Corporate Governance and

Social Responsibility

Presented By : -
Prashant Kumar Rai
Pravin Kumar Saini
Ss Suresh Kumar Yadav
sSURESHk Sachin Singh
A standard
definition…


Corporate governance is the

system through which a
company is directed and
controlled. The system consists
of checks and balances on,
oversight of, and appropriate
input into, the management of
the company, which is conducted
by its senior executives.
 Buying into social
responsibility
The importance of how companies manage social
responsibility across the whole of their
production process.
Benchmarks such as the UK's Business in the
Community Corporate Responsibility (supply chain ).
It should be of interest that the World Bank, with
Business for Social Responsibility, should
produce a report seeking to identify some of the
barriers to progress in responsible supply chain
management.
Cont…
The World Bank began with three challenges,
which it sought through this research to prove
or dismiss.
1.The plethora of individual buyer CSR codes is
now generating inefficiencies and confusion.
2.An increasing number of buyers are
recognising that traditional top-down CSR
strategies are not achieving improved CSR
implementation.
3.Suppliers have an insufficient understanding of
the business benefits associated with
making the required investments in CSR.
 Cont…


In the case of the first, it will amaze nobody

that its research broadly supported the
contention. There is a growing dissatisfaction,
not to mention frustration, at the growing
number of codes, standards and benchmarks.
In many areas, the requirements of codes have
converged of their own volition.
The second area is probably the most
contentious. Everyone knows the power of
the strong purchaser.
However, there's no doubt that suppliers don't
like this approach.
 Cont…
It is a very blunt tool, and can be extremely
confusing if almost every other signal that is
received from the buyer is that it is price alone
that makes the difference.
The third challenge might be instinctively be held
to be true.
It is important, therefore, for both buyers and
suppliers to undertake some investment in the
time and resources to thoroughly establish the
best reasons and processes for going forward.
The truth is that there are mixed perceptions of
the degree to which the business case actually
exists.
 Cont…
Even those buyers may feel they have been
pushed into their position by public pressure
from NGOs the validity of which they may reject.
So they cannot act as effective agents of change
within their supply chain.
The World Bank report was inconclusive in its
recommendations, noting that the consultees
were completely divided as to the best way
forward.
Some wanted to build the capacity of local NGOs,
civil society and business support organisations.
The survey, which covered the views of 194
individuals from 164 organisations provides
some interesting food for thought.
 Cont…
The views of the buyers and suppliers group from
that of the 'usual suspects' campaigning NGOs .
Not because the views of one group is more valid
than the other, but one suspects the differences of
perception were rather large and it would be
helpful to see them clearly drawn.
What are the models going forward? This is unclear.
The Better Banana Project - an initiative operated by
the Rainforest Alliance and its partners.
the Sustainable Agriculture Network, developing
guidelines with multiple stakeholders on the
certification of coffee, banana, cocoa, orange and
cut flower and fern farms.

 Cont…
As of 2002, 474 farms and cooperatives in Brazil,
Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Hawaii, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines have
been certified by the programme.
The International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI),
an industry group that has launched an effort to
create a common monitoring protocol for
factories in China producing toys for export.
This is an issue that will run and run.
Performance on responsible practice in the
management of supply chains will continue to be
an area of growth for the major buyers.
 Is CSR a movement for
change that is
 underachieving?
Corporate responsibility movement is hitting
against real limits because of the distance of
most initiatives from core business.
CSR is providing precious little in the way of a
substantial business contribution towards
tackling some of the most significant
development issues facing human kind.
New report by Sustainability, produced for the
Global Compact, called 'Gearing Up.
Companies have to shift their focus from individual
initiatives and programmes towards a more
effective global governance framework.
 Cont…
Takes an important step towards highlighting one
of the most difficult questions for the CSR
movement overall - what is it for?
That business had to invest in the health of society
in order to be able to carry out healthy, long-term
business.
Is CSR only worthwhile if it triumphs where
government, civil society, and communities
across the world have so far failed?
The implication of 'Gearing Up' is that CSR is the
business contribution to sustainable
development.
Companies need to foster progressive alliances
with other business actors.
 Cont…
The aim: to help scale up CR by linking into system
level change, particularly in governance
frameworks.
Corporate social responsibility is the business
contribution to sustainable development - can we
agree that the millennium development goals are
the priorities for action?
If CSR is now about core business - as surely it is -
this is where the focus now shifts.
So what's the business
case for corporate social
responsibility?
Either do or you don’t do.
Prove’ a business case for its main business
propositions all companies would be equally
successful .
The first of these is about risk management.
Within the broadest band of CSR, there are a
range of issues that can threaten the value and
future health of the company.
The second theme is to do with the identity of the
brand.
The relationship between individuals and brands is
more subtle than that. The reasons why one
feels favourably towards brands is made up of a
number of factors, of which direct experience is
 Cont…
But do need them to do the right thing when faced
with a challenge.
Another common theme is the impact on staff. All
companies are working hard to retain the best
and most talented staff, even those in positions
where they need to lose some overall numbers.
For some people, the presence of a business case
at all somehow diminishes the action being
taken. For them, only if the company is taking the
action for genuinely altruistic or community-
minded purposes does it ‘count’.
The values of the business helps to support the
value creation of the business then when times
get tough it is the last thing you would jettison.
 Cont…
That they can shop with the company again
without having to abandon their taste for style
and fashion.
That isn’t to say that there is never a situation
where the absence of a business case is not the
deciding factor. There is genuinely out there a
moral bottom line, and it is well for businesses to
be clear where it is.
What’s the business case for CSR’ you should
confidently and unapologetically tell them that
there isn’t one.