Portfolio. BHSAD In Transition | L5, Critical & Cultural studies | Page 5

of products. However, two main a company or a brand is perceived. This implies that designers
problems were identified by research. need better understanding of the  negative environmental and
First, there is the lack of appropriate social impact of the  products and services they produced, and
and structured information about also comprehension of making the required changes to develop
SRD for designers (Lofthouse, 2001). products and services which contribute to socially responsible
Second, design is, in most cases, business. In essence, designers can play a vital role in translating
a  service for hire, and designers
are  usually employed by a  client or
company to  work on projects they
did not initiate (Fuad-Luke, 2009).
In spite the  fact that businesses are
setting their own agendas, social
responsibility is in part derived
from the  individual ethical values
of designers. The  same time, it is
also a  response to the  needs of their
clients.
specific corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments into
actions (Cooper, 2005).
Situation today: traditional way of
management and the conflict of business/
corporate and SRD values.
Until recently, attention to Corporate social responsibility
was not entirely voluntary. Many companies awoke to it
only after being surprised by public responses to issues they
had not previously thought as being part of their business
responsibilities. Activist organizations have grown to be much
Designers make decisions daily more aggressive and effective in bringing public pressure to bear
with regards to the  use of resources on corporations. Nike, for example, faced an extensive consumer
and the  lifecycles of products and boycott after the  New York Times and other media reported
services, as well as the way in which abusive labor practices at some of its Indonesian suppliers in
the early 1990s (Porter and Kramer, 2006).
While businesses have awakened to these risks, they are
much less clear on what to do about them. The Global Reporting
2000
’s
Initiative, which is rapidly becoming a  standard for CSR
reporting, has enumerated a list of 141 CSR issues, supplemented
by auxiliary lists for different industries. This endeavor makes
for an excellent starting point, though what practical guidance
it offers to corporate leaders is often unclear. Some companies
that view CSR as a  way to pacify pressure groups often find
that its approach devolves into a series of short-term defensive
2010 ’s
reactions.
In other words, both business and society have focused too
much on the  contradictions between them and not enough on
the  points of common interests. To prevent that, a  company
must integrate a social perspective into the core frameworks it
already uses to understand competition and guide its business
strategy. This concept, called “The principle of shared value” and
based on strategic CSR, was described by Michael E. Porter and
Mark R. Kramer in the article “Strategy & Society. The Link Between
5
The role of designers in value creation process
by Ksenia Semirova