Introduction
The term corporate social responsibility has a history dating back to the 20th century but it is difficult to agree with an exact definition due to the contributions that exist in different countries, times, cultures and people that have contributed to CSR growing as a concept. Currently, it is a way to make an organization grow due to the impact on its production and sales but even more important, because of the commitment they have with the development and care of society, human development, caring for the planet, quality of life of people and the preservation of the environment.
When we talk about corporate social responsibility, one must focus beyond the regulations and compliance with the rules and laws of where it operates as well as compliance with agreements and treaties, CSR is built through consensus between various business sectors, in addition to having established Roles and responsibilities of the company, is related to environmental protection aiming to seek sustainable solutions to reduce the environmental impact produced by companies, resulting in going beyond compliance with government laws.
Definition
According to Calvo, environmental responsibility (RA) is “A global approach with respect to the operations, products and facilities of the company, which includes valuation of products, processes and business services; disposal of waste and emissions; maximizing the efficiency and productivity of assets and resources and minimizing practices that could affect the availability of natural resources on the planet.
Profitability of social responsibility
For all companies, the main goal is to be profitable and have good financial results, if we start from the fact that the main benefit that companies can receive is to contribute to the well-being of society, we can think that adopting Social Responsibility measures at no time will contribute to improving your profitability. However, today there are methodologies to measure the economic impact of the social actions carried out by a company. Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a methodology that seeks to measure the impact of social investments and express it in monetary terms. This analysis methodology takes the classic concept of return on investment but goes further by capturing the financial value of economic, environmental and social aspects. In sum,SROI is a social impact analysis methodology that allows to express the benefits derived from social projects in monetary terms.
I believe that in order to increase the growth of this concept, it is necessary to establish a commitment between companies with the environment, that is, not only large companies must commit to this responsibility, but medium and small companies would also have to be impacted, generating that the concept is known and when hearing the word CSR, do not associate it with recycling, saving energy or water, but rather have the ability to set strategies for reducing environmental impact and maximizing business profitability. Community participation is a fundamental pillar for the growth of social responsibility, companies through the actions they manage generate social impact and improvement in the organizational environment as well as the recognition of accredited institutions.Some of the activities carried out by companies to sustain CSR are; community partnership, labor supply, global community participation, etc.
Corporate social responsibility includes aspects for its development such as corporate governance, reputation and sustainable development.
Relationship with Mexico
In Mexico, RS regulation is regulated by the International Organization for Standardization, which allows organizations to work on aspects such as governance, human rights, labor practices, and the environment, among others.
Before entering the concept that exists in Mexican society, it is important to determine and understand the concepts of social responsibility, sustainability and sustainable development.
Social responsibility according to the ISO 26,000 standard, is the responsibility of an organization to the impacts that its decisions and activities cause on society and the environment, through an ethical and transparent behavior that contributes to sustainable development, including health and well-being of the company, take into account the expectations of its stakeholders, comply with applicable legislation and be consistent with international standards of behavior and be integrated throughout the organization and are implemented in their relationships.
Sustainability is a term that can be used in different contexts, but it refers to the quality of being able to maintain itself, without outside help and without depleting available resources.
In our country, organizations use different terms to refer to the actions of social and environmental impact they carry out. The most common thing for companies is to refer to them by the name of Social Responsibility. Government institutions, for their part, prefer to use the concepts of Sustainability and Sustainable Development. As a sample of the different meanings in the terminology, people who work in government, CEOs, Directors and Managers of RS describe that Social Responsibility in Mexico has been confused with issues of altruism and social assistance, which are positive for society but the The purpose of SR is to provide tools so that they can develop by themselves, generating an economic activity to modify their quality of life.
conclusion
It is well known that social responsibility is mainly related to issues associated with the community, its development and collaboration in work environments. It can be determined that Mexico is a country that has already joined the RS guide on formal issues, but the norms and guidelines of corporate social responsibility are carried out actively and formally as a requirement in other countries, there is no law that regulates Mexico so far, however within the BMV, listed companies have clearly established that social responsibility is fundamental for the development and survival of companies since it not only adds value to the economy but also the environment and the environment in which it develops to continue its operation.
Mexico faces obstacles to the development of social responsibility such as the lack of dissemination of the concept and the confusion that exists about the concept. Similarly, an important factor is how they are employed and regulated since, unlike other countries, the result is minimal. There is no initiative, project or law that addresses the issues associated with social responsibility.
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