Are companies doing well at external engagement?
Properly understood, external engagementmeans the efforts a company makes to manage its relationship
with the external world. This relationship can and should include a wide variety of activities: not just
corporate philanthropy, community programs, and political lobbying, but also aspects of product design,
recruiting policy, and project execution. In practice, however, most companies have relied on three tools
for external engagement: a full-time CSR team in the head office, some high-profile (but relatively cheap)
initiatives, and a glossy annual review of progress.