BYUethics.org has a link to an article about sustainability[1].
I found the article interesting because it confirms some of the thoughts I wrote about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the beginning of this month. The
columnist Gael O’Brien quotes “For sustainability to take hold and be real in a
company what is done must make business sense in terms of the long-term needs
of the business and creation of value for shareholders”, “doing something good
for the world, the community, or other stakeholders needs to be linked with
other corporate objectives -- including cost reduction, quality, risk
management, reputation, and being an employer who people want to work for or
buy products from.”
In my previous entry I wrote “Is
there a way in which both the benefits to shareholders and the benefits to the rest of
the stakeholders can coexist? That is what CSR is all about; it calls for a
win-win outcome.” There are some times when a corporation will donate money that
will not produce a quantifiable economic return but they do it for the sake of
reputation. For example, under natural disasters, companies will be very supportive,
especially with their own employees. But most of the times, the company will
indulge in sustainable actions because it produces a direct or indirect
economic benefit.
O’Brien also makes the case that
for sustainability to work it has to be ingrained in the strategy of the
company or at least in most areas of the business. She gives the example of the
Herman Miller where the CEO, Brian Walker, set two environmental goals by which his performance was measured. In the case of Herman Miller, sustainability is not about
intentions but about actions, it was embedded in the culture and mission. I feel that it's the duty of every company to provide not only short-term results but a long-term sustainable future for the company and for the resources that it consumes out of this World.
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