Guideposts

The year 2012 marks the second decade of the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility. This year, the Forum will tackle the twin topics of social innovation and social entrepreneurship.

These topics build on a decade’s worth of research and conversations.

The first decade of the Forum marked an evolution of both the concept and practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as the network of cooperating individuals and organizations involved in the work of the Asian Institute of Management’s RVR Center for CSR.

In the beginning, the Forum sought to better define the concept of CSR, especially in relation to Asian cultures and economies. Over time, the discussions moved on to the better understanding of the rationale for CSR. The emerging consensus around CSR has been that there is clearly an approach to it that is able to balance the seemingly conflicting demands of the modern corporation’s multiple stakeholders.

More recently, the Forum’s markets have turned to a much more practical question: How? In response, the AIM RVR Center for CSR last year published “Towards Strategic CSR: a Manual for Practitioners.” Prof. Felipe B. Alfonso, executive director of the Forum and former president and dean of AIM, explains in the preface: “The CSR Manual was conceived during the 2010 Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Delegates of the conference expressed their interest in a process that integrates CSR into their operations and business strategy. During the plenary and special interest sessions of the Forum, their questions focused on the application of the theories.”

The manual was well received by practitioners from many countries. The Center is now working toward an electronic publication by the third quarter of 2012.

In a message, Ramon V. del Rosario Jr., Center chair and Phinma president and CEO, states that the manual “provides a no-nonsense approach on CSR and translates CSR concepts and terms into basic managerial principles.”

In the preface, Professor Alfonso explains the objectives and approach of the manual: “The CSR Manual addresses this concern by providing both theoretical frameworks and practical exercises. The frameworks were developed from actual research projects. The practical exercises, on the other hand, are composed of worksheets to provide practitioners with the ‘how to’ in applying CSR in their companies. The CSR Manual provides its readers with a practical guide starting from assessing their internal and external environment, formulating a CSR strategy, implementing the CSR programs, to evaluating the progress of their CSR initiatives.

“This Manual is a comprehensive guide for responsible businesses in aligning CSR into their operations and embedding it into the organization. Each framework is followed by a series of worksheets to help its readers adapt Strategic CSR, for practitioners to better understand the theories behind the practice. This CSR Manual is a practical reference guide for all companies—depending on size, structure and industry.”

The manual was designed to allow the practitioner to achieve the following objectives:

Assess the company’s business footprint and stakeholders’ concerns, issues and influences.

Formulate a CSR strategy that is aligned with its business and social objectives, and takes communication, engagement and partnership opportunities into account.

Create an implementation plan that includes the elements of context, content, actor and processes.

Develop a plan for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of CSR programs based on identified objectives.

At the heart of the manual is a series of worksheets that begin with a review of external influences and business situation and end with worksheets for creating and developing a plan for implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The Center’s aim is for the manual to be as widely used as possible. Interested parties may check the AIM RVR CSR Center’s site: www.rvr.aim.edu or e-mail [email protected].

Prof. Maya Herrera is a member of the faculty of the executive education programs of the Asian Institute of Management and a research fellow of the AIM RVR Center for CSR. She is a contributor to the books “Doing Good in Business Matters” and “The World Guide to CSR.” She is also an actuary and a columnist, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and a PhD in organization development. E-mail her at [email protected]. An archive of her professional work may be found at www.mayaherrera.com<https://www.mayaherrera.com/>