Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Success

This assignment examines the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on business success. It analyzes various CSR strategies implemented by prominent companies such as Dell, BMW Group, IBM, Levi Strauss & Co., Starbucks, and discusses how these initiatives contribute to gaining a competitive advantage, enhancing reputation, and fostering positive relationships with stakeholders. The assignment also explores the connection between CSR and access to finance, customer orientation, and job performance of frontline employees.

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS AND CSR
Business Ethics and CSR
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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BUSINESS ETHICS AND CSR
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Examples of good Corporate Social Responsibility...................................................................2
1st Example.............................................................................................................................2
2nd Example.............................................................................................................................3
3rd Example.............................................................................................................................4
4th Example.............................................................................................................................5
5th Example.............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Reference....................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The assignment highlights the corporate social responsibilities that organisations
undertake to build a goodwill and reputation in a society. As stated by Cheng, Ioannou and
Serafeim (2014) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a practice undertaken by the
managers of organisations to earn respect in the society and contribute to its development.
The corporate activities are the efforts made by the managers for the welfare of the society
and the environment. The assignment sheds light on such actions that are undertaken by
reputed organisations for the welfare of society and the environment. Five such examples
have been provided that directs the attention of the social work undertaken by reputed
organisations.
Examples of good Corporate Social Responsibility
1st Example
One of the most famous car manufacturing companies, BMW is located in Germany.
The company is known to have manufactured some of the most attractive models of cars
across the world. BMW was set up in 1916 and as per records of the previous year, it is said
to be one of the top car manufacturers in the world. The car manufactured by the companies
is used in televisions and movies that in some ways play as a promotional factor. The
company contributes heavily in improving the social status of its business place
(Bmwgroup.com 2018). Normally cars are the main reasons for the excess air pollution in the
environment. BMW ensures that precautions are taken for maintaining a sustainable
environment.
The pride of BMW is the contribution it makes towards the society. The company is
socially active among all other car companies in the industry. Thus, the reputation of the

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company is high due to the contributions it makes to the society and for the protection of the
environment. The aim of BMW is to help 1 million people by the end of 202. This help can
be done by creating awareness among the people about the importance of sustainability.
Thus, the company provides education campaigns such as "The Schools for the
Environmental Education Development Project". Samuelson and Anderson (2014) observed
that such an action could help in raising the awareness of sustainability among the people of
the society. The success of BMW in the market is aligned with the success it has in the CSR
activity that it carries out.
2nd Example
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is one of the most reputed IT
companies in America. The company was established in 1911 and currently have spread
across 170 countries all over the world. IBM is known to manufacture computer parts an
provide training courses to people seeking to enhance technical knowledge. It also renowned
to innovate items that are used popularly in everyday life. Items such as ATM, hard drive,
magnetic disk cards are some of the innovations of IBM (Ibm.com 2018). The CSR activity
of the company involves the economic development of a region along with the conservation
of natural environment.
According to Clapp and Rowlands (2014), the managers of IBM believe that
corporate citizenship should be given to the people. The employees of IBM volunteer in
various social causes such as improving the environment, developing the economy, providing
education and ensuring that the health of the people is maintained. The managers undertake
actions to meet the objectives related to social responsibility for its development and the
spread of technical awareness among the people. It has been seen that the initiative that was
undertaken by IBM had caused a huge success rate (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo 2017). The
initiative Celebration of Service is an annual initiative that is undertaken by IBM has

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provided over 3,00,000 hours of service. The company even provides volunteering
opportunities to retired people through placements.
3rd Example
Levi Strauss is an Amercian clothing company that specialises in manufacturing
jeans. The company was founded in 1853 and since then have been a global sensation among
people. It is said that the Levi Strauss had defined the style statement for many young
teenagers over the years. However, the company did suffer loss at some point in time but
currently, it is among one of the companies that have tasted success in the international
market. The rate of increase in revenue and net profit has enabled the company to continue its
CSR activities for the development of the society (Levistrauss.com 2018). Levi Strauss
focuses on reducing the negative impact of an environment by protecting the natural
resources.
The aim of Levi Strauss is to reduce the degradation of the environment. They aim to
conserve the natural resources such as water so that people can be benefited. The focus of the
company is to improve the conditions of the people residing in the urban areas. As stated by
Carroll (2015) the company contributes heavily to the protection of human rights and
environmental causes. Similar to BMW, Levi Strauss runs campaigns that acknowledge the
need for the conservation of natural resources. The company ensures that the employees are
taken care of in a proper manner. Levi Strauss believes that the work-life balance is important
for proper production. Hence, initiatives such as The Worker Well Being Initiative are being
undertaken by the company in order to ensure satisfaction of the employees. Apart from this,
the company have also contributed to the use of less water for the manufacturing of their
products. This has helped Levi Strauss save up to 1 billion litres of water for future
consumption. The managers aim to improve the initiative within 2020.

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4th Example
Starbucks is the most famous coffee chain company in America. The company was
set up in Seattle in the year 1971. Currently, Starbucks operates in over 23,768 locations
across various countries in the world. One of the biggest advantages of the company is that it
takes care of the employees as well as the customers. The company focuses on maintaining
certain ethical code that helps in undertaking the social responsibilities. Starbucks focuses on
social as well as the environmental development of a region (Starbucks.com 2018). This is
one of the reasons behind the global success of the company as the CSR activities help it to
maintain its reputation.
Starbucks has remained ethical as well as social while conducting its business. The
company aims to create products that can help in proving to be beneficial for both the
customers as well as the environment. This can be done by setting guidelines that help in
maintaining the quality of the products served without causing any harm to the environmental
factors. According to Korschun and Swain (2014), campaign programmes such as C.A.F.E
have helped Starbucks to be aligned with the guidelines. The social and environmental
responsibility of the company is also stated in this guideline. At the same time, Starbucks
have also entered into a partnership with Ethos. In this partnership, the company have
contributed to promoting fresh water in their manufacturing process. One of the biggest
positives of Starbucks is that the company focuses on the improvement of the community
rather than the organisation.
5th Example
Dell is an American multinational IT company that manufactures, sells and repairs
laptops and personal computers. It is hugely popular among people all over the world and is
one of the most trusted companies that customers prefer while purchasing such equipment
(Dell.com 2018). The company was formed in 1984 in Texas. Currently, the company is the

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destination for 101,800 employees. The CSR activity of Dell involves providing facilities for
education and technology. The CSR activity is directed mainly towards the development of
society in a more technical manner. Hence, the focus of the company remains on the rural as
well as the urban development of a society.
According to Suliman, Al-Khatib and Thomas (2016), the focus of the managers of
Dell is to ensure that people remain updated with the changing times. Most countries in the
world do not have the privilege to use technology and are regarded as backward cultural
people. Dell aims to provide education on technology to these people so that they can have a
future in the competing market. Dell supports about 4615 charitable organisations. The
technology and educational facilities are provided to 11 countries in both the rural as well as
the urban communities. They also act as mentors to college students for the development of
society and eradication of any problems. Even during the time of natural calamities, Dell
provides outright support for making the lives of the people better. This provides Dell with an
upper hand in the competitive market.
Conclusion
Hence, it can be said that CSR is important for every business organisation to succeed
in the market. Without a proper CSR strategy, organisations cannot gain the goodwill of the
people. The donations and the campaigns set up by various organisations help it to maintain
its reputation in the market. The companies that have been mentioned focuses on the
development of the society rather than the development of the company. Thus, this is the
main reason behind the increase in reputation in the market. This also leads to gaining a
competitive advantage.

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Reference
Bmwgroup.com. 2018. Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at:
https://www.bmwgroup.com/en.html [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
Carroll, A. B. 2015. Corporate social responsibility. Organizational dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I., and Serafeim, G. 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), pp.1-23.
Clapp, J., and Rowlands, I. H. 2014. Corporate social responsibility. The Essential Guide to
Global Environmental Governance. Routledge: London, pp.42-44.
Dell.com. 2018. Dell India Official Site | Dell India. [online] Available at:
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=in&l=en&s=&s=gen&~ck=cr [Accessed 30
Jan. 2018].
Ibm.com. (2018). IBM - United States. [online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/us-en/
[Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
Korschun, D., and Swain, S. D. 2014. Corporate social responsibility, customer orientation,
and the job performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), pp.20-37.
Levistrauss.com 2018. Levi Strauss - Levi Strauss & Co. [online] Available at:
http://www.levistrauss.com/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
Lins, K.V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2017. Social capital, trust, and firm performance:
The value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of
Finance, 72(4), pp.1785-1824.

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Samuelson, P.A. and Anderson, H.C., 2014. corporate social responsibility. Morality and the
Market (Routledge Revivals): Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability, p.43.
Starbucks.com 2018. Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks. [online] Available at:
https://www.starbucks.com/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
Suliman, A. M., Al-Khatib, H. T., and Thomas, S. E. 2016. Corporate Social
Responsibility. Corporate Social Performance: Reflecting on the Past and Investing in the
Future, p.15.