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Some of you might know that I am a big fan of Slideshare and the fact that everyone can share presentations in such an easy and engaging way. Today’s post is about one particularly interesting presentation on CSR I have come across on Slideshare that I needed to share with everyone.

The presentation is called ‘Future of CSR’ and has been put together by Steve Brant. This is a longer presentation (55 slides) with some fancy YouTube videos embedded. All in all a very straightforward but yet detailed presentation.

And there is no better way to end this presentation then with this video in my opinion – Nice choice!

Thanks for sharing this presentation with us Steve.

In my first post about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Germany a while back now, I talked about the three key developments in CSR over the past few years.

Todays post is about the three major future developments phases I see for CSR in Germany. I have worked in the CSR field for a while now and being German I obviously always felt close to the Germany and as a consequence watched the CSR developments unfold over the past few years with interest.

One Big Challenge
There is one big hurdle for a continuous successful adoption of CSR practices for Germany in my opinion. The current financial crisis. Why? Well many reasons but I think the biggest problem with CSR practices within an organization will be the lack of funds within a business to start their CSR activities. In the wake of the restructuring of departments within businesses will the CSR budgets suffer as well. This is obviously not only a German problem.

But CSR as with every corporate change process needs sufficient initial funding to get of the ground. So lets hope, for the sake of the German CSR initiatives (and all CSR activities/budgets across the globe), that this financial crisis will not last that long anymore or that the German public will realize that CSR is a key element of the future of their business environment and demand increased CSR investment from business.

Once this crisis is behind us I am of the opinion that CSR practices in Germany will undergo three major development phases in terms of CSR practice.

The three major future development phases for CSR in Germany

• More and more companies will be hearing about CSR and CSR best practice across the globe. German companies can be slow to adopt new business practices sometimes. The level of skepticism is traditionally quite high in German business. This has always been the case and can be regarded as both good and bad in my opinion. As a result the major companies in the main German share index, DAX 30, will be likely to all report on their CSR practices. This development will then also be an important driver for the adoption of CSR  by more and more smaller companies.

• CSR as a term will be more closely aligned with Environmentalism and move towards Sustainability, not just CSR itself. Environmentalism is traditionally very big in Germany and ingrained in the German culture. The likelihood that CSR and Environmentalism will be combined into the overall concept of Sustainability is very high. You might ask yourself why this is the second major development phase but definitions have a big importance in the German way to do business so to say. Once the terminology is agreed the German mentality is usually to move on and focus on the next phase of Sustainability.

• Once there are more people/businesses involved and the political establishment will have realized that this is something they need to support, then Sustainability (CSR and Environmentalism) will be a key element in the sustainable future for German business. This is the special aspect about German business. Once they decide on doing something they usually get on with it and do not question the decision made. A really good cultural trait in my opinion.

These are the three major development phases I see in German business with regards to CSR. But this is only my point of view and judgement of course. I am more then happy to hear other points of views. Not only the German point of view of course but other cultural contexts in adopting CSR.

Picture Credit: Arenamontanus

While the days are getting shorter and the first wave of sore throats and constant coughing by everyone around you is nearly over the new reality of an economy in recession (yes I have written the horrible r-word) is becoming more and more obvious.
Now you are thinking…….oh not again…….I can not hear it anymore.

Don’t worry this post is not meant as a doom and gloom message. Rather a short note on how (and why) we can ensure that our companies still do their bit when it comes to sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

In my opinion the upcoming recession or at least economic downturn is a not as bad when it comes to sustainability and the responsible business practice as long as we consumers and employees ensure that companies keep doing what they are doing and improve gradually over time.

Here is where I come from. Companies in the last decade have only seen booming times and mostly rising budgets for their sustainability and CSR activities. With that rosy outlook sustainability policies, strategies, actions, etc where fairly easy to push through on company level. If they always had an impact is another question.

Now this is changing. Companies need to consider the cost implications and „ direct benefits“ when it comes to justifying the costs for a Sustainability Report, redevelopment of a strategy, next implementation phase, you name it. And I think this is a good development.

Mainly because throwing a lot of money at something is only likely to help in the short run but not necessarily in the long run. It helps you to get started but especially in the Sustainability sector it will not bring you very far. What is needed is a constant engagement with your stakeholders and proper business management when it comes to sustainability and CSR within a company. This is the only successful way of imbedding Sustainability/CSR within a business.

Having that in mind, the next 12-24 months will show how sustainability and CSR within companies will survive or change with the the challenge of lower budgets, less internal influence due to cost cutting and less of a hype by the public as each and everyone needs to start looking out for themselves.

Here is what we as consumers and employees should ask for in responsible business practice and how (if at all) companies are adressing these issues/topics:

• Are companies still looking to clean up their act when it comes to supply chains, child labour and sweat shops?
• How important is the discussion of organic food, GM food now? Is this still a discussion item in the news? Or has everyone forgotten about this?
• What about fairtrade? Same as above. Is this something companies now still talk and do something about?
• Are we seeing an increase in companies reporting on their performance when it comes to sustainability?
• What about the possiblities for employees to do something for their local community? Is this still being supported by companies that where marketing with their social competence?
• Do you hear more about Stakeholder Engagement from companies? Or is it purely marketing communications and no dialogue anymore?
• Do we see more Communications Managers address the topic of Sustainability/CSR within an organisation now rather then the Sustainability/CSR person? If that is the case then be alert. This is a sign of lower importance in my experience.

These are just some of the questions we as consumers and employees need to start asking companies in the next 12-24 months in order to see where the sustainability/CSR efforts are going. If we keep quiet a lot of what we have achieved with the sustainability movement will be lost and companies will go about their daily business as if here has never been a sustainability and CSR movement.
History has shown that letting companies do what they want will not be successful when it comes to Sustainability and responsible business practice. We have made a good start into the sustainable business future. Now we need to focus on keeping this momentum and act as watchdogs for the responsible business practices of business.

We need to move forward, not backwards. But businesses can not do this on their own, they need our help.

Picture Credit: immarkcz