Corporate Social Responsibility Report

This report provides a comprehensive literature review and analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), exploring its definition, key issues, and impact on businesses. It examines various studies and perspectives on CSR, highlighting its benefits and challenges. The report concludes with recommendations for organizations to effectively implement CSR strategies.

Project 2
Study Skills for Higher Education
A Report on
<Corporate Social Responsibility>
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Executive Summary or Abstract
Organisations have come a long way from barter system to e-money. In this regard,
the organisations are earning a lot of money which can be put in the use of people who are
actually in need. First, it was the duty of government only to work in this aspect, but, slowly
and steadily organisations are realising the importance of adapting Corporate Social
Responsibility in the workings as it helps in creating a better image in the market as well as
increase their profit margin share. Though, the complexity of CSR has increased over the
years but it do help in creating a better business environment.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary or Abstract.............................................................................................................2
Table of Contents...................................................................................................................................3
1.Introduction........................................................................................................................................4
1.1What is a literature review?..........................................................................................................4
1.2What is its purpose?.....................................................................................................................5
2. Literature Review...............................................................................................................................6
2.1 Give a definition of CSR according to the literature.....................................................................6
2.2 What is known about this topic? Refer to studies on CSR and discuss........................................6
2.3 Find a focus and choose appropriate literature to mention at least 3 key issues relating to CSR
– what are the most important areas/ topics/ subtopics?.................................................................7
3. Analysis .............................................................................................................................................7
5. Recommendations.............................................................................................................................8
6. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................9
7. References.......................................................................................................................................10
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1.Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility is an approach used by organisations in order to give
back the society what it takes. The way every Organisation CSR works is different, it
depends upon various factors like the country they are operating in or the economical and
political factors of the region they are working in(Bell, Bryman and Harley, 2018). It is a self
regulating business model where companies themselves realise the importance of pursuing
social responsibility. Other than the social benefits receive by the company, there are several
advantages that a company enjoys from CSR, such as, a better reputation in the market,
successful marketing, operational efficiency, positive effect on environment and many other
factors. The Corporate Social Responsibility will be studied with the help of Literature
Review. Literature Review suggests about the various authors and scientists related to the
research topic. It contains various Information, suggestions and findings which can help the
researcher in the course of the research in order to get the best results. Literature review plays
a significant role in realising various aspects of the CSR that has already been identified so
that the researcher knows from where to start rather than wasting time on the facts that are
already noted somewhere in the world. So, literature review study is very crucial part of a
research report.
1.1 What is a literature review?
Literature Review is a written paper consisting of published information related to any
subject, topic or any field of study. It can be treated as the summary of information about the
different authors related to the research topic. Literature Review of this report contains the
information about the various authors and writers of Corporate Social Responsibility and
their take on it(Jazdi, 2014). It is very important for the researcher to understand the different
theories surfing all around the globe about the research topic to have a better insight of the
topic. The literature review of any report contains various information like the author of the
review, the date of publication and the thoughts of the person regarding it. To understand the
Corporate Social Responsibility more effectively it is better to understand it with the
literature review as it contains intellectual discussion, which can give a rise to various debates
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following Corporate Social Responsibility. Literature Review is important to be a part of
research because it gives an insight of the problem and works as a guide for the researcher. If
the time to undertake the research is limited then it works as wonder for the researcher as it
eliminates various factors that author will consume time in deriving.
1.2 What is its purpose?
The literature review performs various functions in a report. These functions have led
to the successful implementation of solutions of research problem(da Cunha Mattos and
et.al., 2014). Some of the main purposes or functions of literature review is: Provide ideas: The literature review states the ideas related to the research problem. It
suggests various ideas, gaps or theory of the research which can be held accountable,
if the researcher feel stuck in the middle of the problem. Establishes Relationships: It helps in establishment of a relationship between
research problem and various other regions which will be helpful in understanding the
research problem more accurately. The various fields can be automobiles, finance,
marketing, production, etc. Justify the research: It helps in justifying the various aspects of the research which
researcher cannot explain in the course of the research, so, the researcher can simply
attach a literature review to justify the issue(Cheng, Yang and Sheu, 2014).
 Provide Time: It gives some time to researcher as when the time given to complete
the research is not sufficient it can help in elimination of factors which researcher
cannot place in the duration of following research.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Give a definition of CSR according to the literature
As per the view of Fraser Tennant, November 2015, Corporate Social Responsibility
is a standard business practice in current scenario. It is a major factor responsible for the
image of the organisation. It is a strategy led to the foundation of company's competitiveness
in the business environment. CSR refers to the establishment of social policies in the course
of the business in order to give back to the society through the business operations. Corporate
social responsibility is encouraged in the firms in order to create a positive impact of the firm
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in the market. Albeit, there are several advantages of Corporate Social Responsibilities,
companies do not accept their duties for it.
2.2 What is known about this topic? Refer to studies on CSR and discuss.
According to Sammi Caramela, June 08, 2018, Corporate Social Responsibility is
liable for the changes that has taken place in an organisation's practices, beliefs and profit
margin. It has been noted that customers will stop using a product if they feel that the
organisation is not doing anything for the society. It is believed that CSR is a way for
companies to do something for the society as well as environment because of the operations
performed by them. Companies focus on factors like Environment, Philanthropy, Labour
Practices and Voluntary services in social events to enhance their corporate social
responsibility.
According to Natalia Kosk, July 31, 2015, There are several ways through an
organisation can learn more about the proactive ways that can affect an organisation's supply
chain with the means of Corporate Social Responsibility. It helps an organisation in
protecting their brand, minimising the risk and improve their perceptibility in the market.
There is wide growth in the number of companies displaying Corporate Social
Responsibility in their annual reports in the countries like United Kingdom, United States in
the recent years. The CSR activities in the supply chain if an organisation includes consumer
demand, location of the suppliers and many more.
2.3 Find a focus and choose appropriate literature to mention at least 3 key issues
relating to CSR – what are the most important areas/ topics/ subtopics?
As per the views of Andrew Button, September 26, 2017, The role of Corporate
Social Responsibility starts from treating the customers and employees right to creating a
better place for society. Some of the issues related to Corporate Social Responsibility are:
 Cost Increment: An organisation needs to set up a department for their CSR
activities alone, that adds up the cost which can result in low profit margin as the
organisation needs to pay to the employees and set up the resources.
 Supply Chain: Companies with large supply chains end up facing the wrath as many
a times they fail to notice the inner problems from which their own employees are
going from.
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 Conflicts among owners: Owners or stakeholders may not agree in contributing
towards the society as that would increase costs and results in low profit margin for
them.
3. Analysis
The analysis of different authors related to Corporate Social Responsibility are:
As per the views of David Grayson, Adrian Hodges, 4 December 2017, Corporate
Social Responsibility is an opportunity that can be turned into a business strategy with the
right usage of workings. But, it also named Corporate Social Responsibility as an added cost
and extra regulatory burden if it is added in to the operations rather than having it as business
strategy. A person cannot divide CSR as white or black, it is a mix effort made by an
organisation.
According to Jean B. McGuire, Alison Sundgren and Thomas Schneewei, 30
November 2017, it is necessary to identify a relationship between a firm's corporate social
responsibility and their financial performance. It has been observed that the firm's accounting
and stock market analysis are closely connected with CSR. It also suggests that the firm's risk
factors are linked to that of firm's corporate social responsibility.
According to Jan Schmitz, Jan Schrader, 28 August 2013, there are several factors
which helps in classifying that whether a human should be considered as selfish to choose
CSR because of the attributes related towards the growth of his or her organisation. It also
suggests there is a direct relationship between a firm's growth and social commitment. Also,
Corporate Social Responsibility is closely related to the proposals of shareholders.
According to Yongtae Kim,Haidan Li, Siqi Li, June 2014, CSR is assigned with high
crash risk. Crash risk refers to the imbalance occurs sometimes because of the risk associated,
asymmetry in risk and investment decisions. CSR plays a important role when there is
governance mechanism, like, monitoring of boards, institutional investors, etc.
As per the views of AlbertaDi Giuli, Leonard Kostovetsky, January 2014, it has been
observed that the firms participate more in Corporate Social Responsibility when the top
management like founders, CEO's and managers of the organisation have Democratic
founders rather than republican. Also, it creates a difference in score when they are
established in Democratic states rather than republican states, as it has been observed that
organisations in democratic states participate more in CSR.
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As per the views of Alexander Chernev, Sean Blair, 1 April 2015, Corporate Social
Responsibility is viewed as an instrument that helps in improving an organisation's image and
building up goodwill of the firm. It showcase Corporate Social Responsibility as a framework
that helps in extending the public relations and customers point of view towards the way they
see the product. The author suggests that even the social responsibility performed by the
organisation is not related to the core function of the business operations, it still work in
getting the customers attention towards the brand.
5. Recommendations
From the above mentioned report it can be analysed that Corporate Social
Responsibility work as a collaboration between various firms level of profitability and their
part for the society(Jussila, Kärkkäinen and Aramo-Immonen, 2014). So, it can be
recommended via this report:
 Policy Formation By Management: The company's CSR policies should always be
created by the Top Management of the organisation including CEO's, founders and
managers as they can analyse from where they can derive the funds and how to use
them for the successful implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility and not to
cut too much profit margin.
 Increase Awareness: Rather than investing in creating the best CSR policy,
companies should invest in educating people about the Corporate Social
Responsibility and how it will help in benefiting the firm, society and people at the
same time.
 Tie-Ups with NGO's: Big corporate houses can have tie-ups with various non
governmental organisations in order to provide the best to the people as people
working in NGO's have a slight better understanding in knowing what segment needs
the most help and how to provide them with it.
 Involvement with Rural People: Many corporate houses CSR activities takes place in
urban area where most segments of organisations stays instead of rural people who
are in need the most. So, the corporate house should try to provide help to rural people
and should sort their CSR activities most (Wirtz and et.al., 2016).
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6. Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that the CSR performs a major role in
establishing an organisation in the market, as this role cannot be only done by government,
big corporate houses needs to step up in order to create a society which would strong as
people will be healthy, educated and will have jobs. Though, the corporate houses have their
own reasons to be a part of CSR but this cannot eliminate the fact that they are working for
the people.
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7. References
Books and Journals
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university
press.
Jazdi, N., 2014, May. Cyber physical systems in the context of Industry 4.0. In 2014 IEEE
international conference on automation, quality and testing, robotics (pp. 1-4).
IEEE.
da Cunha Mattos, T. and et.al., 2014. A formal representation for context-aware business
processes. Computers in Industry.65(8). pp.1193-1214.
Cheng, C. C., Yang, C. L. and Sheu, C., 2014. The link between eco-innovation and business
performance: a Taiwanese industry context. Journal of Cleaner Production.64.
pp.81-90.
Jussila, J. J., Kärkkäinen, H. and Aramo-Immonen, H., 2014. Social media utilization in
business-to-business relationships of technology industry firms. Computers in
Human Behavior.30. pp.606-613.
Wirtz, B.W. and et.al., 2016. Business models: Origin, development and future research
perspectives. Long range planning.49(1). pp.36-54.
Popovič, A., and et.al., 2014. How information-sharing values influence the use of
information systems: An investigation in the business intelligence systems context.
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems.23(4). pp.270-283.
Kozubíková, L., and et.al.,2015. Personal characteristics of entrepreneurs in the context of
perception and management of business risk in the SME segment. Economics and
Sociology.
Bargiela-Chiappini, F. and Nickerson, C. R., 2014.Writing business: Genres, media and
discourses. Routledge.
Stieninger, M. and Nedbal, D., 2014. Characteristics of cloud computing in the business
context: A systematic literature review. Global Journal of Flexible Systems
Management.15(1). pp.59-68.
Online
What is CSR? 2019. [Online]. Available Through
<https://www.unido.org/our-focus/advancing-economic-competitiveness/
competitive-trade-capacities-and-corporate-responsibility/corporate-social-
responsibility-market-integration/what-csr>.
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