Stewardship
Stewardship Program for Cleaner ManufacturingCommunity outreach through corporate social responsibility: corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of their stakeholders and society at large. Our Stewardship for Cleaner Manufacturing program is our way to help achieve this goal.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that frequently overlaps with similar approaches such as corporate sustainability, corporate sustainable development, corporate responsibility, and corporate citizenship. While CSR does not have a universal definition, many see it as the private sector's way of integrating the economic, social, and environmental imperatives of their activities.
It has its roots in the recognition that responsible practices can help organizations to innovate and develop new products and services, access new markets, and minimize risk. A company with strong corporate social responsibility will often be more successful in generating economic value added, for reasons rooted in business strategy. Thus, organizations implement initiatives and programs to improve their positive impact in society, not just to minimize their negative impact. Most significantly, commercial organizations voluntarily work together at the community level as an alternative to intrusive, costly, inefficient and ineffective government-mandated rules, regulations and programs.
Different organizations have framed different definitions, although there is considerable common ground between them. For instance, it is generally understood and accepted that CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. So by balancing profits with an overall understanding and awareness of the short- and long-term consequences of an organization's activities on the environment and community, a company can help to ensure that future generations not only enjoy its products but also the environment.
As part of our commitment to CSR, we are implementing a new program called Stewardship for Cleaner Manufacturing. Under this new program we will invest time, energy and capital in commercial and non-profit CleanTech organizations to support their green and lean products and initiatives, including local educational programs, all of which help provide sustainability, growth capital, jobs, resource conservation, and a cleaner environment. Stewardship for Cleaner Manufacturing is our community investment program to improve the quality of life of our customers, stakeholders and society at large using green and lean manufacturing technology.
