The CSR Digest

D The CSR
R Digest offers quality
q content on
corporatte social respon
nsibility (CSR) and
Exploring the
t Corporate Co
onscience
sustaina
able and respon
nsible investment
CSR Stories
S C
Can’t Be Created
C From Th
hin Air (SRI). The CSR Digest ex
xplores the
corporatte conscience worldwide,
w with a
leave a comment
c »
special e
emphasis on Ma
alaysia and the
CSR at
a Lanx
xess Asia Pacific Rim. For ou
ur editorial
content, clickhere. The Digest is also
German n Chemical group, Lanx xess, recenttly spun offf from its currently
y a free distribu
ution electronic
c
digest, s
so feel free to send your conte
ent
Bayer heritage in 2004
2 in Sing
gapore. The
e group’s co ore
or press releases to us at editor [at]
businesss comprise es of the devvelopment and
a sale of plastics,
csrdiges
st dot com .
rubber, specialty chemicals an nd intermeddiates. Stronngly
believin
ng in sustainnable development, the group also
Pages
consideers environm mental compatibility annd social
responssibility to be
e of equal importance. • About th
he CSR Digest
• Sign Up For CSR Digestt Newsletter
Lanxesss’ Vice-President & Heaad Corporatte Communications,
Kaye Lim
m, who rece ently spokee about anallyzing curre
ent Trends Search
in susta
ainability an
nd CSR at th
he CSR Glob
bal Summit 2009 in
Singapoore, talks ab
bout sustain
nable investtment and
Subscribe to CSR Digest
developpment at Lanxess with the CSR Dig gest.
Subscribe in a read
der

Categorie
es

• Communiity
• CSR Diges
st Editorial
• CSR Diges
st Interviews
• Environment
• Marketpla
ace
• Transpare
ency
• Workplace
e

Tags

accidents announcements CSR

initiatives development
employme
ent erosion ethnic
city Fuel health an
nd
safety hum
man rights integrity logging
Melamine migrant
Malaysia M
workersre
eporting sustainab
bilityToll unions

Lanxess' Vice President & He

ead Corpora
ate Communications
©2008 CS
SR Digest. All righ
hts reserved, exce
ept
where inddicated. Copyrightt of Deviant
CSRD: How
H do youu get away from
f the sittuation whe ere people Art visuals remain with the
e authors/artists.
see CSR
R as a PR iniitiative?
KL: Mayybe we could look at La anxess’ thre ee main pilllars of the
corporaate social re
esponsibility
y. First of alll, we talked
d about
education, education and emp powerment of youth. So we
looked at areas on how we are e involved. I think glob bally, we
are very
y active in term of sponnsoring, forr example, the t
Chemistry Olympia ad, becausee we do believe in groo oming the
youth so that when n they graduate, there is an overall
1 

sustainaable workfoorce in that area. So tha at’s educatiion.

Page
  

Then we have another pillar which supports the intercultural exchange, for example,
the Young Euro Classicperformance which is a social exchange bringing together young
musicians from the People’s Republic of China and Germany to perform together as an
orchestra. We supported this in 2007 and 2008.
So in many areas, I agree that corporate communications takes a lead because CSR has a
major function under corporate communications.

But if you look at Lanxess’ last pillar, which is environmental sustainability, no amount of PR
is able to give you the concrete results about CO2 emissions, or how you protect the
environment. These are not things that corporate communications can take the driver’s seat.
I think what we can do, from the perspective of PR, is we look at the communication story
that people understand, that people embrace and know, what the company is doing for the
environment, for example, Lanxess’ efforts in reducing laughing gas (Lanxess has two
laughing gas reduction units - LARA in short). In the chemistry or semiconductor or IT
industry, there is a lot of jargon. So what corporate communications can do is to look at the
technicalities and make people understand, but we do not create the stories from thin air.
But I think what we are seeing now is really a shift towards engaging corporate sustainability
beyond CSR. It is the time for us to continue to look at innovation as a means to create value
to sustainability. So the case examples of LARA and Co Gen (Lanxess is building a
cogeneration plant on its Brazilian site) are all examples of how we actually embrace CSR as
a company. That’s why in a sense I feel it is important to point out that Lanxess is really
learning and growing.
But it’s not that we started from a non-conformist situation to a sudden turnaround. It was
really a gradual evolution for us.

CSRD: Do you have a lot of R&D, so that you have innovation in your products and
processes?
KL: Yes, good question. Innovation now at Lanxess is a group function. What that means is
that it becomes independent. Because the way we run our company is that we’re very
business group focussed. Having an innovation business group, which is independent, gives
it a lot of credibility to look into process innovation and product innovation.
Sometimes, it is not that you need to totally need to re-invent the wheel, or create a new
invention, but really it just going through the whole value chain. So we’re really excited
about what the innovation function will be able to bring forth for all of us in various
business groups.

CSRD: So just to understand, innovation is a separate business unit but then it covers your
whole entire business including IT to HR. But don’t they need to be part of a particular
business group to be able to understand how to innovate within that business group?
KL: Good question. I think I should also explain that, all the while, innovation is within the
company. So each business unit has already its own innovation R&D team, but we know
there’s a need to create a special unit so that we are able to look at processes, so that they
can be shared between different business units and to see those synergies.
CSRD: Do you think CSR is a trend?
KL: I don’t think it is a trend. I would say that it is a mega trend that will last. I think CSR is
more of a philosophy, which should not go away.
CSRD: How can the business avoid the situation where public sees CSR activities as just PR?
KL: At the end of the day, I believe it boils down to the deliverables. I think there must be
concrete evidence in terms of what that programme has contributed. I still do not believe
that any amount of PR can really disguise any lack of concrete evidence.
2 

CSRD: Do you think businesses should cut back on what they are doing in term of CSR
Page

during an economic downturn?

  

KL: I think we have to be pragmatic. As a company, employees are of course the most
valuable resource. And if the company is not doing well, everything needs to be done to
save jobs and the people. I think if you talk about other CSR activities, they need to be re-
evaluated very closely. Any programmes you run will be secondary to what you need to do at
the immediate level.
CSRD: How can businesses use the economic downturn to their advantage in term of CSR
effort?
KL: From how we see things, during a downturn people’s livelihood are affected. So
education is an area that we can be engaged in - like paying the tuition fees in India or
cultivating talents with chemistry students. I think this should not go away, in fact, it should
continue.
In term of sustainability, I think, it should continue whether there is a downturn or not. I
think there are ways to continue the momentum. Perhaps during the downturn, there might
be better opportunities, for example, lower cost of raw materials in a cogeneration plant.

CSRD: CSR have different faces in different region? What do you think is the face of CSR in
Asia or South East Asia?
KL: I think we take a lot of cues from Western World. If we look at other initiative like
consumer rights, again Asia Pacific will always look to the West because they are more
developed in that area. Similar with CSR. Because the way in which we do business is more
global in nature. So I think with this global borderless way of trading, we find these
practices will find their way to Asia in a more seamless manner.
I think we still need to continue to take cues from the West, but I do believe that in longer
term, CSR in Asia will take on its own colour and its own light, because CSR at the end of the
day needs to be localised. I do believe Asia will be able to begin to develop its own practices
that the West will be able to adopt. Even Confucius teaches us all about doing good and
giving back to society, so that it is inherent with Asian cultures in the first place. I don’t
think it is something new. It is just how we incorporate that in our practices. These values
have always been inherent in Asia Pacific cultures.
3 
Page
  

Ms. Lim at the CSR Glo

obal Summit

CSRD: More
M and more
m charita
able bodies o NGOs run n their operrations like businesses, while
more an nd more bu usinesses ha ave giving or
o charitable e arms. What do you th hink of this
developpment?
KL: For me, in termms of how NGOs
N should
d be run, orr how comp panies should be run, first
f and
foremost, I think corporate go overnance is importantt because a company m must be
accounttable, ethicaally not justt economicaally, to yourr stakeholde ers. I think, NGOs shou uld be
as well, sometimes s people ma ay say even more so, because
b a lo
ot of public give their fuunds to
the organization. If you look ata enough Singapore
S ase studies, there’s gro
ca owing sentiiments
that NGGOs must re eally be acco ve no deep concern in the structure but I’d like to
ountable. I’v
see trannsparency whether
w in an
a NGO or a company, especially whenever
w th
hey deal witth CSR.
CSRD: Any
A advice to studentss who want to work in CSR C or in a social enterrprise or NG GO?
KL: I think any studdents who want
w to mov ve into this area must understand d that CSR iss a very
wide fieeld. And eac
ch field is also very speecialized. Too have a core understa anding is veery
crucial.
The cho oice of work
king with an n NGO or co orporate is down
d to a person’s
p passsion becauuse, no
matter what,
w each organizatio on has its ow
wn priority. It is important to be v very clear.

To me, I went into a corporatiion that holds CSR clos se to its hea
art, not just something
g which
is nice to
t have or a one-off iniitiative. I think that kinnd of work is more fulfilling becauuse,
then, we
w find that the compan erm and be valued by iits stakehollders. It
ny will look at it long-te
is a very
y crucial criiterion to th
hose who wa ant to ventu ure into this
s area.◊

 
4 
Page