Enterprises and Government: A possible dialogue

According to the proposal, a dynamic “Office for Innovation in CSR” in the US would help ensure that the federal government not only leads and assists the business sector to integrate the best practices in governance, transparency and management of environmental and social issues, but also that it incorporates this focus on sustainability throughout its own agencies. They suggest this office be based in the Domestic Policy Council, and work closely with the National Economic Council and the National Security Council to ensure appropriate inter-agency coordination on both the domestic and international fronts. In addition, they suggest that the leadership of this effort be comprised of staff with professional experience in corporate social responsibility approaches and an ability to forge partnerships between government agencies, and with the private sector.

Certainly, there a number of cases that show that government is interested in promoting CSR. For example, in May 2008, the Danish government presented its action plan for Corporate Social Responsibility. The action plan contains a total of 30 initiatives in four key areas:

1. Propagating Business-driven Social Responsibility. The Danish Government wants to strengthen reporting on CSR by large businesses, and provide knowledge and tools for working with business-driven CSR based on internationally recognised principles (for instance, United Nations Global Compact).

2. Promoting Busines Social Responsibility through Government Activities. It also intends to heighten focus on social responsibility in connection with state purchasing, investments and state-owned public limited companies.

3. Corporate Sectors Climate Responsibility. It wants to underpin the active role of business in meeting global climate challenges, by reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in their own and suppliers businesses.

4. Marketing Denmark for Responsible Growth. Finally, it wants to initiate targeted international marketing of Denmark as a centre of responsible growth. These activities aim at helping Danish businesses reap greater benefits from CSR work.

Currently, when uncertainties are part of a managers daily activities, the role of government in promoting CSR is stronger than in the past. This is why these initiatives are more important in a time of crisis.

However, some governments, instead of reinforcing CSR practices among businesses, are creating obstacles. For instance, nowhere is the gap between the public and private spheres more evident than in compliance systems for labour standards in developing countries. While national labour ministers dispatch official inspectors, global brands send in-house or external auditors to many of the same factories. Rarely do these two auditing systems intersect, especially lamentable because the two systems are pursuing the same basic goals: more stringent and worker-management remediation systems; and, better conditions for workers, their families and communities.

But who should convene this ministerial-brand dialogue? Pilot projects might begin at the national level in some cases. The International Labour Organization, with its tripartite government-employer-union governance structure, might play a useful umbrella role by enabling the sharing of information and exchange of best practices.

It is time for government and for global brands, and their organizations, to get out of their bunkers and engage in dialogue. Engagement between these actors is the natural step to avoid duplication of efforts, increase coverage of workers, share resources, enhance efficiencies and reduce costs. All of this tends to improve competitiveness among enterprises.