“We are still in our apprenticeship phase,” said Christian Scharff, president of IMS Luxembourg. He was reacting frankly to a CEPS study that shows there are still too few enterprises actively engaged in corporate social responsibility in Luxembourg. But Scharff is optimistic, and the enthusiastic turnout for IMS’s CSR Luxembourg 2009 conference, which featured a series of well-attended lectures and workshops, was encouraging. “The objective was to provide examples of good CSR practice and to communicate ideas and provide some impulse,” he said. Attracting a reputable line-up of local and international guest speakers, including renowned glaciologist Claude Lorius and French explorer Nicolas Vanier, there was certainly enough inspiration at the conference. In addition a number of organizations involved in different aspects of CSR were also invited to host information stands during the day-long meeting.
Corporate social responsibility is a topic that is attracting great interest from the media, the business world and academia, even more so since the economic crisis broke. German marketing consultants Steffen Hermann and Manfred Kirchgeorg have even labelled this new trend “CSR euphoria”. But, as with all new trends, scepticism is never far away – some companies have been found out for what has since been labelled “Greenwashing”, in other words their CSR programmes have been purely for public show and have failed to stand up to more intense scrutiny.
Virtuous circle
In an enlightening discussion about CSR and corporate reputation, Sam Rowe, Director Corporate Communications of Weber Shandwick in Brussels, emphasised the need for those companies engaging in CSR to “consult in the right social areas...speak to NGOs in the field...to obtain an independent stamp of authority.” Indeed, Rowe argued that, in Europe especially, there is no need for companies to deliver a “golden bullet” so long as they are seen to be part of the CSR debate. And for those who claim CSR is not part of the remit of a profit-making enterprise Rowe cited Michael Porter’s theory, mooted in an award-winning paper in the Harvard Business Review, that there can be what he called a “virtuous circle” of CSR. “A company can produce good products, be mindful of its employees and customers and partners and the environment in which it operates, and can still make good money. And this is because consumers today want to buy from organisations that have a social conscience.”
But how do companies ensure that consumers are fully aware that they do, indeed, have that social conscience? How do they translate good CSR practice into enhanced corporate reputation, or even measure public perception of their CSR credibility? TNS believes it has found an answer in the form of its TRI*M system for measuring, managing and monitoring CSR as a driver for corporate reputation. The system incorporates various tools, such as the Corporate Reputation Index and the TRI*M system grid. As Luc Biever of TNS-ILReS explained, the index determines in which stakeholder groups, if at all, the subject company’s reputation is endangered whereas the three-dimensional grid enables the company to identify the driving forces behind its reputation and to therefore derive appropriate communication and action strategies to redress any imbalance. The TRI*M system can therefore enhance a company’s relationship with its stakeholders and distance its CRS credentials from any accusations of “Greenwashing”.
To watch video interviews with Christian Scharff, Romain Buschmann, Claude Lorius, Bruno Renders, François Valentiny, Nicolas Vanier and Christiane Wickler at the CSR Luxembourg 2009 conference, visit this link: