Business and Society: Corporate Sustainability and Public Relations

This essay delves into the evolving concept of corporate sustainability, examining its core pillars: corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, stakeholder theory, and accountability. It contrasts this with public relations, exploring how companies communicate with the media and public. The essay analyzes whether corporate sustainability is more substantial than public relations, considering factors like government and media scrutiny, the interrelationship between business and society, and the role of communication. It highlights that corporate sustainability goes beyond public relations, emphasizing the need for companies to address social issues and create a corporate social agenda. The essay also references the importance of public relations practitioners developing research and evaluation skills. The analysis concludes that corporate sustainability, particularly through shared value creation, is more impactful than public relations, ultimately uniting the goals of companies and government.

Running head: BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Business and Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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Is Corporate Sustainability More Public Relations Than Real?
Corporate Sustainability is an evolving concept that managers uses as an alternative
method for the growth and development of the business (Pompper, 2015). Corporate social
responsibility, sustainable development, stakeholder theory and accountability act as the four
pillars of Corporate Sustainability. It focuses on the sustainability of the company and
recognizes the growth (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014). On the other hand, public
relations are a method of how companies, organizations and individuals communicate with
the media and public. A Public Relations specialist is usually required for managing the
process of communication in organizations (Austin & Pinkleton, 2015). A Public Relation
specialist uses different tools and methods to increase the publicity of the activities or
products of a certain company. Individuals related to public relations work for a company
that manages customer relations or the relationship between the employees and managers of
different branch offices (Luo & Du, 2015). However, whether corporate sustainability is
more real than public relations has been discussed below.
Governments, media and activists have adapted at holding the companies to account
for the social consequences of their activities. Companies and organizations are judged and
ranked based on the performance of their corporate social responsibility. Business and society
have an interrelationship (Tai & Chuang, 2014). This is because successful corporations need
a healthy society. Strong regulatory standards protect both the consumers and the companies
from exploitation. Similarly, a healthy society also needs successful companies. There is a
mutual connection and dependence between the corporations and the society (Goleman,
2017). This implies that both the business decisions and social policies follow the basic
principle of shared value. Whereas, public relation tries to maintain a smooth communication
between the public and the organization. Communication plays a vital role in public relations.
Therefore, plenty of problems or trouble arises when there is lack of communication in the

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organization (Parsons, 2016). If the receiver misinterprets the information then it creates
confusion in the organization. However, the role of public relations is not as real as corporate
sustainability.
A corporation’s impact on the society alters over time since the social standards
evolves and science progresses. Every company should sort out social issues and rank them
in categories of potential impact. Creating a corporate social agenda is necessary as it looks
beyond the opportunities and expectations of the community. According to L’Etang, public
relations practitioners generally manage corporate sustainability. Therefore, corporate social
responsibility is a part of the public relations (Herrera, 2015). This is the reason why public
relations specialists have always engaged with the corporate sustainability. Public relations
specialists are regarded as experts for spreading and popularizing the information. Therefore,
if the information is popularized more then it the society will function more smoothly. It has
been argued that public relations professionals have a chief role to play in the marketplace of
ideas(Austin & Pinkleton, 2015). The specialists of public relations use plenty of techniques
and tools for boosting the public image of the clients. Public relations practice has a positive
effect and contribution in the society compared to what corporate sustainability has.
Therefore, the role of public relations is more real than corporate sustainability (Pompper,
2015).
It has been argued that the public relations practitioners needs to develop the research
and evaluation skills. This is because it is essential in relation to the corporate sustainability
initiatives in communities. These skills will ensure the individuals as to how the company’s
corporate social responsibility policies and practices have benefitted the corporations as well
as the stakeholders in a transparent way (Luo & Du, 2015). Many companies have worked on
the four pillars of corporate sustainability and improved the environmental and social
consequences of the company’s activities. Corporate social responsibility has the license to

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operate and reputation. The concept of corporate sustainability protects the companies and
organizations (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014). The CSR reports are to convince the
stakeholders showing that their views have been taken into account at the level of corporate
governance. On the other hand, the role of public relations specialist is to help the company
or the organization is to form and maintain a proper reputation among both the customers and
the media by communicating on their behalf. Many a times, the public relations specialists
fails to do their job that leads to a loss and bad image in the company. Public relation is
different from advertising though (Herrera, 2015). At time the effect is a negative one on the
public which is harmful for the organization.
Corporations create shared value as business strategy. The strategy focuses on the role
of business in society (Pompper, 2015). There are evolving approaches that a company goes
through. Shared value deals with the integrating societal issues and challenges for creating
economic value. It is the duty of the corporation to reconceive the needs, customers and
products. The concept of shared value creates new ways of thinking about the business, social
dimension and strategic positioning of the companies (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014).
The Corporate sustainability aims at the social impact that unites the goals of companies and
government. Investors play a major role in creating shared value. Starting from maximizing
shareholder value to being socially responsible for investing and to impact investing to
increase the shared value investing process. Whereas, public relations has nothing to do with
the creating shared value. Public relations are generally earned media. It is formed for the
publicity of an organization (Austin & Pinkleton, 2015). A public relations specialist only
focuses on the communication skills. However, the public relations practitioners can use CSR
as another element in forming a positive opinion towards the institution (Goleman, 2017).
The organizational group is solely responsible for networking with stakeholder’s public
relations practitioners is best to meet the needs of the stakeholders. It is the strategic process

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of communication that builds mutually beneficial relationships between the public and the
organization. Therefore, corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility is more
real than public relations.

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References:
Eccles, R. G., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2014). The impact of corporate sustainability on
organizational processes and performance. Management Science, 60(11), 2835-2857.
Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton, B. E. (2015). Strategic public relations management: Planning
and managing effective communication campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.
Parsons, P. J. (2016). Ethics in public relations: A guide to best practice. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Herrera, M. E. B. (2015). Creating competitive advantage by institutionalizing corporate
social innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(7), 1468-1474.
Luo, X., & Du, S. (2015). Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility
and firm innovation. Marketing Letters, 26(4), 703-714.
Pompper, D. (2015). Corporate social responsibility, sustainability and public relations:
Negotiating multiple complex challenges. Routledge.
Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics).
Harvard Business Press.