What is a CSR enterprise?

A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) enterprise is an enterprise which voluntarily integrates social, environmental and economic concerns into its everyday operations and interactions with its partners (suppliers, clients, employees…) in order to achieve collective wellbeing. For example, the welfare of its employees, their health, the enterprise’s ecological footprint, the global quality of its supply chains, its subcontractors, limitation of profits, etc. This practice calls for a sound perception of the enterprise’s global environment, as well as the ability to maintain a balance between the interests of all of the stakeholders.

At this stage, it is essential that the enterprise formalize and incorporate the CSR plan within its statutes, ensuring that it does not simply pronounce its “corporate responsibility attitude” without actually changing the statutes. Indeed, how many businesses announce their social responsibility intentions both in the ecological and economic arenas, yet when the time comes to share out the wealth created, conveniently “forget,” during their Board Meeting or General Meeting, their “corporate responsibility attitude” - which they are nevertheless quick to publicize again immediately after!

Most of us readily acknowledge that our consumption and production practices are no longer in phase with the pursuit of collective wellbeing. Today’s economic model, based on absolute growth and seeking short-term profit alone; the climate of escalation which is encouraged to a large extent by speculation as we know it and which affects a multitude of areas of activity; and the awareness of ever-growing waste production and pollution which is affecting all of the ecosystems - all these factors indicate that this particular economic model has reached its limits.

Tomorrow, it will no longer suffice to go and produce any old consumer product on the other side of the world. The reasons for this are straightforward and commonsense. Firstly, living standards are going to balance out and therefore labor costs will become less attractive. Secondly, the advantages of offshore production will be increasingly undermined by the economic and ecological footprint of transportation costs.
Inevitably, the production site is going to have to move closer to the place of consumption. All parties involved in the production and supply chains will be increasingly required to adhere to sustainable consumption regulations, both on the ecological and economic fronts.
Furthermore, the social devastation we are currently facing demonstrates the absolute necessity for businesses to integrate the individual as a contributor towards their development, by no longer taking their decisions based solely on their shareholders and customers. They will have to replace the law of profit alone for the shareholder by that of collective wellbeing.

Companies governed by CSR principles will be some of the leading players to actively take part in these changes we will all be facing.