Business Society and the Planet

This paper compares the sustainability efforts of Tata Motors and Mercedes Benz, two leading automobile companies. It analyzes their CSR activities, the range of issues covered in their social reports, and the extent to which they address the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper also identifies the sustainability phases in which each company sits according to the Dunphy model and discusses how their social reports reflect their stated values. Overall, Tata Motors has shown significant success in their sustainability efforts, while Mercedes Benz focuses more on strategic proactivity.

BUSINESS SOCIETY AND THE PLANET

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Q1. Identify and describe the two companies you have researched; their core business activities
and the countries and/or industries in which they operate...............................................................2
Q2. What differences are evident between the two companies in terms of the range of issues
dealt with in their social reports and the depth of coverage on specific issues?..............................3
Q3. Discuss which of the Sustainable Development Goals you believe are most relevant to these
companies, their industries and the countries in which they operate. Discuss the extent to which
these SDGs were addressed, explicitly or implicitly, in the CSR/Sustainability reports of your
companies?......................................................................................................................................4
Q4. Based on your analyses of your companies’ sustainability/CSR reporting, identify in which
Sustainability Phase/s (Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn) each of your companies sit. Explain your
reasons for these assessments..........................................................................................................4
Q5. Discuss the extent to which the social reports provided by these companies reflect their
stated values.....................................................................................................................................5
Q6. Briefly reflect on your group’s discussions of these companies. In what ways did the ideas
presented by your group confirm your own conclusions, influence your thinking and/or present
another perspective to you?.............................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Ethics have become one of the vital components of a functioning business organization. The
application of chosen values and principles in a business environment can be referred to as
business ethics (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). Business ethics define an organization’s activities and
preferences in relation to the primary goals and objectives. One of the most crucial business
ethics is environmental and social reform. It is the ethical responsibility of all major business
organizations to contribute towards the reformation of environment and society that they
function in (Chell, Spence, Perrini & Harris, 2016). This paper takes up two large-scale
companies-- Tata and Mercedes Benz, in order to compare their sustainability efforts and analyze
the particular differences. A thorough analysis of the two Company’s sustainability efforts would
help in identifying the perceived value in the process.
Q1. Identify and describe the two companies you have researched; their core
business activities and the countries and/or industries in which they operate.
Tata Motors and Mercedes Benz are one of the leading automobile companies in the modern
world of India and Germany respectively. They have made significant progress since their
establishment and have become truly successful and showed sustainability in their business
agendas and organizational goals (Dhillon, 2017). Tata Motors is a very popular brand in India
known for it’s pioneering in motor crafting and manufacturing and providing means of various
kinds of transport/construction/welfare services and equipments or vehicles to people. Keeping
business goals on one hand, Tata Motors has always shown improvements in their Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) reports every year successfully. Their main CSR efforts are
completely focused on improving and developing the area neighboring their business operations
by improving the quality of life of the underprivileged communities living there (Kulkarni,
2015). They aim to assist these communities through improving health, providing education,
accelerating employability and making the environment more sustainable (Peters, 2016). Their
sincere and honest efforts have impacted nearly 6, 44, 00 lives in India and have helped them
achieve many CSR and Sustainability Awards.
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Mercedes Benz is a prestigious brand in Germany which has earned its name by manufacturing
top-class vehicles which can be bought by the public and some are even used in governmental
bodies where more secured vehicles are provided by the company for governmental officials and
VIPs (Ozdora‐Aksak & Atakan‐Duman, 2016). Their perseverance of delivering a safe,
comfortable and memorable drive has led them to discover and introduce the world’s first
Passenger Safety Body in 1959 and the revolutionary Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) in 1978
and many other certificates and deliveries of excellence. Their CSR activities and agendas are
emphasized on the development of local communities where local issues are identified and dealt
with. The Company actively engages local people in many welfare projects and their inputs
being correctly valued and appraised. By providing education, developing infrastructural
facilities and providing safe drinking water, Mercedes Benz has always achieved and excelled in
their sustainability goals and organizational agendas.
Q2. What differences are evident between the two companies in terms of the
range of issues dealt with in their social reports and the depth of coverage on
specific issues?
Both the companies selected in this study have shown very similar aims and perspectives when it
comes their CSR and sustainability agendas. Tata Motors and Mercedes Benz have their own
unique ways of presenting their reports publicly (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017). Tata Motors
of Tata group is the largest automobile company in the industry and is known for its ethical
transparency when it comes to sustainability and development of business along with the
environment and the surrounding factors like the people residing near business operations. Tata
Motors has impacted and changed many underprivileged lives with huge welfare operations and
projects and have successfully build trust in most of their neighboring communities.
Tata motors have their distinct style in presenting their initiatives with names common people
can relate to whereas; Mercedes Benz has failed to present their initiatives by naming them and
absorbing them as their own strategies and initiatives. This simple approach to mark your
initiatives shows a huge difference in both the organization’s CSR goals and the efforts they take
practically in efficiently delivering their commitment. Transparency of CSR activities is a major
difference between these two companies. Tata Motors is comparatively more approachable with
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its history of conducting CSR duties whereas; Mercedes Benz is a company who cannot be
approached by everyone (Moravcikova, Stefanikova & Rypakova, 2015). Mercedes Benz shows
lack of humility in their CSR concerns and are seen working with schools and many non-profit
organizations but are practically helping very few, compared to Tata Motors.
Both the companies have covered a range of issues from environmental to education and
employability and health improvement camps and initiatives. Their depth in managing these
operations practically had very different results. Tata Motors’ annual CSR report has shown
significant success in their activities and operations compared to Mercedes Benz India. The
number of lives touched or helped depends a lot for this comparison.
Q3. Discuss which of the Sustainable Development Goals you believe are most
relevant to these companies, their industries and the countries in which they
operate. Discuss the extent to which these SDGs were addressed, explicitly or
implicitly, in the CSR/Sustainability reports of your companies?
Tata Motors and Mercedes Benz have both covered a wide range of issues governing their
neighboring business operations. Mercedes Benz is leaner in engaging underprivileged people
and children than developing their current condition. They have collaborated with many NGOs
and have successfully touched or changed lives of very few communities and selected areas
(Schönherr, Findler & Martinuzzi, 2017). The widespread awareness and the need for ethical
emergence is consistently lacking in the Company’s approach. Many lives are being helped, but
as a MNC, the Company is responsible for these social welfare practices.
Tata Motors on the other hand have significantly changed many of its neighboring business areas
with annual health programs, educational programs, employability programs and environmental
awareness programs and have successfully helped in reshaping the lives of many underprivileged
communities (Bortree & Haigh, 2018). They have successfully implemented their CSR duties to
a wide scale that not only covers the cost and maintenance of Indian minorities but also is
helping the communities in need outside the country. This increasing level of dedication towards
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one’s CSR duties is something that should be internalized and adapted by other industry leaders
and future corporate minds.
Q4. Based on your analyses of your companies’ sustainability/CSR reporting,
identify in which Sustainability Phase/s (Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn) each of
your companies sit. Explain your reasons for these assessments.
The approach of an organization towards sustainability can be assessed and categorized into six
specific phases. The model is inclusive of a wide range of sustainability strategies devised for the
achievement of Corporate Social Responsibility. The six phases of the Dunphy model include:
 Rejection: This phase refers to the Companies that exploit their resources and have profit
as their only concern.
 Non-responsive: The next phase refers to the organizations that are unaware of their
exploitation of resources and employ capital forces to mitigate structural issues.
 Compliance: The third phase refers to the organizations that meet the minimum
sustainability standards with the aim to prevent litigation and other legal issues.
 Efficiency: This phase focuses on the cost-savings benefit of change and emphasizes on
the need for more awareness about sustainability and its necessity.
 Strategic Pro-activity: This phase refers to the organizations that use organizational
changes for further competitive advantage and efficiency in business performance
(Meijerink, Bos-Nehles & de Leede, 2018).
 Sustaining Corporation: This phase is the ideal phase of sustainability that offers high
profits to investors and contributes to the sustainability of resources as well as society and
environment.
The Tata Motors Company sits in the final or sixth stage of the model-- as a Sustaining
Corporation. The Company has made significant efforts in various operational areas in order to
contribute to the development and reformation of environment and society. Not only that, the
Company has achieved significant benefits from each of their sustainability initiatives. More
than 40% of the CSR funds were utilized to develop and uplift the SC/ST communities.
Reinforcement of initiatives related to health, education, employability and environment have
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been made with ‘Aarogya’, ‘Vidyadhanam’, ‘Kaushalya’ and ‘Vasundhara’ schemes
respectively.
The Mercedes Benz Company, though a multinational business organization, sits under the fifth
stage of sustainability, as per the Dunphy Model (Bocken, Rana & Short, 2015). The Company
emphasizes on Strategic Proactivity in order to mitigate its Corporate Responsibilities and
enforce sustainability. The organization takes up various programs like setting up solar panels,
air-purification, waste management and more to gain competitive advantage over the rival
business organizations and emerge as an aware and responsible business force in the
international market. Therefore, this organization can be said to be focused on strategic pro-
activity more than achieving social responsibility.
Q5. Discuss the extent to which the social reports provided by these companies
reflect their stated values.
Both the Companies-- Tata Motors and Mercedes Benz, reflect a value-oriented approach to
sustainability through their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reports. The main objective of
Tata’s approach is to contribute to the larger community through the business efforts towards
education, employability and livelihood. The organization strives to achieve judicious utilization
of resources in order to increase the efficiency of their production processes. The CSR programs
of the Company are horizontally linked to each other and reflect a human cycle approach. The
importance of human resources are identified and acknowledged by the Company, along with
significant efforts to look after their needs and necessities (Jamali, El Dirani & Harwood, 2015).
The Company also makes careful use of technological advancements to meet local challenges
and devising strategic partnerships. The Company influenced more than 6,44,000 lives with their
sustainability drives and has made a mark in the international business market. The value-
centered approach to sustainability is evident with its activities towards health, education,
employability and environment.
The Mercedes-Benz Company mainly focuses on mitigating the imminent environmental issues
that pose great risk for the longevity of the organization. In order to reduce carbon emission and
air-pollution, the Company has adopted several initiatives like building electric cars. The value-
centric approach of the organization can be identified with their efforts to conserve energy, use
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efficient methodologies and utilizing renewable resources for their daily production and other
operational processes (Salvioni & Gennari, 2017). In order to bring about an all-round
development of sustainability the organization exploits technological advancements to meet the
new requirements of the environment and society. The Company has taken up various initiatives
like setting up solar power panels, air purification, waste and resource management, controlling
water pollution, conservation of nature and others in order to emerge as a socially responsible
Company.
Q6. Briefly reflect on your group’s discussions of these companies. In what
ways did the ideas presented by your group confirm your own conclusions,
influence your thinking and/or present another perspective to you?
The discussions regarding the two large-scale organizations have helped in concluding some
essential factors about business sustainability and ethical practices. The need for business ethics
like Corporate Social Responsibility has been emphasized on in order to thoroughly assess the
sustainability initiatives of the two organizations (Dentchev et al., 2016). Some of the essential
conclusions achieved from the above discussion are briefly mentioned below:
 An all round development of sustainability approaches needs to include sustainable
investment of available resources. Over exploitation of natural resources lead to
environmental degradation like pollution, soil erosion, climate change and global
warming. In order to function successfully in the current business environment, it is
necessary to adopt new sustainable approaches that reduce the harmful impacts in the
external environment.
 Increasing social and economic inequality is a major obstacle in the success of large-scale
businesses. In order to achieve global sustainability, it is the responsibility of all business
organizations to make people aware of the social changes and assist them to reduce the
gap with more accessibility provided to the minority.
 The efforts made by Mercedes Benz to reduce air and water pollution require adoption of
new technological tools and applications (Xavier, Naveiro & Aoussat, 2015). Reducing
stress on non-renewable energy sources is one of its primary concerns. Therefore the
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organization is focusing on developing new electric cars that would run on renewable
electric energy.
 Tata Motors Company has been making significant efforts towards an all-round
development of environment and society with their specialty programs for each identified
issue. In order to bring about significant changes in the external environment of the
Company, the organization has devised exclusive sustainability initiatives for healthcare,
education, employability and environment.
Conclusion
To conclude, business ethics is an important concept that needs to be analyzed and assessed in
relation to an organization’s aims and objectives. Business ethics emphasizes on an
organization’s culture and practices of corporate sustainability in a changing external
environment. Corporate Social Responsibility reports of the two chosen organizations-- Tata
Motors and Mercedes Benz have been discussed and compared in detail in order to identify their
respective sustainability phases. The two CSR reports have been compared against each other to
acknowledge their differences in approaches. The paper also focuses on the different
geographical locations of both the Companies, leading to different external environments. Hence,
it can be said that Corporate Responsibility is a valuable feature of modern business
organizations and must be adopted to achieve sustainability, both internally and externally.
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