Today I want to talk about corporate social responsibility and its existence in the modern business world. While I was interning with CEDA, something occurred to me. Should we consider event management companies just as liable for responsibility, one thing I am ashamed to admit is that I always thought CRS was for the big organisation with the money. Although I acknowledged all companies are responsible I did not necessarily think boutique not for profits were included. The more I think about it, the more my reasoning is flawed.
From the three years of studying PR, one thing was repeated and drilled into us. The MOST valuable asset in a organisation has is not the what they offer and how much they earn, but it is trust, credibility and reputation that is essential, no matter how big or small, profitable to not, the company has a duty of care to act ethically and responsibly.
Trust is developed when behaviours matches the expectations, in the business relationships trust is crucial component because we all know almost every business transaction requires a degree of good faith and trust.
In the last century CSR has been the focus and attention, a trend of socially conscious people have emerged which expect much more from organisations today. The certain duty and obligation a organisations must have to give back to and protect the earth.
CEDA caters to the most senior executives and the largest and most prominent organisations across Australia the international counterparts. CEDA's entire function is to bring together representatives of highly influential organisations from all sectors and get them to strategize a better future for Australia. While most organisations for instances, Rio Tinto, Shell and IBM have some sort of CSR strategy already within their structure. Taking part in CEDA events I think is also very important in the way they are represented and portrayed to the wider community.
For example CEDA did an event back in July which I was very happy to be part of the planning and coordinating. It was titled 'Ensuring Australian and Global Food Security' and drew in a big crowd, the topic was about how to secure Australian and global food security queries with escalating prices, unpredictable climate changes? A very worthy topic to host, representatives from government, Coles, Rio Tinto and noted academics were put to the challenging inquiry! It was very simulating and educational panel. It was something I haven't thought about before.
Listening attentively
CEDA has gained the reputation of creating such admirable events and I believe by doing so, they are applying CRS by putting forward to their members thought inspiring topics.
Trust and credibility are central in all instances in our lives, once it is broken, its like glass shattered, it can never be pieced back to how it once was no matter hard you try to glue it back together.
To avoid such a calamity happening in an organisation, CSR has become a widely applied concept and central concern in decision making processes. At CEDA one of my roles included media monitoring, which included reading a large among of newspapers and finding out the current hot topics and what people in community were asking questions about whether it was migration strategies, and indigenous disadvantage. One of my favourite events CEDA did was the Indigenous series 'Improving the Indigenous Status Quo'.
End of the event, people mingling.
To conclude, all organisations are obligated to practise ethically and responsibly. A successful business is one that always considers what is good for the people and the planet. Boutique not for profit event managements organisations have the same amount of responsibility as bigger and more profitable organisations. I learnt a lot by working with CEDA, formalising an event which is based on an important societal concern and putting that to a panel of speakers from the influential organisations to come up with the solutions to problems is as socially responsible as you can get.
That's all for today, I will speak to you all soon.
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Suleeka
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