University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Resource Allocation and the Home of CSR
Respondents were asked to comment on where CSR sits in the organisation and
whether this has or is likely to change.
“not sure will make a difference to team size, not that big in the first place and very
focused on compliance reporting anyway so not much scope to reduce”
(Financial Services Company)
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The responses relating to this issue, again supports the view that compliance type
CSR is not likely to undergo any significant change as a result of recession, at least
in part because there is not much which can be changed without negative
consequence.
Short-termism
An interest in short-term planning for short-term gain was highlighted by a number of
respondents, as highlighted in the quotes below.
“CSR is even more risk-based and increasing focus on short-term issues/risks”
(Financial Services Company)
‘Areas to be focused on will be those which will lead to cost savings, for example
energy use, waste management and business travel.’
(Financial Services Company)
“[there are] more discussions about short-term rather than long-term”
(Investment Company)
The potential contradiction between the timescale of an average business cycle and
the long-term nature of sustainable development is often highlighted as one of the
main criticisms of CSR. This issue seems to have become more acute during the
recent period of recession, with decisions around business success being linked to
immediate measurable return.
Secondary Data
Secondary data, in the form of industrial surveys, suggests that the importance of
CSR activities has gone down the business agenda. A recent survey of the food and
manufacturing sector conducted by CIES has found that CSR has moved down the
top 10 priorities list from 1st in January 2008, to 3rd at the same time this year to 5th
in June 2009 (CIES 2009). Senior representatives of the global food business
network are arguing that CSR has dropped down the priority list as the sector has
been dealing with CSR/sustainability effectively for a number of years now and thus
it has become integrated into the core business model and therefore is no longer
ranked by respondents as a ‘separate’ priority (ibid). However, the true level of