As businesses seek to be more responsible, accountable and transparent, efforts to be sustainable and make corporate social responsibility a strategic business focus are growing. But without the input of marketers, those efforts are significantly weaker, according to Fujitsu’s global head of sustainability.
Alison Rowe, who is based in Melbourne but responsible for Fujitsu’s global sustainability strategy, is a former marketer and said any organisation’s efforts in sustainability will be weakened if they don’t have the input of marketing on the business case.
Fujitsu’s goal is to look at how it can use its technology to improve society and its vision is far sighted. Although it’s a technology company, it is basing its CSR efforts around food. It has identified that the biggest social issue the world will face in the next 30 to 40 years is the sustainable production and distribution of food. It is looking ahead at how it can play a role in food production and education in 2050 and how it can create a business case around it – not just look for soft measures.
“Determining the value [of CSR] not just the numbers is important, and we need more of that. What we still find in Australia is that one department might do a business case [around sustainability] but it’s not integrated into the business. Marketers are the strategic thinkers and look beyond he numbers. Marketers are the people who can strengthen a business case – without marketing we’ve got a weak business case.”
Rowe was speaking at the Australian Marketing Institute’s Marketing and Social Responsibility Panel hosted by University of Sydney’s Business School alongside Michele Goldman, CEO of Asthma Foundation, Lisa Grinham, CEO of Charities Aid Foundation and Alice Cope, executive manager of the United Nations Global Compact Network.
Goldman, a former Nestle marketer and current CEO of Asthma Foundation, said marketing skills can and should be applied to social good not just creating shareholder wealth, but warned that there is a stark difference between using marketing skills and strategy to develop and integrate CSR into the business, and treating sustainability as a marketing initiative.
“Marketers are in a powerful position. They use strategy to champion the consumer, it’s not that difficult to transfer that to championing the needs of the community. But 15 years ago a lot of sustainability efforts were driven by marketing and it did a lot of harm from green washing,” she said.
Grinham, at Charities Aid Foundation said there is a disconnect between what companies are actually doing in the CSR space and what consumers think of them, so marketers should do more to both use their skills to have an impact as well as better communicate the impact they are having.
“It never used to be seen as a marketing opportunity [CSR] but now it’s more sophisticated and people are talking about it more sensibly. It should never be about chest beating but there is a role for marketing to play to better communicate it. Business don’t have to be shy about how [CSR] can be good for the business too,” she said.
The panel was held at The University of Sydney’s Business School and hosted by the Dean, Professor Greg Whitwell.
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