Thought Food (aka Comments Please)

We all know that our natural environment is compromised.  We know this from documentaries. (I know this from breathing, or trying to breathe, in the industrial heartland areas of China.) 

We all know that working conditions in many places are not what we would wish for our family and friends because activists and NGOs have been good at raising awareness and OK at advocating for change. (I know this from visiting hundreds of factories across Asia about three careers ago.)

We all know that the economic world is taking a beating.  We know this because the media tells it to be true. (I know it because my stock portfolio has tanked; I really should have already switched to John Mackenzie at Odlum Brown.)

My query this week relates to the social economy vis à vis the ‘classic’ economy.

Companies for the last few years have been braying about how they are such good corporate citizens, or they have been admitting that they have not been good but that they have seen the light and are changing.

Companies do this for good reasons; consumers and investors have been pressuring corporations to become more green or more socially conscious, or more something which classical economists would say that companies are not and should not be. There has been a pragmatic realization that at least some tenets of the “triple bottom line”  activists/economists may be right, and both consumers and investors have indicated that this is so (not to mention the World Commission on Environment and Development, aka the Brundtland Commission).

My question this week is will the CSR movement (Corporate Social Responsibility movement) survive what appears to be an oncoming tsunami of financial pain?

Consumers still want the lowest price.  (Yes, I know that a number of you are willing to pay more to buy greener or socially cleaner or more socially responsible products. But, most of you have higher disposable incomes and/or a higher net worth than the norm in your respective country of residence. Plus, many of you have always cared for these concerns, but maybe that is relevant and you are the vanguards of a new sensibility?)

While wanting the lowest price, however, consumers HAVE wanted to see operational changes in producers and distributors, so things HAVE been changing from a CSR perspective at the corporate, operational, and philosophical levels.  

My query is whether this corporate shift to accepting CSR goals and accepting the idea that CSR and some form of sustainability, or triple bottom line accounting, changes are so entrenched in everyone, from corporations to consumers, that corporations will not be able to “roll back” the CSR “gains”.  

Or, are these ideas born of wealthy times and will these concerns fade when keeping the rent paid, or keeping a house from being foreclosed, and putting food on the table become bigger priorities for consumers (assuming that the economic prognostications are correct, and nobody that I has met has suggested otherwise).

Thoughts please.  What do you think and why?  

I am really keen to know your reasoning, your assumptions, and the facts upon which you base your beliefs. Last week about 100 people, currently resident in 17 countries, logged on.  I know a lot of you, and you come from a wide variety of industries, professions, backgrounds, and ages.   We are all are very interested in your reasoned opinions.

Please send this query, and this blog, off to friends or colleagues who might be interested and might have something to say to further the discussion.

Thank your for contributing, whether by reading, commenting, or bringing new voices to the discussion.

Sepiru Chris