March 27, 2008 - These days, corporate social responsibility professionals are just as likely to operate from their company's marketing department as they are to report to the chief operations officer or CEO. As CSR moves up the corporate agenda, its practitioners are finding themselves juggling both internal- and external-facing roles, according to an article in MarketingWeek.

Communications has become a core business function for CSR professionals, whose activities are increasingly looked at as sources of competitive advantage. On the external side, businesses are under increasing pressure to take a more active role in addressing global environmental problems such as climate change. A recent study from Ashridge, a U.K. business school, found that 45% of CSR practitioners considered working with sales and marketing to be “important” or “very important” in 2007, but 59% expect these functions to grow in importance this year.

On the internal side, more prospective employees are asking about a company's CSR initiatives before taking the job.

"There has always been some element of awareness of the role in managing corporate responsibilities, but it has been building as a professional function," says Ben Stimson, director of responsib­ility at cable broadcaster BSkyB. Focusing on risk management and compliance are no longer enough, according to Stimson. "The key is to talk about the things that actually are relevant, how to engage people and build initiatives into development plans."