Friday, September 17, 2010, the Paley Center for Media hosted “The Role of CSR in Business Today – a Spirited Discussion,” in conjunction with CSRWire and Fenton, a public interest communications firm.

The event was produced by Susan McPherson, Senior Vice President, Fenton, and moderated by Christina Arena, author, blogger and Founding CEO of “sparkUp.”

Arena and Fenton conceived the idea to produce this broadcast in response to an editorial by Dr. Aneel Karnani’s essay which appeared August 23, 2010 in the Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.”

I described my view of the impact of this post in my editorial on Vault.com where I reported, “The post was positioned with a question: Can companies do well by doing good? By the end of the week, there were 252 responses and several dozen blog responses that left me spinning from information overload.”

While I chose not to debate point counterpoint Dr. Karnani’s editorial, I saw this article had pushed the boundaries of how people think about CSR to a degree I had not observed before.

This broadcast brought to its audience a clarification of what is implied by CSR and how the CSR agenda has expanded since it inception to respond to the growing complexity that has emerged at the intersection of business’ relationship with citizens and government. To simplify or narrow any CSR discussion today negates the opportunity for any person in any sector to understand how market and material decisions can potentially cause harm to the environment, health and economy.

The entire 1 ½ hour broadcast will be available in archive for the next 90 days. In addition to McPherson, Arena and Karnani, the stellar line up of panelists included

Matthew Bishop, U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief,
The Economist
Bob Corcoran, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship, President & Chairman, GE Foundation
Aron Cramer, President and CEO, BSR
Chrystia Freeland, Global Editor-at-Large, ThomsonReuters
Georg Kell, Executive Director, UN Global Compact
Dave Stangis, Vice President, CSR and Sustainability, Campbell Soup Company

All the panelists contributed to clarifying a perspective of CSR as it cuts across issues of business, society, emerging new markets, and the intersection of CSR with government and non governmental organizations.

My own experience of this discussion led me to expand my own thinking:

1. On how narrow and generalized focused discussions arguing the value of CSR can create more confusion than good?

2. Today’s CSR success can be attributed to companies e.g. Campbell’s Soup and General Electric that have integrated principles of corporate citizenship and social responsibility into strategy that directs responsive actions.

3. The founding of the UN Global Compact has accelerated through a chain of learning by business regarding the impact of their core business strategies, participation in emerging markets, branding to accelerate the authoring of regulation or to address corruption influenced by 70 countries for which there is no regulatory framework to address corruption.

4. A corporation like General Electric can find value in providing resources to author new global legislation, e.g. The Transparency International Index that is beneficial to their core business strategy.

5. The words Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have influenced a state of confusion with a chaotic response. This provokes the question as to whether or not this chaotic response accelerated the work needed to integrate platforms of corporate citizenship and sustainable practices into 7700 companies that now comprise the UN Global Compact or slow it down.

6. CSR is demanding a reshaping of perspective of the long-term for investing that is challenging the short-term view fueling the crisis in today’s financial markets.

7. Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, spoke to how CSR has implied examination of practices relative to marketing, branding and building of new emerging markets, which do not address the more complex issues of material use. Examination of material use is a manufacturing agenda that is complex and impacts some of today’s most challenging societal issues as it relates to production of materials and the resources used that are now pushing a clean tech and chemical agenda that is exceptionally complex.

This final issue in my mind speaks to the courage and tenacity held by Hazel Henderson, founder of EthicalMarket.com, for her years of advocacy and pragmatic work to promote and identify new emerging markets for clean tech and the application of new economic principles that extend beyond how the GDP is currently calculated to address societal need to address poverty, health, the acceleration of global warming. And just as important to embed a practice of transparency that calls oversights by companies not exercising precaution where the recent BP Oil Spill and Pacific Electric and Gas safety oversights cost lives, human health and destroyed local economies.

Lavinia Weissman is a respected CSR & Sustainability Journalist and Practitioner. Her work passion for Sustainability emerged from her work experience in investments, health care and organizational behavior. Her past career included following trends in investments, health care, downsizing, virtual work practices and knowledge management. Lavinia is a Sustainability Leadership Coach and mentor through the EthicalMarkets.com Sustainability Research Group. As a passionate writer examining and questioning the intersection of business on society and health, she offers her lively analysis and thinking her blog AboutWorkEcology. Her passion is to influence change in society and business to inspire youth to see a future of opportunity and healthy living.

green urban planning

international community development

microfinance

investment research on sustainable companies.

Mary is fully aware of the building industry’s impact on the environment and has dedicated her professional career to innovative design methods to constitute change by transforming the ways buildings are designed, planned and constructed. Her MSLS education has added another layer to her knowledge base and provided her with tools to help lead the movement toward global sustainability.

During her Master’s dissertation, she collaborated with Dublin City Council’s Planning Department in Ireland and utilized the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development – a whole‐systems tool for planning in complex systems – to create an ideal, envisioned urban planning process. This was measured against an analysis of current planning practices resulting in recommended actions to help Dublin City Council move toward a more sustainable future.

Though the majority of her experience relates to the building and facilities industry, she is interested and capable of expanding into a broader strategic realm, working towards being a leader that brings positive change in many capacities from buildings, operations, to cities, businesses and governments.

I am a graduate of Antioch University McGregor’s Community Change & Civic Leadership program, focusing on environmental justice and urban agriculture/community gardens. My capstone project concentrated on employing the visual medium of collage to facilitate a discussion about environmental justice. In addition, I wrote a paper on the topic of collage as social commentary in art and history. My previous degrees are in film and video, and history. I am certified as a permaculture designer; as well as hold certification as a LeadershipPlenty trainer through the Pew Partnership for Civic Change.

I would like to first work for the management of a community\’s local currency, then oversee the management. I would then take the experience to other neighborhoods interested in establishing local currencies. As my expertise develops, I would work for a networked organization of local currencies before representing the interest on a national level. The pinnacle of my career will involve me at the international level of monetary reform.

I have decided that monetary economics holds the most potential to strengthen cooperation, public engagement, and financial distribution. If the creation of money is publicized, and maintained as a centralized, debt based system, citizens would be able to influence interest rates, and the revenue from the interest could be used for public works. When Julius Ceasar did this in Rome, many public facilities were constructed.

If the creation of money is localized, community organizations could decide how much local currency to distribute, and banks could be run as non profits, allowing wealth to remain distributed. Local currencies also encourage local purchases, increasing social affiliation with supply and consumption, and diminishing social alienation.

The social transformation that public monetary system could have would be inspiring. It would have the potential to diminish a culture of self-focused competitiveness into greater cooperation and concern for one another\’s well being and goal achievement.