Importance of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)has been hotly debated topic where a lot of companies pay less emphasis on. A new trend is developing among companies to better align CSR activities with corporate strategies and those activities can be called as Strategic CSR activities.

Strategic CSR is all about aligning corporate goals and strategies with the CSR activities that the particular company is carrying out. Generally Strategic CSR will improve the companys impression among shareholders. Companies which are better at strategic CSR are perceived as highly credible entities. This helps organisations in many ways. The reputation gained could help companies when raising funds through equity sales or other financing activities.

Mr Ravi Fernando, (Director Corporate Branding and CSR of MAS holdings Sri Lanka - http://www.masholdings.com) delivered a presentation on this very same topic at the University of Colombo, Residential MBA Workshop. The workshop was held atthe Villa Ocean View Hotel in Wadduwa Sri Lanka on the 29^th and 30^th of April.

One of the major topics of discussion during that presentation was how Sri Lanka could better promote its garment exports while facing the increased competition from China and India.Sri Lanka could promote itself as a garment manufacturing country which is socially responsible while highlighting two key strengths

1. No Child labour used ( Unlike in China , Vietnam and other East Asian Countries )
2. Empowers Woman in making apparel ( When China and other East Asian Countries exploit women )

There was also some mention about some companies who lost credibility and market share due to socially irresponsible activities. Such companies are

1. Nike for using child labour
2. Mitsubishi Motors for making faulty cars

Additional companies that I can recall are

3. Bridgestone For making faulty Firestone tires which were used in Ford SUVs