Digital Corporate Social Responsibility

Transparency, openness, and honesty are traits that have always served the
business community well. In todays always-on, hyper-connected world, as
companies have more and more data about their customers, these traits become
even more important. As we continue to see the further emergence of the Internet
of Everything, the companies that thrive will be the ones that both realize this
responsibility and recognize that we are actually talking about personal information
describing the lives of individuals.
Without question, technology empowered by rich data will continue to drive
innovation and help us tackle societys major challenges. Yet, these clear benefits
must not come at the cost of our privacy.
Companies should view protecting their customers personal information
as their digital corporate social responsibility (CSR). As with all CSR
efforts, this is good for society and good for business.
So what does digital CSR truly mean? It requires companies to respect consumers
digital dignity and to treat data as though it has a contextits customers lives.
Businesses should be fully aware of the physical environment, the human interface
andmost importantlythe very society that is being created. They should make
respectful choices about the data that is collected both directly and indirectly.
Especially when it comes to big companies with wide swaths of personal data, there
is an impact on human life. Whether it is data on the employees and others who
come into contact with the connected devices, or those whose activities are
monitored by the devices, the data is personal and must be protected. The potential
for misuse of data will always be there, especially as it becomes a more soughtafter and valued commodity. Thoughtful leaders will ask not only, Can we? when it
comes to technology and data, but also, Should we?
To that end, to practice digital CSR, businesses should first be forthright and
transparent about the data they collect, how that data is used, and with which third
parties it is shared. This is the foundation for trust in the digital age. Beyond
transparency, companies should also be sure to delete data they dont need and
refrain from collecting personal information that is not necessary to the bottom line.
Finally, they should ensure that strong security measures are in place to protect
data and their networks. These include simple methods, such as establishing
firewalls, promoting encryption internally, and assisting employees with avoiding
cybersecurity attacks, such as phishing.
When consumers clearly know the deal they are being offered and trust that a
company will protect any personal information they share, we get much closer to a
world that is enhanced by data. Without this level of trust or transparency, we run
the risk of creating a data-driven world that respects neither our privacy nor our
dignity. But both are still important in the digital age; our digital selves are
extensions of our physical selves. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for

businesses in all sectors. By practicing good digital CSR, businesses can set a trend
and shape a digital future that we all want to live in.

There is a long-standing narrative in the field of management that goes something

like this: Executives are hired to maximize profits, not social welfare: Spending
shareholders money on socially responsible but unprofitable endeavors is
irresponsible.
Indeed, as stated in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial: In cases where private
profits and public interests are aligned, the idea of corporate social responsibility is
irrelevant: companies that simply do everything they can to boost profits will end up
increasing social welfare. But, the author argues, in most cases, doing whats
best for society means sacrificing profitsIf it werent, {societys pervasive
and persistent} problems would have been solved long ago by companies seeking
to maximize their profits. The ultimate solution, the author argues, is
government regulation.
There is a familiar ring to this argument. Indeed, The Economist dedicated
a special section to the topic as far back as 2005. However, most realize this
perspective can be traced to Milton Friedmans famous dictum: The social
responsibility of business is to increase profit. While many have demonized
Friedman for his stance, it turns outironicallythat he was right!
As he asserted in his classic 1970 article by the same title, it makes little sense for
corporate managers to spend the shareholders money on pet philanthropic projects
that have little or no connection to the companys work. In fact, the core premise
of corporate social responsibility (CSR)profit spending for the greater
goodis fundamentally flawed. While individuals can choose to donate their
private wealth in any way they choose, corporate executives are paid to put the
shareholders capital to productive (i.e. profitable) use.
Even under the best of circumstances, it is simply not possible for companies to
give away enough money to have a material impact on the worlds growing list of
social and environmental ills. CSR is like trying to bail out a sinking ship with a
teaspoon. And as Maimonides made clear more than eight centuries ago, real
philanthropy means giving anonymously. By this standard, most CSR programs
today are little more than self-serving public relations gambits designed
to assuage corporate guilt.
Where Milton Friedman was wrong, however, was in assuming that
corporations cannot understand societal problems or environmental
challenges, which he viewed as the exclusive responsibility of elected
governments. It is true that corporations are not democratic institutions designed
to reflect the broad public interest. But increasingly, it seems that the broad
public interest is really an illusionan abstract ideal created by enlightenment

thinkers preoccupied with the design of rational and representative forms of

government.
Ironically, todays representative governments, captured by monied
interests and powerful players, have become all but incapable of
addressing societys real challenges. The power of incumbency has rendered
government a conservative (rather than progressive) force, protecting the interests
of those seeking to perpetuate yesterdays solutions. It should come as little
surprise, for example, that Dick Cheneys now infamous energy task force
included no one from the renewable energy or conservation sectors. Nor should it
be a surprise that current efforts by the Obama Administration to reform the
financial system, reinvent health care, or craft a sensible climate policy are meeting
stiff resistance.
National governments are self-interested by design, concerned first and foremost
with the security and well-being of their citizens. Tragically, preoccupation with
the national interest makes government less and less relevant in a
world characterized by trans-boundary challenges such as climate change,
loss of biodiversity, and international terrorism. It is not at all clear today that the
sum of national interests equals the public interest of the world. The relative
ineffectiveness of the United Nations system over the past five decades stands in
mute testimony to this fact.

Ironically, then, the for-profit

corporation may turn out to be our best hope for a sustainable future
economically, socially, and environmentally. Increasingly, corporations are
global in scope, making them ideally suited to address trans-boundary problems
and international challenges. It is not by happenstance, for example, that some
multinational companies have lead initiatives to address climate change (e.g. the
US Climate Action Partnership), loss of marine fisheries (e.g. the Marine Stewardship
Council), and sustainable development (e.g. the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development).

Even more significantly, corporations may be better positioned than

governments to understandand respond toemerging societal needs. Not
the broad and abstract public interest trumpeted by enlightenment thinkers, but
rather the fine-grained, on-the-ground, micro interests of actual individuals,
families, and communities (human and natural). Getting close to the customer is,
after all, the stock and trade of the corporate world.
The profit motive can accelerate (not inhibit) the transformation toward global
sustainability, with civil society, governments, and multilateral agencies all playing
crucial roles as collaborators and watchdogs. Through thousands (or even
millions) of business-led initiatives, we can innovate our way into
tomorrows clean technology, and welcome the four billion poor at the
base of the pyramid into the global economy. The competitive process will
weed out the bad initiativesthose that work neither for people, nature, nor
shareholders. And like the industrial revolution two centuries ago, this commerceled revolution will need no central administrator.
The end is nigh for the notion of corporate social responsibility.
Emerging in its place are a new generation of corporations that actually solve
social and environmental problems through their core strategies
and profit in the process. Its called sustainable value.