I believe that, just like quality management, the enlightened organizations have been embracing their responsibilities towards stakeholders other than owners and shareholders, but they are a small minority. Most organizations deliberately ignore the social, environmental and societal impacts of their operations, until an extrinsic motive forces them to. What is the percentage of organizations reporting triple bottom line results, for example?
Unfortunately, just like in the case of quality management, we run a risk that most organizations will perceive CSR as marketing initiatives, instead of truly embracing the sustainability spirit.
And worse, we, as consumers, are to blame for a lot of the problems because we prefer to ignore the reality of the supply chains which allows us to buy inexpensive goods.
I don’t think any organization would place sustainability ahead of profitability in their list of priorities, especially because Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also apply to companies. But those organizations which are concerned with long term sustained success (see ISO 9004:2009) will realize that business objectives need to be balanced and, while profitability is crucial, social, environmental and societal expectations will play an increasing role in determining an organization’s long term viability.