Signs emerge of tougher times for stateside CSR

The head of corporate responsibility at US packaging company Meadwestvaco has been made redundant, apparently as a result of recession-related cutbacks.

Barbara McCutchan, director of enterprise, stewardship and sustainability at the $7billion-a-year (£5bn) business, will not be replaced. A Meadwestvaco source told EP the post had been ‘eliminated’. As part of wide-ranging cost-cutting measures, the company, which has been named on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the past five years, is to reduce its workforce by ten per cent.

McCutchan was responsible, among other things, for global supply chain standards, community development and environmental performance. Her departure is one of the first signs that the recession is eroding companies’ CSR activities in North America.

The 20,000-employee Meadwestvaco, which operates in 30 countries, did not specify how McCutchan’s responsibilities would now be covered, but it pointed out that it still has a vice-president of safety, health and the environment. An official company spokeswoman told EP that she could not comment on an individual employee’s departure but claimed: ‘Our sustainability and stewardship efforts remain a top priority.’
 
Widespread cuts in CSR departments in the US have not yet been in evidence, but delegates at last month’s eighth annual Ethical Sourcing Forum in New York heard that some US companies’ corporate responsibility commitments are coming under severe pressure in today’s harsh economic climate.

Kevin Moss, head of corporate responsibility at BT Americas, said charitable giving activities were under the greatest strain, ‘so that if you’re in an organization where CSR is based around philanthropy then it’s going to be a tough time’.

Russ Wood, PepsiCo’s director of responsible and sustainable sourcing, told delegates they should consider saving costs on their CSR programmes in the recession by working more closely on projects with rival companies in their sector. He said his company had followed this policy with Coca-Cola, despite the traditional ‘cola wars’ of which he had been part.

Doug Cahn, principal of the Cahn Group consultancy, said businesses were being forced to reassess what they were doing, and perhaps to concentrate their efforts more wisely. ‘We need to re-tool our CSR programmes to stop doing those things that are least effective and keep on doing those that are more effective,’ he said. ‘The economic situation is an opportunity to re-examine our progress and to make sure our programmes are better aligned with our internal business goals.’

Attendance at the usually popular forum was lower than in previous years – only about 100 delegates travelled to the two-day event. Conference chair Kathrin Bohr, Intertek’s advisory services director, blamed budget cuts.