Common Corporate Social Responsibility Practices

In order to survive in a unified world, both companies and consumers are going to have to consider the social impacts of their actions. Many companies now have a "CSR" Corporate Social Responsibility division in the company, although some exist in name only. Other companies have been built from the ground up with more ethical guidance than the stock market's "long term value for shareholders."

Some businesses like Newman's own and Ben and Jerry's had living in harmony with the world one of their goal's from the beginning. One thing that socially responsibile businesses try to harness is the support of their customers. Usually being responsible involves not cutting some corners that your competitors do. To support this increase in price, consumers must be able to see additional value in these products. One movement that is supporting this view that socially responsible products are valuable is socially responsible gift giving.

Consumers identify either products or companies that have ethical backings that they support, and give those gifts both as a symbol of their identity and to support causes. Socially responsible gifts can also be used as a political tool to spread awareness about a certain topic. Just as socially responsible gifts can be viewed as having more value than traditional gifts, people and companies who follow such practices set themselves apart.

Our consumption driven economy is just not sustainable. Not only are people spending so much more than they make that they are being kicked out of their homes, one only has to look at the state of once invulnerable financial institutions: the government. Even governments are realizing that borrowing against the future in hopes of unlimited growth is impossible.

Gift-giving on Christmas at current levels - to everyone you know or you are unpatriotic - is unsustainable. However there are some socially responsible gifts that you can give that do not harm the environment or place unrealistic burdens on the economy.

The range of different types of responsible gifts is large. They may be made with well paid labor in an area where most workers are basically slaves. They could be made of enviromentally firendly products that don't pollute, or that do not require a large amount of energy to create. Or responsible gifts could support a particular cause. Of course, you do not have to spend money or go through a corporation to give a responsible gift. Making something yourself out of materials you already own has a positive environmental impact, and anything handmade has more sentimental value than something bought.