I would like to shift a bit the topic from the previous entries in my blog. Today I would like to talk about Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.) and its relationship to Business Information Technology.
Before I engage deeper into the topic I would like to remark that my focus may divert from the Information & Business Technology perspective at some points, since my main academic disciplines and background are strongly related to public policy and international relations.
That being said, I would like to point out a key factor to understand C.S.R.: it is an on-going and evolving concept, which currently does not have a universally accepted definition.
However, there are some concepts which are clearly identified with C.S.R.. For instance, C.S.R. should be the way companies integrate social, environmental and economic concerns into their values, culture, decision making, strategy and operations in a transparent and accountable way, thus establishing better practices within the firm, create wealth and improve society, thus creating more business for themselves.
Why should companies comply with the above mentioned actions? Well, it is a fact that large corporations have gained much power, prestige and influence in society. It is because of this reason that, whether they like it or not, they are involved in helping the planet rid off development and poverty. I want to stress this because many critics from C.S.R. think that there is no sense in this, and that governments and NGO’s should do more, in other words, they think that it is not the role of companies in general to care for this issues, and therefore is just not feasible; other critics go even harder on it, saying that is an attempt of governments to take pressure off their own shoulders and pass it on to the corporations.
Source: http://www.polyp.org.uk/
Having explained this impasse, I would like to continue to give my humble analysis of what I call, the impact of Information Technology on C.S.R.
Within the past 15 years, the world has seen a rapid change in how information is stored, processed, and spread or distributed, this has been nothing but the result of computer science and computer technology. Even in developing countries, it has become rare to find people working with paper documents instead of electronic files. One could argue that this is due to the advantage of managing and processing data with more efficiency and precision (e.g. filing, sorting, storage), However, these are not the only reasons.
Even though efficiency, accuracy and efficacy were triggers for companies to shift to a more advanced model of data processing and management, there is also the fact that telecommunications also shortened distances dramatically and made the world a literal “global village” where information is disseminated instantly.
The above mentioned phenomena have had an impact on the relevance of information management for corporations. In other words, information is not only an invaluable resource for wealth generation but, in most cases, it has become the most important asset for a company, and as such, it must be guarded through a system of internal controls. There is a strong need to protect it from being stolen or used unlawfully. Steps must also be taken to guard against its destruction. Abuse may also arise where information is utilized in a manner that invades the privacy of clients, trading partners, and employees.
Even though these issues were important even prior to the IT revolution. However, they have now taken on an additional perspective because of the increased use of IT in information management, and this, has had full impact on the different RACI matrixes of many corporations (e.g. duties of directors, responsibilities of auditors, interests of investors, and of course the implementation of new corporate governance practices). Basically, I want to stress that with this technological revolution we have seen a large enhancement of transparency (at least as a goal for most Corporations, if it has been achieved, it’s a whole different story).
