must be given to ecosystems.
New technologies have allowed us as organizations to adopt mechanisms that help us significantly reduce the impact we cause to the ecology, such as using solar power sources or recycling programs.
Organizations that work under corporate social responsibility
As we have established throughout this article, corporate social responsibility in organizations and the implementation of these programs are extremely helpful both internally and externally. One of the most important examples we can see is corporate social responsibility in Mexico.
This country has determined that organizations are socially responsible when they meet different parameters such as responsible competitiveness, the working conditions of each of its workers, it is responsible for disseminating values, the support of social causes and they take care of the ecological impact within the region.
In the same way, the government of the State of Mexico has sought a way to constantly recognize corporations that comply with irreproachable ethical behavior, taking into consideration each of the aspects that we have developed in this article.
Among the companies that have been recognized in this country as socially responsible we have Grupo Bimbo in the first place, followed by Walmart, Google, Pepsico, Grupo Modelo, Coca-Cola de México, FEMSA, Nestlé, Heineken México and Grupo Danone. It is important to note that the first organization we have mentioned (Grupo Bimbo) has been in first place for several consecutive years, making it a good reference for corporate social responsibility.
The responsibility plan that Grupo Bimbo has established to position itself in such a great way is based on its commitment to issues of health, environment, collaborators, society and working with organizations that understand the importance of the ecological impact of organizations of great structure like them.
Implement social responsibility in a company
Wanting our brand to be associated with this concept is a process that must be carried out in different steps in order to establish social responsibility organically in our organizations.
In order to achieve this goal with our organizations we must take into consideration the following steps.
Definition of interest groups
When we refer to interest groups within corporate social responsibility, we refer to the group of people who will benefit indirectly or directly from our responsibility plans.
Corporate social responsibility must be consistent with the environment that surrounds us, which makes us seek help within the communities to establish priorities within them.
This concept allows the interest groups to be divided into two groups: internal and external. The first involves the entire organizational structure from management, shareholders and workers in order to improve their work environment.
On the other hand, we find external interest groups that are those that do not belong to the organizational structure of our brand, they are customers, suppliers, companies, competition and public administrations.
In order to correctly establish each of these interest groups, different dimensions can be used, such as:
- Responsibility: This analysis will allow us to understand with which groups we are going to identify responsibly and with which we are not. This helps us to understand how we should approach our social responsibility plans at the legal, financial and operational levels.
- Influence: At this point, it is necessary to establish which channels we are going to use to publicize our corporate social responsibility strategy.
- Closeness: Knowing which people interact with our company is essential to establish our objectives.
- Dependence: We are talking about the people who are directly involved with us and who depend exclusively on us, such as the workers and their families.
- Representation: These will be the people who represent different cultural and traditional organizations of the community such as unions or neighborhood associations.
We need to understand that not all of these stakeholders are going to maintain the level of relationship with us as a brand, nor will they provide us with the information we need to achieve each of our objectives.
Objectives and goals
When we are going to establish objectives and goals within corporate social responsibility, it is important to establish a conversation with the entire organizational structure to start with our core and be able to externalize the changes we want to make.
When we establish these objectives and goals we manage to effectively organize our planning. This allows us to break down activities that can feel complicated and to be able to create small tasks that allow us to achieve the main objective.
The characteristics that the objectives specified within corporate social responsibility must have must be SMART (intelligent in its acronym in Spanish) which means:
- Sspecific: specific
- Maffordable: measurable
- Achievable: obtainable
- Relevant: Relevant
- Time framed: time limit
These characteristics ensure us to establish objectives and goals that are completely feasible and accessible within our organization.
Results measurement
At present, just as it is essential to develop objectives and goals that respect the concept of social responsibility, measuring the results of each of these goals is necessary, as seen in the following video
It is necessary to understand that the quantification of each one of the results of the goals that we have set for ourselves is fundamental within the management to be able to continue with our objectives.
On the other hand, the measurement of these results helps us to measure the impact we have had on the main actions within society, managing to increase the value of our external communication.
On the other hand, these results allow us to evaluate the impact we have had on the income statement of corporate social responsibility, helping us to quantify the value that our company has taken thanks to the inclusion of this concept within our organization.
Thanks to the variety of indicators that organizations establish as social responsibility, different methodologies have been established to accurately establish the impact that each company has had. These methodologies are:
London Benchmarking Group
This methodology was established in 2007 in Spain, which seeks to assess strategic and effective management with the ability to impact the established objectives in a homogeneous and reliable manner.
To achieve this, they have managed to develop models that consist of three levels of measurement, which are:
- Contribution: In this aspect, the levels of contribution that have been made in the different objectives and goals within corporate social responsibility are measured.
- Achievement evaluation: In this type of evaluation, the results that have been achieved both in the organization and in the community are taken into consideration, both directly and through the multiplying effect of the different actions that we carry out as an organization.
- Two-dimensional impacts: The last factor that is evaluated under the London Benchmarking Group methodology is the impact that we have generated both economically and socially.
Value Driver Model
This methodology model was developed in 2013 by the Global Compact, with the aim that the ecological value within companies. This methodology, like the previous one, has three dimensions of study which are: growth, production and risk management.
When we refer to growth, we establish the different ways of creation that arise around the new markets that arise from the application of corporate social responsibility.
On the other hand, when talking about productivity, this methodology evaluates each of the cost reductions that have been established thanks to operational efficiency, where the increase in much more efficient human management within corporations is seen.
Finally, the Value Driver Model evaluates the impact of risk within organizations through the different supply chains, adaptation and creation of the different values of corporate social responsibility strategies.
