The McKinsey Quarterly report this March reported that CSR has not met its original expectations.  The newly introduced term used is 'Integrated External Engagement' or IEE.  Reading the article, it appears that corporations use CSR as a form of 'showcase' in order to get the stakeholders and public off their backs on issues where they may be detrimental to society at large.  Moreover, when practicing CSR, very often it is left to a team who may comprise of people from public relations.  If left to a small group of people to determine the CSR programs, it would definitely limit the type and quality of CSR programs, and hence be narrow in its applications.

Integrate External Engagement therefore seeks to address these shortcomings.  Porter and Kramer's 'shared values' and Ian Davis's 'social contract' shares a core idea that must deeply integrate external engagement within their strategies and operations because the success of a business depends very much on the relationship it has with the external world: regulators, potential and existing customers, shareholders etc.

How do we successfully execute an Integrated External Engagement, then?  McKinsey's Quarterly reports that there are four things that need to be done:

1. Define what the corporation contributes
2. Know their stakeholders
3. Apply world-class management
4. Engage radically

Anyone interested to read this report, please write me and I will email a PDF copy of it to you.

NASA released a press release statement today that Curiosity has found evidence of the possibility of ancient life on Mars. In the press release dated March 12, 2013, 

  RELEASE : 13-073 
 
NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars   


 sufficient trace elements of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and oxygen (the key chemical ingredient for life) were found in the sedimentary rock drilled from the surface of Mars.  This finding has essentially helped us to close some questions and open new ones: for instance, since the ingredients for life is there, then did life actually exist on the red planet?  If it did, in what form and for how long?  Were the life forms similar to what was found on Earth, was there any sophistication to the molecules or was it simple unicellular organisms?


So many questions now remain unanswered and I wish Curiosity well, in helping us uncover more in the future.