The Tata Way

Tata companies today are in the news for big ticket acquisitions of global companies and brands. Yet, the group has not lost its fulcrum, and remains a pioneer in its thinking on how future organizations are run and managed.Decades before terms such as ‘Sustainability’ and ‘CSR’ became fashionable, the founder of the Tata Group, Jamsetji Tata was crystal clear when he said: “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence.”

While community-centric corporate philosophy was indeed spoken about and practiced all these years, the Group is now making the inherent sustainability element more explicit, and evolving policies and systems to institutionalize it. In fact, corporate sustainability is boldly acknowledged as business strategy by the Tatas now. Dr. J.J.Irani, Director, Tata Sons, is, in fact, insisting that sustainability professionals in the Tata companies should be seen as business strategists. What’s more, sustainability is turning into a serious career option here.

Understandably, the much-used phrase ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) is passé at the Tatas. It’s ‘Corporate Sustainability’ from now on. What this means is Tatas are broadening their agenda beyond communities, to include the environment and bio-diversity. For a conglomerate that’s got its feet soiled in carbon intensive industries such as steel, chemicals and automobiles, this would surely mean a highly challenging commitment to sustain. For the Tatas now, ‘the business of business is sustainable value creation’ and they are busy institutionalizing it across the Group.

The transformation

All this while, the Tatas have co-ordinated their CSR efforts at the Group level through Tata Council of Community Initiatives (TCCI), and gone about building CSR capacities through several initiatives across the Group. They’ve made CSR agenda a part of KRA’s for their managers and integrated CSR with business excellence.

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Corporate Sustainability at HSBC India

Corporate entities have historically focused on financial bottom lines and profits as a key measure of success. And, more often than not, corporate social responsibilityhas been relegated to sporadic philanthropic donations to charities. Over the years, increasing citizen activism, demands from regulatory authorities and the enhanced self-learning of businesses around the world that we live on a finite planet with finite resources, have indeed created a new trend.

Businesses now understand that the pursuit of profits need not be at the expense of social equity, environmental quality and overall economic prosperity for communities, countries and regions in which they operate. In fact, integration of social, environmental and economic concerns into business strategy can indeed help corporates succeed not only financially, but also make a visible impact in communities worldwide by helping resolve the pressing social and environmental problems of our time.

It is now a foregone conclusion that businesses do not operate in vacuum. They are increasingly connected to a web of stakeholders: employees, customers, government, regulatory authorities, NGOs, citizen activists, consumer watchdogs and communities, across disperse geographies. Issues of social development, environmental management, natural resource conservation now assume as much importance as deliberations on corporate strategy, product /service delivery, innovation and value addition. Indeed, companies who believe in corporate responsibility and sustainable development have remodeled their mission and operating frameworks taking cognizance of social and environmental needs, both locally and globally.

HSBC is no exception. Our vision is to be the world's leading financial services company. We want HSBC to be the first choice for our customers and for our employees - the best place to bank and the best place to work. We also believe that we can play a role in helping to address the formidable challenges facing society today. And by helping to make the world a better place to live, we will also make our own business more sustainable.

HSBC's definition of sustainable development is based on the principles of the 1987 Bruntland Commission - that development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In practice, this means continuing to observe the highest standards of conduct in the provision of financial services to our customers and in discharging our responsibility to society as we have done throughout our history.

So how do we link our CSR work with our business vision and strategy and how do we measure our success?

Banks have an important role to play in driving economic growth. But this can only happen if communities are in a position to participate in India’s success story. We realize this dichotomoy, hence channelise our CSR efforts in the direction of financial inclusion initiatives. We also understand the need to protect the environment for posterity as an essential prerequisite to have a healthy world and hence invest in a number of initiatives in ecosystem conservation, environmental awareness and climate change.

In October 2005, we became the first bank to go carbon neutral, off setting those emissions that, inevitably, we cannot eliminate. Our London HQ has been recognised for its green credentials. We are also delighted that our new Mexico HQ was the first building in Latin America to be accredited by the US Green Building Council for its environment-friendly construction. Our Global Resourcing company in Hyderabad has recently received the LEEDS green building rating from the US Green Business Council. In India, we are taking steps to ensure clean energy sourcing and energy saving for all our premises. We have also initiated rainwater harvesting in some premises to recycle rainwater to the ground and replenish groundwater reserves. Our energy audits result in further energy savings and reduction of our carbon footprint.

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CSR at Zensar is a core value

If awards are an indicator, Zensar Technologies has done well as a corporate citizen. The awards it has won so far include Corporate Governance Business for Social Responsibility Award from the Bombay Stock Exchange (2006), FICCI CSR Award for special contribution to CSR in 2007, the Manthan Award in 2007 for the e-learning module for facilitating HIV/AIDS awareness amongst children. Considering that CSR as a function at Zensar was established only in 2004, the accolades indicate genuine commitment and speed of action.

Zensar Technologies is a Pune-headquartered software and services company with footprint in 18 countries. It has over 200 active customers to whom it provides end-to-end services - IT development, business process outsourcing, consulting and implementation.

Zensar views CSR as one of its core values and defines it as the holistic development of the community around which it operates. Transforming lives through holistic development of underprivileged communities is its vision. The focus is on:

• Improving quality of education and heath of underprivileged children from identified communities

• Sharing knowledge through IT education for underprivileged

• Improving health of families in identifi ed communities

• Involving associates in its corporate social responsibility initiatives through direct and indirect support

• Partnering with NGOs to encourage and support specific initiatives targeted at socio-economic development.

Zensar believes in internalizing and institutionalizing this philosophy and has set up a foundation to take it forward. Financially, the trust is reliant on contributions made by associates of Zensar and funds allocated by the company. ‘Zensar Cares’ is the core team of associates that is put together to hold the mandate of implementation of all the trust’s initiatives at the grass-roots.

Zensar has adopted a community close to its Offshore Center in Kharadi, Pune. The Community consists of 300 families, covering 1400 people who are covered under the three pronged effort of the CSR efforts in the areas of socio-economic empowerment, health and education.

As a part of the healthcare initiatives, weekly clinics, counseling sessions and health camps are regularly held. Every week the clinic has over 15 to 20 patients on an average. A supplementary nutrition programs for adolescent girls in the community was designed and implemented after a thorough study of the nutritional deficiencies of girls around the community.

An HIV/AIDS prevention program was run targeting adolescents in schools and colleges in Pune with the objective of raising the level of knowledge, awareness and skills of adolescents and youth about HIV/AIDS prevention and the pre and post measures showed increase in all the desired outcomes.

Zensar Foundation at the moment runs two learning centers in association with Akanksha, an NGO for children from slums. Another project was undertaken to give computer education to the 6th and 7th standard children from Pune Municipal Corporation School in Chandan nagar, and the schools reported an increase in attendance due to this training.

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