Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Business

The guide should be useful to many firms that do not currently have formal CSR policies or programs in place. While not specifically developed for use by public agencies and civil society organizations, the principles of CSR may also be helpful to them in their own sustainability efforts.

The guide is primarily intended as an introduction to some of the existing CSR tools and approaches which are currently being used. In publishing this guide aim to provide a useful starting point for accessing the many CSR instruments currently available in the marketplace.

 

Among the better known international instruments this guide draws on include:

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy and Core Labour Standards;
• The UN Global Compact Principles;
• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines;
• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards;
• The AccountAbility AA1000 Series; and
• The Social Accountability International SA8000 standard.

The guide distils ideas and processes from a variety of sources, and is intended to be suggestive, not prescriptive. It has three parts:

• Part 1 is an overview of CSR—how it is defined, the business case for it and the relationship between CSR and the law;
• Part 2 sets out a six-stage “plan, do, check and improve” implementation framework for a CSR approach. This part also features information particular to small business, indicated by the magnifying glass icon; and
• Part 3 looks at stakeholder engagement and the integral role stakeholders can play in implementing an effective CSR approach.

Five appendices contain supplementary information, including a list of key sources for further reading.