CSR - A responsible company from day one?

During discussions with my BUSS4 students about various firms and their approaches to CSR, a number have remained sceptical about businesses’ efforts to become better corporate citizens. Some of their reservations stem from concerns over firms becoming more responsible after decades of appearing to maximise profits with no concern about wider impact upon society. They have a nagging doubt that the ‘new’ approach firms take are motivated more by a desire to drive business performance than through genuine concern with environmental or social issues. So I asked for ideas of a firm that’s been a responsbile corporate citizen from day one and was offered this one by one of my students.

Patagonia will be known to many as a manufacturer of climbing and outdoor gear. And how’s this for a mission statement?

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”

Upon the face of it, this firm appears to be committed from it’s very early days to CSR issues perhaps borne out of it’s roots as a business set up by those who enjoy the great outdoors.

And ‘The Footprint Chronicles’ are a very frank and honest assessment of the impact of products from design through to delivery, tracking the journey of the product and it’s materials through the supply chain. These details are only available for some products at present though.

So is this as good as it gets in terms of CSR? I’m not sure, but it’s a good case study to add to the Section A BUSS4 portfolio.