Social responsibility values

Before accepting Heskett et al. s model as a basis to build upon, some other considerations are required. We have seen a number of important considerations take on increasing importance in the business environment. Healthcare is a business this is more obvious in some countries than it is in others—those without a social welfare system that includes a measure of state provided health services—and within which an important partner/ supplier is the health insurance provider. Both sectors are cognizant of the impact of their role on the socioeconomic fabric of the environment within which they operate. Accordingly we should modify Heskett et al. s model [17] to include this increasingly important consideration see the following socially responsible value equation ... 

The development of social responsibility can be seen as a dialectic between intrinsic (personal values) and extrinsic motivations (external pressures). This dialectic occurs at all three levels. 

The spirit of postmodernism demands that applied chemical science recognize its social responsibilities it is not sufficient to manufacture chemical products for a hungry market with optimum economic efficiency. To remain viable, the method of manufacture and the properties of products must be consistent with the public s expectation of respect for human values. 

The third level is dealing with different worldviews, social values and concepts of good life . This is the case when quality of life is a part of the risk assessment and the search for appropriate risk management options. Here, neither scientific expertise nor discursive competence and openness are sufficient. The main issues are trust and social responsibility. 

In Europe, calls for increased disclosure got a boost in 2001 when the Association of British Insurers (ABI), a 400-member trade association of Britain s insurance industry, issued new guidelines. The ABI members account for more than 20 percent of stockmarket investment in London. These guidelines ask companies to disclose information about the social, environmental, and ethical risks and opportunities they face and how they plan to handle them. ABI officials say the guidelines represent an important opportunity for investors and companies to work together both to protect shareholder value and improve their understanding of corporate social responsibility (see www.abi.org.uk). 

Pressures from Employees. Employees want to be paid well, with competitive wages and salaries, benefits, and increasingly, stock. They want the resources to do their jobs well. And, equally important, they want an employer who treats them fairly and with respect and values their knowledge and different life experiences. Employee perceptions about how a company accepts and manages its social responsibilities are also increasingly part of employee decisions about where to work. Furthermore, unions and related institutions put pressure on companies to reform their labor practices to meet global labor standards. 

BASF, Values Create Value, BASF Social Responsibility Report 2001, BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany, 2001. 

C. A. Hemingway and P. W. Maclagan, Managers Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility, Journal of Business Ethics, 50(1), 33-44 (2004). 

Special Features Workplace and environmental performance criteria. ICCR is the first major standard of corporate social responsibility movement to build a portfolio of holdings based on CSR criteria. The combined portfolio value now exceeds 110 billion. 

We are motivated by a desire to be better better corporate players, more socially responsible, creating fewer negative impacts and more positive benefits from our actions as well as those of others constituting our value chain , improving the quality of life in our communities, protecting our children s quality of fife in the future. If this book offers insights into how to move closer to any of these, we have accomplished our mission. Please take as many of these ideas as you wish, expand upon them, and use them. That will be the ultimate test of the success of this endeavor. 

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