Corporate Strategy and Governance - pdf

CORPORATE STRATEGY AND
GOVERNANCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESEARCH TOPIC........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background.............................................................................................................................1
Problem statement : ...............................................................................................................2
Aim.........................................................................................................................................2
Objectives...............................................................................................................................2
Questions................................................................................................................................2
Rationale of study...................................................................................................................2
Literature Review...................................................................................................................3
Research Methodology..........................................................................................................3
Gantt Chart ............................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
To determine CSR activities as corporate strategy and governance for Tesco......................6
To evaluate influence of corporate social responsibility on Consumers................................7
SECONDARY AND PRIMARY RESEARCH ............................................................................9
CRITICALLY REVIEW ON RESULTS OF RESEARCH .........................................................14
RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................................................24
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................28

RESEARCH TOPIC
“To assess the influence of corporate social responsibility on stakeholders: A case study
on Tesco”.
INTRODUCTION
Background
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a sustainable approach which helps the business
in governing environmental, economic and social benefits for key stakeholders. This is
strategical approach which helps the company in managing economic and social welfare which
on other hand helps in managing stable performance of business (Hoi, Wu and Zhang, 2013).
There are different types of CSR strategies which aim at managing different areas and functions
of firm like, ethical business practices. In accordance with ethics it is responsibility of an
enterprise to ensure safe and health practices with regard to stakeholders as well as environment.
It comprises values, system, people a nature of entity towards its micro and macro business
environment.
The motive behind CSR governance in Tesco is quality of practices, safe working
conditions, effective production process and shared employee perspective. It is considered as
voluntary initiative where principles and values govern process of firm. Tesco focuses on
managing CSR strategical governance to serve society in effective and fair manner (Tai and
Chuang, 2014). Further, it aims at creating wealth and welfare for different communities of
society. In addition, it supports respect for human rights for which focus of retailer is on
providing safe working conditions to all employees.
Implementation of corporate social responsibility helps Tesco in promoting health and
safety of workers which is the best strategy to managing employees' motivation and productivity.
On the other hand, compliance with policies and procedures of CSR helps the business in
enabling respect for environment by promoting focus on minimizing waste and use of natural
resources and making proper use of all resources (Frederick, 2016). Apart from this, CSR polices
supports mandatory compliance with governmental rule and regulation which are enforced to
maintain commitments and contracts. For example, as per corporate responsibility update of
Tesco it is determined that food that is not safe for human consumption should go to waste
because of which the firm has focused on incorporating practices to reduce food waste (An
update on our Corporate Responsibility commitments, 2016).
1

Problem statement :
The problem is that consumer in the market have perception that that food products
offered by Tesco is not healthy and due to which the food is going waste. This factor has great
effect on the image as well as performance of company.
Aim
“To assess the influence of corporate social responsibility initiatives on consumer
behaviour: A case study on Tesco”
Objectives
 To determine CSR activities as corporate strategy and governance for Tesco.
 To evaluate influence of corporate social responsibility on consumer behaviour.
 To ascertain impact of CSR on sustainable performance of Tesco.
 To determine the significance of CSR practices in business.
 To evaluate extent to which consumers behaviour get influenced by CSR activities.
Questions
 Why CSR activities are termed as corporate strategy and governance for Tesco?
 Explain the influence of corporate social responsibility on stakeholders.
 What is the impact of CSR on sustainable performance of Tesco?
Rationale of study
The motive behind choosing corporate social responsibility as corporate governance
strategy is management of responsibility practices. This will assist scholar in developing critical
understanding over sustainable practices, stakeholders, etc. Further, the study is for academic
purpose and therefore will help in boosting knowledge over different organizational polices,
corporate strategy and ethics. Thus, exploring research topic with the help of determined
objectives and questions will help in gaining insights over different strategical issues and
stakeholders requirements. The impact of Corporate social responsibility is might be positive and
negative on the working performance of the company. The present study will be showing the
impact of CSR on consumer behavior. That helps to identify the involvement of CSR in within
the organization level.
Literature Review
According to the view of Schwartz, (2017), an enterprise has some responsibilities
towards group of people those who are directly as well as significantly affected by business
2

operations. As per the opinion of Grayson and Hodges, (2017), Corporate social activity has
great effect on the relationship between company and its stakeholders such as employees,
communities, clients etc. The author also states that ethical as well as purpose of fulfilling
corporate social responsibility by company is to increase the moral of stakeholders and assist
them in improving their living standards. As per the view of Claire, (2017), Corporate social
responsibility can be considered to be as an organization response to the concerns of stakeholders
related to operation of business. According to the stakeholder theory, an organization can
achieve success and maintain sustainability through effective management and also by fulfilling
the demands or needs of internal as well as external stakeholders. As per the view of Flammer,
and Luo, (2017), business entity by fulfilling the corporate social responsibility can deliver high
value to stakeholders. The author also states that by adequate governance and fulfilling the
corporate social responsibility, an organization can meet the expectation of its stakeholders
which is very much crucial for business growth. According to the perspective of Newman and
Brucks, (2018), by executing the ethical business practices company can easily influence
customers to buy products or services and can gain their loyalty. As per the view of Visser and
Tolhurst, (2017), company through corporate-governance can attract investors and easily
encourage them to make investment in business.
CSR is the most significant factor in order to improve the company brand and make
company popular in the market. SCR helps to make the company perspective more effective
towards the company. CSR also significant in terms of engaging customers, retaining top talent,
helping companies stand out from the competition as well.
Consumer get influenced by the demand of the company, weather company sells
productive product or services or not. From these factors customer get influenced by CSR.
Research Methodology
The different methods will be utilized by researcher in present investigation. Few
techniques, methods that will be utilized by scholar in present study includes :
Research type: The selection of the research type is based on the nature of the topic. In present
study, investigator will conduct qualitative research.
Research approach : Choice of research is completely based on the nature of problem found
during the investigation procedure. There are basically two types of research approaches these
are inductive and deductive (Alase, 2017.). In present study, scholar will use deductive research
3

approach. The reason for selecting the deductive research approach is that it will help researcher
in reaching to specific conclusions.
Research philosophy : Interpretative and positivism are two research philosophy. In present
investigation, researcher will utilize Interpretative research philosophy (Stubkjaer, 2017). The
reason for selecting interventionism research philosophy is that it will help investigator in
conducting in depth study.
Sampling: It involves selecting the few participants from the wide population. Among the
different techniques of sampling in present study researcher will select 20 employees working in
Tesco randomly (Xu, He, Ai and Qiu, 2017).
Data collection : In present study, scholar will use both primary and secondary method of data
collection. Interview and questionnaire will be used as technique for collection of primary
information. The secondary information will be gathered using books, journals, magazines etc.
Data analysis : Both qualitative and quantitative technique will be used for data analysis.
Thematic analysis will be used in present study (Habersang and Reihlen, 2018). Graph, chart
will be utilized for presenting the data in systematic manner.
4

Gantt Chart
LITERATURE REVIEW
5

To determine CSR activities as corporate strategy and governance for Tesco
As per (Frederick, 2016) Corporate government aims to hold balance between both social
and economic goals of Tesco and it achieves balance between communal and individual goals as
well. The framework of the corporate governance encourages the use of efficient resources as
well as it equally requires accountability for these resources' stewardship. Along with CSR,
Tesco's corporate governance implements and enhance the company's sustainability. It ensures
that the organisation is running responsibly from ensuring its transparency, accountability and
compliance regarding its key stakeholders. It is a set of institutional, legal and cultural
arrangements which determines what Tesco can do, Corporate governance helps Tesco in its
profit maximisation and provides shareholder protection which have provided the company its
capital. Tesco manages to earn quality in its products and overall services with the help of CSR
activities. The company deals with its management and overall provided services efficiently with
the help of CSR. Along with different sets of value added services are determined by the help of
Corporate Social Responsibility. Such as to ensure that the organisation is moving along with the
required measures without causing environmental challenges. Along with it, the company tends
to ensure smooth functioning of its overall operations with the help of CSR.
As per Flammer and Luo, (2017) The corporate social responsibility is a key element in
Tesco's business strategies and its governance model as well. The goal of Tesco is to ensure
CSR's higher integration used in it business operations along with a more systematic approach in
its management practices. The organisation tends to provide top priority to opinion exchange and
in regular communication with its group of Stakeholders. This helps Tesco to improve its
understanding in issues which are defined as key priority areas of Corporate Social
Responsibility. Along with it, it helps the organisation in understanding the provided solution
efficiency and effectiveness. The key roles of Corporate Social responsibility in corporate
strategy of Tesco includes ensuring the safety and health of all employees. It also safeguards
human right and strengthen the overall organisation's transparency. Along with it, it adapts to the
climate change and environment protection with supporting the local communities. To improve
labour practices it constantly takes care of the organisational structure with upholding the ethical
market practices. The all practices help Tesco to ensure a better management and safe
organisation structure. Corporate Social Responsibility tends to make the organisation
functioning smooth so that it can move towards better markets and grow its business and move
6