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Should a corporation answer only to its shareholders, or should it have a social conscience as well?

Not all executives are convinced they can afford to pour time and money into such things as community projects. But according to recent studies, an extraordinarily high number of their employees want to be involved in a company's social responsibilities, would prefer to work for a company with a strong commitment to community, and believe companies tied to a charity are more trustworthy and more respected.

An increasing number of companies have gone beyond writing cheques or donating cash to charities, donating products, services and time to works in the community.

• Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen took your questions about Corporate Social Responsibility Wednesday, who offered a history of his company's CSR projects and ideas on how companies can start their own programs.

But how does a company create an in-house Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program? How would it fit with the company's overall plans or products?

Is there a business case to be made for creating a CSR program?

http://www.microsoft.ca Microsoft Canada is one company that has plunged into this field, with such projects as the Child Exploitation Tracking System, a free software system used by the RCMP and the Toronto Police to combat online child pornography. Another project is the Child Life Interactive Computers for Kids program that helps hospitalized children lead a more normal life by connecting to the outside world through technology.

The company has also created the I Volunteer program, which offers employees one week of paid leave each year to volunteer at a cause of their choice, even sending them overseas.

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Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: Good afternoon, Phil Sorgen, and welcome to the Web chat about corporate social responsibility. As president of Microsoft Canada, you have been quite active in social projects. So let me start off by asking you why a company would want to sacrifice time, manpower or resources to Corporate Social Responsibility projects while shareholders are constantly reminding you of your bottom line?

Phil Sorgen answers: Thank you Jack, I'm happy to be here.

This is the question I get most often. I think it's a myth that making a difference in the communities we work in is somehow bad for business. CSR is most effective when you use the passion of your employees and your business expertise to help people overcome challenges or solve a problem.

That's good for business because you use your expertise in ways you might not otherwise, it's good for business because it builds communities that you live and work in, and it's also good for your employees. We are always looking to attract and retain the best talent in the market, and many, especially younger employees, are demanding that their company be socially responsible. Finally, customers are increasingly demanding that the companies they do business with have a strong commitment to CSR.

Daniel Nerenberg from Montreal writes: My question relates more to the philosophy of social responsibility. Basically there have been two economic extremes working in the past century: communism and capitalism. For much of the past 60 years there has been a massive struggle in which virtues and problems with either system have been held up as absolute proof that either system is wrong. Corporations are the ultimate expression of capitalistic success.

I will always feel the need to contribute. However, the corporation will only contribute as long as there is a tangible or possibly a justifiable non-tangible business benefit. I don't blame the corporation for this behaviour, as a small business owner I would love to contribute, but I just don't have a compelling reason to dedicate resources from my small business within the context that my business's first priority is to make money.

Phil Sorgen answers: Daniel, I think what you raise is a real challenge for many small businesses. People want to contribute, but can't find the time or resources to do so. One thing that might help is to keep it small and focused, and then to treat that commitment like any other business partnership.

Another element to consider is that as your business grows, potential employees and customers are going to demand that you're involved in some way. In this sense, getting involved is part of your business, not separate from it.

Daniel Nerenberg from Montreal writes: Does it stand to reason that we need to start codifying the concept of companies being required to be contributing members of society beyond simply satisfying their shareholders? For instance, if a company engages in practices that harm the environment, should the company not take the necessary steps to mitigate that harm as a priority above making a better return to shareholders?

The idea of companies having social responsibility runs in the face of pure capitalism. As such I see problems: Are people who would only see social outreach as an thinly veiled attempt of to prop up the corporate image? People would be asking why a company is wasting shareholder money to engage in these programs. Do you think that there can be a middle ground between these two positions without legislation?

Phil Sorgen answers: It is not as black and white as you suggest. The truth is that customers, business partners, shareholders, media and other stakeholders can tell the difference between thinly veiled activities that aren't authentic and a truly committed and genuine CSR program.

And all of those parties will punish companies if they feel that the CSR is not genuine. The flip side of that is that customers and others will reward companies that do it right. That might have image and reputation implications, but that's not a bad thing.

In fact, if more companies get image benefits from their genuine and authentic CSR work, we will not only get more companies involved but, more important, we'll have a greater positive impact in our communities and our country.

Loch Willy from Saskatoon writes: How did Microsoft decide where to focus its Corporate Social Responsible efforts? Do your programs have clear quantitative values and how do you calculate them? Did you face resistance from within?

Phil Sorgen answers: Loch, we focus on things where we can apply our expertise to have tangible results in communities.

We shifted from what some would call "random acts of kindness" to a more focused framework that harnesses what we do best and establishes partnerships in the community. So it's always about helping others use technology to solve a challenge, like child exploitation or digitizing libraries for the visually impaired, as examples.

Or, we focus on bringing technology to underserved communities, such as children's hospitals or community centres in Priority Neighbourhoods, for instance.

In terms of building internal support, I find that our employees get really excited about the possibility of using some of their time for these kinds of initiatives. Microsoft Canada's employees really want to be a part of the fabric of the communities we serve here in Canada.

Loch Willy from Saskatoon writes: I have a role in my employer's recently added CSR department and I am finding that people don't know exactly what our group does or how to measure the benefits or costs ratio of the outcomes.

In your opinion, do the programs run under a CSR plan need to have a direct impact on the company and its operations or can they simply be in the broader right thing to do category that may not affect the company but benefit society at large?

Is your plan detailed on your website?

Phil Sorgen answers: Microsoft Canada is actually in the midst of a project to bring all of our CSR programs and impacts together online in a rich, multimedia format. While this is an on-going project. Today you can see some examples of what we do at http://www.microsoft.com/canada/mscorp/default.mspx

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: Microsoft Canada has reached 15,000 volunteered hours. Have you figured out what that translates to in wages?

Phil Sorgen answers: The way we achieved this sum of 15,000 hours was by making sure that our employees were stewards of our CSR efforts We asked them what was most important to them and they told us it was their time.

We then launched the "I Volunteer" program that gives all employees 40 hours per year of paid time off to volunteer with the charities of their choice. We have had employees do things locally with this time and we have had some go to distant locations like volunteering at an orphanage in Africa.

The point is that they get to choose how they want to spend their time and on what cause.

It is a great program that encourages people to get involved. We often hear our new employees praise this kind of benefit. We have never tried to figure out what that translates to in wages since that is not what it is about.

We are confident that the loyalty we create with our employees is more valuable.

Prof. Don Miskiman from Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, B.C., writes: We will be broadcasting this event live into our MBA class on corporate social responsibility.

Question: Some may believe that changes made by Microsoft are sincere; others view these as "public relations" to influence public opinion (thus customers). How would we know that Microsoft is sincere in its efforts in CSR?

Phil Sorgen answers: Hello Professor Miskiman and to everyone in your class.

I think Canadians are pretty sophisticated in how they evaluate companies efforts. So too are the media, politicians and our customers. All of these audiences demand authentic CSR programs and will see through efforts that are not genuine.

Globescan does a CSR monitor every year and their research shows that Canadians are most likely to punish companies that are not living up their expectations from a CSR perspective.

Your image and your reputation can be tarnished by your behaviour.

More positively, another way we ensure that our efforts are genuine is by creating true partnerships. When we met with Mayor David Miller in Toronto after he identified 13 priority neighbourhoods where children were at risk from guns and gangs, the first question we asked the mayor was "how can we help?"

When you start from there, then proceed to build very tailored programs together, you can be sure you're staying on track.

In this case, we ended up creating a program called ProTech that provides free digital arts and technology training for children in Rexdale in Toronto. The kids even helped create the curriculum. Now this program is expanding to other neighbourhoods and we hope it will expand across the country.

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: What kind of problems can a company expect when forming a partnership with a not-for-profit group?

Phil Sorgen answers: Yes, sometimes there can be challenges when companies and not-for-profits work together. It takes time to build trust, and there is no question that there can be differences in resources and in working style.

Like any important partnership it's crucial that both parties work hard at understanding and accommodating each other. At Microsoft, we've found that when we begin a partnership and come to the table asking "how we can help," it tends to set the stage for successful partnership.

I think another important consideration is that partnerships be viewed, as much as possible, as longer term commitments. This is important for the company in terms of building employee excitement and commitment, and also for the not for profit.

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: What are some things an organization should consider when developing a CSR framework?

Phil Sorgen answers: There is no clear roadmap for this, but there are a few things we learned.

First and foremost is that the work needs to be a reflection of your expertise. For us, that is technology, so we engage in partnerships where the transformative power of technology is key to the solution.

We also know that our most valuable asset is our people, so we make sure our people have a very clear say in the areas we focus on. We also make sure we are focused. We cannot successfully be all things to all people or organizations, so we are very clear about the priorities.

That might mean we say no more frequently, but it also means that when we say yes, the commitment will meet the expectations of all constituents.

Finally, partnerships are very important. When we partnered with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind we did not know much about the challenges facing the visually impaired. They brought that expertise and we brought our understanding of technology and the outcome was a digitized library for the visually impaired and a children's discovery portal, which was the first children's portal for the visually impaired in the world.

This is just one example but it demonstrates what good partnerships can achieve.

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: In what ways have Microsoft's projects — Child Exploitation Tracking System, Child Life Interactive Computers for Kids and I Volunteer — helped the company's core business strategy?

Phil Sorgen answers: One way that those projects connect to our business strategy is that they are all about the transformative power of technology.

Whether Microsoft is helping a customer solve a business problem or helping the police tackle child exploitation, we bring the same curiosity to bear — how can technology help solve this problem?

I can't really quantify how this affects our core business, that's not the way we evaluate success. But there's no question that as a technology company we take great pride in showing that technology can be used to take on challenges as difficult as the online exploitation of children, or that by bringing technology into intensive care units in children's hospitals those kids can retain a sense of normalcy in their lives.

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: What is it about CSR programs that are so appealing to employees and future employees?

Phil Sorgen answers: For Microsoft Canada, which is a subsidiary of a company based in the United States, it is very important to our employees that we are operate as a great Canadian company. To us that means being involved in the communities we do business in is very important.

Our employees consistently confirm this through our employee polls and in everyday discussion. This notion is supported by various sources that I have read that reflect that young workers are looking for employers who are industry leaders, have high ethical standards, are innovative, have a strong corporate culture and are socially responsible.

The bottom line is that nine of 10 employees in Canada say that the more responsible their company is, the more they're motivated and loyal as an employee. That statistic doesn't just describe a happy workforce, it may be the difference between being able to attract the best and brightest to your firm or possibly settling for second best.

Jack Kapica, moderator, writes: We've run out of time. I'd like to thank you, Phil Sorgen, for your time and answers, and also all the people who wrote us questions.