Companies have finally begun to understand the true importance of stakeholder engagement when it comes to CSR, and are now implementing various techniques to connect with these groups and learn from them.
A recent book – ‘Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value’ – goes deeper than any other we have seen in discussing this increasingly central CSR topic.
The main premise is that without a proper understanding of various stakeholders and how differently they may react to brands and CSR initiatives, many such efforts are bound to fail.
There are many valuable lessons in this book, but one particularly resonated with me. I have posted about this before: the concept of shared value as it applies to the stakeholder.
Below are a few interesting and relevant quotes from the book:
‘…for firms to gain value from their CSR efforts, those efforts must improve the lives of their stakeholders in significant ways.’
‘The most impactful CR activity is often that which provides compelling benefits to the stakeholder.’
‘Stakeholders increasingly want a deeper and ongoing dialogue than that afforded by detailed annual reports.’
‘It is important, then, for companies to educate stakeholders on the CR issues they are involved with.’
It is our firm belief that companies must now approach stakeholder engagement in a way that will add value both for the company and the stakeholder. A stakeholder who doesn’t benefit from a CSR effort will not reward the company for it.
There are many ways for stakeholders to benefit from a CSR effort. Some of these include knowing that your company is doing something positive (which can lead to increased job satisfaction); an initiative that allows you to spend company time doing something positive; or knowing that your purchase of a certain company’s products helps a particular cause.
At LGMi, we have long believed that communications can also provide a benefit to stakeholders – not just by relaying information about a CSR effort, but by doing so in a way which is stimulating, informative and educational.
We don’t mean advertising or greenwashing; we mean sharing information in an interactive way that places storytelling at its center. This provides an emotional learning experience that resonates and adds value.
This can only benefit the CSR effort and the brand as a whole. Today’s CSR communication efforts must no longer be measured solely based on the number of people reached, number of answers, number of hits or ‘Likes’, but also whether the recipients derived a personal value and obtained a psychological benefit that they can re-invest towards the greater good.
Leveraging Corporate Responsibility
The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value
C. B. Bhattacharya, European School of Management and Technology
Sankar Sen, City University of New York
Daniel Korschun, Drexel University, Philadelphia
