The following is a summary of the topics (7 topics that make up the DNA of Corporate Social Responsibility of any company) that must necessarily be considered by all those companies that aspire to be socially responsible (taken and expanded from the report "Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America: a business vision »from the series: environment and development (No. 85) of the Division of Sustainable Development and Human Settlements, ECLAC, Santiago de Chile, April 2004), topics that should be placed on the table a when designing the strategy that really fulfills the social responsibility that they aspire to achieve and indeed are the central themes of the new Management Model, raised in this manuscript.
1. Values and business ethics
The simple association between Business Ethics and the mere fulfillment of Legal requirements, has remained in the past, it is already obsolete, the maturity of society has catalyzed its evolution and today we not only associate it with the fulfillment of Legal requirements, to this fact inescapable we add, the necessary commitment to ethical behavior based on values.
These ethical values include: honesty, integrity, responsibility, compliance, commitment, respect, transparency and openness.
2. Human rights, work and employment
The labor standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) formulated in 1919 and complemented with the declaration of Philadelphia of 1944, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations formulated in 1948 in Paris and as if these were not enough, We add to it the recent and strengthened Organic Labor Law (LOT) of April 30, 2012, all three forming a triumvirate and it is considered the basis of this issue.
The fundamental rights and principles of workers are at the same time a means and an end in themselves, they are human rights at work that without a doubt, indisputably, necessarily and categorically must be respected.
The following is taken from the text of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its follow-up, duly adopted by the General Conference of the International Labor Organization during its eighty-sixth session, held in Geneva and whose Closure was declared on June 18, 1998, the four main areas to establish a necessary minimum floor in the world of work.
- Freedom of association and freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor The effective abolition of child labor The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
Based on the ILO Constitution, these principles and rights have been expressed and developed in the form of specific rights and obligations in the conventions recognized as fundamental both within and outside the Organization. Conventions that have been classified as fundamental and are known under the term "fundamental standards at work":
- Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87) Convention Relating to the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, 1949 (No. 98) Convention Relating to Forced or Compulsory Labor, 1930 (No. 29) Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, 1957 (No. 105) Minimum Age for Admission to Employment Convention, 1973 (No. 138) Convention on the Prohibition of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Immediate Action for its Elimination, 1999 (No. 182) Convention Relating to Equal Remuneration between Male and Female Labor for Equal Value Work, 1951 (No. 100) Convention Relating to Discrimination in Matters of Employment and Occupation, 1958 (No. 111)
As noted above, these principles, rights and standards established by the ILO are only the minimum necessary floor in the world of work, in fact, in Venezuela with the recent and strengthened Organic Labor Law of April 30, 2012, showing off humility and showing deep love for the human being, it confirms, ratifies, strengthens and greatly expands, not only what is established by the ILO, but also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Labor matters.
3. Impacts on natural resources
This is one of the 7 genes that make up the DNA of Corporate Social Responsibility of any company.
The quality and intensity of interrelation between them define, among other things, the knowledge, maturity and collective consciousness of the managerial level of the company they comprise.
Now, as just pointed out, this topic "Impacts on natural resources", like the other 6, is an intrinsic component of Corporate Social Responsibility; management regarding the administration of the use of natural resources, public health, basic sanitation, pollution control, waste management, access to drinking water, food, housing, and transportation, both for its Employees and their families as well as for the communities, roughly make up the different aspects of this theme.
But the thing does not end here, every company cannot be oblivious to global environmental problems (the deterioration of biodiversity and climate change) therefore, joint and active participation is required, company - State - community, in order to everyone in block, participate in seeking a better quality of life.
4. Philanthropy and social investment
In these moments the Chinese proverb comes to my memory "Give a man a fish and you will give him food for one day, teach him how to fish and you will feed him for the rest of his life".
With the passage of time and experience in the timid interaction, company - State - community and the little maturity of its actors have demonstrated that the simple paternalistic "philanthropic" policy, based on the simple donation of money, does not guarantee the correct sustainable solution that the community needs.
A change of focus is required, redirecting the monetary donation with the direct acquisition of materials and services available in the environment (labor sub-contracting and other similar practices that contribute to the economic and social well-being of neighboring communities). Another possible and acceptable substitution for cash donations could be contributions to services, support to specific projects, and linking employees through volunteer work to community processes.
5. Corporate governance
Dr. Alberto Ibarra Mares in his «Introduction to Public Finance», Comfenalco University Technology Foundation, Cartagena de Indias Colombia 2009, tells us: «Before 1990, markets were endowed by the trade of relatively simple goods, in their mostly stocks and bonds. In short, the 1980s was a fairly simple period in finance, but beginning in the 1990s, financial markets became increasingly competitive and profit margins declined. This led to strong pressure from executives who demanded more deregulation and non-government intervention in the economy. Thus, in the 90's, significant frauds and financial crises began to appear, which continued to increase in size and complexity. »
And he continues to tell us: "Also in June 2002, during the annual summit of the" Group of Eight "most industrialized countries in the world, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, declared his great concern about accounting practices in States. United and for the transgressions of the Corporate Governments. The accounting corruption of several of the main North American corporate governments was reflected in disinvestments and undervaluations of the financial instruments of global investors, since the main companies involved destabilized the foreign financial systems due to their significant international transactions, such was the case of: Enron, Worldcom, Xerox, Vivendi, Universal, Marth Stewart, Williams, Cms Energy, Global Crossing, Qwest, Tyco Plastics, El Paso, Dynegy,Inclone Systems Incorporate. Currently, several of these companies continue to be investigated by the SEC for the magnitude of their fraud and for the direct responsibility of their respective corporate governments. ”
The chain disasters of the Enron groups, WorldCom and many others (it has long been known by all that these great disasters do not occur without a sequence of previous serious errors; errors, apparently not seen, errors, apparently not detected, these not come from spontaneous generation) are not independent events and deserve to be properly analyzed. These accidents reflect the serious dysfunctions, not to say the great failures of capitalism, both stock-exchange and governmental, calling into question the current business conception where the stock market plays an almost supra-governmental role and the “innocent”, “timid” and accommodating role that Government power plays in all this.
Now, Corporate Governance is a new concept that tries to reflect the style of power that is established between the owners of the company, the board of directors and senior management with all related groups, such as employees and their families, customers, suppliers, governments (local, departmental and national), the community in general, the international sector and even competitors.
It is also a spatial photograph where we can see how the company's processes in the search for business success are visualized, planned, directed, executed, controlled and improved.
6. Value chain or product cycle
Through this theme, companies discover how their businesses generate effects on the entire product cycle or value chain, from the raw material supplier to the final consumer.
In this regard, Oliviero describes how the Nike company established an internal division to verify that acceptable labor standards are applied throughout its production chain, and hired an independent firm to verify compliance with its standards on Corporate Social Responsibility.
7. Transparency and Accountability
Through this theme, the social comptroller is put into practice. Part of the responsibility of accountability consists of providing the adequate means so that the vast majority of the public interested in the company can verify, both externally and internally, the results reported on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Thus, the systems through which the company is governed must monitor the actions aimed at achieving the goals in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as measure and report their effects.
Footnote
- Oliviero, Melanie Beth. (2000), “Corporate Social Responsibility, Socially Responsible Investing - Who is Responsible to Whom and for What?”, Another Side - The Journal of the Michael Harrington Center for Democratic Values and Social Change, Volume 8, Number 1. Queen's College New York. Fall.
