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1. Corporate social re-
sponsibility (CSR),
or sustainable entre-
preneurship, has be-
come more promi-
nent on company
agendas over the
past decade. It in-
volves finding a re-
sponsible balance between the concern for eco-
nomic prosperity (“profit”), environmental
quality (“planet”), and human well-being (“peo-
ple”), while at the same time communicating
openly about these matters with stakeholders
(Cramer, 2003a). For expanded definitions of
these concepts, see the sidebar accompanying
this article.
Corporate social responsibility does not stop
at a nation’s border. This is especially true for
larger companies that do business and invest
worldwide. Particularly in the case of local corpo-
rate offices in developing countries, the question
becomes: How can companies put their social re-
sponsibility principles into practice?
Even small and medium-sized companies are
increasingly being reminded of the international
context in which
they conduct busi-
ness. Through the
globalization of the
economy, compa-
nies are becoming
involved in a net-
work of interna-
tional chains of
suppliers and customers.
Background: CSR Standards and Guidelines
Various international standards and guide-
lines on corporate social responsibility have
been developed in recent years. All of them aim
to provide practical rules regarding how corpo-
rate social responsibility can be implemented
within business organizations in an interna-
tional context. A standard (or norm) implies
that companies can and should achieve a uni-
form output, while a guideline provides a set of
guiding principles.
Environmental Quality Management / Spring 2005 / 71
© 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI: 10.1002/tqem.20048
Jacqueline Cramer
Applying International
Standards and Guidelines
on Corporate Social
Responsibility: An Action
Plan
Understanding (and
implementing) the basics
of CSR

2. Jacqueline Cramer
72 / Spring 2005 / Environmental Quality Management
The standards and guidelines that have been
developed over the years are so extensive and
wide-ranging that it is easy to lose sight of the rel-
ative importance of each of them.
About This Article
This article seeks to simplify the process of im-
plementing corporate social responsibility practices
by suggesting a basic action plan that companies
can follow. The discussion outlines how the various
standards and guidelines on corporate social re-
sponsibility can be used within companies, and in
which sequence they should be implemented.
Categories of CSR Standards and Guidelines
CSR standards and guidelines can be catego-
rized in several ways, as noted in the literature on
corporate social responsibility (Leipziger, 2003).
Performance-Oriented and Process-Oriented
One important distinction is between “per-
formance-oriented” and “process-oriented”
measures.
• Performance-oriented standards and guidelines:
Minimum standards and guidelines regarding
the performance that a company should
achieve in an economic, environmental, and
social sense.
• Process-oriented standards and guidelines: Proce-
dures that a company should follow in shap-
ing its corporate social responsibility pro-
gram. Together, these procedures form the
management system.
Unilateral, Bilateral, and Multilateral
Another key distinction reflects the way in
which the CSR standard or guideline has been es-
tablished.
• Unilateral standards and guidelines are devel-
oped by the company itself.
• Bilateral standards and guidelines are devel-
oped by two parties (for instance, a company
and a trade union).
• Multilateral, or stakeholder-oriented, stan-
dards and guidelines are developed by a net-
People, Planet, and Profit
Corporate social responsibility seeks to balance the needs of human well-being (“people”), environmental quality
(“planet”), and economic prosperity (“profit”). Within the context of CSR, these terms have expansive meanings, as
described below.
• “People” encompasses corporate contributions to both internal social policy (the nature of employment, labor
and management relations, employee health and safety, training and education, and equal opportunity) and ex-
ternal social policy, which includes human rights (including nondiscrimination, freedom of association and collec-
tive bargaining, child labor, forced and compulsory labor, disciplinary practices; security practices, and indige-
nous rights); society (including community activities); bribery and corruption; financial contributions to political
parties; competition and pricing; product responsibility (including consumer health and safety, products and ser-
vices, advertising, and respect for personal privacy). The company must be concerned not only with its own part
of the product chain, but also with other links in the chain that the company can affect.
• “Planet” relates to the environmental impacts of the company’s production activities; the use of scarce goods
(such as energy, water, and raw materials); and the environmental impacts of its product chain.
• “Profit” stands for the company’s contribution to economic prosperity in the broadest sense—that is, it encom-
passes both direct economic impacts (involving the monetary flows between the organization and its key stake-
holders) and indirect economic impacts (spin-off from company activities in terms of factors such as innovation;
the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product or national competitiveness; and the local community’s de-
pendence on the company’s activities).

3. Environmental Quality Management / Spring 2005 / 73
Applying International Standards and Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility
ally check to make sure that it is progressing to-
ward its agreed targets.
Experience shows that each company will fol-
low its own route toward the process of achieving
corporate social responsibility. An organization’s
approach depends on the specific circumstances
in which the company finds itself, and on the
level of support for CSR within the organization.
Ultimately, however, the company should put
into practice all the activities listed above.
The first three activities in particular relate to
what the company should perform. In this con-
text, performance-oriented standards and guide-
lines can be helpful.
The latter three
activities are oriented
toward the process of
monitoring CSR prog-
ress, establishing it
within the company,
and communicating
about it. For these pur-
poses, process-oriented
standards and guidelines are most relevant.
Corporate Social Responsibility in an
International Context: Establishing How
Companies Can Implement CSR
How can a company start the process of
achieving corporate social responsibility in an in-
ternational context, making use of the diverse
standards and guidelines that are available?
In the Netherlands, this question has been
addressed within the framework of a program
launched by the National Initiative for Sustain-
able Development (NIDO). From 1999 through
2005, NIDO is being financed through funding
from the Dutch government. Its goal is to pro-
mote sustainable initiatives and structurally an-
chor them into society. Several sustainability
programs have been set up within the framework
of NIDO.
work of organizations based on extensive
negotiations.
Generic, Theme-Specific, and Targeted
CSR standards or guidelines also can be dis-
tinguished by their intended range or scope.
• Generic standards or guidelines cover all
themes that are relevant for corporate social
responsibility.
• Theme-specific standards or guidelines focus
on specific themes, such as labor, environ-
ment, corruption, or human rights.
• Targeted standards and guidelines may focus
on specific stakeholders or target groups, spe-
cific sectors, and/or specific regions.
A Structured Approach to CSR
Generally speaking, putting corporate social
responsibility into practice involves six activities
(Cramer, 2003a):
• formulating a preliminary vision and mission
regarding corporate social responsibility and,
if desired, a code of conduct;
• interacting with stakeholders about their ex-
pectations and demands and reformulating
the preliminary vision and mission based on
these interactions;
• developing short- and longer-term strategies
regarding corporate social responsibility and
using them to draft a plan of action;
• setting up a monitoring and reporting system;
• embedding the CSR process by establishing it
within the company’s quality and manage-
ment systems; and
• communicating internally and externally
about the CSR program and the results ob-
tained.
Working through these activities is a cyclical,
iterative process. The organization must continu-
Experience shows that each
company will follow its own route
toward the process of achieving
corporate social responsibility.

4. Jacqueline Cramer
74 / Spring 2005 / Environmental Quality Management
One program, called “Corporate Social Re-
sponsibility in an International Context,” runs
from January 2003 to August 2005. The objective
of this program is to determine, in cooperation
with 20 Dutch companies, how companies can
employ corporate social responsibility in an in-
ternational context.
A prior article in this journal discussed a re-
lated NIDO program called “From Financial to
Sustainable Profit” (Cramer, 2003b).
CSR Action Plan
Based on the practical experience gained
within NIDO’s “Corpo-
rate Social Responsibil-
ity in an International
Context” program, an
action plan has been
formulated outlining
how to use the variety
of international stan-
dards and guidelines
on corporate social re-
sponsibility. This action plan consists of two steps:
• assessing the business’s current status with re-
spect to corporate social responsibility and
• elaborating the main focal points regarding
activities in the area of corporate social re-
sponsibility
Each of these steps is discussed in more detail
below.
Step 1: Assessing the Business’s Current CSR
Status
In order to gain an idea of a company’s sta-
tus with respect to corporate social responsibil-
ity, it is important to assess the organization’s
current CSR performance. Such an assessment
can be made using a questionnaire that high-
lights all aspects of corporate social responsibil-
ity based on a compilation of existing standards
and guidelines.
Several “sustainability scorecards” are cur-
rently available. With the help of such a score-
card, a zero-assessment can be made of the com-
pany’s performance in the area of corporate social
responsibility. The evaluation can then be sub-
stantiated by documenting quantitative and
qualitative data. Usually, the assistance of exter-
nal consultants is needed to interpret the results
gained from the assessment.
An alternative, less labor-intensive method
of assessing a company’s CSR status is to
broadly review the organization’s “state of the
art” concerning CSR, based on the most impor-
tant generic standards and guidelines. The ob-
jective here is to identify CSR themes that are
still underexposed or that require more atten-
tion by the company. This assessment can be
based on a relatively simple questionnaire com-
pleted by local managers, or on the personal
judgment of a selected group of corporate-level
company representatives. With this type of as-
sessment, actual company performance on each
CSR aspect can be highlighted only in a very
general way.
Most participants in the NIDO program pre-
ferred the second assessment option. It was seen
as an efficient way to familiarize their organiza-
tions with the issue of corporate social responsi-
bility in an international context and create sup-
port for the endeavor.
The companies participating in the NIDO
program, along with various experts involved,
found that, for purposes of making the initial
CSR assessment, the most important guidelines
are the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) guidelines for multi-
national enterprises and the United Nations (UN)
Global Compact.
The company representatives who took the
lead in implementing corporate social responsi-
In order to gain an idea of a
company’s status with respect to
corporate social responsibility, it is
important to assess the
organization’s current CSR
performance.

5. Environmental Quality Management / Spring 2005 / 75
Applying International Standards and Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility
Labor Rights
• The International Labor Organization (ILO):
Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concern-
ing Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy
(an integration of the main ILO conventions
and recommendations). Performance-oriented
standard.
• Social Accountability 8000 (a worldwide,
commonly used standard in the area of labor
norms). Performance- and process-oriented
standard, including certification options.
• OHSAS 18001, an assessment specification for
occupational health and safety management
systems. Process-
oriented.
• AccountAbility
1000 Framework, a
standard for social
and ethical ac-
counting. Process-
oriented.
Environment
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and De-
velopment (the UN starting point regarding
environment and development). Performance-
oriented.
• The CERES (Coalition for Environmentally
Responsible Economies) principles, ten prin-
ciples that cover the main environmental is-
sues and also form the basis for the Global Re-
porting Initiative (GRI) guidelines (discussed
later). Performance-oriented as well as, to a
lesser extent, process-oriented. A comparable
set of principles is The Natural Step.
• ISO 14001, a widely used international stan-
dard for environmental management sys-
tems. Process-oriented.
Anticorruption
• The OECD Convention on Combating
Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in Interna-
bility within their organizations reformulated the
OECD guidelines and the UN Global Compact
into a questionnaire that was adapted to their
particular business situations.
This questionnaire was distributed within
each organization, usually after the CEO or an-
other general manager had explained the rele-
vance of completing it. Respondents were asked
to answer in simple terminology—for instance,
by giving simple “yes or no” responses or by
using a color code consisting of red (for a very
problematic issue), yellow (a potentially prob-
lematic issue), and green (not a problematic
issue).
Using this self-assessment, the organization
could make an initial selection of main focal
points for activities in the area of corporate social
responsibility.
Step 2: Elaborating the Main Focal Points for
CSR Activities
In order to further elaborate the main CSR
focal points selected in the first step, organiza-
tions may find it helpful to use various theme-
specific standards and guidelines, especially those
discussed in the following section. For a detailed
description of these standards and guidelines, see
a book by Deborah Leipziger entitled The Corpo-
rate Responsibility Code Book (2003).
Key CSR Standards and Guidelines
Human Rights
The main standard here is the Universal Dec-
laration of Human Rights (the UN framework for
human rights), a performance-oriented standard.
A performance- and process-oriented stan-
dard, “Norms on the Responsibilities of Trans-
national Corporations and Other Business Enter-
prises Regarding Human Rights,” is currently
under preparation, but there is as yet no agree-
ment on these norms in a UN context.
In order to further elaborate the
main CSR focal points selected in
the first step, organizations may
find it helpful to use various theme-
specific standards and guidelines.

6. Jacqueline Cramer
76 / Spring 2005 / Environmental Quality Management
tional Business Transactions (a legal frame-
work for coping with corruption practices).
Legally binding performance standard.
• The Business Principles for Countering
Bribery (a multistakeholder framework ad-
dressing corruption). Performance- and
process-oriented.
Economy
Standards related to corporate contributions
to economic welfare in the broadest sense are
lacking.
Generic
In addition to the OECD guidelines for multi-
national enterprises and the UN Global Compact,
just mentioned, the following generic guidelines
also may be helpful:
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC)
guidelines of the
World Bank (social
and environmental
policy criteria for fi-
nancing projects). Per-
formance-oriented
standard. For more in-
formation, see http://
www.ifc.org/ifcext/
enviro.nsf/Content/PoliciesandGuidelines.
• Sustainability: Integrated Guidelines for Man-
agement (SIGMA) Project (an attempt to inte-
grate all aspects of corporate social responsibil-
ity into one framework). Process-oriented
standard (not yet generally accepted; still under
preparation). See www.projectsigma.com.
• Global Reporting Initiative reporting guide-
lines (guidelines for standardization of report-
ing about corporate social responsibility,
based on the main GRI guidelines and stan-
dards; increasingly accepted as a basis for re-
porting). Process-oriented. See www.globalre-
porting.org. This standard continues to be
further developed.
Getting Started on CSR
When a company starts the process of imple-
menting corporate social responsibility, it can be
very useful to follow the type of action plan al-
ready described.
It is preferable to begin the process with a
zero-assessment. For this purpose, the company
can use generic guidelines, especially the OECD
guidelines for multinational enterprises and the
UN Global Compact.
After determining the main focal points for
CSR activities, the company can begin to make
use of theme-specific guidelines and standards.
Based on the experience of the companies in-
volved in the NIDO program, companies should
not attempt to apply all these guidelines and
standards at once. Instead, they should proceed
in a step-wise fashion.
As a company proceeds in implementing cor-
porate social responsibility measures, the number
of theme-specific standards and guidelines to be
applied can gradually increase and be made into
a consistent and integrated whole. As part of this
process, the organization should take into ac-
count not only its own production processes, but
also other aspects of the product chain.
CSR Standards and Guidelines: The State of
the Art
At present, various theme-specific interna-
tional standards and guidelines on corporate so-
cial responsibility are still being developed. As
of this writing in 2004, the state of the art is as
follows:
• For internal social policy (particularly labor
norms), generally accepted performance- and
process-oriented standards (including a
framework for certification) are available.
After determining the main focal
points for CSR activities, the
company can begin to make use of
theme-specific guidelines and
standards.

7. Environmental Quality Management / Spring 2005 / 77
Applying International Standards and Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility
and region-specific or based on multistake-
holder agreements.
• For economic policy (that is, corporate contri-
butions to economic prosperity in the broad-
est sense), standards are lacking.
References
Cramer, J. (2003a). Learning about corporate social responsi-
bility: The Dutch experience. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Cramer, J. (2003b, Winter). Corporate social responsibility:
Lessons learned. Environmental Quality Management, 13(2),
59–66.
Leipziger, D. (2003). The corporate responsibility code book.
Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing.
• For external social policy in the area of
human rights and anticorruption, there are
generally accepted performance-oriented
standards. For anticorruption, there are also
process-oriented guidelines.
• For other external social policy issues (partic-
ularly involvement in the local community),
no performance- or process-oriented stan-
dards or guidelines yet exist.
• For environmental policy, generally accepted
performance-oriented guidelines and process-
oriented standards exist. The performance-
oriented standards now available are sector-
Jacqueline Cramer is a professor of environmental management at Erasmus University Rotterdam and manager of the
Corporate Social Responsibility in an International Context program of the National Initiative for Sustainable Development
(NIDO). She can be reached by e-mail at jmcramer@xs4all.nl.