How does the financial crisis approach the way that companies view corporate social responsibility?
GEORGE POHLE: I think the financial crisis, in combination with the recession—you would think, because there are much more significant financial constraints that companies are dealing with, that they would have gone back on their commitment on CSR from, say, a couple of years ago. This is where the study that IBM has released kind of confirms that actually the opposite has happened, that CSR initiatives have become even more important nowadays. One of the reasons why is that there is no going back on the awareness of consumers as to the corporate behavior of these corporations now. You can’t erase the Internet or the availability of information. So the CSR sensitivity is still there, and that hasn’t gone away. In fact, it is probably getting more and more important in their decision-making. So, despite the fact that you’d think that the recession or the financial crisis would negatively impact CSR requirements, the consumers haven’t really changed their behaviors, and, as a result, com
