Corporate Social Responsibility - what is it?
To answer this question I refer you to the Business in the community website (www.bitc.org.uk) and in particular their guide to how small businesses can engage in responsible business practices (www.smallbusinessjourney.com/output/page407.asp).
Here CSR is defined as “Responsible business is achieving commercial success in ways that honour ethical values and respect people, communities and the natural environment. These businesses minimise any negative environmental and social impacts and maximise positive ones.”
That makes it fairly straight forward. In other words, CSR is about being successful in business but not forgetting your impact on society and the environment. You can take action at a base level by preventing any negative impact on environmental and social concerns, but increasingly you should be looking to add extra value as well.
Why? For the long term health of the planet and it’s societies. But also for commercial success. You can build PR campaigns around your work, improve staff satisfaction, reduce your overheads, improve you network and many many more benefits. Some large companies now require suppliers to have their CSR in order before they will conduct business with you - B&Q is just one great example here.
I strongly recommend downloading BITC’s Better business journey guide for how SMEs can improve their profitability through responsibility.
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