, asked the million-dollar philosophical question:"Is this just a temporary response to the coronavirus crisis, or part of a fundamental rethinking of the company’s role in society? Is it a brief grab for feel-good PR, or a reflection of larger corporate purpose?" My student in an MBA class had a closely-related question:"How will we know if a company's CSR program is authentic or just sugarcoating and window...
Second, does the company desperately embrace the limelight? Does it spend more on the promotion of the donation than on the donation itself? Does it essentially categorize its CSR program as a marketing strategy? Is brand recall the end-all and be-all? Or is the company willing to work in the shadows when circumstances demand it?
Attentive readers may see that these loose indicators do not really resolve satisfactorily the questions above. In the era of fake news, altruistic acts can also be faked, and purpose-washing is as easy as greenwashing.