Page 186 - Performance Leadership

Chapter 10 The Social Role of Organizations • 175

help maximize engine performance while offering more protection for
the engine. Shell could also have positioned the fuel as less environ-
mentally impactful and more “green,” something it tried with a differ-
ent product, Shell Pura. Shell’s success with V-Power teaches a very
important lesson: Customers are not the same as citizens, even if they
are combined within a single person. Environmental issues may be
important for citizens (as was shown during the Brent Spar days), but
as a customer, people can make different choices. Even for a more envi-
ronmentally friendly product, a clear value proposition (“what’s in it
for me”) needs to be articulated. CSR should be managed and mar-
keted like any other business initiative: with the customer’s need in
mind and to make a profit.
In general, it’s important for organizations to understand trends and
customer behaviors. These are partly driven by society. As such, a socially
responsible company would be more likely to recognize and respond ear-
lier to trends. On the other hand, organizations should beware of pick-
ing up trends too early or placing too much focus on environmental
issues, mistaking “buzz” for a large global trend. For example, the con-
cept of “green electricity” has thus far not generated much success.
Public relations should not be the primary driver for CSR. There is
also a PR danger with CSR. The more management boasts its good
behavior, the more it will be exposed if there is even only a technical
issue with, for instance, compliance to regulations.

The Process Perspective
Because of regulatory requirements, all organizations need a compli-
ance strategy and an elaborate set of controls in their operational and
management processes. Having a strong socially responsible culture
contributes to internalized control. The members of an organization
share the values and the objectives of the organization and will seek to
do the right thing, and be open about it. Doing the right thing, in this
case, means being socially responsible. It would be unwise to under-
estimate the efforts of organizations to be compliant, but organizations
that are socially responsible will find that their compliance initiatives
are easier to deal with, cost less because of lower internal political bar-
riers, and provide higher-quality results.