Organisations with vision

How do you recognise organisations with corporate vision? Is the organisation’s corporate social responsibility policy produced as a result of commercial one-upmanship or as a result of deep ethical foundations within the organisation?

Politicians are in a cycle of ever increasing their environmental credentials over and above their opponents, but does this encourage voters to actually change the environmental impact of their personal lifestyle? Nearly every day corporations and business organisations are declaring their worthiness with regard to social responsibility, food safety, environment impact, personnel health, safety and welfare, fair trade and ethical supply chains in a variety of reports and policy statements. Third party standards have also been developed that address many of these issues and organisations continue to increase the portfolio of certificates that they display in their reception areas and on their websites. What impact does all this have on the purchasing decisions of the consumers of their products and services?

Mahatma Gandhi said that "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind..." so does this suggest that the constant declaration of improved and enhanced corporate ethical credentials leaves consumers and customers non-plussed? Does the psychology of we will worry about the environment, employee health and safety, etc. when you do, leave us all inactive and weaken organisations by increasing their business risk? Consumers and customers must be able to trust the integrity of organisations and their brands and if this is based on claims and statements of intent then these criteria must be measurable otherwise performance cannot be verified and ultimately that trust may be lost.

There are a growing number of organisations where ethical standards are embedded in goals and organisational aspirations, organisational and departmental structure, job descriptions, and brand marketing is firmly based on these standards where actual performance can be measured and verified. Organisations that produce policies and associated reports without such foundations run the risk of undermining the very equity of their brands.