Viewpoints
Viewpoints is a blog in which different writers express their views and opinions on current topics. A new blog post is published about once every four weeks.
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Cross sectional responsibility
Students would like to see companies taking responsibility for the social and ecological impacts of their operations even if pure profit maximisation did not require it. This means that responsibility is not limited to reporting by the communications unit, but instead it involves the whole company. Pioneers in corporate responsibility are rewarded in terms of competitive advantage in both recruiting and the operating environment.
Sofia Ziessler and Anna Simula were members of the jury of students which selected Kesko's 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report as their favourite in the Corporate Responsibility Reporting Competition
Interest in corporate responsibility among students seems to be divided in the same way as among consumers. Increasingly many are very aware, whereas others do not give the matter a second thought. In between is a significant number of cautious and undecided people. There is a risk that especially these young people will lose their faith and motivation to regard companies as nothing else than profit maximisers.
It is important that they could gain real life experience of corporate responsibility and see that it is actually far from nice words and green laundering. Instead, it involves weighing up significant options. On-the-job practice, summer jobs and other contacts with companies provide businesses with possibilities to prove their genuine responsibility for stakeholder groups and the environment throughout the entire production chain. The attitudes of superiors and colleagues are a window on the spirit within the company.
Students expect that corporate responsibility translates into setting objectives and evaluating results critically. Failures must be openly admitted. In addition to transparency, students would like corporate responsibility to include all departments within the company instead of being limited to reporting by the communications unit.
Like the communications unit could act as an internal inspirer, so we corporate responsibility students could encourage other students to act for a more responsible corporate world. And the pursuit of responsibility may lead to competition between companies, which will reward the participants with a good reputation among customers and students.
In the future, pioneers in responsibility will have an edge over the others and can recruit the best employees.
Writers:
Anna Simula studies international business specialising in marketing and corporate responsibility at HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences.
Sofia Ziessler is a technology university student and also studies political science. In addition, she is a minor subject student at Hanken School of Economics.
The writers were members of the jury of students which selected Kesko's 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report as their favourite in the Corporate Responsibility Reporting Competition in November 2011. Kesko was also ranked the best in corporate responsibility reporting in Finland.
