The
Five Capabilites of Socially Responsible Companies
The five core CSR capabilities are stakeholder
engagement, social accountability, ethical business
behaviour, dialogue and value attuned communication.
These are the CSR capabilities that drive social
performance and reputation. Our research program
and our experiences with diverse clients show
that these capabilities are consistently central
for the effective operation of social responsibility
in membership based organisations, domestic listed
and unlisted corporations, multinational listed
corporations and government-owned corporations.
CSR capability definitions:
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1. |
Stakeholder
engagement: People in our firm understand
the linkages and interdependencies between
us and our stakeholders that contribute to
long-term prosperity. Managers routinely
take stakeholder needs into consideration
in business decisions. |
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2. |
Stakeholder
dialogue: We respect our partners
in dialogue by displaying empathy, honesty
and non-manipulative intent and encourage
equal control over and initiative in the
communication process. |
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3. |
Value
attuned communication: Management
requires that specialist communication
staff effectively detect and transmit value-pertinent
information about stakeholders to all parts
of the firm to assist in business decision-making. |
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4. |
Ethical
business behaviour: Our company
maintains a caring workplace atmosphere
in which people sincerely care about the
well being of others. Ethical behaviour
is reinforced through the development of
formal ethical codes, rewards for ethical
behaviour and punishments for unethical
behaviour. |
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5. |
Social
accountability: Our people believe
that the firm is accountable to stakeholders
for the firm’s social impacts and
we effectively report our social performance,
even when the news is not all good. |
CSR capabilities and business outcomes
While all socially responsible organisations
require these CSR capabilities, competitive
advantage through corporate social responsibility
is possible when organisations deploy their
CSR capabilities in unique combinations linked
to the core business of the organisation.
Strong CSR capabilities have a positive effect
on reputation directly and indirectly. They can
directly influence reputation through the strategic
choices organisations make about programs that
involve or affect stakeholders’ experience
with the company. They can indirectly influence
reputation through the effect that CSR has on
employees’ decision-making and commitment.
By assessing the raw material for CSR strategy,
CSR Management Capacity® helps identify priorities
for capability development and enables your organisation
to develop strategy and tactics that will take
your organisation to higher levels of CSR.
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