“Having born in Austria, worked for a while in Shanghai, and now in India, the different approaches I’ve learnt towards CSR are:In Europe, there is a strong awareness in terms of CSR. There is no regulation, but companies follow this philosophy as it is a part of their responsibility. Now, there is a trend for employees to involve in Social Corporation.In India, safety and education are our focus areas. In general, we see that the government catalogue of CSR consists of health and education as they are the needs of the people at the base of the pyramid. Corporations too focus on them to a large extent.

In China, it is in between, as it depends on where the corporations are located. If the place is Shanghai, then different approaches based on sustainability and environment are considered as it is highly westernized. The same standard used in Europe can be used here if there is no change in the environmental law for example. This can be an advantage for multi-national corporations.

Sometimes, long term activities are considered to be more effective, not in terms of finance, but with respect to sustainability; something like ‘Help Yourself’, wherein, the community helps itself under the guidance of the corporation. Helping someone to help himself is much more effective, and people can be proud of what they achieve, and this also strengthens their relationship in the long run.”

“The government involvement towards CSR has changed the way the strategy is being framed. CSR was being done for years so law is not required for organisations to act on the welfare of the society. The government has to think about how to make corporations do CSR rather than making a framework of 2% of profits. In my opinion, those corporations that have CSR in their blood have not changed due to emergence of law as they did consider it as a primary task even without any rule; but those who did not have CSR imbibed within them, it is doubtful if the law has made any changes. So ultimately, it does not really solve the problem of responsibility. The government pointing out the areas to work on can be more relevant than asking corporates to spend 2% for CSR activities.

There is an acceptance here that someone else will solve the issue and no one volunteers to do it. The irony is that society needs to go to corporates, asking them for quality; but here, the corporates are going forward to provide the quality keeping an eye on people who want employment. In Europe and USA everybody wants everything to be put in law to avoid self-judgment, but law is not required, for someone to be a good person. For sure, regulations are needed to act as the initial push.

“The main problem with women empowerment is the outlook of the society. Being the Director of the company, I can provide an empowered and quality environment for women employees, but once she is out of the factory, she gets into society, where women are looked down upon. For women to be truly empowered, society has to change; corporates cannot change the perception of society. They can just set an example. When the door gets opened and people walk out, it is the society that makes or mars them.