Aston Martin Lagonda's Corporate Social Responsibility

The assignment discusses the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for an organization, and how it can contribute to developing a strong brand image. It also references Carroll's CSR model/framework/pyramid, which consists of 4 levels of responsibilities possessed by an entity functioning within the market place. The document highlights Aston Martin Lagonda's dedication to carrying out business operations in an ethical manner, their emphasis on sustainable growth through the promotion of responsible and sustainable luxury, and their contributions to various charities such as Cancer Research UK and Prince Trust.

Business Project

Table of Contents
ASSESSMENT TASK 1.................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
Impacts of innovation and technology and how it has affected the sales, profits and growth of
Aston Martin Lagonda................................................................................................................1
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
ASSESSMENT TASK 2.................................................................................................................5
Introduction.................................................................................................................................5
The importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Aston Martin Lagonda.............5
Apply Archie Carroll’s (1991) CSR model to Aston Martin Lagonda.......................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

ASSESSMENT TASK 1
Introduction
Innovation can be comprehensively defined as the practical execution of an idea such that
it brings makes the company successful and well renowned. Innovation can take place in terms
of product, service, process, business model, and so on (Etriya and et. al., 2018). Utilisation of
latest as well as emerging technology is one of the most prominent ways of bringing innovation
within market place. Innovation allows an individual or company to appeal to the people in
marketplace and persuade them to consume the product or experience the service. The present
project seeks to explore the concept as well as importance of innovation and technology for
Aston Martin Lagonda. This is acknowledged to be a global manufacturer of luxury sports cars.
It has its headquarters within Gaydon, United Kingdom. The project consists of the influence of
technology along with innovation upon a business. Also, it includes the way in which they affect
the sale volume, profit and growth of a company.
Impacts of innovation and technology and how it has affected the sales, profits and growth of
Aston Martin Lagonda
Technology is considered to be inseparable from the corporate world. In the absence of
technology, no organisation can advance in an effective manner. Technology even facilitates
businesses to come up with innovation at rapid intervals of time. It will not be wrong to state that
technology makes the lives of individuals as well as businesses more pleasurable and easier for
people. In this relation, it has been acknowledged that technology and innovation have shaped
the life of each and every business entity operating as a part of the economy (Santos, Rezende
and Basso, 2019). They have allowed the organisations to leverage the latest technological
trends, thereby successfully gaining the attention of people towards them.
In this relation, the management of Aston Martin Lagonda realises the significance of
employing innovation and technology. It helps the business to increase its profits and market
share in the long run (Bag, Gupta and Telukdarie, 2018). Innovation and technology hold several
impacts over a business. Some of these impacts are discussed beneath:-
Savings in terms of time, money and efforts – When businesses employ technology as well as
innovation, they are able to save a lot of time, cost and efforts that can now be invested in
productive domains of the organisation (Santos and et. al., 2018). In this relation, it can be said
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that initial investment in technology needs extensive finance. However, the benefits arising from
the employment of technology and innovation exceed the cost invested (Boz and Ozturk, 2020).
Thus, technology along with innovation enable corporations like Aston Martin Lagonda to utilise
the time and money saved and investing it in development of a potential strategy for
improvement of business performance in long run.
Facilitating seamless communication – With the help of innovation and technology,
businesses are able to communicate internally as well as externally in a better manner. There are
several technologies and innovations that can be leveraged for facilitating faster and efficient
communication with a person from any part of the world (Brand and Blok, 2019). Thus, this
allow provides help to the organisations like Aston Martin Lagonda to coordinate with virtual
team members via the usage of platforms such as Egnyte and GoToMeeting. This makes
communication an easier procedure. As a result of this, the organisation gets benefitted in the
long run. Thus, it provides due aid in strengthening the growth and development prospects of the
company.
Adoption of technology and innovation allows Aston Martin Lagonda to instil a sense of
loyalty within the potential leads to get connected with the brand. The long term association of
large number of individuals with brand automatically implies benefits for Aston Martin Lagonda
in multiple contexts such as augmentation of organisational financial performance, increment in
brand reputation, increment of market value and market share of the company, and so on (Zhu
and et. al., 2019). In this relation, it has been determined that the augmentation of organisational
sales, profits and business growth of Aston Martin Lagonda also owe to innovation and
technology utilisation.
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Figure 1: Annual revenue of Aston Martin Lagonda from 2015 to 2018
(Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1007311/aston-martin-lagonda-revenue/)
On the basis of above graph, it can be seen that the revenues of Aston Martin Lagonda
have only increased over the course of last few years. The figure reached almost 1.1 billion
British pounds during the year 2018. The increment seen in revenues has been because of
innovation and technology that the organisation swears to leverage to appeal to more and more
customers (Ortiz-Villajos and Sotoca, 2018).
Conclusion
On the basis of discussion done above, it can be easily stated that innovation as well as
technology have immense significance for each and every organisation operating within the
bounds of an economy. In addition to this, it is identified that innovation and technology allow
businesses to gain the attention of large base of audience. This helps the organisations to appeal
to the people and persuade them to make a purchase of the product or experience the services. As
a result of this, the financial performance of the corporations gets a significant boost. With this,
the market share of the organisation along with the brand value inflates in the long run implying
immense benefits for the company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bag, S., Gupta, S. and Telukdarie, A., 2018. Importance of innovation and flexibility in
configuring supply network sustainability. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Boz, N. and Ozturk, H.M., 2020. Importance of Creativity and Innovation for Gastronomy and
Business Tourism. In Accelerating Knowledge Sharing, Creativity, and Innovation
Through Business Tourism (pp. 261-280). IGI Global.
Brand, T. and Blok, V., 2019. Responsible innovation in business: A critical reflection on
deliberative engagement as a central governance mechanism. Journal of responsible
innovation, 6(1), pp.4-24.
Etriya, E., Scholten, V., Wubben, E., Kemp, R. and Omta, O., 2018. The importance of
innovation adoption and generation in linking entrepreneurial orientation with product
innovation and farm revenues. International Food and Agribusiness Management
Review, 21(7), pp.969-988.
Ortiz-Villajos, J.M. and Sotoca, S., 2018. Innovation and business survival: A long-term
approach. Research Policy, 47(8), pp.1418-1436.
Santos, D.F.L., Rezende, M.D.V. and Basso, L.F.C., 2019. Eco-innovation and business
performance in emerging and developed economies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 237,
p.117674.
Santos, G., Afonseca, J., Lopes, N., Félix, M.J. and Murmura, F., 2018. Critical success factors
in the management of ideas as an essential component of innovation and business
excellence. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences.
Zhu, X., Xiao, Z., Dong, M.C. and Gu, J., 2019. The fit between firms’ open innovation and
business model for new product development speed: A contingent
perspective. Technovation, 86, pp.75-85.
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ASSESSMENT TASK 2
Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility, abbreviated as CSR, can be comprehensively said to be
the consideration of social and environmental welfare at the time of carrying out corporate
activities and practices. CSR activities put forth the foundation to creation of healthy relations of
the corporation with potential leads and regular customers (Baines and et. al., 2017). The present
project seeks to explore the importance of CSR for Aston Martin Lagonda (Plc). Along with this,
it includes application of Archie Carroll’s (1991) CSR model to the selected company.
The importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Aston Martin Lagonda
CSR is defined as the collaboration of initiatives undertaken by a company to function in
an environment friendly manner. In other words, it can be said to be the self regulatory activity
that is aimed at accomplishment of social goal and objectives of a corporation. CSR has
extensive importance for each and every organisation operating as a part of the economy. It helps
to demonstrate the efforts taken by an organisation to do social and environmental welfare
activities (Jolliffe and Conlin, 2016). In relation to Aston Martin Lagonda, it can be said that
CSR is important as it provides due assistance to the corporation in building a positive image of
the company in the eyes of people. CSR constitutes the social and environmental initiatives of a
company.
Aston Martin Lagonda has received International Safety Award for 9 consecutive years.
Being the signatory to United Nations Global Compact, the respective automotive corporation is
dedicated to carrying out business activities in a transparent and ethical way, overseen by strong
corporate governance. Besides this, the organisation is a member of multiple bodies as well as
associations such as Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Confederation of British
Industry, Global Auto Makers European Small Car Manufacturers Alliance, Foreign Small Car
Manufacturers Alliance, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, British Safety Council,
Government and Industry body (Krivogorsky, 2019). The collaboration with these bodies by the
organisation is aimed at carrying out business in a sustainable manner.
The respective automotive company has also given its due contribution to charities like
Cancer Research UK, Prince Trust, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Helping Hands and so on.
Beyond this, the organisation has also shown constant support to colleges, schools and other
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businesses. One example proving this point is identified to be the sponsorship of the Goodwood
Marshals Apprenticeship Scheme by AML which is aimed at provision of training to next
generation of Marshals for the iconic circuit (Advantage, 2020). CSR is acknowledged to act as
the stepping stone to development of extensive reputation of Aston Martin Lagonda at market
place. It develops a strong image of the brand in the eyes of public at large. In the long run, this
persuades the people to get associated with this automotive brand looking upon its social
initiatives.
Apply Archie Carroll’s (1991) CSR model to Aston Martin Lagonda
Archie Carroll's Corporate Social Responsibility Pyramid was introduced during 1979.
This framework is acknowledged to be effective in terms of provision of arguments related to
why and how should companies meet their responsibilities towards society at large. This
framework is very simple and consists of 4 basic levels of responsibilities for a corporations
(Zou, Chan and Zhang, 2017).
The levels are named as Economic, Legal, Ethical and Philanthropic. In this relation, it
has been recognised that the foundation of this pyramid is laid down in the form of profits.
Earning high profits (economic responsibility) is regarded to be the most important responsibility
held by a business functioning within the market place. The second stage of the pyramid is
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identified as being the legal responsibility whereby the entity should seek to abide by all the laws
stipulated by government and statutory bodies (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019). The next level
within this pyramid is identified as being ethical responsibility. This provides due assistance to a
corporation in adhering to the business ethics and moral values in an effective manner. The last
level of the pyramid or the framework is determined to be philanthropic. Hereby, the
organisation needs to provide returns to the society that provides assistance in social and
environmental welfare in the long run.
Now, the management of Aston Martin Lagonda realises the significance of functioning
in an interest of society. For this purpose, it follows the Carroll's CSR framework or pyramid.
This provides assistance to the concerned automotive organisation to fulfil its major
responsibilities while functioning within the bounds of corporate world. The application of the
model assists the entity in developing a strong image in front of the people across the globe and
persuading them to get connected with the brand (Ferrell and et. al., 2019). In this relation, the 4
stages of Carroll's CSR framework are discussed beneath in the light of Aston Martin Lagonda
with the help of some examples:-
Economic responsibility: Earning profits is acknowledged to the primary intent of each
and every business and this is what forms the base of the pyramid. It is well known that
shareholders invest their money within a company with the intention that they will get returns
upon the same (Ferrell and et. al., 2019). For this purpose, it is seen that Aston Martin Lagonda
takes every possible strategic, tactical and sustainable action that can ensure the existence of the
corporation in the global market place for a considerably long period of time.
Legal responsibility: The second level of the pyramid is concerned with compliance with
necessary laws and legislations in a timely manner. In this relation, it has been seen that the
management of Aston Martin Lagonda ensures that it adheres to vehicle safety norms, health &
safety regulations and many others stipulated by the government on a regular basis.
Ethical responsibility: Being the third level of the CSR pyramid, this stage emphasizes
upon the need for the corporation to act in an ethical manner by complying with the ethical
norms and values set for businesses. Over the course of time, Aston Martin Lagonda has
demonstrated immense dedication to carrying out business operations in an ethical way. The
emphasis of its Second Century Plan has been on making this automotive corporation a
sustainable luxury organisation via the promotion of sustainable and responsible growth. Such
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dedication has induced the corporation to create an integrated Corporate Social Responsibility
Strategy that is based upon 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact
(RESPONSIBILITY, 2020).
Philanthropic responsibility: Hereby, an organisation does charity and other significant
contribution in order to ensure welfare of society. Over the course of time, Aston Martin
Lagonda has made contribution to several charities such as Cancer Research UK, Prince Trust,
Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Helping Hands, etc. With this, the organisation strives to
develop a strong brand image in the eyes of customers and gain their support in terms of long
term commitment to the brand (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019).
Conclusion
On the basis of above discussion, it can be stated that CSR is important for an
organisation as it constitutes the initiatives and efforts taken by a company to function in an eco-
friendly manner. In addition to this, it is determined that Carroll's CSR model / framework /
pyramid consists of 4 levels of responsibilities possessed by an entity functioning within the
market place. All of these levels when effectively complied with, by the company results in
development of strong brand image of the company across the globe.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Advantage, C., 2020. Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR and Socially Responsible Investing
Strategies in Transitioning and Emerging Economies, p.65.
Baines, P., Fill, C., Rosengren, S. and Antonetti, P., 2017. Fundamentals of marketing. Oxford
University Press.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. eds., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and
cases in a global context. Routledge.
Ferrell, O.C., Harrison, D.E., Ferrell, L. and Hair, J.F., 2019. Business ethics, corporate social
responsibility, and brand attitudes: An exploratory study. Journal of Business
Research, 95, pp.491-501.
Jolliffe, L. and Conlin, M.V., 2016. 16 Automobile heritage and tourism. Automobile Heritage
and Tourism, 39, p.235.
Krivogorsky, V. ed., 2019. Institutions and Accounting Practices After the Financial Crisis:
International Perspective. Routledge.
Zou, Y., Chan, S.K. and Zhang, M., 2017. Creativity: Missing Element in Brand
Heritage. LBMG Strategic Brand Management-Masters Paper Series.
Online
RESPONSIBILITY. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.astonmartinlagonda.com/responsibility>.
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