Limits of CSR Flashcards
What is the Trickle-down theory?
It is the idea that, within an economy the poorest will, gradually, benefit from the increasing wealth of the richest through tax breaks, benefits for corporations.
What are the two assumptions of the Trickle-down Theory ?
- All members of society benefit from growth.
- Growth is most likely to come from those with the resources and skills to increase productive output.
In practice, how is the distribution of wealth ?
The richs are getting richer, and the poor poorer.
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There is rising social inequalities between the top and the bottom.
- more & more bilionaires around the world, capturing 82% of welath created.
- MOREOVER, the inequalities impact more women than men.
FACT: How many world will we need if everybody lived like the average Westerner ?
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What is the HDI?
The Human Development Index is a summary of measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development
- a long and healthy life (life expectancy index)
- being knowledgeable (education index)
- have a decent standard of living (GNI per capita)
What is the Development Paradox telling us ?
► Countries that are underdeveloped can achieve sustainable development of their HDI factors that is without increasing their Ecological Footprint.
► However, it seems like the only way for developed countries to increase their HDI is coming with an increase in their ecological footprint. Therefore, facing us with a dilemma… What do we do ?
Carbon Footprint ?
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide.
What are the 3 main limits of CSR 1.0 that makes it unable to change the future ?
- Incremental: CSR has adopted the quality management model which results in incremental improvements that do not match the scale, urgency of the problems. “It simply doesn’t get to the root of business’s systemic unsustainability and irresponsibility in the shareholder-driven, growth-obsessed capitalist global economy.”
- Peripheral: CSR is an add-on, nice to have. Often, restricted to the big companies, and more importantly confined to public relations rather than being integrated into the business strategy, processes, products and services.
- Uneconomic: CSR does not always make economic sense, as the short term markets reward companies that externalize their costs to society. People will try to identify the ROI of CSR decisions only to realize that the action may bring negative results.
The Ethics Management Paradox
There is a chance to improve the ethical quality of business activities if the motivation of the agents is genuinely ethical, that is, if they want to realize ethical conduct for its own sake.
CASE STUDY: H&M
Background: The conscious collection of H&M represented by Vanessa Paradis, attempted to communicate about their actions to fo into a more sustainable world, but still maintainted their garment production in the Rana Plaza factories, that collapsed and killed thousand of workers, who had been working in despicable conditions.
Who are the responsibles ? The local garment Factory’s CEO, H&M CEO, Marketing, Vanessa Paradis, …
A new version of CSR, why ?
We need to reconceptualize CSR as a radical concept that challenges the “classical” business and economic model and offers genuine solutions to our global challenges.
What are the 5 principles of CSR 2.0?
- Creativity: no tick the box approach anymore (eg Seb)
- Scalability: large scale choice-editing (eg Unilever, Danone, Walmart)
- Responsiveness: stakeholders-driven partnerships (eg TOMS)
- Glocality: international norms with local contexts !
- Circularity: cradle-to-cradle approach ?
What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ?
LCA is a tool used to evaluate the environmental aspects associated with a product or process. It captures the materials, energy and wasted involved in each phase of the product’s life cycle, from raw materials extraction to recycling or final disposal.
► LCA measures key environmental impacts including global warming potential, toxicity and resource depletion. The results allow you to identify areas with the most significant impacts, and by comparing LCA results of different products or processes, you can determine which has the lower environmental impact.
What is CSR 2.1?
It focuses on innovative business models & practices with integrated sustainable value creation.
What are the 4 principles of CSR 2.1 ?
- Purpose business: designed for positive impact (eg TOMS).
- Resource effective business: designed for circularity, designed to use resources more efficiently, by using less, producing less by producing long-lasting products, wasting less, recycling more.
- Base of the Pyramid business: designed with and for the poorest.
- Shared-value business: designed with stakeholders
What is the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek ?
- What: Every organization on the planet knows What they do. These are products they sell or the services.
- How: Some organizations know how they do it. These are the things that make them special or set them apart from their competition.
- Why: Very few organizations know why they do what they do. why is not about making money. That’s a result. why is a purpose, cause or belief. It’s the very reason your organization exists.
