Material World Anniversary Debate Series 2006

MW instituted the Material World Anniversary Management/Tech Debate Series in 2004. The theme of the 1st in the series was “Good Managers Need Not Be B School Graduates” and the second was “For the Indian-Commerce Is A Far Off Dream”.

August 31, 2004 – Topic “Good Managers Need Not Be B School Graduates”

Chief Guest: Mr. Dipak Rudra, Fmrly, Transport Secretary, Govt of West Bengal
Speakers: Dr. G D Gautama, Principal IT Secretary, Govt of WB, Mr. D P Patra, Jt. MD, MCC PTA Corp Pvt Ltd, Mr. Santanu Bhattacharya, Executive Director (Materials), CESC Ltd etc.

August 31, 2005 – Topic “ For the Indian, E-Commerce Is A Far Off Dream”

Chief Guest: Prof (Dr.) Sujit Basu, Vice Chancellor, Vishwa Bharati University
Speakers: Ms. Preeti Desai, President, Internet & Mobile Association of India, Dr. G D Gautama, Principal IT Secretary, Govt of WB, Mr. Khokan Mookerji, Secretary General, Bengal Chambers of Commerce & Industry, D K Chaudhuri, CEO, Skytech Solutions, Dr. Abhijit Sen, Past President, Bengal Chambers etc.



MATERIAL WORLD ANNIVERSARY DEBATE SERIES 2006- August 31, 2006

For India Inc, Corporate Social Responsibility is Just another Jargon

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an expression used to describe what some see as a company’s obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all of the stakeholders- in its business operations -and that includes subsidiaries and affiliates, partners, local neighborhood, investors and shareholders.
CSR is closely linked with the principles of "Sustainable Development" in proposing that enterprises should be obliged to make descisions based not only on the financial factors but also on the social and environmental consequences of their activities.

CSR policies should ideally be built on transparency, stakeholder dialogue, and integrity in the conduct of business.

Today’s heightened interest in the proper role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to environmental and ethical issues. Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production leading to customers inconvenience or danger, are highlighted in the media. In many advanced nations government regulations regarding environmental and social issues have become stringent in recent years. Again, some investors and investment fund managers have begun to take account of a corporation’s CSR policy in making investment decisions. Further, some consumers have become increasingly sensitive to the CSR performance of the companies from which they buy their goods and services. These trends have contributed to the pressure on companies to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way. But is India Inc doing enough?

Internationally, many corporate houses now bring out annual reports describing how they fared on the environmental and social responsibilities front. McDonald, as an example, participates in the National Spring Clean Campaign and in 1989 they set up the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities. Among other things, this charity funds around 200 “Ronald McDonald Houses”, which provide free accommodation to the families of children in hospital. There other companies as well like BP, Body Shop, which report annually on environmental and social initiatives.

It is easy to imagine the improved standards our social environment could flourish in, when corporations overwhelmingly decide to step forward with investments in shouldering obligations on social investment more eagerly. Not that this ancient land is being exposed to the concept of corporate social responsibility for the first time. Or, the concept itself is a phenomenon being borrowed from the west ever since globalization has taken on the fast track. Ancient Indian history has innumerable instances of businessmen and traders taking up community benefit projects all on their own, to ensure that the community gets a share of the monetary gains businesses make, in the form of better life. Even Chanakya the economist, had advocated reinvestment of wealth in the community for social progress. So where and when did we Indians misplace our conscientious identity? Is it attitudinal indifference or is it simply the ignorance and nonchalance syndrome. Indian entrepreneurs have the best of corporate minds and stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest breed in the world. They are the living legends. They are not just industrialists but they are also men with a mission – to do good to society. But are they doing enough on this?

Industrial safety, supporting local development and combating poverty, AIDS and environmental stewardship are some of the critical challenges that India Inc face today.

CSR is a relatively new term to have found increasing international legitimacy as today’s way of doing business. In developing countries, this term is widely used by the corporate to convince the people that things have changed and that a new ethical global business practice is underway. However, the ground realities show that industry’s idea of ethical business has not changed much from the days of Union Carbide disaster of 1984. In March 2000, a leading MNC’s high profile India operations was found to have dumped over 300 MT of mercury outside its plant at Kodaikanal in South India (Source toxicslink.org)
On the other hand companies like Canon India says in its website that it understands its Social Responsibility as a good Corporate Citizen and endeavors to make meaningful contributions to the society in several areas like Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, Social Welfare and Conservation of Environment.

CSR, if applied in its true sense, can be an opportunity of bringing a level of accountability into the business.

For business associations & advertisements in Annual Offline (the MW e-zine) # 2 please call Silajit – 09433116526/ Dipannita – 9831213393or mail at events@materialworldind.com