I believe we in the business world need to be more offensive. Right now we are apologizing for the company. We are defensive, and businesses are engaging in corporate philanthropy to avoid scandals and to be liked. That is a dangerous route. Companies need to move away from defensive actions into a proactive integration of social initiatives into business competitive strategy. Basically I think that business should be proud of what it is doing: business makes the economy work. The money comes from business—not governments. Business should not try to solve all societal issues. It should concentrate on fairly tangible business operations, and this is what I refer to as the corporate competitive context. In doing so it needs to reconcile the challenges from shareholders and activists at the same time.
The only way companies can gain respect in this area is to do something which no one else can do. They should be asking themselves if they can do more than simply write a check.
Author: Michael E. Porter
Source: European Business Forum (EBF)
Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)
Click to Add the First »