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It's all to do with conscience and accountability. Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is intended to make businesses think about their impact on their surrounds and, even, the world at large. It encompasses a whole range of criteria and can take a company considerably further than merely being a money-making vehicle. And it's just as relevant to PSPs as it is to any other organisation wanting to focus on the ethics surrounding what they do.

Companies are sometimes accused of shying away from their responsibilities, isolating themselves behind closed doors. But every business deals with people, suppliers, services and, increasingly, environmental aspects. And all should interact with their own workforces and the local community, as well as focusing on more generalised issues.

In a logical sort of way, CSR is to do with a company's behaviour and that, of course, can backfire if all those affected directly or indirectly by a particular business don't come across as grown up and responsible. But, like with so many voluntary ideas, many view schemes with a degree of scepticism until the longer-term implications are assessed.

Back in the old days, CSR tended to be associated with dishing out money to worthy causes at the end of a fiscal year. Today it is extended to better working practices and to interaction with workforces and the community. But, increasingly, environmental messages are becoming stronger and these are areas in which print service providers and their supply channel can take up the responsibility challenge.

Sustainable development might be an in-vogue term but it extends far beyond a company's immediate remit to its surroundings, its customers and its community. As a key part of the CSR remit, it blends together all the elements of responsible business practices but all organisations, large and small, need to pull together to build up trust. This, in turn, should generate more inspired management practices and new market opportunities.

Taking CSR's role into present day issues, the environment is one element where print and display businesses can demonstrate their commitment to greener practices. Communicating to customers to demonstrate eco-aware initiatives is one step along the road to greater transparency, and it's not restricted just to larger organisations.

Print is very visual. As such, companies producing it are in a good position to show their levels of responsibility across the board, from sourcing through to distribution. Print is also a finite end product which is produced in a cycle that's accountable yet involves people-skills as well as machinery. CSR encourages greater transparency and that, in turn, should attract positive feedback from the general public as well as local communities and, of course, end customers.  

Click here to read Laurel Brunner's response to the Question of the Week, Why is corporate social responsibility high on the agenda? What do you think? Use the comments form below to give your opinion.