Corporate Social Responsibility in Kenya: A Case Study of Shirley's Fashion

This case study explores the labor issues and ethical challenges faced by Shirley's Fashion in Kenya and provides recommendations for the company to uphold its CSR policy. The article discusses the current situation in Kenya, Shirley's Fashion's code of conduct, and evaluates other sources.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT
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Contemporary Management:
Name:
Institution:

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Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Current Situation in Kenya..........................................................................................................3
Shirley’s Fashion Code of Conduct/Practice...............................................................................4
Evaluation of other Sources.............................................................................................................4
Discussion Critique......................................................................................................................4
Recommendations............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
In the contemporary world of business, the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility has
become a very essential element for any business operating in the global market. Having drawn
global awareness, the concept of CSR has become central to the strategic plans by many local
and multinational companies worldwide. Hence, companies have realized the importance of
working for the better of people around them rather than working only for profits (Schwartz,
2017, pp. 15).
At Shirley’s Fashion, we fully recognize our role in embracing social and environmental
issues in the course of carrying our daily operations. As a result of globalization, our company is
increasingly concerned with the aspect of overseas investment. Despite having our main factory
in Los Angeles, our main aim is to extend our production to foreign and developing economies
worldwide with our main target being Africa and to be specific the rapidly growing Kenyan
market. Thus, as a company there is a great need to realize our role in in contributing to the
wellbeing of the people in such developing countries like Kenya where we have our branches.
The main aim of engaging is in CSR is to ensure responsible operations while taking into
consideration the social and environmental issues which in turn will attract goodwill from the
people there will serve as our top level customers (Hadwiger, 2018, pp. 12). Notably, it is argued
that building a positive corporate reputation serves as the best way to attract people since a
company’s reputation is the reason as to why why people will buy from them (Vandekerckhove,
2016, pp. 30).
However, it has been noted that our management is less conversant with the real situation
in Kenya regarding CSR. Labor has been identified as the key element that CSR must address in

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any foreign country has Shirley’s Fashion invests in. After a clear assessment of the situation on
the ground, this report is aimed at helping the management to clear identify various ethical issues
especially on labour that must be addressed in order to build a good corporate reputation in this
particular country (Grayson & Hodges, 2017, pp. 16).
Discussion
This section will cover various issues which are in line with the main labour issues
identified during the keen assessment done in the target market. Since our company is supposed
to address such labour issues in line with our CSR policy.
Current Situation in Kenya
Being among the developing countries in Africa, the Kenyan economy is still down and the
poverty levels are high. The educational levels are also below the international standards.
However, people seeking employment are many including children below 14 years of age.
Remarkably, the country’s economy is growing at a slower rate meaning that people have less
money to spend on clothing meaning that our company ought to minimize the production costs
so as to ensure that our products are affordable. After trying to approach various companies to
inquire on who to partner with and how to keep the cost of production minimal, this is what was
found:
 Out of 5 companies, 4 companies in Kenya chose to seek use cheap child labour in order
to minimize the production cost and consequently produce cheaper and affordable cloths.
 Of the 5 companies approached, 3 of them believed that paying employees low incomes
will reduce the cost of production

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 Majority of the companies also believed that employing people with low education levels
will ensure that wages are kept low and thus reducing the costs of production.
 Investing less in employee welfare in terms of working conditions will lower the cost of
production.
From the assessment and interaction with various possible companies that we can partner with,
the following labour issues were raised:
i. Use of child labour
ii. Poor wages
iii. Poor employee welfare
iv. Employment of less qualified employees
Shirley’s Fashion Code of Conduct/Practice
According to our company’s code of conduct and CSR policy, the company is dedicated
at creating job for the people in the developing countries where we invest or partner with other
companies. However, we are against paying employees a salary of less than $3 per day. Also, it
is against the company’s policy to employ children below 14 years of age. The company also
advocates for employment of people on merits and also provide them with favorable working
conditions and other welfare services (Tai & Chuang, 2014, pp. 117). On the other hand, Kenya
has regulatory policies concerning Foreign Direct Investment. The government encourages the
foreign investors to create more job opportunities for locals but due to poverty levels, they have
failed to control wages and who are to be employed (Sanghi & Johnson, 2016, pp. 7). US
government is also moving to stop their companies to import products produced by use of child
labour. Therefore, Shirley’s Fashion management must try as much as possible to uphold their
policy and remain responsible despite the challenge to produce cloths at low cost.

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Evaluation of other Sources
The US constitution on employment encourages the companies to follow the employee
welfare policy including Health and Safety policy to ensure that employees are protected. The
Kenyans constitution is also encourages foreign companies to employ a certain percentage of
local people (Tembur et al., 2016, pp. 2). The World Labour Organization also advocates for
employees protection and other welfare services.
CRAP Test
In this section, we seek to use CRAP test to determine whether the above three sources are valid
and credible. In the CRAP Test, we major on four key areas, that is, currency, reliability,
authority and purpose of the chosen sources. The sources are the US Constitution, the Kenyans
Constitution and the World Labour Organization. Thus, CRAP Test for the three sources is done
as follows:
 Currency
The information contained in the three sources is current since the Kenyan Constitution has the
labour laws that were updated in 2014, the US Constitution has also some clauses touching on
the employee welfare and it was updated on 2013. Moreover, the WLO has it laws that
employer-employee relationship and engagements. The three sources have enough information
for this work.
 Reliability
The information here is credible, valid and reliable since it is from international recognized
bodies and organizations. The information is also in the interest of the employees. The Kenyan
and US constitutions are widely recognized since they are used to govern sovereign states. WLO

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laws are well recognized as the organization is among the leading bodies that fight for employee
rights worldwide.
 Authority
The information from the sources is basically from government and organizations and the
authority is from a unanimous decision by the leaders of both US and Kenyan government as
well as the leadership of the World Labour Organization.
 Purpose
The information contained in the three sources is a fact not opinion. These are laws are
developed by a group of parties to protect the interest and welfare of employees. The information
is not biased since it does not serve individual purposes. The information here is for the
wellbeing of all the employees worldwide.
Therefore, by doing CRAP Test, we understand that the information here is valid and reliable
and it meets all the requirements Molly Beesstrum test.
Discussion Critique
In as much as Shirley Fashions is dedicated at lowering the cost of production, it is
unethical to pay employees lowly, it is against the law to employ young children who should be
in school, it is also not ethical to ignore employee welfare and protection, also finally is it bad to
employ non-qualified employees and this might compromise the quality of products produced.
Recommendations
Shirley Fashions should consider the following:

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 Paying the adult employees high salaries that can cater for their families in order to avoid
getting children seeking for jobs due to high poverty levels.
 The company should also invest in education to encourage more children to be in school
in order to have future educated employees.
 The company should also offer training to Kenyan employees in order to ensure that they
are skilled to produce quality cloths.
 Shirley Fashions should also offer contracts to companies that are ready to offer
employee protection and welfare.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our company should not compromise the CSR policy and code of conduct
no matter the situation. Therefore, the company should follow the above recommendations when
entering into contracts with Kenyan companies in order to be socially responsible and avoid
being dragged into court cases for failing to comply in CSR regulations in foreign countries like
Kenya (Sinclair, 2017, pp. 42).

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References
Grayson, D., & Hodges, A. (2017). Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge, pp. 12-24.
Hadwiger, F. (2018). Contracting International Employee Participation: Global Framework
Agreements. Springer, pp. 1-24.
Sanghi, A., & Johnson, D. (2016). Deal or no deal: strictly business for China in Kenya?. The
World Bank, 6-8.
Schwartz, M. S. (2017). Corporate social responsibility. Routledge, pp. 10-18.
Sinclair, S. (2017). Urbanisation and labour markets in developing countries. Routledge, pp. 35-
50.
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.
Tembur, N. C., Nambiro, S. N., Mwapula, S. M., Yula, I. S., Auko, E. M., Adhiambo, L. D., &
Omido, N. L. (2016). Effect of Tax Incentives on Financial Performance of Export
Processing Zone Firms in Kenya. Research Policy, 2.
Vandekerckhove, W. (2016). Whistleblowing and organizational social responsibility: A global
assessment. Routledge, pp. 20-40.