I had an excellent question from one of my readers inspired by the earlier post about the private sector stepping in to do that which government seems incapable. Here’s the question:
The article prompted me to think, do corporations maintain the same green standards across all countries that they operate in or do they loosen their green standards if another country’s requirements are less strict?
This great question goes to the heart of the issue. The point of my post was the observation that companies believe they must be seen to be contributing to the solution of broader social problems. That belief suggests that companies recognize their business success depends on the opinions and actions of stakeholders beyond their investors, employees and customers. However, if they see this as a communications issue that can be solved by conforming to the letter of government requirements and then doing a lot of PR around that, they will fail.
The other issue I mentioned in the post is the need for authenticity. Companies not only need to be seen to be contributing to the greater good, they need to mean it. That is why activities in this area must carefully planned and strategic, not simply window dressing. It requires a fundamental shift in the mindset of a company that permeates through its culture. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. Companies that try to cover this obligation through PR will get the worst of all worlds. Their PR effort won’t work. But, more importantly, they will find themselves judged by their own PR and come up wanting.