Reputation reward for ethical firms: CSR adds to prestige - and the bottom line

摘要

Social responsibility or charity and philanthropy? Unilever, which has been operating in Indonesia since 1933, has set itself three huge goals to achieve by 2020: 1. halve the environmental footprint of its products; 2. help more than a billion people to take action to improve their health and wellbeing; and 3. source 100 percent of its agricultural raw materials in a sustainable way. Many companies in Indonesia have implemented various corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, whether they are related to the business or not. The questions that arise are: 1. What differentiates community development, charity, and philanthropy from a CSR program? 2. Which of these can support company sustainability? Answers are not easy to find, because all activities related to community development, charity or philanthropy that start to grow in Indonesia are still dedicated to the community or environment in the surrounding area where the company is located. Mostly, these activities are not connected to the triple bottom line (financial, social and environmental aspects), which is the key to sustainable development and also opportunity, innovation and competitive excellence.