CSR initiatives by Mahindra, Nokia and Nestle

CSR initiatives by Mahindra, Nokia and Nestle Corporate social responsibility is the self regulated mechanism where business ensures that it supports to law, ethics and norms. Corporate Social Responsibility has been redefined throughout the years. It is an organizations mission and a guide to what the company stands for. It is also known as corporate responsibility. Social responsibility is the theory that the business should not function amorally instead of this it should work for the welfare of the society and community and the individuals. In simple way we can say CSR is all about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. CSR is the way in which the companies impact the world around them economically, environmentally and socially. CSR initiatives by Mahindra: At Mahindras, CSR means not just the sharing of our wealth, but of our time and of ourselves. Making socially responsible products, making a commitment to the community is the Corporate Social Responsibility for The Mahindra Group. Corporate Social Responsibility is not just a duty for the Mahindra Group but they say that its a way of life. Corporate social responsibility has been always a crucial part of their vision. They say that CSR is the opportunity for them. In 2005 group celebrated its 60th anniversary and pledged to dedicate 1% of its profit after tax to corporate social responsibility. Mahindra launched a special kind of Employee Social Options (ESOPs) to enable employees to involve in socially responsible activities of their choice. This programe has proved a big success. Employees at Mahindra are contributing in a significant way in the development work in villages to teaching children. They are assisting in disaster relief operations also. In fact they are trying their best in creating the better world. CSR initiatives at Mahindra focus mainly on education and health. They have their special emphasis on the girl child. Nanhi Kali is the project for the girl child. There is also a scholarship for the economically disadvantaged people named as Mahindra All India Talent Scholarship. Mahindra Group is also planning to set up two Mahindra Pride Schools. These schools will offer a variety of courses. The main emphasis will be on employability. It will also include training for Information Technology, Retail, and Automotive Engineering etc. They will provide new skills and capabilities to the weaker sections of society, particularly the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe youth. Various fields where Mahindra has taken initiatives towards corporate social responsibility are given below: Education- The Mahindra Group select education as the main tool to transform the lives of the people. In 1953,The K.C. Mahindra Education Trust (KCMET) was formed to promote KCMET has provided more than Rs. 25 crores in the form of grants, scholarships and loans. (KCMET) and the Naandi Foundation is aimed at providing education to the underprivileged girl child in India. Project Nanhi Kali as explained before is also for promoting education. It is a national girl child sponsorship Child sponsorship allows an individual, typically in a developed country, to sponsor, or fund a child in a developing country until the child becomes self sufficient. This could mean financially supporting the education, health or security of the sponsored child, or in some cases .. Click the link for more information.  Programme managed by the K.C. their main emphasis is on providing primary education to the girl child. Criteria for selection in Nanhi Kali programme 1. Girls who are enrolled in government schools 2. Girls whose family income is less than Rs 15,000 p.a. 3. Eldest girl child 4. Girl children with many siblings 5. Girls whose parents are illiterate 6. Girls belonging to backward communities Mahindra Mahindra was awarded the prestigious Auto Monitor Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year 2007 award for its Nanhi Kali Project at a glittering function held in Delhi. In Mumbai they have started Each One Teach One, Apnalaya, Save The Children, National Sponsorship Council, India Sponsorship Committee, Salaam Baalak Trust, S.N.D.T. Kanya Shala, Indian Association For Promotion of Adoption Child Welfare, Akanksha Foundation, Reach Foundation Action Programme (REAP), Bal-Jeevan Trust, Sunbeam, Doorstep School, Aseema, and Project Crayon. In August 2006, the KCMET and the Government of Rajasthan The Government of Rajasthan also known as the State Government of Rajasthan, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its 30 districts. .. Click the link for more information.  agreed jointly to sponsor the education of 10,000 Nanhi Kalis in Udaipur. Mid Day Meal Kitchen: The Company make a partnership with the Government of Rajasthan and Naandi Foundation for setting up of a centralised Mid Day Meal Kitchen at Govindgarh Taluka, Jaipur District, in the state of Rajasthan. Environment Mahindra Mahindra is also an environmentally conscious organization and is committed to help in maintaining the ecological balance. On the Founders Day the company launched a special campaign named Mahindra Hariyali which aims to add one million trees to Indias green cover by October 2008. Also ESOPs volunteers take up local environmental initiatives at various plants and area offices. Thus employees undertake various initiatives in environment such as: Energy Conservation Awareness Drives, Rain water harvesting, Global Warming. Arts and culture The Arts has also been an area of special focus of Mahindras social responsibility. Mahindra has instituted the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) which is Indias first dedicated theatre awards instituted by a Corporate. META will develop talent in theatre across the country. The awards will initially cover English Hindi theatre.The selection process covers four broad areas of the country, namely, North, South, East and West.  Six plays selected from each region and are referred to the respective Critics Panel. Mahindra Group also plans to set up a Mahindra Academy for Excellence in Theatre. Sports: Mahindra United Football A club with of games was set up in 1950. In 1956, a group of youngsters make a Mahindra official team in the Bombay Football League.   The company provided full- size football field for practice and training. Mahindra United of Mumbai is the only team in Maharashtra who win the Durand Cup twice; the second oldest trophy in the world. It is also the first team in Maharashtra to win the Harwood League and the Nadkarni Cup three times in a row. The MU won its IFA shield in Kolkata recently. Health Disaster Relief Mahindra Foundation The Mahindra Foundation has been set up to provide medical relief to the poor and needy sections of society. The foundation has helps patients suffering from cancer and heart diseases.   The Mahindra Group has also been very responsive to any disaster in India always. At the time of tsunami or the Gujarat earthquake, the Mahindra family has always provided support either by financial help or by sending vehicles and supplying material. Some of the Notable ESOPS initiatives this year were: The Lifeline Express (hospital-on-wheels) The Lifeline Express is the worlds first hospital on rails and provides free medical and surgical treatment to people suffering from polio, cataract, deafness and cleft lip. It is undertaken by the Tractor Plant in Rudrapur, where 647 surgeries were performed free of cost.   AIDS Awareness Campaign started in July 2007 in nasik city. The Company feels privileged to have received the Businessworld BSR Business for Social Responsibility Award. CSR initiatives taken by Nokia: Nokia is the market leader and a global company so it takes its responsibility seriously. Nokia respects the member of the society. They believe that mobile technologies can contribute to economic growth. Many of the programs are targeted at young people and youth development by Nokia as the corporate social responsibility. For example, Nokia collaborates with the International Youth Foundation. The company also has signed a cooperative agreement with the international childrens organization Plan in Africa to raise the childrens awareness of their opportunities and rights. Nokia also engages in some other types of societal CSR such as employee volunteering, corporate giving, Nokia Data Gathering is an example of a CSR programme that Nokia is expert in mobile technologies to do good things for society. The software allows different organisations to collect data using mobile phones instead of more paper forms. Nokia looks after its employee through various employee programmes and ethical labour practices. Environmental initiatives can be taken as the part of CSR. Taking care of environment is the everyones responsibility in the company. Nokias aim is be to be leader in environmental activities. Environmental management priorities include energy efficiency, managing substance of products, and take-back of used devices for proper recycling. Nokia collaborates with stakeholders to maximize contribution in the environmental management field. For example, in 2007 Nokia initiated supplier collaboration to work on energy efficiency targets Nokia has also worked with World Wide Fund; a global conservation organization, from 2003 in order to enhance Nokias environmental performance and increasing the environmental awareness of all Nokia employees. Since January 2008 Nokia has been a member of WWFs programme Climate Savers that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nokia also supports Connect2Earth, a green on-line community launched by WWF. It want to make a positive impact through its product and services. Nokia aims to ensure that environmental, ethical as well as health and safety issues. Nokias CSR initiatives are given below Nokias helping hands Bridge IT Make a connection Village phones Nokias helping hands Nokia Helping Hands is an employee volunteerism program that allow employees to dedicate a maximum of two working days per year to volunteer work of their choice. The volunteer work includes building schools, collecting toys, clothes and other supplies for people in need and arranging activities for children. Through helping others it is possible to learn new skills and find new perspectives. Village phone Village Phone provides an example of a programme that targets universal access, provide access affordable telecommunications services in rural areas so boost economic development in rural communities. Accessibility is other project that provide accessibility features specifically to those people with disabilities and cognitive, sensory and physical limitations. Nokia is developing another project that will remind people to take their HIV/AIDS medicines on time. Nokia has been looking for a way to remind people on their phones that would be appropriate as well as discreet. This would allow for better monitoring and control from the side of health organizations. Bridge IT It is the result of a unique partnership between Nokia, IYF, Pearson, SEAMO Innotech and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The program uses existing information and communication technologies to access to quality education everywhere in the world. The idea is to offer young people the opportunity to education and skills development. The main objective is to deliver educational material of high quality to developing country schools through wireless technologies. Nokia has the text message technology which can be used in the programme which enables teachers and students to request and download materials from a digital library. So BridgeIT brings global educational materials into the reach of teachers and students in developing countries. Make a connection: Nokia has been cooperating with the International Youth Foundation established in 1990, is a global non-profit organisation working which empower young people to be healthy and productive. IYFs programmes help youth obtain quality education, make healthy choices, gain employability skills, and work to improve their communities. Nokia supports various youth development programme. Instead of starting completely new programmes, IYF identify those of its programmes that are working and bringing the expected benefits for participants. In 2000, Nokia and the IYF launched a global youth development initiative named as Make a Connection which is to strengthen the life skills of young people and prepare them for the future. Minimising environmental footprint Nokias environmental work is based on life cycle thinking which means that Nokia aim to minimize the environmental impact of the products throughout the operations,with the extraction of raw materials and ending with recycling, treatment of waste, and recovery of used materials. Energy efficiency Nokia make sure that devices use as little energy as possible. Nokia also work to reduce the energy consumption of the operations and agree on energy efficiency targets with the key suppliers. The future is in your hands Nokia has launched The Future is in Your Hands, which is a recycling scheme. The programme encourages customers to use special Nokia recycling bins for the disposal of old mobile phones and batteries. The phones will then be properly recycled.The move comes in addition to Nokias existing take-back scheme, which operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. CSR initiatives taken by Nestle Nestle is one of Indias branded food manufacturers. Nestles approach is to create a long-term sustainable value for their consumers, customers, employees, shareholders and society as a whole. It is a market leader in pretty every category. Some people say that Nestle doesnt really believe in the concept of corporate social responsibility instead they believe in the concept of creating shared value. The answer to this question is that they do believe that creating share value is one level higher than corporate social responsibility. In corporate social responsibility, they help communities and creating share value is just their way of doing business. Main CSR activities by Nestle are given below: Community Welfare Environment   Rural Development Water Safe drinking water; In India one of the major concern is the availability of clean drinking water for many communities. Approximately 200 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. Nestle India has committed to improving the situation. It believes that the first step is to create awareness in the communities. A key focus area of their Corporate social responsibility initiatives is to help provide Clean Drinking Water. Other one is to educate children in schools so that we can conserve this scarce resource. Nestle also supports local schools. It also helps in the maintenance of public parks and green belts. It facilitates blood donation camps and health awareness programs. All these initiatives strengthen the bond between Nestle and the community. Nestles main emphasis is on creating value for the public in terms of better nutrition, water, and food production. These three are the key to Nestle in building a sustainable business in the long-term. It makes a fundamental connection between shareholder value and community value. Nestle launched a series of initiatives to show its commitment in Creating Shared Value. Such as Company is launching the Nestle Healthy Kids Global Programme. The Nestle Prize, provides financial support of up to USD 461,000 to individuals, NGOs, or small enterprises who offer innovative solutions to nutritional deficiencies, access to clean water, or progress in rural development. Community Development The main business objective of nestle is to create value that can be sustained over the long term for the economy and society, using natural resources, creating growth opportunities and prosperity. The recently originated term is inclusive growth but it shows that in which thing company believes and what is it working for so that the business must be good for society, improving the quality of life of the people. The Nestle in the community model is simple. Employment: Nestle is creating direct and indirect employment knowledge, training programs and through transfer of technology. This enable people in the community to participate in economic prosperity. Nestle is continuously working with the community to understand what is needed to improve their quality of life. Nestle has been conducting dairy development programs in village to train the women in good dairy practices as well as spread awareness about personal health, hygiene, water   conservation and economic independence. Rural Development: Nestle has worked with millions of milk and coffee farmers and has make them better suppliers. It has helped them out of poverty and to prosper. Today, Nestle works directly with almost 600,000 farmers throughout the world, providing around over USD 27 million worth of microfinance in 2008. About 2.4 million people in developing countries earn their livelihoods from the Nestle supply chain. Conclusion- All the three companies are doing their best. They are taking up their corporate social responsibility seriously. Nestle believes in creating the shared value as well as doing their responsibility well. Mahindra has almost tried to do everything for the welfare of the society. Similarly Nokia is also performing well. Where Mahindra focuses on the education of girl child, Nokia and Nestle emphasize on the development of rural areas.