The View from the Boardroom - UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

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The View from the Boardroom - CEO Study on Corporate Social Responsibility in Trinidad and TobagoCHAPTER 2Government, Consumers and Employees – The Drivers of CSR“I would like to see thestate’s role more in moralsuasion than in regulationin that if you don’tparticipate we can makeyou feel bad but we won’tmake you feel that you areobligated to. Your peerpressure, your communitypush, your colleagues inthe industry, what that willdo is to woo you if you areresistant to playing yourpart. But I don’t thinkmit should be involved inregulation. It should beobligatory in the socialconscience and less inrules and laws.”Ingrid Lashley, CEOTrinidad and Tobago MortgageFinance (TTMF)in sustainable policy-making andin the establishment of frameworkconditions for inclusive bottom-ofthe-pyramidmodels of CSR has.Addressing the issue of developinga national CSR policy, Minister ofTrade and Industry Steven Cadiz at aworkshop organised by the Trinidadand Tobago Chamber of Industry andCommerce (TTCIC) in October 2011stressed the external dimension of awell-developed domestic corporateresponsibility landscape when hereminded the audience that CSR“is key for strategically positioningand branding Trinidad and Tobagoas a dynamic and modern hub forconducting competitive businessand attracting greater investments.I want to assure you, the businessowners present today, that when thenational CSR policy is completedand implemented, it will help all ourfirms regardless of scale or size in thesystem, manage the complex set ofrelationships that exist and developstrategies to integrate CSR principlesin their day to day operations. 23This statement stands in stark contrastto the findings of the 2008 MappingReport which concluded that “thereare few fiscal incentives for companiesto undertake CSR related initiativesand there is no set framework tocoordinate CSR initiatives at thenational level.” 24 It however is verymuch in line with the thinking inboardrooms across both islands giventhat 88.6% of all CEOs would welcomethe development of a national CSRPolicy as a standard-setting frameworkfor the Private sector.The heightened awareness of politicaldecision-makers about CSR andthe seemingly greater opennesstowards government involvementby senior managers may open upnew opportunities for Public-PrivatePartnerships giving more adequaterecognition to the fact that in the postwelfarestate scenario of shrinkingstate expenditures and concerns overunsustainable levels of public debt, allsocietal actors including the PrivateIn your opinion, which stakeholders are the most important drivers for CSR?90.0%80.0%70.0%60.0%50.0%40.0%30.0%20.0%10.0%0.0%47.1%Human Rights73.5%CorporateGovernance55.9%Labour Standards(includingOccupational Healthand Safety)76.5%Environment(including energymgt, carbon mgt,waste mgt, watermgt)41.2%Anti-Corruption23 Minister of Trade and Industry Steven Cadiz, Speech at the Breakfast Seminar ‘CSR and Government: By Stander, Follower or Leader?’, Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce(TTCIC), 4th October 2011.24 UNDP/STCIC Mapping Report, p.54.38
The View from the Boardroom - CEO Study on Corporate Social Responsibility in Trinidad and TobagoCHAPTER 2Government, Consumers and Employees – The Drivers of CSRWould you welcome the development of a nationalCSR Policy as a standard-setting framework for thePrivate Sector?11.4%can and should do to encouragecorporate citizenship. Rather thechallenge is whether the governmentcan find ways to raise the strategicsignificance of corporate citizenship inaddressing social and environmentalchallenges, both to business as animperative and as an enabler of moreeffective government policy, bothnationally and on the global stage.” 2588.6%YesNoSector need to play a more activerole in honouring their obligationsas signatories to the social contract.Govind Maharaj, CEO of the TruValusupermarket chain operator EasternCommercial Lands Ltd. points outthat “people are at different levels ofhow they see CSR so to get everybodyto comply and to head in the samedirection at the same speed is goingto be difficult.” Nevertheless, theprospect of forging social partnershipsacross sectoral lines seems to be anidea that is increasingly embracedby greater number of companies inTrinidad and Tobago. Furthermore,becoming a protagonist of CSR itselfand intervening through policyinitiatives and other forms of ‘soft’regulations would give the governmentan opportunity to spearhead nationalefforts of ‘greening’ the economy inline with its own policy objectivesand responding to the evidentenvironmental vulnerabilities ofthe country. Reflecting on the roleof government in CSR in what hecalls ‘Third Generation CorporateCitizenship’, Simon Zadek remarksthat “the issue is not merely whetherthere are things that the governmentAs traditional dividing lines betweenissues, responsibilities, portfoliosand public versus private ‘turfs’ arebecoming increasingly blurred, CEOsare keenly aware of their changingrole in society and of the way inwhich political decision-makers andmembers of the public are viewingtheir contribution to the social andenvironmental development of thecountry. This is reflected in the 75.8%of all CEOs that have expressed theirbelief that companies are increasinglyexpected to take over parts of socialservice delivery previously reservedfor governments. In other words, therole of government is being re-definedas a result of the growing strains onpublic resources and its dependenceon the social engagement of privatecapital suggests the emergence ofa new division of labour betweencompanies and the state with the latterto provide the regulatory frameworkfor the former to deliver social goodsand services in particular areas.In many countries, an importantdriver for the CSR business caseis consumers. Businesses, manyCSR practitioners argue, havebeen prompted into changing theircorporate behaviour as well as thenature of their production processesand manufacturing conditionsbecause of the pressure generatedthrough ‘ethical consumerism’.The latter contains both a positive(‘reward’) and negative (‘punishment’)Rationale for Public SectorInvolvement in CSRThe defensive justifaction forpublic sector actors in middleandlow-income countriesrelates to minimizing thepotentially adverse effects ofCSR on local communities,environments and marketswhen it is imposed throughinternational supply chainsand investment.The proactive justification forpublic sector actors to engagewith CSR is provided by theopportunity to increase thedomestic public benefits ofCSR practices in economic,social and environmentalterms.Adopted from ‘CSR andDeveloping Countries – WhatScope for Government Action’,UN Department of Economicand Social Affairs, SustainableDevelopment InnovationBriefs, Issue 1, February 200725 Simon Zadek, Third Generation Corporate Citizenship – Public Policy and Business in Society, The Foreign Policy Centre and AccountAbility 2001, p.14.39
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The View from the Boardroom - UNDP Trinidad and Tobago

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