Responsible Business Guide: A Toolkit for Winning Companies

APPENDIX – CSR ASSISTANCE PARAMETERS
Pakistan’s CSR Context
· A lack of trust is still widely evident between businesses and key stakeholders in government
and civil society
· Senior management still favor the so-called “Check-writing” model of community investment
· Philanthropy and CSR are still considered the same thing by business decision-makers
· Grants by companies to various causes are by and large driven by personal “chemistry”
or intuition rather than through a process of prioritization
· Response in such situations is not determined by beneficiary need but by influence
· Senior management of companies focus on “low hanging fruits” or social investments that
will be visible and generate an image boost for the company rather than mitigate some
serious problem
· In the case of smaller companies simply surviving in a competitive environment CSR is
pushed down as a strategic priority
· Also, because of an excessive emphasis on Buyer Codes business executives tend to focus
more on compliance sometimes to the extent that the act itself becomes a challenge to
CSR values
· And perhaps the most insidious of all is the steady onslaught of so-called “CSR consultants”,
who perpetuate myths, communicate conflicting or short-term values, emphasize “quickfix”
solutions instead of changing thinking, and generally end up muddying waters
This means a serious gap in evidence-led decision-making, or worse, a lack of knowledge of basic
concepts or definitions for effective CSR. These serious shortcomings are mirrored in the kind
of skill-sets we often seek in aspiring CSR professionals.