Corporate Social Responsibility — is it more than lip service?

As pleased as I am that there is enough concern within many major corporations that they actually claim to address their social responsibilities, and even have Corporate Responsibility Officers to prove it, it seems the whole thing may be more thunder than lightning. (A reference to Mark Twain’s observation: “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.” -- which also happens to be the inspiration for Catalyst’s logo.)

My skepticism comes from the fact corporate social responsibility is deemed an “industry”. And the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association claims that it is now a $37 billion industry. Genuine corporate responsibility should not be a mega industry, it should be a fundamental way of life for a business.

If it were a way of corporate life, one would think the company’s social responsibility performance would be relatively consistent year in and year out. Apparently that’s not true. -- at least based on the results of the CRO Association’s very own evaluations. The association annually compiles a “100 Best” list for corporate responsibility. Of the 100 Best for 2008, only 21 were repeats from 2007. That doesn’t say much for it being a way of life — except maybe for 21%. In the nine years the rankings have been done, just three companies have consistently made the top 100. Only three! So giving credit where credit is due, this exclusive group is Intel, Cisco, and Starbucks —ranked 1, 14, and 35 respectively in 2008.

We can only hope that the real reason for the lack of repeating top 100 corporations is the unbelievably stiff competition.