1. How does CSR Management Capacity™ deliver competitive advantage?
The CSR Management Capacity™ instrument is a standardised measure of social responsiveness capabilities. However, the capabilities deliver unique competitive advantage because companies deploy their social responsiveness capabilities in unique ways due to their unique configurations of stakeholders, issues, brands, strategies and so on.

2. What CSR Management Capacity™ scores should we be aiming for?
Norms for CSR Management Capacity across different industry sectors are being developed as part of the ACCSR’s ongoing research and development program, so in future there will be objective norms against which your capability development can be judged. However, knowing where you stand against an industry norm may not of itself tell you what you need to do next to extract competitive advantage from your capabilities.

For this, we recommend linking scenario planning to your social responsiveness capabilities audit. The ACCSR’s social responsiveness capabilities audit process will help you understand whether your best strategy is to aim for industry parity, industry dominance or world class achievement. We work with you to develop future scenarios for achieving your strategy and understand which of the social responsiveness capabilities requires most urgent development, and in which part of your organisation. This will enable you to focus on the capabilities that have the strongest and most direct impact on execution of your social responsibility strategy.

3. How does CSR Management Capacity™ relate to the many principles, standards and reporting frameworks for CSR?
CSR Management Capacity does not replace other principles, standards and frameworks.
Principles tell you what you should be doing. Reporting frameworks tell you what you should report on and standards tell you what performance level you should achieve.

In contrast, CSR Management Capacity shows you how to manage by developing organisational capabilities.

4. Who should I contact for further information on CSR Management Capacity?
Contact Dr Leeora Black, Managing Director of ACCSR on +61 3 9826 1767 or email leeorablack@accsr.com.au