Bca Report Light On Key Problems

The Age

Thursday June 14, 2007

Leon Gettler, management reporter

THE Business Council of Australia wants a general business-based organisation established to co-ordinate and hasten the development of corporate responsibility practices.

It has also slammed business schools for not giving the issue enough attention and called on them to put more focus on it.

In a report released yesterday, the BCA found that more companies were taking corporate responsibility - which it rebadged with the business-like label "corporate community investment" - more seriously.

But the CCI label chosen by the report limits the scope of the corporate responsibility to little more than community engagement.

As a result, relatively less attention is paid in the report to key corporate responsibility problems.

These include workforce issues, which cover such areas as fair pay and conditions, women and minorities in management roles, maternity leave and re-entry, people with disabilities, mature-aged workers, disadvantaged youth, long-term unemployed and indigenous communities.

Little attention is given to human rights issues, which would include what companies are doing to tackle problems in the supply chain, fair trading and the impact of products.

And relatively little attention is paid to how companies should tackle environmental and sustainability issues.

But notions of corporate responsibility, as defined in the report, seem to be getting more traction in the business community.

According to the report, nearly half the chief executives (49 per cent) and nearly three-quarters of public affairs practitioners (72 per cent) surveyed "strongly disagreed" with the proposition that corporate community involvement was "peripheral to business".

The report also says there are signs that companies are starting to think of community involvement in more business-like terms, and many are looking at it in terms of a return on investment.

Of the 93 per cent of companies that felt some sort of business case was needed, 24 per cent required a focused business case, with some results justifying the investment.

Companies cited a number of reasons for seeing it as a plus, including "building a better society","promoting public benefit", getting a "licence to operate", building community trust and positioning themselves as an employer of choice with young people.

The report suggested a more coherent approach was needed to encourage and co-ordinate involvement. It said there might be "scope for an enhanced mechanism to facilitate the spread of best practice by collecting and disseminating data and showcasing the successes and challenges of corporate experience".

"The development of a business model for such a vehicle, based firmly in the business sector, could be explored," the report said. It also said business schools needed to do more.

"Management education is very client-driven and given its significance in business strategy and the attitudes of young staff and executives, there appears to be some market failure here.

"This could be addressed in part by an initiative by business and government to create greater awareness of this gap, and to

KEY POINTS

? BCA seeks body to foster corporate responsibility.

? Business schools under attack for lack of action.

? More companies serious about corporate responsibility.

? See the report at theage.com.au/businessday

© 2007 The Age

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