So the general thoughts of the experts is that CSR develops more profit, despite this companies dont exist to make a profit they exist to provide a service or product which people need, in doing so make a profit, some believe its a must by companies to part take in CSR well in the UK government do insist larger organisations to part-take to do their bit to create a more caring society. There will be some business owners who don't care about CSR and want to utilise it as a tool to drive business in my opinion fair enough we don't live in a fairy tail world and not every business giant is going to be Gandhi so yes, please use CSR weather you are patron saint or you kill puppies for a living, CSR is what I like to call a karma tool. Nothing bad can come from doing good but companies may argue that you dont give to receive and that what am I really gaining from this as a shareholder. As stated before there are no definitive answers yet there is hell of alot of evidence indicating the business credentials of this tool so much that media agency's now use CSR as key area to look at when developing a media communications strategy for their clients and surely this shows by using CSR its provides a ROI for the client or they wouldn't bother with it.
Along my travels through the world of CSR I met many theories some more substantial than others. One the stood out for me was when reading a book called Citzen Brands by Michael Wilmott a must read. The book talks about the various impacts CSR has for a company and particularly summaries CSR as a tool in branding. Branding creates a personality for a product or a service that hopefully your target market embrace, the brand will represent credentials that are characteristic of their own or something they aspire to be. For something to build a relationship between something one entity has to do something for another in one in some shape or form. Now I want you now to imagine a brands a person not uncle Deborah or auntie Steve just imagine it as a concept. A mate of yours you like him/her because he/she sorts you out and he or she is into the same things as you. Say there's a brand for example Nike you like the brand its similar to what your into just like Jimmy your "hypothetical friend" in this case but whatever has Nike and Jimmy ever done for you apart from being into the same things, for the time being its fine but eventually another brand might come along such as Adidas or Simon and you see Simon is into the same things aswell but also he offers you more, for instance Adidas could offer you cheaper equipment and their more friendly ect in someways Simons just a bit more of a better mate, so the question is would I rather hang around with Simon then? Also people have no one to answer to if they turn their back on a brand its a tad easier than doing it to a friend so regular benefits for loyal companies is vital to making sure you keep your friends happy. Now this is only example but your beginning to see how you can humanise a brand to understand the relationship you have with your consumers (always be aware of enemies trying to steal your friends and competitors trying to steal your customers). Now lets put this in the context of CSR there's been this guy you no Brian all your life hes never appealed to you he likes rock you like Germen techno jazz hes quiet and you never shutup to you he means nothing, but one day Brian puts on a charity event in the village and invites you, you see how much effort hes put in and all the good hes doing you relate to his morals and change your perception on him, suddenly he seems alot more a appealing. This is what CSR can do for your brand, it changes people perceptions to attract new customers, retain current customers or when that guy goes I might purchase some new trainers he might advise you even if its not his taste to try these new Brian trainers because you no what there actually not to bad.
Carly Fiorina (2003) states at the business for social responsibility annual conference:
“For many years, community development goals were philanthropic activities that were seen as separate from business objectives, not fundamental to them; doing well and doing good were seen as separate pursuits. But I think this is changing. What many organisations that are represented here today are learning is that cutting-edge innovation and competitive advantage can result from weaving social and environmental considerations into business strategy from the beginning. And in the process, we can help develop the next generation of ideas and markets and employees”
The word Id like to pick out from this is competitive advantage you could say since 2003 more companies have embraced this tool, but its still not being utilised by every company on a wide scale as the theory and models progress on this subject I believe more people will start to use CSR to achieve a greater ROI, but eventually CSR runs the risk of becoming a common trend to follow just like SM and although it will help business's to develop better relationships in society, I feel it wont be this significant competitive advantage Mrs Fiorina talks about. This is more a hypothesis than definitive theory but I strongly believe society will become more aware of CSR and once they are company's who have a brand image which isnt squeaky clean will see a negative response as its almost a cover up of what their really like and consumers may not trust there reasoning. Although despite the possibilities right now CSR is not understood by the average consumer so please Primark, Coke and Nike feel free to polish your self off by using this now, but be sure in the future that these bad boys using good boy tactics will soon become transparent, so caution must be taken when utilising this tool. Its a bit like when politicians through a fund raiser we no what your up to and we still don't trust you and the same could be said for Tony Blair companies getting to involved in CSR.
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