The 6th Dimension: Social Expectation
In Chapter 1 of Alaimo’s “Pitch, Tweet of Engage on the Street,” it notes that societies differ along five dimensions: political-economic system, culture, extent of activism, level of development and media system. But upon results of interviews with over seventy-five practitioners from an extensive list of countries, Alaimo believes two additions should be made to the list of dimensions, them being social expectations and influencers. I have been very enticed by the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR) recently and would like to focus on the concept of social expectation. Though Alaimo states that in the U.S., assuming responsibility for actions unrelated to the businesses falls strictly within the province of the government, I believe that view is changing.
Organizations that take corporate social responsibility seriously are deemed as more trustworthy and enhances the company’s reputation. Patagonia is a brand that easily comes to mind when I think about CSR. Patagonia has a campaign called “The Footprint Chronicles” and it does multitudes of CSR initiatives from recycling raw material, promoting humane working conditions, using organically grown cotton, and many more. You can check out their campaign here: https://www.patagonia.com/footprint.html
Many retail companies employ a CSR initiative to save the environment, but not many try to create safe, fair, legal and humane working conditions for their factories in third world countries. For example, Patagonia is Fair Trade Certified.
“This is how it works: We pay a premium for every Patagonia item that carries the Fair Trade Certified™ label. That extra money goes directly to the workers at the factory, and they decide how to spend it. This is not a top-down program. In each factory, a democratically elected Fair Trade worker committee decides how the funds will be used. Workers have chosen to use the premiums to fund community projects, like health care programs or a child care center; to purchase products they could otherwise not afford, like a TV or a stove; or to take a cash bonus.”
This way, the customer knows that when they make a purchase, it doesn’t just go into the company’s profits.
In contrast, companies like Zara and H&M are on the opposite end of the scale. Both brands are profit-driven and have CSR initiatives that put the environment at the forefront, but they have gotten a lot of backlash over abuse of power and terrible working conditions in their factories. If you’d like to read about the scandals,
H&M: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jun/05/female-garment-workers-gap-hm-south-asia
Therefore, a good textile recycling program or “less carbon footprint” propaganda is no longer all there is to a CSR initiative.
This is why I chose to share about Patagonia and its CSR. Every component of Patagonia’s supply chain profits from your purchase decision. It puts my mind at ease knowing that I support a brand that values the right things, hence this is a step in the right direction and I believe all companies should consider a CSR initiative with as great an impact as Patagonia