Experts: CSR the way to overcome crisis

Experts affirmed recently that the way for Thailand to surmount the global social, political and economic crises was through the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This was the message delivered at the seminar "CSR and Giving: Powers to Overcome the Economic Crisis" held recently by the CSR Network at Bodhgaya Hall, DC Consultants Office.

Former deputy prime minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham said that while the world was facing the most severe economic crisis in several years, Thailand was confronting three problems simultaneously, in its political, economic and social life.

"Crises may arise from natural or man-made irregularities," he said. "The current global crisis happened because of human greed, especially in financial companies in a business with an insatiable thirst for superiority. They launched new financial products for more and more profit until a crisis was unavoidable.

Many crises in Thailand's history arose from cumulative irregularities that brought people into conflict with one another, he said, and one solution to these crises is to draw back from conflict and start giving. CSR offers the power of giving that provides strength to everyone, to every business and to every community, he said.

"Giving and learning to give will make us strong. We can give many different things to one another, good wishes, friendship, knowledge, material goods: they are all valuable gifts. This is the key factor of CSR, which has the power to overcome social, political and economic crises," he said.

Keynote speaker Machima Kunjara na Ayudhaya, CSR adviser to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, brought up the idea of social enterprises.

"Many businesses today adopt CSR in their main strategies and business goals, and that's very good as far as it goes," he said, "but social enterprises are distinctive: they are businesses whose objectives are to tackle social and environmental needs, and their profits are reinvested to sustain benefit to the public."

According to Suthichai Iamjaroenying, president of SVN Thailand, all crises around the world stem from both economic and political factors. The global economic crisis began because of unethical financial practices in New York, he said, while Thailand's political crisis was caused by our government's lack of social responsibility.

"These crises cannot be solved separately," he said. "The solution begins with the government's political will to end the economic crisis, whereas CSR will change the business climate. We need to start now and keep going, so that CSR and the sustainable economy can unify our society and make it strong."

Danai Chanchaochai, chairman of the CSR Network and chief executive officer of DC Consultants and Marketing Communications, said now was the right time for CSR to emerge as a strategic platform on which both government and private sectors could sail through the political and economic crises.

"We also need to develop the concept of individual social responsibility," he said. "I feel that this is a responsibility for all Thai people as individuals, not just organisations and institutions, if we are serious about ending these crises. Everything can start from us, with no financial support necessary."

For Thailand to get out of the vicious cycle of corruption and political instability, Danai said, its leaders and politicians must be socially responsible, showing government social responsibility. "This is the power from within," he said.