Virtues of a ‘caring' firm

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which includes community development, has become an important issue in modern society, analysts said.

Although many companies have yet to recognise it, the concept has been widely adopted by the world's business players.

"It is time for CSR be fully adopted by companies in Brunei Darussalam where it can be beneficial for the establishments," they said.

They said while there is no single, commonly accepted definition of CSR, it generally refers to business decision making linked to ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, and respect for people, communities and the environment.

According to research carried out by the United States-based Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a growing number of companies have recognised the business benefits of CSR policies and practices.

Activities related to CSR programmes have a positive impact on business economic performance, and are not harmful to shareholders values such as improvement in financial performance, they said. Business and investment communities have long debated whether there is a real connection between socially responsible business practices and positive financial performance. But several studies have shown such a correlation, they said.

"In a 1997 DePaul University study which found that companies with a defined corporate commitment to ethical principles did better financially than companies that did not.

"A recent longitudinal Harvard University study found that "stakeholder-balanced" companies showed four times the growth rate and eight times the employment growth compared with companies that were shareholder-only-focused," they said.

Some CSR initiatives, particularly environmentally oriented and workplace initiatives, can reduce costs dramatically by cutting waste and inefficiencies or improving productivity.

For example, they said many initiatives aimed at reducing gas emissions that contribute to global climate change also increase energy efficiency, reducing utility bills. Many recycling initiatives also cut waste disposal costs and generate income by selling recycled materials.