Why CSR does not work

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The CORE Coalition and Save the Children have published a report on why CSR does not work. I recommend reading the press release, even if you don't get to the whole thing. The report says that:

"voluntary initiatives alone are wholly inadequate as a means of improving the lives of children. This is because they fail to be enforced and because they attract only a small sub-section of companies in each sector."

Whilst corporations believe they have a legal duty to maximise profit that will be true. The fact that they don't have such a duty is neither here nor there. They say they do, and papers like the Daily Mail reproduce that claim as a result (I saw such a reference today in that rag, giving Burberry an excuse for closing its plant in South Wales). It's a convenient cover for exploitation, however you look at it, and children are amongst the many groups who suffer as a result of the greed promoted under the guise of that excuse.

It's why mandatory Codes are needed - a like an IFRS for the Extractive Industries. And it's why the UK government failed all UK subjects when it allowed profit to remain at the core of the legal duty of a director's responsibilities in the Companies Act 2006. The reality is profit is not the core objective of a company, never is, and never can be. But it's a fantastic way of denying your responsibility to society. So abuse will continue for the time being at least.


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