Profits and CSR Closely Linked: Report

Dec 18, 2012 10:00 AM ET
Campaign: GE Citizenship

Profits & CSR Closely Linked - Report

A global survey of corporate social responsibility executives within the Fortune 1000 organisations has revealed that profits and CSR are closely linked, and many businesses evaluate the relationship between these two variables when developing strategy.

The report by corporate and investor relations firm Adam Friedman Associates also found that some executives believe the CSR function may disappear altogether as corporations begin to absorb CSR into all aspects of their business and make it a part of every employee’s responsibilities.

The report says as companies begin to assess and measure the effects their CSR programs have on the business’s reputation, CSR may increase in both scope and importance.

Bob Corcoran, the Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at General Electric (GE) said: “I would submit that there is a correlation that the more embedded and real it (CSR) is or becomes in a corporation the smaller the CSR organization is because it is embedded in the muscle tissue of the company. When you see larger separate groups doing it in a company, I think it’s more likely that you’ll see white corpuscles in the corporation working to reject it because it’s somebody else doing it and it’s not my job.”

Continue reading about the link between profits and CSR on Pro Bono Australia.