The opinions behind what constitutes sustainability are many. Are you among those who got it right?
Sustainability strategies have not always been in the forefront of every business plan. Neither has climate change been on the top priority of every corporate agenda. It was not until last century that corporate responsibility and sustainability started playing a more important role and businesses started treating it as something important and were placed at the heart of their business value. Yet, the question remains: Do companies really know what sustainability is? Below are the most common corporate responsibility myths:
1. Corporate responsibility is meant to correct social inequality
Social equality is, undoubtedly, a key to virtue to every democratic sustainable developing country and corporation. However, when it comes to business their main objective is not to act as a philanthropic industry and solve all social inequalities but rather be profitable as well.
2. Corporate responsibility is not public relations
Of course every organization needs effective and strategic public relations between itself and everyone else, but the purpose of PR and CSR should mingle in together. Corporations should not be doing CSR as a way of public relations, or as a way to create or strengthen their existing relations with others. In contrast to that, PR should act as a communication vehicle by which companies can showcase their CSR initiatives.
3. Corporate responsibility is not simply about following regulations
The issue that many corporations are called to face is that of regulations. What is considered as a regulation in one country is not a regulation in other. Let’s take for example labor unions: In United Arab Emirates it is illegal to have any type of labor union. However, in other counties it is not. How are global companies supposed to manage those types of regulations? Undoubtedly, operation in many countries is tough so corporate responsibility is not simply about following regulations.
It goes without much saying that the misconceptions corporate responsibility can be many. To accurately define what CSR really is, every organization must have a clear understanding of what sustainability really is. Only then they can really see what their impact on society, environment, market and workplace actually is.
To learn the additional misconceptions about CSR and earn the globally recognized certification as a CSR practitioner approved by the IEMA, register for one of our upcoming Advanced Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Trainings or contact us for more information at [email protected].