Corporate Social Responsibility: Unique Initiatives by Five Companies

This report discusses the concept of corporate social responsibility and highlights the unique initiatives taken by five companies, including Intermarché, TOMS, Patagonia, Levi's, and Nu Skin. The report covers the details of each company's initiative, such as Intermarché's campaign to reduce food waste, TOMS' 'one for one' campaign, Patagonia's supply chain practices, Levi's 'workers well being initiative', and Nu Skin's 'nourish the children' initiative. The report concludes that corporate social responsibility involves good practice and governance, including environmental responsibilities and responsibilities towards employees.

Corporate Social Responsibility
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Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................2
Reference List............................................................................................................................2
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Executive Summary
Corporate social responsibility is practices by most of the recognised brands across the world.
The key activities of the companies are aimed at ensuring that all the stakeholders that are
directly or indirectly affected by the activities of the organisation should be returned with
contribution from the part of the company.
In this particular report a study has been done regarding five companies that are engaged in
most unique method of conducting their corporate social responsibility activities.
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility is one of the core activities of businesses operating across the
globe. The key concept of corporate social responsibility is that companies tend to have
obligations that are beyond the companies and the shareholders. The interest of the
employees, suppliers, consumer and the larger society all comes under the term of corporate
social responsibility. The chief purpose of organisations to engage in these activities is not
only for the purpose of sustainability but also to develop a good brand image in the market.
Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Intermarché
A unique example of CSR activities is practices by the company Intermarché which is a
French supermarket chain. The company has taken an initiative to address a unique but
massive issue. The company has drawn the focus on the amount of food that is wasted across
the world. The statistics in this regard is astonishing. The United nation’s food and
agriculture organisation has collected statistics in this regard. Statistics show that almost 1/3rd
of the total production of food is wasted annually across the globe. The countries that belong
to developed economies waste food worth $ 680 billion and developing countries waste
approximately $ 310 billion. Among the food content that is wasted vegetables and fruits are
the highest as they are highly perishable in nature. There have been some actions that have
been taken by some of the food companies (Aschemann-Witzel et al. 2016). The CSR
activity that is undertaken by the Chipotle and Intermarché is a food campaign called “the
inglorious fruit and vegetable”. The key aim of the project was to stop the wastage of the
vegetables and fruits that do not look perfect. The key methods that have been used by the
company involve selling the vegetables and fruits that do not look perfect at a discount of 30
per cent. The company also promoted the imperfect looking vegetables by a contest of ugly
looking vegetables in fruits in instagram. This unique corporate social responsibility initiative
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that is taken by Intermarché has been claimed by the company to be successful. The
vegetable and fruits that are of same quality are sold for lesser price and the producers also
received their payment and Intermarché has also been able to make profit from the venture
(Intermarche 2018).
Corporate social responsibility initiative of TOMS
The “one for one” campaign that was initiated by TOMS shoes is another example of
innovative corporate social responsibility activity that was undertaken by an organisation.
TOMS shoes is an company that manufactures and sells shoes, eyewear, apparel, coffee,
handbag etc. The company is headquartered at California in United States. The company was
started by Blake Mycoskie in the year 2006. The key activities of the ‘one for one’ campaign
were to sell a shoe along with another for a child in Argentina. This practice eventually
increased in contributing to the health and education of the children as well (Torelli et al.
2011). The starting of the shoe campaign has been a tremendous success till now there have
been 60 million shoes that have been distributed through this campaign. The eyewear of the
company has also been associated to raise fund for restoring eye sight to people which has
helped almost 400,000 people across the globe. The coffee business of TOMS has taken
initiative to raise fund for providing safe drinking water to parts of the globe where there is
acute water crisis. 335,000 weeks of clean drinking water has been provided to 6 countries
across the globe. The bags business of the organisation has also been actively collecting fund
for assisting safe child delivery facilities across the globe (Toms 2018). This involves training
birth assistants and also providing with the material requirements for safe child birth. The
services that are provided by TOMS are available across most of the continents apart from
Australia.
Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Patagonia
Patagonia is an American outdoor clothing company that is founded in the year 1973. The
corporate social responsibility that Patagonia is involved in is regarding its supply chain
practices. The company recognised the environment impact of the production activities of the
company and has taken steps accordingly.
First step is the sources from where materials are being collected by the organisation. the
organisation started sourcing only organic cotton from the year 1994 and build good relation
with the cotton farmers, at the same time some of the other aspects which are involved in
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trace down standards like making sure that ducks that are used for down jacket is not harmed
in terms of force feeding or live plucking (Morsing and Schultz 2006).
The second key activity that they are engaged in involves ensuring that the wages of the
workers in the organisation are being taken care of. Patagonia tries to make sure that the
workers of the organisation are being taken care not only in terms of ensuring that they
receive minimum wages but to have a wage in which they can make a comfortable living.
The organisation has agreed that it has not been fully successful in this venture but they are
trying as par this objective.
The company is also taking environment friendly ventures. There are certain initiatives that
are taken by the organisation for the purpose of saving the environment. The company has
not only decided to use renewable sources of energy but they also ensured that the buildings
that the employees are working are also green (patagonia 2018). The take measures to reduce
the carbon footprint and at the same time also contribute 1 per cent of the sales to the
conservation activities.
Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Levi’s
Levi Strauss was found in Germany in the year 1829. The company is famous for producing
blue jeans. The CSR initiative that is taken by this organisation involves a program that is
formed for the well being of the workers. The company believed that the work site related
policies for the improvement of the situation of the employees are often not complete in
nature. This situation is in the heart of the CSR activities that is undertaken by Levi’s. The
‘workers well being initiative’ is one such program. The company’s CEO states that the
objective of the CSR activities of the company is to ensure that the lives of the apparel
company workers should be given such priority by the organisation that it sets a new example
for the entire apparel industry (Maloni and Brown 2006). The initiative taken by the company
is also unique in nature, it engages in surveys to find out the needs of the employees of the
organisation to ensure that they are able to give their best to the organisation. After the
identification of the issue the company by partnering with nongovernmental organisations
takes initiatives to solve the problems. The results have been phenomenal in the different
parts of the country. In Bangladesh higher number of women returned to work after maternity
leave, the higher level of awareness regarding the health issues faced by women reduced the
absenteeism and turnover rate of the women in Egypt, the work satisfaction level of the
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employees of Haiti has increased because of the program and India there has been higher
level of awareness regarding family planning (Levis 2018).
Corporate social responsibility initiative of Nu Skin
Some of the most basic needs that are being addressed by the CSR initiatives of companies
involve the “nourish the children” initiative by Nu Skin. Nu Skin is a skin care and
nutrition product company. The initiative that has been taken by this organisation is to deal
with hunger in Malawi which is a small country in Africa that is suffering from starvation and
famine. The method of initiative that is taken by the organisation involves a very different
method. They allow the customers to donate a VitaMeal which is a nourishing meal for the
hungry children in Malawi (Bingham et al. 2013). The customers can purchase a meal for the
children which are going to be distributed to the children by the charity partners of the
organisation. Each 5 bags of meals are provided with an additional free meal. As a result a
total of 30 meals extra are provided by the company. This initiative has been of immense
benefit as a total of 1 00,000 children are being fed each day as par this scheme. The vice
president of the supply chain of the organisation claims that the organisation has contributed
immensely for the health benefit of the children (Skin 2018). The convoy of hope is the
charity partner of the organisation that is involved in the distribution of the food in Malawi.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that there are different methods of corporate social responsibility
ventures that are undertaken by different companies. The CSR activities also involve good
practice and good governance. The environmental responsibilities as well as responsibilities
towards the employees are part of corporate social responsibilities. The wastage reduction,
environmental preservation and feeding the hungry has been involved in corporate social
responsibility.
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Reference List
Aschemann-Witzel, J., de Hooge, I. and Normann, A., 2016. Consumer-related food waste:
Role of food marketing and retailers and potential for action. Journal of International Food
& Agribusiness Marketing, 28(3), pp.271-285.
Bingham, J.B., Mitchell, B.W., Bishop, D.G. and Allen, N.J., 2013. Working for a higher
purpose: A theoretical framework for commitment to organization-sponsored causes. Human
Resource Management Review, 23(2), pp.174-189.
Intermarche (2018). Intermarché hypermarchés et supermarchés : promotions, services et
courses en ligne. [online] Intermarche.com. Available at:
https://www.intermarche.com/home.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2018].
Levis (2018). Levi's® Jeans, Denim Jackets & Clothing - Free shipping on all orders.
[online] Levis.com.au. Available at: https://www.levis.com.au/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2018].
Maloni, M.J. and Brown, M.E., 2006. Corporate social responsibility in the supply chain: an
application in the food industry. Journal of business ethics, 68(1), pp.35-52.
Morsing, M. and Schultz, M., 2006. Corporate social responsibility communication:
stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies. Business ethics: a European
review, 15(4), pp.323-338.
patagonia (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.patagonia.com/home/ [Accessed 24 Sep.
2018].
Skin, N. (2018). Nu Skin Australia. [online] Nu Skin. Available at:
https://www.nuskin.com/en_AU/home.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2018].
Toms (2018). TOMS® Official Site | The One for One® Company. [online] Toms.com.
Available at: https://www.toms.com/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2018].
Torelli, C.J., Monga, A.B. and Kaikati, A.M., 2011. Doing poorly by doing good: Corporate
social responsibility and brand concepts. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(5), pp.948-963.
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