Media scandals promote CSR

Negative publicity make companies take social responsibility

Media scandals often make companies take social responsibility, says Assistant Professor Anne Roepstorff, the author of the book 'CSR - Virksomheders sociale ansvar som begreb og praksis ('CSR - companies' social responsibility as a concept and in practice’).

- It has turned out that a lot of the companies who work with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), have initiated the work as a consequence of a media scandal. IKEA has done it, Novo Nordisk has done it and it is highly likely that the oil company BP will assign a much higher priority to CSR than before because of the oil spill in the Mexican Gulf, says Anne K. Roepstorff from the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Not only thinking of profit

In short, CSR breaks away from the notion that companies are only focusing on profit. When a company develops a CSR policy, both society and social and environmental issues must be taken into account when preparing strategies and plans of action. For instance, a manufacturing company like Nike must ensure that their running shoes are not made by child workers who work for Far-Eastern suppliers.

BP – what happened to responsibility?

BP's pollution of the Mexican Gulf, which could/could not have been avoided, is an example of a media scandal, which will torment the image of BP for a long time. And a researcher with interest in CSR finds it quite interesting how this company chooses to handle this situation - will CSR be promoted or will the company continue to operate their business as before?

Shell vs. BP

Anne K. Roepstorff emphasises that the oil spill course of events actually questions whether BP is going to attach importance to CSR strategies.

- At first, it looks like BP has chosen to focus on profit instead of the environment from a CSR point of view. It doesn't seem like BP is prioritising CSR very much. Both the actual oil spill and the following handling of the case prove it. If you draw a comparison to Shell, who has experienced a similar firestorm, you will see that Shell established a clear CSR strategy in the aftermath. It has kept them from playing the leading role in similar media scandals, says Anne K. Roepstorff.

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Read the whole story 'Media scandals promote CSR development' in the newsletter "Insights@cbs". You can also read an interview with Professor Henrik Holt Larsen about human resources – a hard-tried area due to the financial crisis. We also tell the story about Heidi Boye, who have studied what lies behind the Danes' excessive consumption of unhealthy food.

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