The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Business

The provided document is a report on the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in business. It explores various approaches to CSR adopted by companies, such as providing healthy products, offering employment opportunities, and engaging in charity work. The report emphasizes that CSR plays a crucial role in improving a company's image and influencing customer purchasing decisions. In today's competitive business environment, CSR is essential for companies to survive and gain a competitive advantage. The document also references relevant literature on the topic, including articles and books on CSR and sustainability.

Corporate social
responsibility

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Main body...................................................................................................................................................4
1. Summary of the business as well as rationale of your choice..............................................................4
2. Companies rank with regard to corporate social responsibility............................................................4
3.Specific examples of corporate actions that resulted in the companies ranking....................................5
4. Why does the companies approach towards corporate social responsibility influence purchasing
decisions..................................................................................................................................................6
5. Relevance of corporate social responsibility in current business environment...................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Corporate social responsibility may be defined as all those moral practices that are
undertaken by the business organizations in order to create a positive impact on the mind of the
society. The basic motive behind adopting the corporate social responsibility is to improve the
brand image which is essential for the long term growth and survival of the business. Tesco PLC,
a British multinational retail company; which has been founded 100 years ago in the year 1919.
The company has around 4,60,000 employees by the end of 2017. This report will include the
brief summary of the business as well as companies rank in corporate social responsibility.
Further the report will include corporate actions undertaken by the company and the current
business environment(Crowther and Seifi, 2018.).
Main body
1. Summary of the business as well as rationale of your choice.
Tesco PLC , is the third largest retailer in the entire world with its headquarter in United
Kingdom and deal mainly in multinational groceries as well as general merchandise retailer.
The founder of the company is Jack Cohen. The company has more than 6500 stores in the
entire world by the end of 2018. The company has been founded in 1919 but was expanded after
few years that is around 1950s or 1960s. The motto of the company was ‘pile it high and sell it
cheap’; which was the basic reason behind the growth and expansion of the company.
But with changing time, company diversified its business and is now operating even on the
online platform as well as it has its stores in various countries. This is the major reason behind
company having majority of the market share.
The company was constantly indulged in corporate social responsibility which helped the
company in gaining the competitive advantage over the other companies and thus helped in
beating its competitors(Keay and Iqbal, 2019). Further, it helped in improving the image of the
company in mind of the people of the society which in turn has increased its sales and profit.
2. Companies rank with regard to corporate social responsibility
CSR ratings are given on the perceived performance on the scale of 0 – 100. Tesco PLC,
percentage of ranking as compared to 17,972 companies is 84%. This can be summarized as a
high percentage of companies involvement in corporate social responsibility in order to improve
the image of the company in the mind of the customers so that it is beneficial for the company in
the long run to grow and survive.
This ranking has been generated on the basis of consensus using a Big Data Algorithm.
Further, it was found that though the ranking of the company is high in terms of corporate social

responsibility but the highest involvement of the company towards the CSR activities since
January, 2017 till October, 2018 was in July, 2018 that is around 90%. Similarly, when it comes
to the industry of super market comprising of 187 companies than also the highest involvement
in corporate social responsibility was in July 2018(Corporate social responsibility, 2019).
3.Specific examples of corporate actions that resulted in the companies ranking
Corporate actions undertaken by Tesco that improved its ranking are discussed under 5 main
heads(Tesco, corporate responsibility report, 2009). These are discussed below:
Environment – Tesco adopted major initiatives towards sustainable environment such as
Tesco used carbon labels in order to label its brand products such as juices, detergents, potatoes
and so on. Even the company has opened its environmental stores which contained less amount
of carbon footprint which is one of the major initiatives towards the sustainable environment.
Apart from that, the company even reduced the use of energy in its stores in United Kingdom
that to upto 50%. Furthermore, the company is making lot of efforts in order to reduce the weight
of packaging for the environmental benefits.
Suppliers and ethical trading – Tesco is not only known for providing products which are
sustainable but is also known for respecting its suppliers which has helped in maintain strong
supply chain. Apart from that, company is known for carrying out its trading activities ethically
such as improving the welfare standards of the industry and this in turn has helped the company
in capturing larger market share. Thus, the company is viewed as a socially responsible
organization and this has lead the company in attracting more number of customers(Evans and
Mason, 2018).
Customer choice and health - the company makes immense efforts in order to make
products which are safe for human health as well as to provide variety of choice to the customers
so that they can have the wide choice and can select the best product which suits their demand.
In order to foster customer choice and health the company has reduced the thousands of tonnes
of saturated fat and salt from its products in the united kingdom in order to provide healthy
products to customers and does not have any adverse impact of the health of the customers so as
to improve its brand image which is essential for the long term survival and growth of the
business.
Furthermore, Tesco has decided to continue its working with the government, various
health organizations and industrial bodies in order to achieve the standards of nutritional
labeling. Thus, the company is leaving no stone unturned towards improving its brand image and
market share.
Communities – it is one of the essential elements of corporate social responsibility and
the companies need to pay attention towards them in order to improve its image through carrying
out various moral obligations. One major initiative adopted by tesco was that the company

launched community promises in order to show the staff of the company that how can they work
better towards the attainment of the objective of the company effectively and efficiently.
Apart from that, the company raised huge amount of funds for the uk charity of the year
in order to provide funds to take care of cancer patients. This initiative has helped the company
very much towards gaining the respect in the eyes of the society and showing the people that
company is concerned about the society and is taking initiative for the well being of the people
of the society (Unit, 2015).
Our people – Tesco has undertaken immense measures for the sake of people of the
society such as whenever the company opens up its new stores; it provides employment to all
those people who are unemployed for a long period of time as well as those people who are
unemployed due to some disadvantages. This has played a huge role in reducing the
unemployment problem of the country as well as improving the image of the company.
Furthermore, the company has appointed its first female director in its store in South
Korea so as encourage females to work better by promoting gender equality. This has helped the
company in attracting young and talented female to join the company as they feel good job
opportunity as the company gives equal growth opportunities to both male and female.
4. Why does the companies approach towards corporate social responsibility influence
purchasing decisions
Yes, the approach of Tesco towards corporate social responsibility affect the purchasing
decision up to a great extent such as the company provides wide range of choice to the customers
which in turn helps in fulfilling each and every kind of needs and wants of the customers by
selecting that product which fits best in fulfilling their requirement (Schramm-Klein and et.al.,
2016). Thus, the customers do not have to shift to other brands because of unavailability of their
preferred products.
Apart from that, company is known for providing health products which in turn fosters
increased purchase of the products of the brand such as company provides product which
contains less saturated fat and salt which increases the purchase because of health consciousness.
Another important reason behind increase in the purchase decisions due to the approach
adopted by the company is that it provides fund for charity. Thus, my purchase decisions are
influenced up to a great extent because I believe that if I would purchase the products of this
brand which in turn would contribute towards increase in the revenue and the profits of the
company. Thus if the revenue and profits would be increased then they would contribute more
towards the charity such as for the welfare of cancer patients. Thus, this is one of the way
through which I can fulfill my needs by purchasing the products as well as contribute towards the
well being of the society.

Furthermore, the company provides employment to the people who are unemployed from
a long duration of time whenever they open up a new store. Thus, purchase decisions are
influence to a great extent because if more the products of the company would be purchased,
more the company will grow. Thus, if the company will expand its operations then it would open
up more stores and thus give employment to more people who are unemployed(Elg and
Hultman, 2016). Thus, this will not only help in satisfying the needs but would also help in
solving the problem of unemployment.
Hence, from the above discussion it could be said that companies approach of corporate
social responsibility has played a vital role in influencing the purchasing decisions.
5. Relevance of corporate social responsibility in current business environment
Yes, corporate social responsibility has a huge relevance in current business environment
because if the company would fail to fulfill its social responsibility then it wont be able to
survive in the environment for a longer duration of time(Long, Tallontire and Young, 2015).
Current business environment is very competitive. Thus, it is very important for every
business organizations to remain constantly indulged in corporate social responsibility otherwise
it won’t be able to gain competitive advantage over the other companies and would not be able to
beat its competitors. Thus, the company would lag far behind its competitors.
Apart from that, current business environment is very complex as it includes variety of
uncertainties such as changes in government policies, political instability, recession period, etc.
thus. In order to overcome these complexities it is very important for the company to undertake
corporate social responsibility because if the company would fail to fulfill its obligations then it
would attract unnecessary government restrictions. These restrictions would not only hinder the
smooth running of the current business operations but would also spoil the image of the company
in the mind of the society.
Hence, it can be said that; in the current business environment it is very essential for the
company to undertake corporate social responsibility (Kolk, 2016).
Conclusion
From the above report, it has been summarized that the company has adopted various
approaches of corporate social responsibility in order to improve the image of the company such
as by providing products which are healthy that is containing less fat as well as by providing
wide choice to customers. Apart from that, the company even provided employment to various
unemployed people whenever it opens up a new store and even company spends a huge amount
on charity. All these activities have played a huge role in gaining the respect in the eyes of the
public as well as in increasing the sales because the company was viewed as a socially
responsible firm that is working towards the well being of the society which in turn has
influenced the purchasing decisions of the people in a positive manner.

References
Books and journal
Long, T.B., Tallontire, A. and Young, W., 2015. CSR, voluntary standards and sustainability.
In Sustainability (Vol. 199, No. 218, pp. 199-218). ROUTLEDGE in association with GSE
Research.
Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business. 51(1). pp.23-34.
Evans, B. and Mason, R., 2018. The lean supply chain: managing the challenge at Tesco. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Schramm-Klein, H. and et.al., 2016. Retailer corporate social responsibility is relevant to
consumer behavior. Business & Society. 55(4). pp.550-575.
Elg, U. and Hultman, J., 2016. CSR: retailer activities vs consumer buying
decisions. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. 44(6). pp.640-657.
Keay, A. and Iqbal, T., 2019. An Evaluation of Sustainability in Large British
Companies. Common Law World Review.
Crowther, D. and Seifi, S. eds., 2018. Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Unit, B., 2015. Corporate social responsibility.
Online
Tesco, corporate responsibility report. 2009. [Online] . Available through:
https://www.tescoplc.com/media/1464/tesco_cr_review_2009.pdf
Corporate social responsibility. 2019. [online]. Available through:
https://www.csrhub.com/CSR_and_sustainability_information/Tesco-PLC