Corporate branding, CSR fundamentals to business boom
Mozidur R Biswas :
In the wide horizon of the business world, it is virtually impossible to separate the connections and dependencies that exist between social sustainability and responsibility, and ethical business practices.
Some accept it readily whilst others reluctantly but corporations’ social and environmental obligations have moved to the centre stage that we call these days ‘good business practices’.
It put enormous pressure on how businesses should operate and thus help establish a sense that healthy business and healthy society are mutually dependent.
With the increasing concern about global environment, as well as corporate social responsibility, companies are bound to integrate environmental good practices and social obligations within their overall corporate strategy. Harmony with the environment, harmony with society and respect for the people have now become a new business mantra.
As to any customer, the understanding of a corporate brand is familiarity, clarity, reliability, understanding the brand’s personality, brand values and higher reputation. If a company is well known in the community, having good ethical business practices then we are all happy to be their customers.
The company can further strengthen its brand reputation by engaging more in social and environmental obligations and the effect would be even stronger if the customers are already familiar with the company products and services.
The importance of underlying brand values is immense, for example the values that your company stands for, how these values could be achieved, and how you are going to be different from other companies who are already operating in the same sector and appropriate responses to any disregard to these values.
In my view, brand values simply cannot exist without considering any sustainability and social responsibility issues as businesses fundamentally depend on the environment and society where they operate. Customers think about the company first, then the cost before they choose to buy any products.
Till now, scant attention has been given to linking branding and sustainability issues in general. However, companies are very keen on integrating sustainability within their core business practices, because those have realised that it brings added value and provides not only financial benefits, but also enhances product innovation, strengthens company’s reputation, mitigates risks, and increases employee and customer satisfaction.
Integration of sustainability with corporate branding will attract customers who have been looking for products having the least environmental impacts, high quality and durability and, moreover, will fulfil customers’ immediate demands at reasonable costs.
Car companies like Honda and Toyota Prius and many others, have heavily invested in fuel efficient cars, which provide their customers with ‘more miles from less fuel’ in the face of ever-increasing fuel prices, leading to less pollution – a win-win situation for all the parties that are involved.
With that end in view, companies must continue their sustainability mission on a long-term basis. All of a sudden they cannot abandon their brand values saying ‘it was a short term venture to capture the market and we will again go back to the old ways of doing businesses.
This would have the most damaging effects on brand images, which no doubt will cascade down the level of customers who may choose to switch over to alternative products from other companies.
Therefore, a company’s brand values are not only the present ones; rather it’s the company’s ability to stay in the market for a long time and keep generating revenue for them. And it is only possible if companies are committed to meaningful long-term contributions towards sustainability and social responsibility issues.
We are living in an era when social consciousness is evolving rapidly throughout the world. In the midst, companies are effectively pressurised to integrate social obligations with their underlying brand values.
It’s no longer acceptable if the companies simply define themselves who they are and what they make; instead, it is very important to have environmental, cultural and social policies embedded in the company’s mission, vision and values. A company’s bad motives on social responsibility will undermine its ability to promote the brand.
Although child labour is still common in many countries but it has recently become a widely discussed topic. Companies have to make statement that they are fully compliant with prohibiting child labour in their domestic and overseas production sites, also make sure that entire supply chain is free from these contemptible practices.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has been ratified by almost all states worldwide, requires States to ‘recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development’ (Convention on the rights of the child, Article 32.1). Imagine the consequences if it is embedded in any company brand particularly on children toys which are made by children.
But in reality, we find various mismatches of the fundamental elements in the business world, especially in less developed (LDC) middle income and also in developing countries in South Asian regions.
In view of the diminishing presence of the vital elements of ’Corporate branding, sustainability and social responsibility’ the name and fame in terms of quality, of products, in many ways, diminish and in the process, business hardly flourish to the expected extent and rise to the occasion to meet the ever rising satisfaction of the customers here and there.
Thus, the ethical side of business dynamics has to be honoured by the owners of business houses, if they want to grow their business venture to face the rising competition in line with global changes.
(The writer is a senior journalist & media analyst).
