Comments on: BP – a disaster for the Sustainability / CSR sector in general?

By: Chris MacDonald

Chris MacDonald — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:32:00 +0000

While I agree that the BP spill is a good case study in CSR (see my piece, "BP and Corporate Social Responsibility"), I think it's also worth noting that, even setting aside social responsibility and even ethics more generally, the Deepwater Horizon blowout and the resulting spill are a major organizational and engineering failure. Even if no one had died, and even if we didn't care about the environmental devastation, it would still be true that BP screwed up. They lost a lot of oil, time, etc. I wonder if we even *need* to think of this story in terms of CSR in order to examine it in terms of organizational failure.

By: FabianPattberg

FabianPattberg — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:53:32 +0000

Interesting aspect. I think that it really depends on the structure and most importantly on the corporate culture within the company whether it can and wants to adopt a more responsible business approach ie. CSR best practice. Your professor has a fair point but sees it to negative in my opinion.

By: Quiet-Environmentalist

Quiet-Environmentalist — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:17:05 +0000

I have no personal experience so maybe I am a bit out of my depth. However I did take a course on environmental risk as part of my degree and I remember the professeror diskussing in depth the failings of CSR, due to the structures of companies. Maybe it depends on the culture of the firm.

By: FabianPattberg

FabianPattberg — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:56:51 +0000

Thanks for the comment George. Oh dear. Is that what your experience is with CSR departments?
Mine is different. I used to work as a CSR manager and my experience is a lot more positive. I am always trying to take the constructive approach by empowering the people that work in this areas on a daily basis and are in the position to make the important decisions. I feel that this then has a lot of a effect for everyone involved. And then CSR makes a lot of sense in my opinion.

By: Quiet-Environmentalist

Quiet-Environmentalist — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:44:48 +0000

Are not most CSR departments powerless and really only suggest new practices that get thrown out for being too expensive or adopted to greenwash the company?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:29:31 +0000

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