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Corporate Social Resonsibility Comes Back

October 8, 2007
By Ken Worsley


On June 25, 2007, Noriko Hama wrote:

Something is wrong. At a time when corporate social responsibility is so much the buzz word, nobody seems to have the faintest idea what social responsibility actually means anymore in this country.

She right about that. As a side note, I saw a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility at a meeting this spring in which a company representative claimed that the company’s CSR contribution would be to set up an online gift selection system for shareholders.

On June 26, I wrote:

But nowhere in Hama’s editorial (which scratches the surface of the tip of the iceberg, so to say) do the consumers get taken to task. Don’t get me wrong - corporate criminals should be put in jail and professional negligence should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. [However,] consumers have a responsibility too. If they stand in line to go back to Fujiya, continue buying MegMilk (formerly Snow Brand), think Nippon Ham is worth trusting, sign up at Nova this week, or go to that amusement part in Osaka, it’s hard to imagine that corporate criminals will ever learn their lessons. Will consumers in Japan vote with their yen or support firms that actually display corporate social responsibility? Not if Japan is like anywhere else. And that’s why [corporate responsibility is] just a “buzz word.”

On another thread in this site, I’ve seen visitors discuss the question as to why anyone would be giving their money to embattled English language school operator Nova at this point. On September 30, the following letter to the editor appeared in the Japan Times:

Regarding the Sept. 21 front-page article “Nova may close hundreds of schools”: As a Nova student for 11 years, I think it’s a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media. We love Nova’s system, which includes flexible lesson-time schedules, voice rooms (one ticket lets us be there seven hours to speak English every hour with teachers as they change). There are no other places to speak English freely in Japan unless we have foreign friends or work for a foreign company.

The prospect of Nova’s bankruptcy makes students and teachers suffer. We hope Nova stays in business. Otherwise, we’ll lose our place to speak English!

HIKARU MAEDA
Tokyo

It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in: Enough consumers are unsophisticated and lack the ability to make rational purchasing decisions that they end up funding the very businesses that abuse them and rip them off. Although the firm should be fully held responsible for breaking the law, consumers need to begin to take some blame for not educating themselves.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Corporate Social Resonsibility Comes Back”

  1. Jeremy on October 8th, 2007 8:19 pm

    The voice room is a good deal if you are a high level student.

  2. Cervantes on October 9th, 2007 5:49 pm

    Ex-nova teacher here. I agree voice rooms are a good deal.

    But once a company offers you a good deal, is it then gonna worth your trust after it scams most of the customers, not to mention it’s own employers as well?. Minding just their own benefit in the short term, japanese (or not) customers walk away from their social responsibilities, and therefore companies will be free do so too, till the METI steps into it.

    Made in China toys are a good deal?

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