CSR is still mostly PR for business

I have to congratulate the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) for a successful conference on CSR last week. The Makati Shangri-La ballroom was full and an overflow crowd had to view the proceedings via monitors in the ballroom’s anteroom. There were a lot of students and some notable CEOs too. But at the end of what they called CSR week, I am afraid there is still more lip service to the CSR concept rather than having it ingrained in the DNA of local business.

I was troubled by the report of Marilou Erni of Petron who is also the Chairman of the LCF. She proudly gave what she called a Social Investment Report and garnished it with a lot of facts and figures. It is the figures that bothered me. I think Marilou thinks the local corporate world has already invested a bundle on CSR. I think her own figures show they have not gone beyond the pittance that they allocated even during the early days of PBSP. They have however, gotten more mileage than ever for every peso spent for CSR.

Let us take what Ms. Erni calls “the LCF’s flagship program in education – 57-75.”  According to her, this is “a private sector led campaign to help address the most urgent problems of Philippine education, reflected in the outrageously low passing rates of elementary school students in the National Achievement Test (NAT) which in 2006 was at 57 percent. They aim to bring this up to 75, the traditional pasang awa we knew during our time.

The 57-75 initiative advocates putting resources into efforts that actually lead to improvements in school and student performance, and community empowerment and engagement. The 57-75 initiative is being piloted in six areas: Pampanga, Guimaras, Iloilo City, Iligan City, San Isidro Nueva Ecija, and Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya.

Ms. Erni proudly reports that “after less than two years of implementation, 57-75 has generated over P30 Million in resources. The bulk of this is made up of local counterparts committed by partner local government units. The sites have created local education alliances, drafted local education plans for 2008-09, and increased commitment of local resources from 30 to 50 percent.”

Come again… did she say P30 million in two years with the bulk from partner local governments? That’s just P15 million a year and not all came from the corporate sector. So, how much did come from the corporate sector? Maybe, P7 million? That won’t even buy a BMW 7 series a CEO uses. I am sure that very CSR conference at Makati Shangri-La itself spent more than that.

I think the air of self congratulatory euphoria during the conference last week was premature. Whatever good the members of LCF may have accomplished have been rewarded more than enough by the PR mileage the group and the corporations themselves received. My reaction to the conference is simply, I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of the social problems this country has to address. I am also encouraged by the CSR efforts the corporate sector has started to embark on. But we still have a long way to go in understanding what true CSR is.

Actually, I believe it is time to separate CSR from PR, community relations and even good old fashioned philanthropy. As I had written in past columns, CSR is in the heart. It is in the DNA of a corporation. It is a way of life. It is the way to do business. It is not about filling up for the inadequacies of government. It is not simple philanthropy. Google captures the essence of true CSR in their corporate motto: do no evil.

CSR is about going about one’s business according to accepted ethical and moral norms. It is about doing one’s share in fighting corruption. It is about paying just wages. It is about caring for employee health and welfare. It is about treating suppliers fairly… paying bills on time. It is about caring for the quality of the natural environment in the course of operations. While it does cover current LCF efforts in uplifting the quality of local education, this should not be the tail wagging the dog. After all, corporations do this because it is to their advantage that they have a pool of qualified manpower at all times.

I guess, I am saying it is too early for self congratulations on the part of the corporate sector for their highly publicized CSR efforts. While everything they are doing for education, poverty alleviation and environmental preservation are welcome in the light of government ineptitude, sa totoo lang, they are still not doing nearly enough to make a real difference… just enough for bragging rights. They must not mistake a premature feel good feeling as a measure of success.

True CSR must be internalized by the corporation. Its principles must guide the corporation in the normal course of daily business. In the case of Petron for instance, Ms. Erni may be the top honcho in the CSR world of local corporate do-gooders but she apparently has little influence with her top management. Otherwise, why did it take so long for Petron to acknowledge responsibility for that tanker sinking before it launched a reluctant effort to help the people in Guimaras? Petron top management and lawyers were insisting for days after the accident they were not responsible for the consequences until Ate Glue stepped in and ordered them to do something regardless.

Another example, this time from abroad, is the case of Warren Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha. He famously donated $31 billion of his personal fortune to the foundation of Bill Gates so it could be used to save lives in Africa and educate ghetto children in American cities, among other good deeds. But three years ago, one of his insurance companies got involved in a questionable deal that led to the fall of the chairman of AIG.

Here is how the Christian Science Monitor reported it: “American business is facing yet another major scandal involving more accounting shenanigans… It involves a highly respected insurance company, American International Group (AIG) — which has now admitted to $1.7 billion in improper accounting. And, it has enveloped some legends in the financial arena: Maurice ‘Hank’ Greenberg, forced out as chairman of AIG, and Warren Buffett, the Omaha stock market guru, who will be questioned about his possible involvement.”

Slate, an online magazine owned by the Washington Post (where Buffett is a director) reports: “The Greenberg fiasco has dragged in Warren Buffett, because General Re, a subsidiary of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, was the other side of one of the suspect AIG transactions. Buffett is at best a peripheral player in the drama… This still may damage Buffett’s reputation. The folksy billionaire and investor par excellence is the self-appointed conscience of the American capitalist democrat. The spirit of the transactions, and Buffett’s public reaction to them, stand in stark contrast to what has come to be known as the Warren Buffett way.”

The scandal spared him from legal responsibility possibly because he cannot be expected to know every little detail in his many holdings. But it showed CSR isn’t ingrained in his companies’ DNA. I don’t know if the big donation washes off the dirt from a questionable business practice. If I just want to be pragmatic, I’d say it does because money can cure a lot of diseases and send a lot of children to school. But it still doesn’t sound right. 

If those technopreneurs in Google can manage to live by their motto to do no evil, that to me is CSR in its purest form… no bells and no whistles. As Google itself defines it, doing no evil is “about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.” It is a tough challenge for them as for anyone.

Our problem here is that CSR is being used mostly as a PR tool. While it is not wrong to make CSR enhance business image, don’t forget it is more of a philosophy, a way to see the world and how your business relates to it. CSR is about leaving the world a better place than you found it. It is, most of all, always in the heart… you always know when you are doing right through that little voice in your subconscious. That’s the only time you should feel good about yourself.

Wonder

Gilbert Jose forwarded this one.

Husband:  “Dear, to me... you are the 8th Wonder of the World!”

Wife: “You, son-of-a-bitch!! Don’t you ever, EVER, let me catch you with the other seven!”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]