Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Business
Reality check “I don’t get it. What will an evaluation tell us that our $60 000 CSR report doesn’t?” The evaluation stage is critical. It is really about sitting down and looking at what the CSR report is telling you. What goals did you set but did not actually achieve? Why? Are your reporting indicators the right ones? Are they aligned with your mission? Are you engaging the right stakeholders? Have you got the right people working on advancing CSR inside the company? This is the stage when you reflect on what needs to stay the same and what needs to change. It is critical to the continuous improvement of your CSR performance.
CSR and small businesses “How is this different from the self-evaluation that we did a year ago? This seems like an extra piece of work.” Repeating evaluations at periodic intervals ensures that the firm has an opportunity to identify and act upon new challenges and opportunities that have arisen. Without regular evaluations, there is a danger that the firm will repeat problematic practices and fail to act upon changes in products or processes that could open up new markets. The results of regular evaluations should reveal the firm’s progress. When the evaluation results have improved then the firm is probably on the right track. When the results have stayed the same or even decreased then the CSR strategy may need to be revised. If data and meetings are wellstructured, evaluations need not be hugely time-consuming.
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