CSR Flashcards
How do the European commission define Corporate Social responsibility?
The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society
List the three levels of corporate social responsibility defined by Stahl and Grigsby in 1997
Minimum legal compliance
Enlightened self interest
Aims to improve society
Stahl and Grigsby defined three levels of corporate social responsibility list these and briefly explain the meaning of each
Minimum legal compliance
– Transactional ethics. I do business and so am required to comply
Enlightened self interest
– CSR as a strategic weapon ‘We are better than our competitors’
Aims to improve society
– Independent of benefit to the company. Going far beyond the minimum legal requirements
List fours advantages of for Companies practising CSR
Employee acquisition/retention
Marketing tool to attract /retain customers
Avoid binding legislation
Damage control
List four examples of Corporate Social Responsibility
Sustainable sourcing of wood Local sourcing of ingredients Labelling of food with dietary information Reduction in carbon footprint Avoiding the abuse of child labour Providing good working conditions Help for local communities
Corporate Social responsibility has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with land acquisition/ resettlement
Staff at risk due to conflict with local communities
Staff contracted from local communities exposed to retaliation
Compensation processes flawed and/or below market rate
Insufficient time to consult with indigenous peoples and obtain consent
Corporate Social responsibility has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with Drilling/Seismic testing
Contractors provided with poor housing and living conditions
Communities have restricted access to land and fishing grounds and are not compensated
Seismic testing could damage sacred sites or places of cultural heritage
Corporate Social responsibility has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with Construction
Staff pressured to work excessive overtime or to work during religious holidays
Migrant worker’s passports taken away or workers placed in position of bonded labour
Access to land needed for cattle grazing restricted due to pipeline route with inadequate consultation and compensation
Pipelines block children’s route to school
Fail to prepare for influx of mostly male construction workers resulting in sexual exploitation/abuse of local women and a rise in HIV
Corporate Social responsibility has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with use of security forces.
Use of force by security providers puts staff at risk from local communities
Security providers use force to break up peaceful protests by local community
Private security hired from dominant ethic/racial group leading to harassment of marginalised groups.
Briefly explain the phenomenon known as ‘Greenwashing’.
Carbon Trading allows companies to avoid reducing their emissions by buying carbon credits
Rights to emit are handed out based on historical emissions so those who have polluted most get the most free rights to emit
Consumer power underpins most market based approaches to getting companies to engage in corporate social responsibility. List four potential weaknesses of this approach
- Consumers mostly interested in selling price, quality and availability as evidenced by Co-Op survey
- Predicated on fact that consumers have access to high quality unbiased information. Companies have large extremely biased advertising campaigns
- Consumers assessment is rather superficial. They are complicit in CSR because they would like to believe it
- If customers vote with their pounds this is undemocratic as ability to influence depends on financial resources. Power to decide what is and is not acceptable should not rest with the rich
