By Francesca Rheannon

THE QUESTION: Does Culture Make A Difference In Setting CSR Global Standards?

Rahul Mitra’s powerful post on culture, CSR and Glocalization sparked a lively discussion, with many commenters weighing in. One commenter wrote, “The question is how to use CSR in specific scenarios to reduce poverty or exclusion…and include culture as part of the factors to implement it locally and globally.” Another pointed to the evolution of CSR, which started “as a reactive chain of actions to avoid or minimize the damage to the environment, now we need to see it as a holistic approach and be more proactive…”

Collaboration and convergence were seen to be key in the development of CSR, with cultural awareness being an important part of this. This led to another question posed by Rahul that “if we explicitly consider culture in our organizational decisions, does CSR become really divorced from normal business?”

Culture is key to delivering CSR outcomes as well as in setting expectations, one commenter said. But while diversity of culture is a vital social good, other commenters noted that “there are some fundamental CSR considerations that all cultures must embrace: clean air, drinkable water, safe and plentiful food supply, respect for human dignity, freedom of expression, non discrimination and most of all - peace.”

Finally, the discussion centered on the need for tools for bringing cultural considerations into CSR policies. That led Rahul Mitra to post his 5-step primer on culture, CSR, and Glocalisation.

Check it out and bring your voice to the table.