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Special Olympics Offers Corporate Social Opportunities

An opportunity for mankind awaits those who can sense the need to seize it.

Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the board of Special Olympics International, in April, during a visit to Shanghai, said that when business and civil leaders develop relationships that will enable them to build business success while also building social value, they will realize that building social equity is not a burden but an opportunity.

He said, "It's time to replace CSR (corporate social responsibility) with CSO (corporate social opportunity)."

According to Shriver, the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Special Olympics Chairman of the Board Emeritus Sargent Shriver, in turning to the corporate social opportunity (CSO) concept, business and social sector organizations could work intimately to create mutual value. Instead of being focused on appeasing a constituency, CSO leaders would focus on deepening their relationships with key constituencies such as customers, employees, and communities. Instead of writing a cheque to satisfy a watchdog or a critic, CSO leaders would think in terms of engaging stakeholders at every level in win-win propositions.

Shriver elaborated on the CSO concept during the 25th China Daily CEO Roundtable and Marketing Summit on April 19, themed "The 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, Shanghai: A Global Corporate Social Opportunity?Realizing China's National Vision Towards Developing a Harmonious Society" in Shanghai, where the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held.

Special Olympics International serves more than one million Special Olympics athletes and their families in more than 150 countries worldwide.

"Based on my experience, there is a misunderstanding of the model we need. Instead of businesses doing something good, we have to think of the engagement of entities such as the Special Olympics and businesses as 'good business,' which means businesses will see partnership with the government and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) not as a responsibility but as an opportunity. Our hope with these games is to begin to shift that model in favour of the partnership model, not to what you ought to do, but what you want to do."

To convince delegates that corporate social opportunity should be a more sustainable and, hence, a more prominent model, Shriver outlined ideas concerning three constituencies that provoked thought-stimulating discussions at the roundtable.

He suggested that employee engagement in social activities such as the Special Olympics can bring many benefits to a company. It provides a valuable opportunity for any company to be part of this movement and gets employees involved as volunteers. It builds a "family feeling" among employees.

Another way Special Olympics can bring opportunity to businesses is by generating customer brand loyalty, Shriver said.

"Consumers fulfil their own aspirations of building a better community when buying their brand of products; so it works for the brand and drives sales."

The third constituency, he said, lies in the community. He believes that engaging with the CSO concept can strengthen community relationships by changing the way individuals or entities relate to important people, even to the extent of transforming regulatory efforts, government and political relationships in a community.

It is a time of globalized competition, globalized markets, and globalized politics, and competition has become more and more intense, Shriver said. But just as bottom lines of running a businesses are being squeezed, businesses are increasingly being asked to assume a greater role in the enormous social and political challenges of our time: fighting poverty, protecting the environment, reducing ignorance, treating disease. Many are trapped, believing that they cannot serve both the intense demands for profit and the complex demands of social betterment.

"The problem, however, is that in most cases, corporate social responsibility is viewed as peripheral to the business itself, as a distraction, though a necessary one, perhaps."

Citing the dilemmas, Shriver, who holds a master's degree in religion and religious education from Catholic University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut, said business leaders are called to accept the duty of corporate social responsibility but without enthusiasm, and the business model has no relationship to the social change activities that the business does support.

Special Olympics, he said, helps develop relationships around corporate social opportunity, which means working with potential corporate partners in wholly new ways. It means focusing on those partnerships, creating opportunities, brand alignments, employee engagement values, marketing and relationship values.

With CSO the search is not necessarily for the deepest pocket, but for the deepest relationship, where each partner can give and receive value. So, in truth, there need be no conflict between profit and social advancement, because in real life, there is no separating the aims of doing well and doing good.

"That's our business at Special Olympics. We don't want pity or sympathy for our athletes; we want pride and social recognition and value. Our athletes, family members and volunteers are role models of perseverance, trust, courage, and vision, who want to help us build brand loyalty, employee morale, and lasting relationships. We don't want help driven by responsibility; we want partnerships driven by opportunity for all. In times of intense competition, the punishment won't just come from a guilty conscience. It will come more swiftly from a slipping bottom line."

About Special Olympics

The Special Olympics is modelled on the Olympic Games. However, it is different from the Olympics and the Paralympics. Its participants mainly consist of athletes with mental disabilities. Its emphasis is on participation rather than competition. All who take part in the games are considered winners. While the Olympic Games has adopted the slogan of "faster, higher and stronger," the Special Olympics'slogan is "participating, accepting and belonging." Despite the different theories, the spirit of the two games is the same. They both deal with the spirit of courage, character and love.

"The Olympic spirit is found not only in the Olympic Games but elsewhere in life," Shriver said. "For underpinning the Games--lying beneath the glamour of the televised performance--are years of tireless work to overcome obstacles on the journey to being one's best. No matter how talented physically, whether enormously gifted or profoundly challenged, each of us experiences our own struggle to achieve our unique greatness. And success in life can be seen as the extent to which these challenges are met and overcome. To be the best is one thing; to be one's best is everything."

Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of former US President John F. Kennedy, the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2007 will come to Shanghai, a global, open and innovative city. China's success in winning the bid means that it will be the first time such an event will have been held in Asia. This is expected to strongly boost the Special Olympics cause in Asia and in China.

"This is the highest growth we have ever seen in any significant programme," said Chairman Timothy P. Shriver. "That's how we came to the decision two years ago to move towards China to grow the programme. We want to develop it into a large showcase for the world."