Bad CSR?! How can it be??

We have a great GBA this year.  They listen to the students and try to give them what they want.  This includes guest speakers in certain topics of interest that are not necessarily portrayed through the curriculum. Last Tuesday there was a CSR guest speaker – Mike Kanze.  President of Cornerstone Services. 

Mike has been a key player in many corporations but most notably in progressive responsibility with The Procter & Gamble Company. He has also acted as a consultant, which ranged from giving procurement strategic direction to client supply chain functions, savings identification and implementing organizational mergers, to individual coaching and project management.

Mike is a great and enthusiastic speaker – he really got the group engaged.  It was actually a smaller group, which allowed us to ask questions, participate, and work in small groups.  We got started with defining CSR and the triple bottom line.  People, planet, and profit.  This goes beyond business as usual.  Sounds great right?  We are all about that - but sometimes CSR can have bad implications.  And, yes obviously it can affect the profits, but even if it doesn’t affect the bottom line - how can it ever be bad? I am all gung-ho about CSR but I heard two examples I never thought of:

·      Nestle – gave women the baking tools but then the women baked unhealthy foods

·      Possibly socially responsible in one country but it doesn’t translate for all countries

So later in the night we got into a debate about whether or not companies should really invest in CSR, is it bad or good?  Is it even worth it?  Most people in that classroom knew the benefits of CSR or were interested in learning more.  However, as the daughter of two attorneys, I understand the power of knowing your opponent’s side.  Unfortunately, because of a lack of time, the argument was mostly one sided.  The for-CSR side gave its opinion and we didn’t get to hear much from the anti-CSR side.  Without knowing your opponent you will not be able to give a good argument.  So even though we were cut short – it was definitely an eye opener.  It gave me a lot to think about.  I am still pro-CSR, but you can’t just run into a business and say, “invest in your community, go organic, save the whales!” without knowing the benefits (yay whales!) or the potential issues.  We’re MBA students – we need to look past the passion to the business – but it doesn’t have to be either/or.