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November 18, 2008
Businesses need to think creatively about social responsibility challenge the operating principles of their sector, said Cheryl Kernot during a recent speech to CSR Managers from some of Australia's top corporations.
Kernot, Director of Teaching and Learning at CSI, was the keynote speaker at the packed November 6 event, organised by Social Innovation EXchange and InnovationXchan
She discussed how corporate social responsibility tends to focus on business sustainability through conservation and ecological practise with the focus on individual and community social impact following later.
Kernot gave pertinent local examples to inspire the audience towards greater action. These included TNT's alliance with Disability Works Australia to employ disabled people and Westpac's partnership with the government to launch its indigenous loan schemes for small businesses.
Examples of social enterprise and responsibility among UK and international corporations helped to highlight the possibilities of taking social responsibility beyond public relations and integrating it into businesses' operations and supply chains. The pioneering case of Grameen Bank challenged the traditional banking operating principle that collateral was necessary to secure a loan, thereby reaching new customers who would formerly have been denied access.
UK examples included the innovative supply chain relationship between HSBC Bank and Green Works, an organisation which removes surplus or unwanted office furniture, refurbishes and redistributes it to schools, charity, schools and start-up businesses. When HSBC were establishing new headquarters, HSBC employees took the initiative to lobby management to minimise waste of the company's redundant office furnishings. Green Works took the company's old furnishings, not only benefiting new recipients of the furniture and Green Works' marginalised workforce, but also helping reduce landfill.