Prospering Responsibly
By Brendan Glauser
There is no arguing that the ICT industry is in a leadership position economically, both in Canada and abroad. It weathered the economic challenges of the recession as well as any other industry, and its future looks extremely bright as digital economy strategies are becoming commonplace in public policy around the world.
While this is cause to celebrate, it places a serious responsibility on the shoulders of ICT industry members. As our products and services are continuously evolving to better serve our customers, so should the way we interact with our customers in the communities in which we live.
An abundance of existing research points to the bottom-line benefits of enacting a corporate social responsibility strategy, including: operational efficiency gains; improved risk management; favourable relations with the investment community and improved access to capital; enhanced employee relations; stronger relationships with communities and an enhanced license to operate; and improved reputation and branding.
But let us be reminded of the other reasons to be social responsible: to leave this world safer and healthier than how we found it, so that our families and neighbours can live well for generations to come. This requires us to be economic leaders, as well as leaders in charity and the promotion of all people’s well being. After all, the ICT industry is in the position it’s in because of its drive and ability to constantly innovate on and improve the current state of all things – from speeding up desktops, to completely revamping business models. Why not take that exact philosophy and apply it to rectifying the inequalities and injustices that plague our communities and world.
A wise person once wrote, “‘I must do something’ always solves more problems than ‘Something must be done.’” In this issue of ITAC Online, we celebrate a few people and companies who are doing “something” to make our world a better place.
CSR, from the inside out
Mukesh Gupta, Director of Strategic Relations, TATA Consultancy Services (TCS)
For the multinational corporation TATA Group, CSR is more than a corporate strategy – it is a way of life. And according to Mukesh Gupta, Director of Strategic Relations, TATA Consultancy Services (TCS), it has been the company’s raison d’être since its first days in 1868.
“CSR, to broadly define it, is responsible capitalism. It’s every fibre of our organization: to improve the quality of life of the communities we serve, through leadership in vectors of national economic significance,” Mukesh said.
It all started in Victorian Era India, during the British occupation/colonization of India. At that time, yarn was being harvested in India and exported elsewhere to be made into fabric; then, the fabric was imported back into India. The value was being added elsewhere, and so the Indian population was not seeing any of the major economic upsides from being a part of the fabric-making process. That’s until founder of the Tata Group bought a closed spinning mill – to help his people find value-adding employment opportunities within their own country, and take control of their economic fate. Ever since, altruism has stood as a foundational business principle for all TATA leaders.
And that’s only the beginning. TATA now operates in every major international market (with sales and marketing operations across Canada, and distributions centres in Montréal and Mississauga) and in every TATA establishment, CSR initiatives run rampant.
Mukesh said a CSR strategy must be about more than how to do business, but rather how to conduct one’s self in life. And this often starts inside the company’s walls. TATA implemented the eight-hour work day internally in 1912, and it became legislation in India in 1948; TATA started giving maternity benefits in 1928, and they became law in 1946; TATA created a retirement act in 1937, and the Indian government created theirs in 1972; and even though TATA has been giving free healthcare for its employees since 1917, public healthcare is still not the law in India. These are remarkable corporate policies in Canadian terms as well: Canada introduced maternity benefits in 1921, the Old Age Security Plan in 1927, public healthcare in 1946, and the Canadian Pension Plan not until 1965.
The company is also heavily involved in external CSR programs.
“We aim to evoke trust among consumers, our employees, our shareholders, and the whole community – and that means playing an active role in every community in which we operate around the world,” he said.
But while most CSR programs are company-driven, things work a little differently at TATA: all programs start with one person, and metrics mean very little.
“It’s individual-driven. It has to be. Ownership has to come from people,” Mukesh said. “And the moment you start taking metrics, automatically this is the first step corruption. If you tell people you’re going to start tracking their hours, the expectation would be very simple: the more hours, the better the review. One cannot legislate this. You can only create an environment where people feel compelled to be compassionate and want to give. And this can only come naturally.”

TCS breaks its CSR initiatives down into three levels:
• People level: this includes individual volunteerism, blood donations, tutoring at local schools, etc.;
• Organization or community level: which includes involvement in community initiatives such as managing relief efforts after the 2004 Tsunami, or supporting the relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina; and
• Core-competency level: this, for example, would include using tools and techniques from a TATA commercial operation to drive initiatives such as their computer-based functional literacy program.
For Mukesh, contribution comes in the form of giving cooking workshops and donating all proceeds to charity. Through the “Spice up Food” program (www.spiceupfood.com) Mukesh and his wife regularly invite a number of people eager to learn how to cook healthy Indian Vegetarian food into their home for an evening of culinary fun. In the past the program has donated to a number of local and international charities, from the Canadian Liver Foundation to Mukesh’s daughter’s own charity, Nukoko, which provides access to schooling for girls in Togo, West Africa.
“It’s a small effort, but it has all the pieces of the Tata spirit,” Mukesh said.
Mukesh said CSR is all about being a responsible citizen, and taking that ethos into the workplace. As Jamsetji N. Tata, the Group's founder put it: “There is one kind of charity common enough among us… It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow being… [However] what advances a nation or a community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members, but to lift up the best and the most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country.”
“Everyday I’m so fortunate that I’m able to see this responsible capitalism, corporate responsibility, and corporate sustainability in every part of the act we do,” Mukesh said. “We can only do CSR when we ourselves are responsible citizens.”