Saturday 25 May 2013

CSR and Value – Making the Connection

Aegis CSR     When enterprises around the world realize they are at the receiving end of environmentalists’ wrath, they immediately took up random social projects to allay their reputations.Negligible visibility into the real value of these well-meaning ventures means they often fail without any tangible benefits to the environment or the organization. Because of this, social projects and value were often perceived to be on two ends of a spectrum.
The fact that there is still no defined goal and methodology for social responsibilities makes the situation a little more complicated. However, it is commonly agreed upon that the result of any corporate social activity is expected to create positive value for the organization, environment, and society at large. This can only be done if companies go more in-depth into this functionality, along their culture, business strategy and underlining thought to take up initiatives that are more than just PR fluff.
The companies which understand this are the ones that go extra mile toinnovate and customize their socialpractice.They realize that CSR is a tool for the organizations to generate the following:
  • Value creation through operational and humanitarian excellence.
  • Value integration through risk management and skill sharing for community development
  • Value redistribution by creating new business opportunities, enhancing shareholder value and creating livelihood opportunities
And the benefits of these are quite tangible. All this clearly leads to innovation of business operations, sustainable and shareholder value creation. It also includes the societal factors in an effort to address long-term positive impact over short-term systems that may be detrimental to the environment. Through this, there is an economic growth of the business including the socio-economic factors. And last, but not least, organizations can increase their connectivity through partnerships and associations.
Corporate Social Responsibilities provides value to organizations, society and ecosystems through 3 different aspects of value:
  1. Value Creation
  2. Value Integration
  3. Value Redistribution

1.   Value Creation:
Organizations can co-create value with customers to meet and exceed customer expectations. By includingcustomer thoughts, organizations are providing them with superior value through a delivery platform that is both customized and innovative.For example, in 2008, Walmart ran an ad campaign designed to raise awareness about the environment and the eco-friendly product choices consumers could make. This worked out to be beneficial for both consumers, who were on the brink of wholeheartedly embracing environmentalism, and for Walmart, who could push sales of their more environment friendly products.Engagements like thislead to economic growth for both the clients and organization itself. At Aegis we co-create value with our customers and provide them superior value through our global delivery platform and a class of service that is customized and innovative to meet and exceed their expectations.
 2.   Value Integration
Value integration helps provide value for the clients, the organization and the environment. It helps in tapping untapped markets and building partnerships along the way – providing inclusive progress for the business and for people within and outside of the organization.Therefore the profit is second-handed for business expansion leading to diversification into different sectors of industry, solutions and geographies.
3.   Value Redistribution
Redistribution of value mainly addressesthe human supply chain through diversity inclusion. Inclusive progress leads to improvements in employee retention, performance and further business expansion. It sensitizes employees to other cultures and backgrounds of the society therefore transforming the outlook of people within, to co-create for the society.
To extend support beyond employee and to the larger society, Aegis launched its Sustainability and Diversity & Inclusion framework.
Organizations are obviously seeing the benefits of the value gained by Sustainability and Diversity initiatives.When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett visited India in 2011 to popularize their “Giving Pledge”, they propagated that the effort was not CSR, but rather, CSC –a corporate social ‘Compulsion’.
So, it is a necessity for organization to put proper practices into place. However, as an enterprise dedicated to providing both employees and customers with good experiences, leaders need to take into account the real value being generated. With intelligent research and actions, organization could view drastic improvements to their internal functioning and external environment.

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