Generally
speaking, corporations in Greece and other European countries
that strive to be good
corporate citizens do so under the flag of corporate social
responsibility (CSR). In the US, however, the CSR flag
and slogan are seldom used. In the US, a corporation's goodness
usually assumes one of the following three forms: corporate
philanthropy as cash and in-kind donations; the corporate
citizen serving all stakeholders; or individual
corporate executive philanthropy which constitutes donations
to charitable and social programs. Understanding these varied
approaches to social responsibility and giving can assist corporations
and businesses today as they strive to improve their products
or services and succeed in global markets. Moral capitalism is
one of their ultimate goals.
A
brief summary of each of the four approaches to CSR is outlined
below:
European
Corporate Social Responsibility
In
Greece and other EU countries, corporations have adopted the slogan
“Corporate Social Responsibility” as a designation for being a
socially responsible business with emphasis on the environment,
support of their employees, community involvement and social
justice . CSR businesses in Europe link this corporate flag
to their reputation and to customer and employee loyalty, but
especially to brand image and social justice .
Corporate
Philanthropy
US
corporations selectively target the charities or social programs
that they can best support and serve by contributing huge amounts
of tax-deductible cash donations. Annual gifting with
this approach surpasses US$1 billion worldwide, with enormous
donations from such philanthropic heavyweights as Ford Motor,
Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, and Citigroup.
The
Corporate Citizen
Another
strategy that U.S. companies utilize is to wave the flag of good
“corporate citizenship.” The good corporate citizen is more than
a mere producer of profits for shareholders: this entity serves
a variety of stakeholders . KLD Research & Analytics
in Boston calculates scores annually for the largest publicly-traded
companies by rating each one in the areas of community relations,
the environment, employee relations, diversity and cultural relations,
and social justice. A few of the top 10 on the 2000-2004 Best
Corporate Citizen List are Proctor and Gamble, Intel Corp.,
Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Starbucks.
Individual
Corporate Executive Philanthropy
In
the U.S., the top 50 philanthropic corporate executives in recent
years have donated a dizzying US$65 billion tax-deductible dollars
to charitable and social programs worldwide. Many of the contributions
address inequities that increasingly threaten domestic society,
global stability, and world peace. Among the top 50 of these generous
executives are Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Michael Bloomberg, Ted
Turner, Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Dell. Their assistance targets
worthy causes such as health and educational issues, encouraging
open and free societies, reproductive choices, the environment,
global security, and medical research.
Of
the four approaches outlined above, the US methods share some
characteristics that are not readily apparent. They stand in contrast
to the European CSR method, since brand image and social justice
in the EU are not generally tied to company performance. In the
US, the performance of a company is as important as obligatory
philanthropy. Among these three major U.S. approaches to giving,
however, are contrasting strategies and techniques whose selection
is determined by cultural philosophies on giving, tax codes and
regulations, the particular product or service of the individual
companies, marketing schemes and brand image, and degree of economic
freedom.
