Fishburn Hedges

06.12.2010

It strikes me that the Big Society is a bit like sex, if you’re a teenager anyway.  Everyone’s been talking about it, but nobody’s quite sure what it is.  Maybe that was just me.

The good news is that we’ve at least got to first base now in terms of the role that Government wants business to play.  Cameron’s speech to the elite of the corporate responsibility world at Business in the Community is the clearest statement yet on what is expected of the commercial world in the building of our shiny new Big Society.

And it’s reasonably straight-forward.  The Government ‘ask’ is basically the following five: improve skills and create jobs (apprenticeships high on the agenda), support small and medium-sized enterprises (business mentoring and social enterprise), reduce carbon and protect the environment (need I say more), improve quality of life and well-being (why not start with your own workforce?) and support your community (get your staff out volunteering).

Cameron admitted himself that those companies in the room were probably already doing all of the above, and he simply wants them to go forth and spread the good word.  Big business is generally good at doing this kind of thing but smaller businesses can sometimes lack the time and know-how.  Given that 60% of the private sector workforce is employed by smaller businesses and the Government’s focus on SMEs, is there an opportunity here for big business to step forward and show their smaller cousins the way?  At the very least this could unlock a huge pool of volunteers while demonstrating corporate leadership on the part of those driving the change.

So will these five priority areas actually shift the focus of CR strategies?  Will apprenticeships and supporting SMEs gain greater prominence in CR reporting?  Even if ‘Every Business Commits’, as the above is being termed, doesn't immediately change CR strategy, there is a real opportunity in the short-term for companies to position themselves as leading lights in the Big Society by echoing the Government’s priorities and chosen terminology.  But that alone isn’t necessarily enough.

The wider context of all of this is responsibility.  Cameron is asking business for sensible judgement on what is and what isn’t morally acceptable.  It’s no good cutting your carbon emissions to zero if you’re still flogging “porn star” T-shirts to teenage girls.  We know that Cameron isn’t afraid to name and shame, so responsibility needs to be embedded across the business if you want to keep your nose clean with Government and stay out of the media eye for the wrong reasons.  Now more than ever, product and operations teams need to be plugged into communications so no bloomers occur and trust is gained.

So what’s next?  The Big Society is, at its vaguest, about making the UK a better place for us to live.  Given the current administration’s fascination with measuring happiness over GDP, should business now be more explicit about how its role in society contributes not only to wealth but also making the UK a happier place?  I think so.  We’ll need to await the outcome of the current consultation and the metrics that Government decides upon, but measuring up against these will no doubt become a greater priority for businesses wanting to show their real worth. 

For a fuller discussion on what the Big Society is, see my colleague Guy Corbet’s recent take: http://www.fishburn-hedges.co.uk/news/articles/what-big-society

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