Of the three pillars of sustainability, the social element has tended to be isolated within the CSR departments of big companies, encompassing the moral, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities of a business. This approach leaves responsibility for social impacts at the outskirts, rather than incorporating it into core business strategy.
Today, the discourse around the social impact of business has expanded beyond this traditional approach to be about how a business can earn its social license to operate and how the corporate world can broaden the way it defines value creation so that business success is strongly linked to social progress.
It is timely therefore that today we are launching our new content hub focussing on social impact. Over the coming months, we will be unpicking the challenges involved in ensuring an organisation has a positive impact on society, looking at how social impact can be incorporated into core business thinking, exploring how a business earns its social license to operate and highlighting examples of best practice.
We kick things off with a scene setting piece from Adrian Henriques which highlights some of the key areas of business activity which impact on society. We've also got an article from John Morrison that argues that the question is no longer whether a business should behave in a socially responsible manner, but rather how this should be done in practice, and a feature looking at measuring the social value of corporate sponsorship. Later on this week, watch our for a piece on global food businesses and social impact and an interview with HP's head of social innovation partnerships and programmes in global health.
We are delighted to be working on this project in association with Anglo American, a business thinking seriously about how it works with stakeholders to create a positive impact. They launch their with a look at strengthening community health systems in Southern Africa and a case study on a project that is turning dirty water into clean water, while creating jobs and new homes.
As always, we want to know what you think. If there are things you'd like to see covered, or you have an idea or example to share, please let us know in the comments section below.
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