CSR may have to go beyond just gestures

CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a comfortable homily for the corporate conscience. Simply put, it is the act of corporations returning a part of the profits they make to the communities they operate in to improve some aspects of it. This can be done through the greening of the environment, setting up schools, libraries or scholarships, creating programmes for the disabled or homeless, or supporting some other social cause; CSR could even entail making improvements in the community that also benefit the company, such as in the roads or power networks or in providing community training.

Does CSR always work - whether to benefit the company or the community it aims to serve?

Shell, one of the largest companies in the world, has been operating in the delta of the Niger River since 1958. In 2014 alone, Shell-operated ventures contributed US$202 million to the Niger Delta Development Commission; some US$112 million was directly invested in social investment projects, making Nigeria the site of the largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group.