CORDOBA - Why are transparency and credibility so important in the foundation of Corporate Social Responsibility? And how can I integrate these issues into the management and communication strategy of my company? On August 9, around 60 businessmen gathered in the Holiday Inn Hotel at Córdoba, Argentina, in order to obtain some answers to these questions. The seminar took place under the title "Tranparency and Social Report of companies" and was presented by Professor Kevin Sweeney, Associate professor of the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.

The activity was organized by the Argentine Institute for Corporate Social Responsibility [Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE)] with the support of the Amercian Embassy's Information Resource Center in Argentina, which made possible the presence of Sweeney in Córdoba.

Sweeney opened the event by emphazising the importance of a transparent and socially responsible business. He postulated transparency as a tool to bolster credibility with the objective to gain stakeholder confidence: "Today NGOs are considered to be the most credible actors within society. According to their objectives, non-governmental organizations profit from easy access to information in order to reveal companies' inconsistencies and scandals. As a consequence - he argued - in the United States we see a large number of companies taking a strong interest in entering into collaboration with NGOs. This, on the one hand, aims to generate business credibility; on the other, to silence critical voices and to collaborate on joint programs, profiting from the NGOs specific Know-how to anticipate trends".

Transparency, in the speaker's conclusion, is the entrance fee companies have to pay to enter into collaboration with NGOs. "However, the latter ones are not the only actors to call for a responsible and transparent behavior of business. The number of investment funds, particularly pension funds, demanding this as a condition sine qua non to lend capital, is on a constant raise," he said. According to Sweeney, the volume of Socially Responsible Investment will keep growing and the indices linked, such as the FTSE4Good and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as well as rating agencies such as Standard & Poors require a Social Report.

But how can a company initiate the process to create a social report? The event's second part was dedicated to ellaborating this issue in round table discussions. Based on the example of a multinational's social report, the participants analized the content, the selection of information presented, as well as the manner of presentation. Each group's positive and negative opinion of the reports were shared in the subsequent plenary discussion.

Sweeney especially highlighted the difference between the financial report and the social report. While the former presents last year's financial results in retrospect, the latter serves to present last year's numbers. In the social report the company must present good news as well as bad; last year's accomplishments as well as pending targets and -more importantly- the report serves to project the company's future and thereby reafirms its commitment as a tool of communication.

Sweeney informed us that "For businesses do exist various guidelines assisting in the process towards the creation of a Social Report. Among them the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) or the iBase. But regardless of the tool chosen, there are key issues to be taken into account in this process: To define exactely why to embark upon this process and what are the changes to be achieve achieved. To define the goals and the report's target audience and grant them priority; to define the steps necessary to assure or enhance credibility."

In his seminar, Kevin Sweeney offered the audience two major conclusions. On the national level, he encouraged the participants to create an occasion of debate and reunion with the aim to compensate the lack of credible sources in Argentina. He suggested creating a roundtable with representatives of all roles called by a leader from a business or civil society.
On the business level, Sweeney emphasized that -in order to gain confidence- it is fundamental to present in total transparency all sides of the story and to talk about the company's success as much as about the remaining dilemmas and scandals. "This process is worth trying but requires pacience: a good reputation has to be earned", the professor concluded.

Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE)

Instituto Argentino de Responsabilidad Social Empresaria (IARSE)

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