Is it possible to calculate the investment in corporate social responsibility?

During the plenary session "Advances of corporate social responsibility in the five continents," Oded Grajew, chairman of the Board of Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social and member of the Consulting Council of the UN Global Compact, said it is not possible to measure in financial terms how much a company spends on social responsibility. The statement was made after the lecture of George Mathew, founder director of the Institute of Social Sciences in New Delhi, who showed the expenditure of the most important Indian company, Tata Group, on social responsibility.

According to Oded Grajew, social responsibility is, in many countries, mistaken for philanthropy. In Brazil, this discussion has already evolved a lot, and the social responsibility culture is more mature. Grajew added that "Very few companies invest more than 1% of their profits in philanthropy; furthermore, showing figures impresses everyone". He said that CSR cannot be financially measured because it involves too many factors: payment of taxes, formally employed workers, overall conscious consumption, etc.

George Mathew told that, in India, CSR has gone through four stages. Until 1914, the actions were carried out through charity and philanthropy. 1914 through 1960 was the period of fight for freedom based on the theories of Mahatma Gandhi. The following twenty years were a time of mixed economy, with a lot of corruption and governments running several sectors of the economy (hotels and companies). And, finally, after 1980, an interface between philanthropy and the market emerged as a result from the search for more sustainable and global actions. Mathew concluded by saying that CSR "hasn’t been implemented in India as it should be."