A Corporate Sustainiblity Forum was organised at Instituto de Empresa, Madrid. It was a great success. Many topics like social business, financing options, hybrid business models were also touched upon. Speakers from various companies like those in High-Tech industry, FMCG, Energy gave an overview of their efforts in direction of social responsibility, through their products.
The efforts in renewable energy sector was inspiring. These sessions saw a high attendance, as many students at IE look forward to career in renewable energy after their MBA. But what caught me by surprise was that even oil companies were already sensitised towards the looming oil crisis & were making investments in this sector.
There are many companies whose products do not lend them towards social responsibility, like companies making arms & ammunitions, cigarette making companies etc. How can these companies too like oil companies can contribute towards social responsibility??
I think the companies which "do not lend themselves to social responsibility" like the plethora of tobacco companies have a right to exist just the same as any other "social" ones, as long as they make their brands environment friendly. For example, the production of tobacco involves chemical processes that not only are milder in terms of environmental pollution but also involve a lot of labour-intensive work. This is their scope to get into social responsibility (through community development of the labourers) and work towards a stronger corporate branding. Trivia: the cigarette butt (after smoking, of course) takes three months to decompose biologically. I guess, this is mild enough.
ReplyDelete--- SHOUNAK TARAFDAR (IE International MBA)