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Dividend Discount Valuation: H Model
The dividend discount model makes a lot of assumptions. Some of these assumptions are not considered to be viable by analysts. For instance, consider the assumption regarding growth rates. During the horizon period, the analyst estimates that the growth rate will be high, let’s say 10% or 12%. Then, when the terminal value is to […]
Tips to Improve Interpersonal Relations at Workplace
Interpersonal relationship refers to a strong association among employees either working together in the same team or same organization. Employees must get along well for a positive and healthy ambience at the workplace. Let us go through some tips to improve interpersonal relationship at workplace. Do not treat office as your home. There is a […]
Understanding Retail – What is Retail ?
Before understanding the concept of retail, let us first go through few terminologies. Market – Any system or place where parties are engaged in exchange of either goods or services is called as market. The parties are often called as buyers and sellers. The seller offers his goods or services to the buyer who in […]
Global Financial Crisis and Organizational Change
Resistance to change is inevitable as there are many parties who stand to lose from change and apart from the status quoists there are vested interests who would oppose change. The changes that the organizations and the companies introduced in the wake of the global financial crisis were systemic and fundamental in nature and hence […]
The articles till now have focused on how corporations need to embrace CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as a business imperative. The emphasis mostly was on how there are business needs to adopt CSR and it is high time the corporations became socially conscious.
In this article, we look at the role of the Media in championing CSR. Indeed, the media have a huge role to play in how CSR is broadcast to the world at large. It is simply not enough for corporations to do their bit for social causes. They must also let the world know so that others are inspired and they set an example for others to follow. Of course, we are not talking about “advertising” CSR per se because then it would fall into the category of the corporations trumpeting their achievements like they would do when they launch new products.
On the other hand, what we are saying is that they must follow the example of ITC and Vedanta that have created brilliant ads that portray their values and showcase the excellent work that they have been doing. There are other companies like Shell that have come out with innovative ways to reach out to the people about their CSR initiatives.
Apart from creating appealing and conscious ads, corporations must enlist the cooperation and support of media in spreading awareness about CSR to the people at large. In the final analysis, CSR is all about helping society look beyond profits and hence the media (which is a guardian of public good) has a stellar role to play in this endeavor.
The media can be used to seek volunteers from the society or the specific places where the corporations are launching their CSR initiatives. Further, they can be used to publish articles pertaining to the values and the mission of the company in promoting CSR. An excellent example of this relationship is the way Infosys is covered in the media. There are very few articles which do not mention the respect and the adulation that Infosys commands from the Indian public at large and this has been made possible because of adroit media coverage. The way in which the social initiatives undertaken by Infosys have been covered in the media speaks volumes about how well the company has managed its media coverage.
Apart from this, the media can also act as a conscience keeper by constantly reminding corporations about the need to give back to society and to look beyond profits. Internationally, The Guardian Newspaper has been at the forefront of demanding accountability and transparency from the corporations. In India, The Hindu does a good job of publishing articles and editorials that exhort the corporations to be socially conscious.
Finally, the media can also take a critical view of the CSR programs that a corporation claims to run and it can ensure that the corporation is not indulging in “Green Washing” which is the case where a corporation pretends to follow CSR but in reality does not do so.
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