When small-to-medium enterprises call on me to explain corporate social responsibility, they always have the same first question: Isn’t this something that only large companies with huge budgets can think about?

The simple answer is no.

Consider a speeding khlong boat. The wake can be very disruptive, undermining khlong banks and rocking other small craft, sometimes dangerously. If the khlong boat slows down, it will still get to its destination, albeit slightly later. At the same time, however, the channel integrity will be maintained and other craft will not be jeopardized.

The boat’s operating costs do not increase by slowing down. In fact, they will decrease, as slower speeds mean less fuel consumed and less wear and tear on the engine (not to mention the spin-off advantages of fewer and less serious accidents).

The same principles will apply no matter the size of the boat.

Our khlong boat is analogous to that of a company whose activities (speed) impact its immediate neighbors (the wake). Likewise, a company’s product or service can be disruptive to the environment within which the company operates.

If the company is aware of the nature of the negative impact of its activity, it can work to minimize it, just as the boat does by slowing down. Often, the effort to minimize negative consequences – or to convert the negative to a positive reaction – costs little and results in a net addition to the bottom line.

This is what Swiss-based company Rohner, a heavy-duty fabrics producer, discovered. The toxic output from its yarn-dyeing process nearly pushed the company into becoming a homeless pariah, as the community began rejecting its presence, and the government enacted more onerous penalties for the cleanup costs to society.

The ideal solution was obvious – less toxic dying chemicals. But obvious or not, the chemicals were nowhere to be found using conventional channels. In near desperation, Rohner turned to Ciba-Geigy, the only chemicals laboratory willing to consider partnering with Rohner for this purpose.

Before long, Rohner had its new dyes. From 1,600 dyes, Ciba-Geigy culled only 16 that were non-toxic. But from those 16 dyes, Rohner could manufacture all the colors it needed. Today, Rohner textiles are safe enough to eat. No more community pressure, no more government pressure, lowered manufacturing costs for not having to deal with toxic materials.

Rohner’s CEO summed up the impact of the new process: “It changed my life,” he said, and repeated emotionally, “It changed my life.”

For sure, it changed the CEO’s life, the life of his company, and the lives of the members of his community. The change was positive, in every case. Today, Rohner remains a major supplier of upholstery fabrics. But in turning from petroleum-based chemistry to more natural solutions, it has increased its sustainability as a business: natural dyes are naturally replenished, they are less expensive, and they engender none of the cleanup costs of toxic colorings.

Before turning to Ciba-Geigy, Rohner had asked all of its traditional suppliers to come up with the less harmful dyes required. All refused. They lacked the innovative thinking required to tailor their offerings in response to one of their stakeholders, in this case, a customer responding to its own stakeholder demands.

Ciba-Geigy, a non-traditional source of this specific resource, but also an industrial chemicals player, proved eager to experiment. As a result, Ciba Geigy has a new and profitable product line, and Rohner has the fabric specifications it was seeking. Both companies benefit, and well.

Bottom line? More bottom line... even though that was not the original objective.

There are hundreds and maybe thousands of similar stories around. Companies, once moved to seek innovative ways to do business that have less negative impact on the community, discover – almost accidentally – that they are making more money.

The real point is not the increase in the bottom line, but the response to the question posed by my SME clients: CSR isn’t the special purview of large companies with huge budgets. Companies of every size can benefit from out-of-the-box thinking.

The investment required to achieve innovation, which in turn results in that bottom line impact, is frequently tiny and often negligible. It is, more often, an investment in critical thinking than in cash.

The first challenge to that critical thinking is to decide where to begin. The answer is to begin by looking within – and to think in terms of investing innovation, and not money, when seeking solutions. This is an opportunity open to companies of all sizes. It is CSR on the cheap.

Alex Mavro is a full-time CSR and Sustainability consultant based in Bangkok. Reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .