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...organisational management, alternatively corporate governance, and the aims of effectively implemented recognised management standards. The methodology of which is based on the application of risk management.
The co-ordination and potential integration of business risk management systems is now potentially easier with the increasing convergence of standards. Business in the Community's increasingly influential index of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an alternative approach which uses these and other management systems as an indicator of probity in safety, environment and other areas.
Based on a survey and subsequent case studies of businesses operating within the UK, this paper seeks to examine the extent to which companies use and demonstrate their CSR through the use of recognised management standards, how companies evaluate and differentiate the decision-making process affecting their risk management activities and how accreditation to management standards that are integrated within CSR-focused activities have affected business performance.
* Corporate social responsibility
* Environmental
* Social
* Business
* Management
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CSR AND CSR-RELATED ACTIVITIES ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT for businesses, especially those with global remits and those wishing to trade on international stock markets. Corporate responsibility has become a differentiator and a type of licence to operate, not only for industries with conventionally higher risk exposure--energy, utilities, heavy manufacturing--but for all sectors (Middle-miss 2002: 10). Such importance has been noted by key business people, such as Lord Sieff, the former Chairman of Marks & Spencer plc who realised that 'business only contributes fully to a society if it is efficient, profitable and socially responsible' (Cannon 1992: 50).
The issue here is not whether companies should be responsible, what they should be responsible for or the fact that they should manage their risks but rather how they should demonstrate responsibility and, more importantly, how they co-ordinate and prioritise the decision-making processes, and the managed control of risk, to remain financially sustainable. In other words, for an organisation to be successful in this increasingly competitive market, managers have to balance the idea of being socially responsible with that of being financially viable. Many companies have established risk management systems in place, and many of these incorporate CSR issues within their risk evaluation process--but the degree to which this is covered differs.
The importance of CSR-related activity has also been enhanced by the increased use, and further development, of quality, health and safety and environmental standards such as ISO 9000:2000, OHSAS 18000 and ISO 14000. These standards, or their equivalent, are designed to provide a focal point of agreement or acceptance as to what is needed to fulfil a certain requirement (Henrique and Richardson 2004). Independently these standards help organisations to address their social responsibilities while providing a structured framework to ensure legislative compliance and opportunities for financial sustainability. The integrated effect is to provide organisations with a framework to address CSR. Organisations that have a working or an accredited quality, health and safety and/or environmental management system may take solace in the fact that such systems 'are consistent with CSR and its objectives' and that 'CSR can be advanced more rapidly in organisations if it can be incorporated in already established [total quality management] models, methodologies and change programs [sic]' (McAdam and Leonard 2003) and 'are thus [already] reflecting both ethical and business perspectives of CSR'. What is required for even greater effectiveness are clearer definitions of CSR elements, rigorous measurement of CSR activities, and a methodological approach to CSR auditing (Nakano 1999; Greening et al. 2000; Kok et al. 2001). What is clear...
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