Procter & Gamble is adopting a new approach to corporate social responsibility that places as much emphasis on developing socially beneficial products as on trying to reduce the social impact of its operations.
The philosophy, which the consumer goods and food group has been developing behind the scenes for three years, is based on the premise that
P&G has the ability to develop products that can help to mitigate certain global problems, such as malnutrition.
‘It’s a hypothesis we have at the moment, and we are willing to give it a try,’ said Peter White, P&G’s associate director of corporate sustainable development.
‘CSR is about how you eliminate the bad side effects of doing business, things like child labour and so on. We’re not saying you shouldn’t make every effort to eliminate those things, but there is also what I call “corporate social opportunity” – or CSO.
‘CSO is about providing products and services that can improve people’s lives and contribute to sustainable development.’
White argues that P&G, which markets nearly 300 brands in 160 countries and holds over 25,000 patents worldwide, can help deliver United Nations goals such as safe water and improved health and hygiene.
‘There are clear needs out there we can do something about. For example, one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water, so we are working on various new products, such as water purifiers’, he said.
P&G claims its fortified powdered fruit drink NutriStar prevents ‘micronutrient deficiency’ in children. It has tested NutriStar in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund in Tanzania, where the product was found to increase the height, weight and school performance of children who drank it.
NutriStar is now sold in Venezuela, where the company says it is ‘doing well’.
White said that P&G had developed other products for launch this year, although details were confidential.
‘They can help improve quality of life and they are opportunities for us,’ he said. ‘I reckon it will be about three years before we know whether our hypothesis has been proven.’
The company had sales of $40.2billion (£25.6bn) in its last financial year.