Over Fall Break (from business school for those of you who haven't heard) I started reading a book called Just Good Business by Kellie McElhaney and it is a very intersting and useful read. I started it and got halfway through in the first sitting. The basis of what she discusses is how to align corporate social responsibility strategy with brand/business strategy. It is really telling so far and brought up things I have observed, and now notice, but never really put together. One thing that I thought was really smart was the idea that your CSR strategy should align with the core competencies of your business if you want it to succeed, and not simply be something that an executives spouse is excited about.
I won't give away her examples, but a great one I thought of on my flight home was our school's major community service project. We are a business school who's core competency should be business and our community service project is Habitat for Humanity. Now, don't get me wrong, I volunteer for Habitat and no one would question whether it is a worthy cause, but it may not stick (or students may not buy in) because it is not our core competency. Maybe if our major community service project was a partnership with an organization striving to empower small businesses with appropriate business tools, or to equip the underserved with business skills so that they can enter the workplace, that might make more sense and truly align with our core competency.
So when I was reading this I was very skeptical at first, especially coming from working at a Brewery most recently. What cause aligns with a Brewery? I mean, we can't possible work with AA, that's just cruel. So what would it be? I thought of a couple of answers, but I'm not going to share...they have to think about it themselves. But in examining various cause groups that I support I was able to come up with various companies for whom it would make tremendous sense for them to partner with. Brilliant insight from Mrs. McElhaney. I will definitely be taking her class if she continues to teach as an adjunct professor. Good work!
