Da Ethical Investor: un monito di Hugh Mackay ...'Don't promote CSR, just do it!'

www.ethicalinvestor.com.auDon't promote CSR, just do it! Hugh MackayBy Ross Kendall 2/3/2006
Good corporate citizenship cannot be just about commercial advantage and public relations, according to the social commentator Hugh Mackay, speaking at a function on behalf of disability service provider, Sunnyfield. Corporate social responsibility is not about doing good things because they will be good for business, it is not about the bottom-line or corporate image. If it is you're back in the corporate cycle,' he said. Moreover, advertising socially responsible values was in danger of becoming too popular, he said.Nothing diminishes virtue like trying to draw other people's attention to it. You're a good corporate citizen? Get on with it, then, don't brag about it. If we are doing the right thing for a commercial advantage, we've missed the point of good corporate citizenship. Ethics is not a business tool. If you want to improve the moral climate of your organisation, start building the sense of community both within the organisation and through connections to the community at large,' he said.The world of business was becoming more complex but too often companies hid behind notions such international competitiveness' and used them as an excuse to abandon responsible conduct, he said. The current Australian Wheat Board scandal was a case in point. Free-market proponents who argue that financial gains are the only worthy consideration have lost sight' of the core idea that inherent benevolence' sustains and makes communities possible, and it is only through communities that markets can be supported, he said. Mackay was speaking this week at the launch of a funding drive by Sunnyfield, a service provider for people with disabilities. The not-for-profit is raising funds for a capital program to invest in new facilities.Sunnyfield will be represented by actor and film maker, Rachel Ward OA, as the face of Sunnyfield' in its awareness campaign. Hugh Mackay is a psychologist, social researcher and writer. For the past 22 years he has been publishing his findings in the quarterly research series, The Mackay Report. Mackay has also written several novels and books, and is a weekly newspaper columnist