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1. Titan’s Current CSR Program 

Titan has a varied and aggressive CSR agenda, founded on the notion that “companies can
dowell by doing good” and that “business needs must not diminish the capacity of
futuregenerations to meet theirs”.
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Under the broad rubric of sustainable development, Titan gives amodern CSR spin to measures
that they feel are consistent with Tata’s founding philosophy andvalues. In presenting its 2006-
2007 business plan for sustainable development, Titan describes thebusiness case for CSR as
competitive advantage, cost reduction, ability to attract and retain thebest employees and
strengthen productivity, enhanced consumer empathy, creating a betterenvironment, and creating
the image of a sharing, caring and successful company. In short- atriple bottom line approach to
a sustainable business. Titan’s CSR strategy includes elements related to good governance,
human rights, environmentalprotection and sustainable development, as well as community,
social, economic and culturaldevelopment.  The company’s business plan refers to providing
micro business opportunities andsupport to poor village women and individual jewellery artisans
(karigars); employing disabledpersons; taking environmental protection initiatives; sponsoring
educational institutions andprograms and offering scholarships; supporting health care projects;
and abiding by the  TataCode of Conduct which is the base fabric on which they operate. Among
the CSR initiatives, twokey programs have helped Titan to learn about the process of embedding
human rights concepts
  in business practice.  The first program promotes differently-abled employees and the
secondpromotes empowerment to disadvantaged women employees

2. Employment opportunities to differently abled:

 The key objective of Titan’s Community Development Policy is to improve the opportunities
of differently-abled people.  This starts with the recruitment process. Persons with disabilities
fromlower socio-economic status who belong to interior villages of Tamil Nadu were identified
andprovided employment opportunities.  Currently Titan employs 117 employees
(representing6.42% of total employee population) with disabilities including auditory (84
employees), physical(29 employees), and visual (4 employees). Ergonomics/safety standards of
the workplaces theseemployees have been adapted in the representative departments (e.g.
handrails provided at 8locations to help physically handicapped employees in ascending and
descending the steps, layout changes, etc.). These employees are involved in polishing watch
cases, strapping and packingthe watches, assembling, sorting, buffing, making ornaments, etc.
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Titan subcontractors also hirelarge numbers of disabled workers.
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 To make the initiative sustainable and to address the special needs of these employees,
thefollowing ongoing steps are taken: training to enhance technical competence, computer
literacy,non-discrimination policies, creating a conducive work environment by creating an
ergonomicworking area, effective grievance handling, and counselling to tackle problems such
asexploitation, marital conflicts and emotional problems. As a result of the employment
opportunityand other initiatives, Titan believes that the quality of life of these employees has
improved to agreat extent

3. Women’s empowerment 

 
“Almost 75% of the disabled employees live in Titan Township and their children are provided education
from theTitan School at Mathigiri. There has been a positive shift in their social status, many of them have
risen from lowersocio economic strata to middle class.” Manoj Chakravarti in an interview with
IndianNGOs.com. 
Titan Dehradun, with 98 employees, has more than 25% who are differently abled.
Management of Enterprise and Development of Women (MEADOW) began as a program to
helpcombat female infanticide in the Dharmapuri district, and to better the standard of living
of women in these communities. Titan’s involvement started by hiring women to make chappatis
forthe factory workers. Later, they were asked to take care of the laundry. In 1995, Titan
joinedhands with Myrada,
an NGO that works on social causes, and started a bracelet-making unit.Satisfied with the
professionalism displayed by these women, Titan then decided to convert thebracelet unit into a
privately held company, one owned and run by the women themselves.MEADOW, a subsidiary
that is solely dedicated to women’s empowerment, was thus born. To make the initiative
sustainable, Titan began providing the technical training and expertise of running a business to
MEADOW. Today, nearly 200 women of these villages own MEADOW.MEADOW has three
women directors who have seen the organization grow from its early days.Profits of the company
are equally shared among the employees with a significant amount beingadded every year to the
corpus fund, which takes care of the company’s various needs and alsoraises the standard of
living for the employees’ families. Titan’s association with the MEADOW program has helped
to empower 200 women in theworkforce, who take pride in the fact that they have been involved
every step of the way inbuilding and running their company. They have reached levels of
capability where they candirectly negotiate with Titan in the annual revision of piece rates,
handle all purchases, control themovement of their vehicles, draw up work schedules, calculate
payments, follow up onreceivables, do the base work for meeting all statutory requirements etc.
In many cases, thesewomen have become the most important wage earners in their families.
Titan representativesmeet with MEADOW employees on a regular basis for weekly and monthly
production relatedmeetings and for periodic meetings on annual price negotiations, new
opportunities and majorprocess modifications.
Currently, MEADOW has a corpus fund of Rs.30 Lakhs,
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it has declared a dividend of 33% toshareholders (who are also the employees of MEADOW)
and the Titan-MEADOW associationhas seen steady growth. During January 2003, MEADOW
started one more unit to undertakesome of the strapping operations of Titan. Since the project’s
inception, we have been madeaware of 20 women that have gone on to pursue higher education
and are now graduates. Wehave also noticed positive changes in standards of living (like
housing, savings, etc), socialrecognition and health in the communities in which MEADOW
operates. In addition to these two human-rights focused initiatives, Titan has several major CSR
projects oneducation and community engagement.
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Titan’s human rights initiatives, especially thoserelating to disabled workers, have won the
company public recognition and numerous awards. Titan’s engagement in CSR appears to be
grounded in the company’s vision and sense of its rolein Indian society. Human rights-related
CSR seems to be fully integrated into its business modelso as to be a way of life for the
corporation. As such, there do not appear to be tensions betweenthe company’s desire to do
business and its desire to promote CSR. Titan’s philosophy wasencapsulated by Mr. Chakravarti,
speaking in October 2004 at a conference in Hong Kong:
“Simply put, Business is no more than a trustee of society, environment and the community.
Whatcomes from the people must go back to the people. In short, we try and remember the very
reasonand basis of our existence as a Company - is for the society.  If society is sustained, so will
we[be].

Lessons Learned and Conclusion

 Titan scores well against the Global Compact criteria for internalizing human rights related
CSRin the business model. Vision, leadership, empowerment, policies and strategies,
resources,innovation and process are aligned around business and social development goals.
Over the longterm, the two key human rights initiatives, focusing on disabled employees and
women, arehaving a positive impact on employees, communities, the supply chain and society.
Titan and itsNGO partners are reporting on the initiatives and communicating about progress,
therebyexposing Titan’s practices to public view and evaluation, reinforcing pressure to perform
well andaddress criticisms that may be raised.From this analysis of how Titan has integrated
human rights-related CSR into its business model,it is possible to draw the following
recommendations for business enterprises seeking to improvetheir human rights performance:1.
 
The corporation needs to address human rights in articulating corporate values. Valuesare central
to integration of human rights-related CSR.  A company gets its values fromits community and
culture, inspired by leaders, who embody the desired attributes andvalues. 2.
 
To create a corporate culture that reflects the desired values, corporate leaders mustteach,
communicate and model those values. 3.
 
Values have to be communicated constantly, consistently and with inspiration andpassion so they
are internalized by employees and stakeholders. At the same timecorporate leaders must
constantly check their communications for authenticity, to ensurethey are “walking the talk” and
thereby maintaining the trust of employees andcommunity stakeholders. 
 
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Chakravarti, Note 1. 
 
 
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4.
 
Coordinating human rights behaviour and reputation across a vast and diverse corporateempire
presents risks, challenges and opportunities.  While being part of a corporatefamily that espouses
similar human rights-related CSR values exposes a company tobeing tarnished by any missteps
in the corporate family, it provides many synergies:brand enhancement, standard-setting,
methodology, expertise, capacity, reinforcementand encouragement of values and momentum. 5.
 
Values are powerful builders of brand but should never become a source of complacency,vanity
and self-satisfaction. Behaviour and results must constantly be verified andevaluated, by such
mechanisms as a code of ethics, ethics counselors and CSRchampions, a business excellence
model, whistle-blowing mechanisms, triple bottom linereporting, third party audits, dialogue
with stakeholders, the free press, and independentcase studies. 6.
 
The corporation should be prepared for both risk and opportunity from integrating humanrights-
related CSR into business practice. They may risk exposure and accountability forcorporate,
employee, or partner shortcomings but may also enjoy new businessopportunities and learn new
ways of doing business. 7.
 
Risk management is a crucial aspect of integrating human rights-related CSR intobusiness
practice. The corporation needs to consider a broader range of factors in itsbusiness decision-
making, learn how to weigh and reconcile competing stakeholderinterests, and make decisions
guided by the company’s values and vision. 8.
 
Committing to human rights- related CSR is not the same as achieving sainthood –sometimes
things do go wrong, mistakes are made, and it takes considerable effort andtime to learn how to
do social development work.  What counts is good risk management,honest evaluation, quick
acknowledgement and remediation of mistakes, openness to newapproaches, commitment to
making a difference. This case study of Titan demonstrates that CSR and the Global Compact
have global resonanceand have the potential to revise, even revolutionize, prevailing notions
about the “business of business” as companies increasingly go global. Titan aspires to be a model
of the good corporatecitizen engendered by India’s political, economic, cultural and corporate
history and sustained by
 
 
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imagination and commitment to a new kind of socially responsible business excellence.
Withnearly 150 years of economic growth, corporate philanthropy and social responsibility
behindthem, the Tata Group provides a successful example where the integrating of values
of sustainability into a business can indeed be good for business. ********* As Manoj prepared
for  Titan’s review in front of the Council, he studied the report by theindependent Canadian
researcher who had been examining Titan’s efforts at embedding humanrights principles.
Scrolling through the document to the heading Findings and Analysis, heskimmed though it one
more time, knowing that it would not be enough simply to present the twoprograms to the
Council as Titan’s latest socio-economic success stories, they would want toknow what had been
learned through these initiatives, from the association with the UN GlobalCompact, and from the
academic analysis of Titan’s CSR practices that would be of future valueto the Tata family of
companies. As he read the report, Manoj’s pride at Titan’s accomplishments was tinged with
humility: he wasstruck by the smallness of these projects when compared to India’s vast needs,
so evident allaround in the communities where Titan operated. Breathing deeply, he reminded
himself of theimportance of patience.  He knew success had come from working on the small
things whilestaying true to the long term goals.  Manoj hoped that the generalizations derived
from Titan’sexperience would be helpful to the Tata family of companies and other companies
seeking tointegrate human rights into their business practices. With Titan’s business interests
expandingbeyond India, he also hoped that the Titan model of corporate citizenship and
embedded humanrights would serve as a model on the global stage.