The risks of social responsibility
A book that discusses the topic of social washing has just been published
A focus on the environmental implications of your business and care for the social implications of your company’s presence in a specific local context; concrete measures, not just good intentions, demanded by the market which wants to see such measures demonstrated with ever greater precision and reliability. These are precise requirements that companies must satisfy, with all the costs and risks that this involves. Because, more and more, companies that make use of sustainability and social issues are exposed to at least two dangers. First of all, being excluded from the market due to regulations that are becoming increasingly severe and stringent; secondly, being publicly accused of social washing – in other words of engaging in socially positive behaviour, but only in a superficial way. The latter comes in a colourful range of flavours: pinkwashing, rainbow washing, blackwashing, healthwashing, sportswashing, right up to the silent act of greenhushing.
This is the theme of Rossella Sobrero’s book, Pericolo socialwashing. Comunicare l’impegno sociale tra rischi e opportunità (The Danger of Social Washing. Communicating Social Responsibility Amid Risks and Opportunities). In around 200 pages, the volume succeeds in shedding light on one of the most complex and controversial aspects of current business management.
Sobrero answers a range of different questions. First of all, we need to ask ourselves what drives an organisation to expose itself to the risk of social washing. The answer, in general terms, comes from the market and the company’s stakeholders. While, on the one hand, in order to establish its social role, the company might limit itself to organising philanthropic activities, launching corporate volunteering programs and carrying out promotional initiatives for social responsibility, on the other, all these activities, however important, are no longer enough. Businesses are expected to demonstrate a real desire to contribute to solving society’s problems. To do this, they must interpret current trends, understand people’s needs and act in an honest, coherent and transparent way. Only in this way will stakeholders – and in particular consumers – reward companies who have authentically committed themselves to the common good as well as to achieving their own corporate goals.
All this has a cost, not only in economic terms but in organisational terms too. The book goes on to clearly illustrate, partly thanks to numerous examples, the main kinds of social washing; it reminds us that there are actions and tools that can protect, at least in part, the organisation from such accusations, and it goes on to propose a new reading of the relationship between organisations and stakeholders. Sobrero emphasises, among other things, that while we generally look at what the company can do to involve stakeholders, we rarely reflect on the role that stakeholders can play in urging the company to adopt appropriate behaviour and describe it in a transparent way.
Of great value are the contribution of the experts who, in the second part of the volume, contribute to stimulating debate and reflection on a topic whose many facets are brought out by their words. There are interviews with: Andrea Alemanno, Concetta Cardamone, Giampaolo Cerri, Vittorio Cino, Monica De Paoli, Barbara Falcomer, Filippo Giordano, Enrico Giovannini, Enrico Giraudi, Pina Lalli, Paola Magni, Federico Mento, Roberto Natale, Matteo Pietripaoli, Roberto Randazzo, Angelo Rindone, Francesca Vecchioni, Clodia Vurro, Stefano Zamagni and Alberto Zambolin.
Rossella Sobrero’s book should absolutely be read by those who deal with the issues of corporate social and environmental responsibility. And it’s a book that’s worth re-reading.
Pericolo socialwashing. Comunicare l’impegno sociale tra rischi e opportunità (The Danger of Social Washing. Communicating Social Responsibility Amid Risks and Opportunities)
Rossella Sobrero
Egea, 2024
A book that discusses the topic of social washing has just been published
A focus on the environmental implications of your business and care for the social implications of your company’s presence in a specific local context; concrete measures, not just good intentions, demanded by the market which wants to see such measures demonstrated with ever greater precision and reliability. These are precise requirements that companies must satisfy, with all the costs and risks that this involves. Because, more and more, companies that make use of sustainability and social issues are exposed to at least two dangers. First of all, being excluded from the market due to regulations that are becoming increasingly severe and stringent; secondly, being publicly accused of social washing – in other words of engaging in socially positive behaviour, but only in a superficial way. The latter comes in a colourful range of flavours: pinkwashing, rainbow washing, blackwashing, healthwashing, sportswashing, right up to the silent act of greenhushing.
This is the theme of Rossella Sobrero’s book, Pericolo socialwashing. Comunicare l’impegno sociale tra rischi e opportunità (The Danger of Social Washing. Communicating Social Responsibility Amid Risks and Opportunities). In around 200 pages, the volume succeeds in shedding light on one of the most complex and controversial aspects of current business management.
Sobrero answers a range of different questions. First of all, we need to ask ourselves what drives an organisation to expose itself to the risk of social washing. The answer, in general terms, comes from the market and the company’s stakeholders. While, on the one hand, in order to establish its social role, the company might limit itself to organising philanthropic activities, launching corporate volunteering programs and carrying out promotional initiatives for social responsibility, on the other, all these activities, however important, are no longer enough. Businesses are expected to demonstrate a real desire to contribute to solving society’s problems. To do this, they must interpret current trends, understand people’s needs and act in an honest, coherent and transparent way. Only in this way will stakeholders – and in particular consumers – reward companies who have authentically committed themselves to the common good as well as to achieving their own corporate goals.
All this has a cost, not only in economic terms but in organisational terms too. The book goes on to clearly illustrate, partly thanks to numerous examples, the main kinds of social washing; it reminds us that there are actions and tools that can protect, at least in part, the organisation from such accusations, and it goes on to propose a new reading of the relationship between organisations and stakeholders. Sobrero emphasises, among other things, that while we generally look at what the company can do to involve stakeholders, we rarely reflect on the role that stakeholders can play in urging the company to adopt appropriate behaviour and describe it in a transparent way.
Of great value are the contribution of the experts who, in the second part of the volume, contribute to stimulating debate and reflection on a topic whose many facets are brought out by their words. There are interviews with: Andrea Alemanno, Concetta Cardamone, Giampaolo Cerri, Vittorio Cino, Monica De Paoli, Barbara Falcomer, Filippo Giordano, Enrico Giovannini, Enrico Giraudi, Pina Lalli, Paola Magni, Federico Mento, Roberto Natale, Matteo Pietripaoli, Roberto Randazzo, Angelo Rindone, Francesca Vecchioni, Clodia Vurro, Stefano Zamagni and Alberto Zambolin.
Rossella Sobrero’s book should absolutely be read by those who deal with the issues of corporate social and environmental responsibility. And it’s a book that’s worth re-reading.
Pericolo socialwashing. Comunicare l’impegno sociale tra rischi e opportunità (The Danger of Social Washing. Communicating Social Responsibility Amid Risks and Opportunities)
Rossella Sobrero
Egea, 2024