Corporate Social Responsibility and where we think its heading

“Hypocricy is the first step to real change” (Anon. interviewee)

“At the end of the day, sustainability all it’s doing, what you want it to do, is to make different decisions to what you would have made at crucial points previously. If you are doing lots of sustainability assessments, but you still make the same decisions about how you roll out a project or where you put your dollars, and that sort of thing, then you are not really achieving anything” (Anon. interviewee)

"Relative to their size, they (SMEs) are probably doing as much or more as larger companies, it is just they don’t communicate about it. They don’t have the annual reports etc." (Anon. interviewee)

“It’s like being caught with your hand in cookie jar…instead of stop stealing cookies, you learn how to behave in an eloquent way each time you get caught” (Anon. interviewee)

The image and quote below are a bit extreme, but the point needs to be made: much of what we have seen labelled as CSR is not making the real contribution to creating a sustainable future. Without an understanding of the root causes of the problems; without a deeper level of commitment to transformational change; and without a strong sense of direction & vision of 'success', many CSR initiatives fail to be effective...