Corporate Social Responsibility currently represents an extremely important element in the defined business strategy of many companies, corporations, multinationals and, in general, large companies.
Likewise, small and medium-sized companies must progressively adapt in their management policies, various initiatives aimed at communicating and developing marked lines of action to promote Corporate Social Responsibility.
For most companies, performing optimal Corporate Social Responsibility management represents a very important competitive advantage and a strategic factor for business success.
In short, it is a matter of combining economic, social and environmental objectives and, obviously, reconciling the goals pursued by the company with those of society.
It is absolutely relevant when designing an adequate management process for Corporate Social Responsibility, understanding this concept in its various meanings and requirements and, consequently, placing the company as a responsible entity in the triple economic, social and environmental aspect.
Corporate Social Responsibility understood globally, must remain integrated throughout the value chain and act as a strategic factor and a management and control tool that allows for articulating economic and social profitability.
Corporate Social Responsibility is, in addition to strict compliance with current legal obligations, the voluntary integration into the government, strategy and management of companies of social, labor, economic, environmental policies and procedures, respect for human rights, etc., which arise from the relationship and transparent dialogue with its stakeholders.
The company that wants to identify itself as responsible, first, has to demonstrate that it complies with current regulations in all matters and, subsequently, it will be truly responsible if it carries out a series of actions incorporated into its strategy, on a voluntary basis.
Ultimately, a company will be considered economically, environmentally and socially responsible when it satisfactorily responds to the expectations that its various stakeholders have on its operation and is responsible for the consequences and impacts arising from its actions.
The first step to adequately manage Corporate Social Responsibility will be to draw up a corporate social responsibility plan, including a sustainability report, an effective, systematic and transparent communication tool used by companies to report on their actions in the field. of development and sustainable management, being understood as a management model that pursues the triple objective of creating value for the shareholder, society in general and the environment.
The sustainability report is an element of management support that provides transparency and credibility to the actions of companies.
In principle, it is advisable to prepare the Sustainability Report every 2 years.
The Sustainability Report must be based on three key principles and elements:
A) Complementation and balance of the triple environmental, economic and social dimension. (Triple Income Statement)
B) Absolute commitment to the different stakeholders.
C) Indicator elements or guidelines for action according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an independent body, at the global level, that establishes voluntary guidelines on sustainable information.
GRI designed a guide for the elaboration of Sustainability Reports that has become a voluntary tool but agreed worldwide by different stakeholders to report on the economic, environmental and social dimension of the activities, products and services of companies.
GRI attaches as much importance to the application of a series of principles in the Report as to the elements that indicate sustainability.
It is transcendental to reflect in the social balance, economic balance, environmental balance all the actions of the company in these areas and expose the information and data available regarding the performance indicators of the GRI Table
Likewise, it is necessary to detail all the guidelines and guidelines adopted by the company to improve GOOD corporate GOVERNANCE and the measures aimed at achieving its optimal management.
The credibility of the Sustainability Report will be increased if they undergo a validation process in the form of audits.
When a company publishes the Sustainability Report, it is relevant to try to obtain the prestigious »IN ACCORDANCE» of the GRI, it represents the maximum recognition of the work carried out by exhaustively presenting the most important aspects in the social, economic and environmental fields.
All companies must, in addition to and integrated in the Strategic Plan, design the aforementioned corporate social responsibility plan.
Basically, it is a global document for managing and evaluating the company's commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, which combines the economic, social and environmental dimensions that affect the entity and society.
Likewise, it must reflect the social contribution of the company as an institution and will serve to effectively manage, make profitable and communicate all the company's efforts aimed at achieving a better society.
It is about assuming in writing, in a code of conduct, the commitments that they are going to adopt, the interest groups with whom they are going to reach a consensus and the specific actions that they will carry out.
The corporate social responsibility plan must meet conditions to achieve the desired success:
The managers of the company must be sensitized to the project and support it in its entirety and at all levels, becoming fully involved in exercising representative functions of the company and promoting the company's CSR policies.
CSR should be developed with the assumption of the company's management team within the framework of the company's global strategy.
Coordinated and meticulous preparation of the Triple Income Statement or Triple Botton Line (People, profit and planet), reflected in detail in the Sustainability Report.
Execution of an elaborate Social Marketing Plan focusing on each business unit.
The CSR Plan must project an image consistent with the identity, values, corporate culture, strategy and profile of the organization.
Actually, it is essential that the company contributes positively and benefits society by executing the different actions included in the plan.
Benefits of setting up a CSR Plan:
It improves the external and internal image of the company.
Increase in Corporate Reputation.
Optimization of socially responsible investment.
Smoother communication with stakeholders.
Enhancement of the entity's culture and corporate values.
Alignment and identification of human capital with the company's strategy.
Improvement of the internal work environment, increasing the feeling of pride and belonging.
Increase in sales, with the help of social marketing campaigns.
Growth of the company's level of competitiveness.
It acts as a help method to correct, proportionally, social inequalities.
Included in the company's Corporate Social Responsibility Plan, in addition to the Sustainability Report as the most important text, it is also important to design other simpler and more specific documents annually:
Social action plan: Document that includes all the strictly social and solidarity-based actions and initiatives, both internal and external, that the company is preparing to execute.
In said plan, all aspects of the social projects to be developed are detailed in detail.
In the social balance included in the Sustainability Report, reference is made to the aforementioned projects, but this document provides a much broader exposition of their content and particularities, updated and annually.
Corporate volunteer plan
Exclusively internal document that only affects the human capital of the company, that is, the employees.
All the social actions in which the members of the company's human team take an active part are designed through the aforementioned plan. It is about promoting social projects carried out by the employees of a company, so that they are involved in them in a participatory way.
With these types of programs, it is possible to increase the motivation and development of the company's employees, promote the corporate culture, enhance the company's social values, integrate the company's human capital, improve the work environment and, finally, develops the feeling of belonging to the company.
These projects act as true »SOCIAL OUTDOOR TRAINING«, that is to say, they are social programs, with a solidary and helping purpose that, at the same time, enhance and improve managerial skills and management skills in the participants, such as teamwork, taking decisions, improvement of communication, project management, strategic planning, work by objectives, promotion of personal and interprofessional relationships, etc.
Annual social report: Document that aims to record the result of the social activities carried out by the company as conclusions.
Responsible Marketing
Communicating to society the corporate values, the culture, the management of social capital, the human and organizational profile that a company intends to transmit, as well as the actions in favor of the sustainable development that it carries out, is a process that requires all possible attention..
In the same way, it is vitally important to analyze in detail and with great care the content, mode and approach of the communication used for this purpose.
It is remarkable the new style of communication that many companies adopt in order to highlight emotional and social aspects as priority values of their corporate identity.
Society, in general, perceives as better those companies that care about the unprotected sectors of society, invest in social action, improve the environmental environment, implement good government policies, etc., and, in addition, the private consumer or »potential client» values, more and more, in its intention to purchase or choose a product, the social concerns and solidarity commitments of the companies in which it invests.
Companies that execute Corporate Social Responsibility policies achieve greater credibility than those that do not, since they align with the values and concerns of citizens and this fact has a positive impact on the results they obtain.
Several studies show that there is a certain correlation between socially committed business practices and the good economic results obtained as a consequence of them, therefore, it is essential to know how to communicate to society, through social marketing strategies, the way in which the aforementioned practices are carried out.
In the General Marketing Plan and specific Communication Plans carried out by companies, it is necessary to include social marketing techniques and actions aimed at better communicating strategies related to managing Corporate Social Responsibility, managing dialogue more fluidly and communication with stakeholders, transmitting the triple bottom line more clearly and accurately, in short, achieving more responsible communication with society.
A good social marketing strategy should use techniques and tactics of the so-called «MARKETING INTELLIGENCE», that is to say, basically focus on the client or consumer, know thoroughly the social needs and priorities that motivate them, what are the aspects in relation to the management of the CSR that most worries them, the disadvantaged sectors that they consider most in need of help, etc., and act in accordance with these variables, in this way, the company will be able to invest socially and profitably in that direction.
Intangible asset management
Currently, the valuation of a company is closely related to Goodwill, that is, to the difference between the book value and the market value of the company.
The companies, due to the increasing importance that the so-called Intangible Assets acquire, progressively, give them a plus of strategic value and, in this way, concepts such as Corporate Reputation, Social and Intellectual Capital, Brand Value, Transparency and Good Corporate Governance, Institutional Ethics, Responsible and Solidarity Company, Identity and Corporate Image, Knowledge Management, etc., need to be managed in a more professional manner and in accordance with the profitability that can be obtained from said management.
The proper management of Corporate Social Responsibility of companies represents a very important opportunity to positively project certain Intangible Assets in society and associate the image of the company with them, it is important to create an associative and indissoluble binomial between Brand and Corporate Social Responsibility and society must identify and perceive it as such.
It is estimated that in the coming years, 85% of the value of a company will come and depend largely on the value of its intangible assets, according to a study by Harvard University professor Robert Kaplan.
