Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability in times of Social Unrest II

Japan's SoftBank USD 100million fund initiative will seek to create opportunities for growth and assistance in investing in entrepreneurs "from communities that face systematic disadvantages in building and scaling their businesses."

Further to my comments on yesterday’s post (Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability in times of Social Unrest), the below serves as a prime illustration of the sort of meaningful and substantive measures corporations are expected to introduce in adhering to their social responsibilities when addressing instances of social unrest.

The reality is that ultimately, while the preparation and issuance of a press release condemning social injustices may be appreciated (and potentially risk being deemed as a public relations ‘box-ticking’ exercise), the evolving nature of corporate social responsibility and the enhanced level of society’s expectations associated with this, require corporations to balance both their commercial interests and exigencies alongside their responsibility to take proactive steps against negative societal vicissitudes such as inequality and discrimination. At its core, large scale investments in assisting and creating opportunities for those communities directly affected, may well be a way forward corporations can consider when seeking to oblige their moral and communitarian sense of ‘duty’ in part satisfaction of their ongoing corporate social responsibilities.