Baking & Snack - October 2017 - 46

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Left: Clif Bar & Company full-time employees) of volunteerism by the end of 2017.
employees install plants By the end of this year, employees will have donated
at a local school. more than 110,000 hours to community service since
Clif Bar & Company
Right: Volunteers meal the program began.
These are just some of the examples of these compapack during a company
volunteer day. nies giving back and engaging with their local commuClif Bar & Company
nities. A portfolio of CSR initiatives not only does good
for the broader community, but it improves the business'
bottom line.

Win-win situation
Consumers have access to more information today than
ever before and are more likely to punish the "bad" a
company does rather than reward the good. Mintel's
"Ethical Consumer, US - July 2015" report showed that
56% of consumers are likely to stop buying a product if
they perceive the manufacturer as unethical, and 23%
said that would take to social media to share that information. Consumers feel like they are doing something
good when they boycott a "bad" brand.
This is why building a clear and meaningful CSR
strategy is so important. The perception of being ethical, fair and sustainable protects many companies from
potential pitfalls in the minds of consumers.
"A company can't afford to be blind to its actions and
how they impact people, communities or the planet,"
Ms. Pham said. "As a food producer, we think about
sourcing and the fragility of some of the places we
grow our food. We also consider the way we treat our
people, especially in fields like manufacturing where
there's historically a high turnover rate. By incorporating social responsibility into every aspect of our business, we're able to pay our people a living wage, which

46 Baking & Snack October 2017 / www.bakingandsnack.com

helps to create consistency across the business."
Clif 's culture of CSR is the company's bottom line,
Ms. Pham said. Each of its five aspirations is equally
weighted, meaning sustaining the business is just as important as sustaining the community. Employees have
goals in each aspiration that they are measured against,
and compensation is determined by how well they and
the company do in each area.
Campbell's CSR portfolio focuses on health and wellbeing, sustainability, community impact, supply chain responsibility, ingredient traceability, human rights, transparency and purpose. "CSR efforts help businesses remain
competitive and differentiated, control costs inside the
company and along the supply chain, and build resiliency
into the future," Ms. Maltenfort said. "Investments in CSR
activities positively influence corporate culture to attract
and retain talent and also help in tracing supply chains to
mitigate environmental and social risks."
She added that consumers care about where their
food comes from and how it is grown, and CSR efforts
help increase transparency for consumers, which builds
trust. And that translates to loyalty, which keeps consumers coming back for more.

Make it known
Incorporating social initiatives and ethical standards became a mainstream idea for business in the early 2000s to
attract attention and promote brand loyalty. Since then,
the market of CSR claims has become oversaturated.
Consumers often get confused by the myriad claims
that now appear on products. For example, Mintel's 2015
report found consumers are confused by and don't truly
trust claims like fair trade. Sixty-eight percent of adults

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