Impact and Criticism of The Concept Of Corporate Citizenship
Looking at the definitions, it seems that the only one that adds a fresh perspective to the concept of company in society is the extended view, since it emphasizes the political role of the corporation therefore the importance of its accountability. It also provides perspectives on the organisation as a global participant, having to cope with different concepts of citizenship worldwide.
Corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility have been attacked for introducing concepts that are counter to good order in the free market. The underlying idea is that economic self-interest and allocative efficiency ensure maximum economic growth and hence maximum social welfare.
On the other hand other critics of corporate citizenship argue that it often tends to be restricted to what should be disclosed in the accounts that organisations themselves prepare, and that the range of concerns and stakeholders to which organisations are accountable is limited. More fundamentally critics claim that its supporters operate and hence acquiesce in the free market and take attention away from the need for fundamental structural change in economies.
Nevertheless supporters argue that corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility reporting can be extended to illuminate inequalities in distribution in society and limitations of traditional accounting methods. Reporting has a major role in making organisations more visible and transparent.
Examples
Scottish Power's corporate social responsibility programme has been developed from multi-stakeholder consultation. The stakeholders emphasized the need for the company to prioritize its most significant social and environmental impacts. This consultation identified 12 impacts, and Scottish Power's 2005/06 report detailed what had been done to address these:
Provision of energy: Scottish Power was the largest developer of onshore wind in the UK, and second largest in the US, and planned to invest £170 million in Flue Gas Desulphurization to reduce S02 emissions.
Health and safety: The Lost-Time Accident rate fell and the company improved its occupational health risk registers that assess potential health impacts and help to assess health monitoring requirements. More widely, over 50,000 children attended its Child Electrical Safety Education programmes.
Customer experience: Internal and external surveys showed high and improving levels of customer satisfaction, and a flat volume of complaints; two other key performance measures, customer minutes lost and customer interruptions, improved during the year.
Climate change and emission to air: Scottish Power reduced emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of electricity and burned 100,000 tonnes of waste derived fuel and Biomass to reduce the amount of coal used.
Waste and resource usage: An increased volume of ash was resold to avoid landfill and internal energy usage was reduced, although the power stations did use an increased amount of water.
Biodiversity: The company set aside further wind farm habitat management areas and supported research into golden eagle and hen harrier interaction with wind turbines and blanket bog restoration.
Sites, siting and infrastructure: Scottish Power continued to develop wind farms.
Employee experience: The company attempted to minimize the number of employees leaving the business through restructuring and planned to measure employee satisfaction through the 100 best companies model.
Customers with special circumstances: Scottish Power contributed £2 million to the Scottish Power Energy People Trust.
Community: The company's overall community investment increased, and it won awards for its community activity. Scottish Power acknowledged that its presence can affect local communities by providing jobs or sharing resources, or on the other hand, works traffic or noise. 'It is important that our communities trust us, as we often need their cooperation to do our job effectively. Our relationship with local communities is something we can never take for granted, and as a result we must work hard to maintain that trust.'
Procurement: Procurement activities were accredited to the environmental standard ISO 14001. An action plan was ready for implementation across UK procurement activities, aiming to ensure a consistent and proactive approach to the environment and working with suppliers. Scottish Power also stressed that many suppliers are seen as an extension of its business, and must be expected to adhere to acceptable, social, environmental and business performance standards.
Economic: The decision to invest in FGD technology at its Longannet plant would extend the life of the plan that secure existing jobs, improve environmental performance and provide additional construction.
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