The cement industry has responded to the demands of infrastructure and consequent increasing the production capacity enormously. This industry mainly rely on mining operation for its product, impacting large number of people and the environment around it. Hence, adequate responsibility has to move alongside its growth.
India, historically has been a society that has had a tradition of showing concern to others. As the country industrialised, business houses also kept with these traditions. It is documented that the oldest business houses have been the most just and hence respected companies in our society.
Indian economy has grown leaps and bounds in recent years and today India is recognised by the world as an emerging economy. Consequently, companies of all sizes have emerged, grown and expanded in the last few decades, at times very quickly, with impacts on the environment and the society. However, their responsibilities often have not kept pace with their growth. Governance is often compromised and probably because of the sheer numbers of people available, the dignity and value for human beings and their rights often ignored. Many organisations have grown, often flouting norms, arriving at quick fix solutions with sometimes with complete disregard for the environment or the impacts on its work force and its neighbourhood, owing to its operations.The cement industry has responded to the demands of infrastructure and consequent increasing the production capacity enormously. This industry mainly rely on mining operation for its product, impacting large number of people and the environment around it. Hence, adequate responsibility has to move alongside its growth.Any quick fix models with a complete lack of concern for the society and environment can only work in the short term. To survive, organisations need to be viewed as responsible companies, both by their internal as well as external stakeholders. And this sentiment is being echoed by all – the government, business forums, etc, and companies are encouraged to understand this for their own good.Different organisations have been using the terms CSR, corporate citizenship and sustainability interchangeably. For example, Ambuja Cements sees CSR as the social performance forming a significant aspect of the company’s overall sustainability. Sustainability is the broad umbrella and CSR is the company’s performance towards all its stakeholders – workforce , business partners, customers and the society – which it impacts through its operations.While there is no doubt that companies need to sprout and grow, especially to meet the development demands of society, they also in turn directly or indirectly impact the societies in which they exist. There is a need and a demand to monitor social impacts and performance. Just projecting a strong financial bottom line is simply not enough. Hence, CSR is about responsible management of business processes which produce an overall positive impact on society.Relevant stakeholders need to be mapped by every organisation and would largely fall in the following groups:
- Workforce
- Business partners and the supply chains
- Customers and
- Impacted communities
Each of these need to be defined and prioritised depending on the nature of the business, the type of impacts business has on them and the numbers impacted. This would have direct relevance to the influence and impact the stakeholder group would have on the business operations – which would eventually in the long run affect company’s sustainability.Some very labour intensive businesses, having a huge workforce (many SMEs and service companies would fall in this category) would do well to understand their impacts on their workforce and hence may lay down its CSR priorities for this stakeholders. They would focus on ensuring a safe and just work environment and facilities for its workers. Large manufacturing or mining companies on the other hand, could be highly mechanised and while they would still have to have fair practices for their workforce, however small, cannot ignore their neighbouring communities as another priority stakeholder group.In Indian cement industry, due to the sheer size of our population, these impacted neighbours would be large in number, and would lack access to basic facilities required for a decent standard of living and usually be in the poverty bracket. With operations of a large company in their midst, they would have soaring aspirations which may need to be reasonably addressed, especially if the company intends to coexist with them long term. Engaging with this stakeholders in a focused manner, keeping them active participants in the process. This is becoming even more relevant as such companies need to acquire large tracts of land which is becoming a very precious resource and the people are getting more and more aware of their rights and if not directly engaged with positively, and exploited, can disrupt company’s operations. On the other hand, direct engagement with neighbours, facilitates smooth operations and expansion plans.Strategic CSR becomes handy to showcase when demands arise such as during a bid for new project sites or expansions, seeking financial assistance from investors or even when reputation of the company is at stake.Another important angle in CSR in the Indian context, but seldom touched, is that with the supply chain. Large groups are involved in supplying raw material and delivering finished goods and there is scope and challenges of working with these chains and embedding CSR in methods of conducting business with them.In cement Industry, the sustainability drive team necessarily needs to include CSR and environmental excellence in its mindset. This mindset needs to be driven by the management from the top and planned and discussed as company’s strategy so that it becomes relevant to and systematically integrated within the business. All those steering the company need to be aligned with a common understanding of CSR deliverables and processes. In the past, those who did risk planning and mitigation, seldom considered social responsibility aspects as their main risk map and were often left fire fighting when there was unrest amongst stakeholders. If this is built in while risk planning, CSR projects could be aligned completely to business needs.With risk planning and CSR aligned, projects are dynamic and change with the needs of the business. It is about time that Indian companies realised that CSR is a decisive business strategy. Not just a nice thing to do, or done because we are being coerced into it, but that it makes excellent business sense.