Companies must think beyond CSR, thunders Puma CEO
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Corporate Social Responsibility has been slammed as an “obsolete idea” and only the start point for companies and brands to play their part in helping the environment, by Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz.
Zeitz (pictured) said: “We need a fundamental paradigm shift in the way we think and act beyond CSR” when delivering the keynote speech at the FTArcelorMittel Boldness in Business Awards yesterday (16 March).
“CSR is an obsolete idea and we cannot delegate responsibility to one department. We have to do more good rather than just less bad.”
He said: “We corporations are part of the problem because our current economic model that was organised in the industrial revolution is not working with but against nature.”
He pointed out that many shareholders were beginning to ask companies to behave in even more sustainable ways and added that “a bold business is one that takes sustainability into the centre of its mission.”
Readers' comments (3)
Justine Clement | Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:04 am
Unilever are leading the way on this but it's absolutely true, so few corporations really give a genuine hoot about how they act, how their suppliers operate and how that impacts society. As you say, it goes way beyond CSR and straight into the heart of the entire business. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up and say you're going to really take a stand. Hopefully where Unilever succeed and reap the subsequent rewards, others will begin to take heed.
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Jeff Mowatt | Thu, 17 Mar 2011 5:27 pm
Indeed. You'll find a lot on a people-centered model for the information age online. In our work to leverage social change in Ukraine we proposed that the proceeds from reprivatising the Kryvorizhshta steel works in the sale to Mittal be used the funding of homes for all children.
We began with a white paper describing an alternate paradigm and our funder now presents to the Economics for Ecology conferences on the issue.
http://www.p-ced.com/1/projects/ukraine/sumy/
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Frederic Page | Sat, 26 Mar 2011 2:55 pm
Who said that CSR had to be delegated to one department? What is obsolete is not CSR, it's Mr Zeitz's idea of CSR. Anyway, as many companies got CSR wrong from the beginning, considering that it was: illegal or insincere (Milton Friedman), charity or philanthropy (US), a problem of compliance (Europe), it's maybe time to move on. I simply hope that the concept of sustainability will be better understood, as Mr Zeitz seems to believe that it is related to environment only, forgetting that companies impact (good or bad) also affect the society and the economy
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