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11 MEASURE SMART

In God we trust; all others bring data.

—W. Edwards Deming

As with all things in business, the adage “what gets measured gets done” holds true for corporate responsibility, too. Beyond simply getting done, the things that get measured get evaluated, reassessed, retooled, and done better. And the things that get done better do not get cut from the budget in an economic downturn or a slow quarter. Hence, the problem with the old form of corporate responsibility—philanthropy—is that philanthropic budgets tended to be tied to profitability and sales, and when those sales went down, so too did the levels of philanthropic giving.

As we have seen, a CSR business strategy can and should be part of your core business operations. ...

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