NASSCOM Foundation,the social development arm of NASSCOM in collaboration with Dr. Wayne Visser,Founder & Director CSR International,organized a value enhancing workshop on CSR,Marketing and Communications in New Delhi. NF works towards fostering corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the IT-BPO industry in India. Its endeavor is to further structure the CSR of its member companies,and amongst other efforts,has initiated CSR forums across the country. The workshop was the first of its kind in Delhi and was also part of a 30 country 'CSR Quest' World Tour by Dr. Visser,to share best practices in corporate sustainability and responsibility. According to Dr. Wayne Visser,continuing with an old approach to corporate social responsibility,where CSR is not part of business strategy,is dangerous as it will not solve problems that CSR was initiated for. He stated "CSR has undoubtedly had many positive impacts,for communities and the environment. Yet,its success or failure should be judged in the context of the total impacts of business on society and the planet. Viewed this way,on virtually every measure of social,ecological and ethical performance that we have available,the negative impacts of business have been an unmitigated disaster,which CSR has failed to avert or substantially moderate. One of the shifts we should achieve in CSR is to stop looking at it only as philanthropy. Relying on philanthropy is not going to solve the problems,we need to change CSR to be far more integrated into all functions,it needs to be flexible,two-way communication with stakeholders,which involves real-time innovation and is far more scalable." This informative workshop,involving over twenty-five CSR professionals from NASSCOM member companies,broadly re-defined CSR and its relevance in current organizational strategy. It covered how to create sustainable and responsible businesses,how cause-related marketing can improve sales,how to plan an effective public relations campaign,how CSR should be at the heart of businesses,what makes good CSR reporting,and what ethical marketing and businesses are all about and more. The first session began with establishing that CSR is not what you do with your money,but how you are making it. Dr. Visser further shared widely accepted definitions of CSR and detailed on the CSR pyramid. He emphasized on the importance of practicing corporate social responsibility by organizations in today's world and communicating the same through various channels. He pointed out the importance of CSR in public as it helps the companies build an optimum image in the minds of the public and brand equity. This was followed by a discussion about how we can define stakeholders and the role they play in helping us define our CSR approach and thus message. An exciting activity using a very popular multi-national restaurant chain brought out,from the participants,the importance and methodology behind good PR and communications keeping CSR in mind. The next session mainly focused on cause related campaigns and understanding the nature of the bottom of pyramid and its importance in today's world from a marketer's point of view. This was supported by the facts and figures from the mobile phone industry. A short video on Dr. Visser's interview with Grameen Bank's founder Prof. Muhammad Yunus presented views on the importance of social entrepreneurship and social business.
