Our Ability To Respond Analysis

The failure of CSR in the Volkswagen scandal can be explained partly because the concept is wrongly used by the company that there is no integration between company’s values and its CSR activities. Moreover, the concept itself is flawed because it somewhat contradicts the profit motive which companies inherent seek.

Even though customers are a major key to success of any business, limiting CSR practices to an external group of stakeholder is insufficient. From the customers’ side, the focus is “on the corporate brand and its societal relationships with external constituencies.” (Lacey, Hensel 316). It is undeniable that implementation of CSR can attract the customers and lead them to be a significant are source of a financial gain. That is because CSR changes the way consumers behave in the market and alter their beliefs toward the company standards.” (Lacey, Hensel 316). Nevertheless, extensive focus on the social gains may cause the business to suffer financially. If that happened, the case is considered to be a failure of executing CSR. Again, this is a result of shifting all the business gears to benefit a sole group the stakeholders.

Let’s start with a detailed examination of the title itself: Corporate Social Responsibility “CSR”. The name pertains to the responsibility corporations carry towards the society due to their unique position of prominence in the daily lives of common man. Corporations are formed with a feature that characterizes their very foundations which is people’s stake in the performance of the company and, in turn, the effect that the corporations have on these stakeholders. The most significant and major part of these people are the shareholders who have invested their hard-earned money in the corporations of their choice. Besides the obvious monetary and financial returns that the investors expect from these corporations, people want the company that they have invested their money in, to be socially responsible. With increased climate change, global warming and other fatally disastrous effects of pollution and different harmful practices adopted during the manufacturing, packaging or supply of products, the public gives more value to the corporations with a proactive, deeply interested and positive outlook on the matter of their social responsibility. A company seriously concerned for the well-being of the people, the surroundings in the periphery of its impact and the side-effects its pursuit of profit maximization can have on these surroundings and

CSR is how companies control their business processes to provide an overall positive impact on society. There are many factors that determine how socially responsible a business is, but alongside these are the benefits and costs relating to the level of CSR produced in this essay, I will be analysing companies from the retail industry and a car manufacturer to discuss the potential costs and benefits to both business and their stakeholders of CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) is often described as the measures taken by companies to manage environmental, social and economic impacts of their business activities. Since the globalisation of economic and labour markets, CSR has become an argumentative topic. For companies to be considered as good in terms of CSR, they are required to go above and beyond of their legal requirements and take into consideration what is in the best interests of its stakeholders.

The major of (CSR) is establishing social, environmental and economic sustainability. Initially, (CSR) is a requirement. However, some firms extend the jurisprudence towards engagement in social activities that are going beyond the interest of the firm (Cadbury, 2006). However, the entirety of this phenomenon gets its basis on embracing responsibility for corporate actions. In addition, it issues a general affirmative impact of its external environment

Even the European Commission explained CSR as - “By stating their social responsibility and voluntarily taking on commitments which go beyond common regulatory and conventional requirements, which they would have to respect in any case, companies endeavour to raise the standards of social development, environmental protection and respect of fundamental rights and embrace an open governance, reconciling interests of various stakeholders in an overall approach of quality and sustainability,”

Referring to a quotation by (Solomon 1993) “there is a contradiction between an endogenous ability to profit and the company’s distribution to society”. It is worth noting that CSR implementation and activities come with costs on it. The argument against the implementation and practice of CSR by organisations most times points to the cost impact. CSR by an organisation will increase operating costs, which

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is difficult to define because it relates to so many different types of businesses and organizations. In the Exploring Management textbook, it broadly describes CSR as “the obligation of an organization to serve its own interests and those of its stakeholders” (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2016, p. 38). Then CSR is broken down into two differing viewpoints, Classical view and the Socioeconomic view. Classical view is concerned about the maximization of profits. On the other hand, Socioeconomic is centered around the society and how business or corporations positively impact society (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2016, p. 39). CSR has to be tailored to each organization for the company to understand the true meaning of it and how it affects the company as a whole. When companies make decisions they should think about the three P’s people, profit, and planet. How will this affect people and the society as a whole? Will this idea/invention bring economic benefits to the company? Lastly, how does the product or company affect the planet (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2016, p. 39)? Originally companies were not concerned or did not know the social impacts the company could have on the people and/or the environment hence the classical view. Now people have realized that “businesses should balance the pursuit of profit with genuine contributions to the public good” (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2016, p. 39). There is a

The importance and eminence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) across the business world started to increase during 1998-2007. Role conflicts often arise when competing demands like business goals and social goals are in question. The increase in the sense of social responsibility,stakeholder pressures and concerns for the environment has heightened the focus of businesses on CSR. A business that fulfils its CSR sufficiently can expect an improvement in its financial performance,enhanced brand reputation, a reduction in its operating costs,long term sustainability, a boost in staff commitment,innovation and production,better risk management,good relations with its stakeholders and development of closer links with customers. However,in today 's world CSR is not being dealt with serious and proper attention hindering the success of businesses.Business ethics concern the study of proper trading policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues.They are guided by law and are based on a certain scheme that businesses should follow in order to gain public approval and be successful.CSR embraces responsibility for the behaviour of companies and motivates them to have a positive contribution and impact

It has been proven over the years that CSR is a key aspect for any organisation whether big or small to aim for long-term sustainability. It should be noted that choosing to take on CSR is a deliberate idea, however during its rise the pressure for organisations becoming increasingly high for them to make a positive contribution to society. It has become an international trend for governments to start enforcing certain elements of CSR, in particular protecting the environment onto organisations.

European Commission defines[3] that CSR is , " A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. "

The (Commission, 2015) defines CSR as “companies taking responsibility for their impact on society”. It adds that CSR should be initiated by companies, with public authorities playing a supporting role through policy and regulation. Companies the commission would consider as socially responsible would have to comply with the law, integrate social, environmental, ethical, consumer and human rights concerns into their business and strategy operations. This recent definition of CSR covers most if not all of the angles of the different definitions and models of CSR put forth by writers in the CSR space. However as written by many authors, this is a dynamic field that continues to evolve (Carroll and Shabana, 2010, Geva, 2008, Carroll, 1999, Lee, 2008, Pirnea et al., 2011, Waddock, 2008). According to (Spector, 2008) its roots can be traced to the pre- World War II era (early years of the cold war), but for the sake of this paper we shall not go that far back. We

“Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company 's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote the

Agunis, glovas (2012), Paper entitled “what we know and don‟t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda” in Journal of management, based on 588 journal articles and 102 books. The study provided a framework of CSR actions which affects external as well as internal stakeholders and outcomes of such actions. The paper also enhanced the knowledge regarding levels, forms of CSR; need to understand CSR with outcomes etc. further the researcher also suggested a framework of research design, data analysis and measurement for future research of CSR.