Time for responsible government
Individual social responsibility and a sense of government social responsibility could combine to deliver a better and more harmonious Thai society, suggests Danai Chanchaochai
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Experts recently affirmed that the way for Thailand to surmount the global social, political and economic crises was through the practice of corporate social responsibility, or CSR.
This message was delivered at the seminar “CSR and Giving: Powers to Overcome the Economic Crisis” held by the CSR Network in Bangkok.
At the CSR Forum, former Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham said that despite the fact that the world was facing the most severe economic crisis for several years, Thailand was confronting three problems simultaneously, in its political, economic and social life.
“Crises may occur 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.
He noted that many crises in Thailand’s history arose "from accumulative irregularities that brought Thai people into conflict with one another".
"One solution for these crises is to draw back from conflict and start giving. CSR presents the power of giving that provides strength to everyone, to every business and to every community," he added.
“Giving and learning to give will make us strong. We can give in many different ways to one another, with good wishes, friendship, knowledge, material goods – they are all valuable ways of giving. This is the key factor of CSR, which has the power to overcome social, political and economic crises."
Social Enterprises
Another of the keynote speakers at the forum, Machima Kunjara Na Ayudhaya, CSR adviser for the Stock Exchange of Thailand, put forward the idea of Social Enterprises.
“Many businesses today adapt CSR to 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 further benefits to the public.”
Suthichai Iamjaroenying, president of SVN Thailand, said that all crises around the world are the product of both economic and political factors. The global economic crisis began because of unethical financial practices in New York, 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, while 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.”
Power from within
As chairman of the CSR Network my view is that this is the right time for CSR to emerge as a strategic platform for both government and private sectors to sail through the political and economic crises.
I believe we also need to develop the concept of Individual Social Responsibility (ISR).
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 CSR to remain sustainable and bring about endurable results, everyone in the organisations should be responsible, and that is ISR.
What is the benefit to the society if the organisation going around talking about helping the less privileged people in rural area, or campaigning for global warming issue when they are never concerned about electricity or cost savings in their own home or their office?
ISR starts from within each individual, and provides unlimited power for any CSR campaigns to sustain and overcome crises.
For Thailand to get out of the vicious cycle of corruption and political instability, the leaders and politicians must be socially responsible. We must develop GSR – Government Social Responsibility.
This is the power from within.
Danai Chanchaochai is Chief Executive Officer of DC Consultants and Marketing Communications in Bangkok
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