Corporate Citizenship

Corporate Citizenship (CC ) or corporate citizenship refers to civic engagement in and of companies pursuing a medium-and long-term corporate strategy based on good governance and on the actual business activities, as a " good citizen " is active for the local civil society or z. example for ecological and cultural issues involved. The English terminology refers to the fact that it originally is the adoption of a management idea as part of a public affairs strategy of the United States.

Today, in the German language an independent and broader understanding of the social responsibility of business is quite discussed and partly been practiced: in terms of " social cooperation" (Bernhard von Mutius ) that are entered into for mutual benefit of all partners involved and help social innovations on get off the ground. The term " corporate citizenship, " however, is not clearly used in scientific and political discourses as well as the company itself, and is in part unclear boundaries to related terms such as " corporate responsibility " or " corporate social responsibility " the social responsibility of companies. Behind these approaches is not least the question of the role of business in society.

The discussion of socially responsible corporate governance and socio- related exposures is not new in Germany. In the Middle Ages the social responsibility was enshrined in the guidelines of the Hanseatic League and Fugger. A institutionalization learned the social commitment of large companies mainly by the Workers' Welfare in the late 19th century.

Corporate Citizenship mix

The Corporate Citizenship mix describes nine instruments used by companies of all sizes in practice already. He is - as the marketing mix - a tool kit from which a company to choose appropriate instruments as part of its corporate citizenship strategy and implement these. The size of the company and the related circumstances amount of resources used is irrelevant. Medium-sized companies can basically use all nine instruments.

• " Corporate donations " ( Corporate Giving ) is the generic term for ethically motivated selfless leave, donations or Zustiften of money or in kind, as well as for the free or leave donations from corporate services, products and logistics.

• " Social Sponsorship " (Social sponsorship ) is the transfer of the common marketing measure sponsorship - as a business on reciprocity - to the social field, whereby the company's new communication channels and the non-profit organization New Ways of Financing opened.

• " Cause-related marketing " ( cause-related marketing) is a marketing tool, providing for the purchase of a product / service being advertised so that the company can get a portion of the proceeds as a "donation" a social purpose or organization.

• "Business Foundations " (Corporate Foundations ) refers to the reasons of foundations by companies - a kind of commitment that is also used by medium-sized companies more and more often.

• " Nonprofit employee engagement" ( Corporate Volunteering ) called the social commitment of companies through the investment of time, expertise and knowledge of its employees and the support of volunteer work by employees in and outside working hours.

• " Contracting with social organizations " (Social Commissioning ) describes the targeted business partnership with non-profit organizations that deal, for example, disabled and socially disadvantaged people, as ( also competent and competitive ) service provider and supplier companies, with the intention of the organizations by the to support procurement.

• " Commonwealth joint venture " ( community joint venture or public-private partnership ) denotes a joint enterprise of a non-profit organization and a company bring to both partners the resources and know -how and no one could perform alone.

• " Lobbying for social concerns " (Social Lobbying ) refers to the use of contacts and influence of the company for the objectives of charitable organizations or for concerns of specific groups in the community.

• " Social venture capital " ( venture philanthropy ) denotes entrepreneurially active risk capital investors who invest for a limited time and a specific project both money and expertise in non-profit organizations. "

• Participation in society is another important element of corporate citizenship.

Situation in Germany

In 2012, approximately 64 percent of all businesses engaged socially in Germany. The company invested about 11 billion euros into corresponding CC measures (of which 10.9 billion euros of money, property and infrastructure donations).

Criticism

Critics complain that it is often RELATES to selective inserts with no lasting impact ( "drop in the bucket " ) or red herrings that will relieve you from a poor image ( " window dressing ", " PR - effects ", " greenwashing " ), or that the selected fields of activity were better off in state or church responsibility ( " long-term ", " reliability ").

In addition, the term is not used consistently. Some use the term in the context of ethics donations, others take the term literally and urge enterprises to as' good (corporate) citizens " to act (eg Peter Ulrich).

This includes active participation in politics, in the industry, etc. The approach of corporate citizenship was coined in German-speaking significantly from established already in 1999, the Center for Corporate Citizenship.