by Yanna Pavlopoulou, Published at SHIPPING, Issue March 2011
A pioneer shipping company could implement Business Models of uniform standards, that guarantee transparency, corporate governance and sustainability same as those that all the other sectors & industries successfully apply. Those Models aim to enhance their members’ leadership and professional skills on applying standard sustainability principles. Business Excellence Models or General Standards’ Management Systems ( e.g. ISO 26000, EFQM , EBEN, Investors in People) do not compete but are mutually supportive, providing methodology and assessment over Excellence, Sustainability and Total Quality through standard multiple criteria.
Upgraded and standardized Business culture of Ethical and socially responsible patterns, have become more familiar and comprehensible to the internal & external stakeholders, giving to each organization a unique, sophisticated and distinguished identity and recognition by customers and third parties.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as a way of performance management in shipping is still at a primary stage compared to other industries, since this industry does not care to follow generally spread management and marketing practices of social profile. Shipping is a volatile and highly competitive business sector with unique Management practices, afloat by nature with activities of transnational reach. By implementing standard CSR best practices, shipping companies persuasively prove, e.g. to their customers (charterers) that they are assessed according to the same Quality and Excellence Management standards as the industries ashore.
Businesses that, via models, achieve positive results enjoy extended positive publicity & media coverage as role models at awareness campaigns in International or national fora. Corporate Governance/CSR frameworks is a proper guideline to internally check if the company is on the right track to excellence, led by ethics.
Excellent companies have leaders who are role models of a culture of Excellence. They implement their mission, vision, policy and strategy, based on the present and future needs of their stakeholders, because their people are involved, empowered and cared for.
Excellent organizations measure regularly their impact to society, exchanging information over social responsibility best practices, and by reporting their sustainability progress they accept social auditing that gives them an important competitive advantage. Classification societies are very well aware on how to audit CSR and Climate Change (CC) practices and offer the initial guidance for any kind of Excellence trip, as well.
An Excellence culture, however, is better enabled , once an Excellence model, policy and strategy are fully deployed and implemented in the company. A shipping company’s performance, although it consists of a SME (Small Medium Enterprise) of 10-50 employees ashore and has a complicated economic presence, may systemically benefit from the interaction with Sustainability networks that implement Sustainability standards.
Therefore as long as the drive to Excellence is voluntary, there are promotional incentives in order that ship managers decide to implement a CSR / CC performance.
Greece is going through one of the most difficult economic crisis of her history; severe unpopular tax measures are taken that will threaten social cohesion, political order and peace throughout its national territory.
A practical and “fast track” action of social responsibility towards Greece, from the wide maritime community , would be to support multiple well structured joint CSR projects. Many Maritime Associations together could elaborate collectively projects of their own interest, set a Social Cohesion Fund under their auspices and convince that shipowners truly care and contribute to the Greek society with sustainability focused targets, under a concrete Sustainability Action Plan. This action plan could aim to be used as an carbon emissions offset proposal, even against the Climate Change tax, imminent to be imposed to the Greek shipping. According to the (Common but Differentiated) UN rules, this tax will ultimately benefit the developing countries’ more than their own country’s green economy.
“There are a lot of disjointed views from a plethora of maritime lobby groups. However, there is no consolidated industry position that regulators could take under account” said Fotis Karamitsos, EC’s Maritime Director (Fairplay, 2.12.2010). A uniform CSR strategy from a CSR Committee of all the maritime lobbies, could be the vehicle so that the European Commission is persuaded that something is starting to change in the shipping community’s mentality. Common interests would join in this JOINT CSR Action Plan for specific social, HR and environmental goals, such as Maritime and Sailing Academies, sponsorships to R&D University Plans, Marine Reserves etc.
Self-regulation in the shipping industry has proven over the years to be the only way forward given its fundamentally international character and its ability to self enforce, as well as due to its long history of not succumbing to political interests and not trying to satisfy public opinion at its own expense. In this respect the IMO has played an excellent host/venue for the shipping industry to bring forward and debate self regulation usually much earlier than other industries, that look towards national governments and/or supranational and regional associations for regulation and enforcement.
Moreover, shipping is facing today a midst of general worldwide fear of recession. This is a new economic order and time where corporations seek to transform themselves in order to become high-impact, with a sustainable regenerative business model, sound ethical business principles and a positive willingness to engage in social partnerships.
Thus, the materialization of such corporate metamorphosis requires corporations to enga- ge in some type of partnership with other major players in the social and economic international scene by joining forces with individuals, NGOs, labor and environmental protection organizations, transnational social movements, or multilateral development agencies. Moreover, it should be underlined that synergies and interdependence of a motivated corporate staff with local community are required as a powerful tool for a holistic approach to a CSR development.
In conclusion, the general financial crisis consists of a catalyst for action. In that sense, Corporate or Collective Social Responsibility (CSR) appears practically as a possible vehicle to materialize certain actions of Excellence business management & strategy in a way that directly benefits the social image of Greek Shipping.
