Essence of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social
Responsibility

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Essence of Corporate social responsibility..............................................................................1
2. Benefits of conducting corporate social responsibilities.........................................................2
3. Impact of triple bottom line on CSR programs........................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
1. Ethical issues in respect to the case study................................................................................4
2. Application of CSR principles.................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Corporate social responsibilities is the strategy of business organisation to create a good
image in the market and expand their business in different countries to get the various benefits.
The aim of company which conducting CSR activities is to focus on the different areas such as
social, economic and environmental factors. The report is conducting in two part. In 1st part it
explain the role and benefits of CSR activities to the company. It explain that how triple bottom
line program support the CSR activities and help to protect the interest of company and its
customer. The second part of the report is based on case study it explains the various ethical
issues in the workplace and how the CSR principles are applied to the case for resolving the
ethical issues.
PART 1
1. Essence of Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility : It is self-regulating model which help the business
organization to improve their image by corporate social responsibilities activities. It refers the
aim of the company is not only to earn the profit but also do the social activities for the welfare
of society. The engagement of company in CSR activity reflect that they operate their business in
such a way which help the society (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019). CSR activities are the
basis strategy of business organization to expand their business with the social activities like
blood donation camp, free medical check ups, plantation etc. It helps the company to gain the
long term profit for their organization by attracting the customer and stakeholders to develop a
positive attitude.
Different organization do the CSR activities such as Apple, IBM, Toms shoes, 3M,
Deloitte, Cisco systems etc. to enhance their performance in the external environment. In last
decade CSR activities are voluntary activity of the organization but now it becomes the
compulsory decision (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo, 2017).
CSR activity as emerging strategy
In today era CSR activity become an emerging strategy because they provide the various
benefits to the company. The aim of CSR activities to focus on social, economical and
environmental factors. In social activity they focus on poverty, help the victims of natural
disaster, AIDS and different diseases to show their concern on the social issues so the customer
are more aware about the interconnected world (Das and Rangarajan, 2017). In environmental
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activities they focus on the treatment of waste product, sustainable product, reduces the usage of
energy and support the green environment. And in economic activities their aim is to provide the
employment and various facilities to the workers, so they can improve their life style. By
focusing in the different area it helps the business organization to get various benefits like
increasing market value, share price, brand loyalty, customer loyalty and generate positive image
of company (Marano, Tashman and Kostova, 2017). That's why in today business environment
CSR activities become an emerging strategy.
CSR activities of Apple
In 2011 Apple start to focus on CSR activities by launching the global volunteer program
in which employees can volunteer participate in the local communities. In 2018, they donate
$125 million to the different organization and $1 million for the victims of Hurricane Maria. In
the CSR activities Apple also help in educating and empowering the workers. It helps the
company to attract more customer toward their product and services and motivate the employees
to do more productive work with their full potential. This program help Apple to enhance its
market image and gain the grater market share by creating positive image in the mind of
customer and stakeholders.
2. Benefits of conducting corporate social responsibilities
Conducting CSR activities in the organization provide the various benefits like increasing the
share price, attracting customer and employees, positive business reputation, better financial
performance, Organizational growth etc.
Enhance client relation
CSR activity help the company to improve the reputation in the market by addressing
various environmental and social issues which helps to capture the attention of customer
(Epstein, 2018). CSR activities also provide the various information about the company and its
performance to their clients which help to build a strong relation with the customer and
understand their needs and demand. It ultimately helps to increase the customer loyalty and
profit of the company.
Engage employees
The CSR activities is used to provide an opportunity to the different businesses to
improve the community by their performance and care. In CSR activity business organization
perform the various task like provide donation, charity, help the victims, educating and
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empowering employees, ethical labour practising, volunteering employees etc. For example : in
CSR activities Apple conduct volunteer program in which employee participate volunteer to
provide their services and help the local communities to aware them about different disease and
social practices (Brammer, He and Mellahi, 2015). It helps the company to make positive impact
on the community and attract them towards the product and services.
Public attention
CSR activities position the organization as role model in community and local customer.
Most of the customer are influenced with the social activities and purchase the product of the
company which are involves in social activities. CSR activities provide various benefits to the
company like they create positive public attention (Claire, 2017).
Cause related marketing (CRM)
It refers to the combination of corporate and non-profit designed to promote and increase
the sales of the company and help the society. It refers to the type of corporate social
responsibility in which the aim of the company is to get the dual benefit. The promotional
campaign help the company to increase the profit and also focus on the social responsibilities.
The CRM becomes a powerful tool for the company and help them get the appreciation from
their customer (What is cause-related marketing?, 2018). Because it helps the company to attract
more and more customer by fulling their demand and also work for the society. For example :
America wants to raise the money for statue of liberty. So the American express decide to donate
1 cent each time when someone used the charge card of American express. It helps them to raise
the $1.7 million for statue and also increases the usage of express card by 27%.
3. Impact of triple bottom line on CSR programs
Triple bottom line is a new concept in corporate world in which they encourage the
company to focus on 3 p's such as people, planet and profit. The aim of company by focusing on
people are to provide the best services, working environment and wages to the employees, so
they can live better livelihood. In planet element they focus on the reducing the carbon footprints
from the environment, increasing the usage of renewable energy, manage the waste in the
company etc. and in profit element they want to increase the profit by recycling the waste in the
company (Schulz and Flanigan, 2016).
The triple bottom line support the CSR program by focusing on the three element such as
people, profit and planet. This element indirectly support the CSR such as by focusing on planet
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element they show their concern on the environment issues such as waste management, carbon
emission, energy consumption etc. It also helps to protect the interest of different stakeholders
such as customer, clients, employees, creditors, shareholders and suppliers. The people element
of Triple bottom line structure help the CSR program to work for the benefits and welfare of
societies.
Triple bottom line also protect the interest of many people such as their customer, clients,
employees, shareholders etc. For example by focusing on the carbon emission issue they can
reduce the carbon footprints in the organization which helps to provide the safe environment to
their employees and customer (Chan and Saad, 2019). It also helps to attract the customer toward
the company by their social activities. Apple work for the victims of earth quake which help the
company to get the emotional attachment from the society and increase the market value.
It also helps to protect the interest of stakeholders by recycling the waste which
ultimately increases the profit of the organization and help them to get more investment from the
shareholders by developing their interest in the organization. For example : Coca cola company
reuse their glass bottle by collecting them from the customer which help them to reduces the
expenses and earning higher profit by their social activities. There are many companies which
reuse or recycle the waste to improve the environment sustainability (Hossain, Bashar and Noor,
2017). For example Arora fibres comes with a new concept of preparing fabric from the plastic.
It helps to reduce the concern of government and social entity regarding the waste management.
In this sense triple bottom line concept protect the interest of society, customer, client etc.
PART 2
1. Ethical issues in respect to the case study
Introduction
The report is based on the specific behaviors that involve ethical issues in the XYZ
company and the way John misused its power and took advantage of the people who are working
under his guidance. Report also includes the way this behavior impact employees efficiency to
work.
Following are the specific behaviors that involve ethical issues:-
 Misusing company property:- As a manager of XYZ company John Smith is not
working ethically due to which company is facing ethical issues in the organization
(Baird, Fitzgerald and Kieselstein, 2016). From the above study it is been seen that John
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is given more freedom as a manager than employees. XYZ company is giving authority
to employees that they can use Company credit card in case any potential customer is
being taken for lunch or dinner or in case payment for petrol is required if employee is
away from city and is on duty. Employees can use these cards for making payments at
hotel or booking flights etc. But John is taking advantage of all these facilities as he used
that card for fulfilling his own personal needs that is unethical in an organization.
 Lying to department and employees:- John also lied to HR department that he is sick
and enjoyed with his new friends during contractor trade show in a country. This is
unethical behaviour that John is continuing in the organization. John is also partial in
nature and do not allow Omar to take leave as he was sick (Kumar and Steinmann, 2015).
These all activities show that organization is not taking any strict action against such
people and this may also affect employees behaviour as they will have negative
perception about the management.
 Abusive behaviour:-During the meeting also John demotivated his employees and not
excepted Mansoor's idea though it was very appropriate. Not only this, John also
threatened Mansoor to sale 500 gold-colored doors knobs else he will be fired from the
company and will be loosing his job. This behaviour of John as a manager is making
employees unsatisfied with their jobs, and they may leave the organization. John's
behaviour as a manager was very inappropriate and this may result to different unethical
practices in the company.
 Violating companies policies:- Using internet or phones for your personal purposes is
not being allowed in the company but then also John spends 2 hours in just surfing the
net as he was searching gift for his new friends. Not only this he uses the office phone to
make calls. All these activities highlights that as a manager he was not playing his role in
effective manner and this was leading to unethical activities in the organization (Scullion,
2017).
 Unfairly using other ideas in own name:- From the study it is been seen that John takes
ideas of Omar and forward the report to Regional sales manager. This is very unethical as
giving own name for others innovative idea is very wrong practice as employees will feel
bad, and they will fear to share new ideas to seniors.
Conclusion
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All the above points clearly reflect that John is having unethical behaviour and this is not
ethical for a workplace. Organization have to work on these aspects else company will be going
in wrong direction and will not be able to achieve its objective and employees will be dissatisfied
and may not retain for long period.
2. Application of CSR principles
INTRODUCTION
The second section of case study highlights the CSR principles that how they are applied
in the case of John's Boss in which he does unethical practices and take the advantage of his
power against the other employees. It provides the different examples to resolve the illegal
practices of John's Boss by applying the CSR principles.
MAIN BODY
Way to apply CSR principles
Jon's Boss unethically use the company card for its own purpose which increases the
expenses of the company and reduces their profit. He also uses the works of his employees and
present it by using its own name. This kind of practices affect the employees morale and feelings
which ultimately reduces their participation in the organization. The CSR principle of respecting
the tights and feeling of employees help them to take the legal action against John's Boss and
enjoy their own work with high recognition (Salvioni, Gennari and Bosetti, 2016).
John' Boss also demotivate the employees by thinking that the ideas and thoughts of
employees are inappropriate, and they are not capable to participate the company decision-
making process. It reduces the motivation of employee and force them resist to participate in
group discussion. The CSR principles help the employees by creating the safe and secure
environment & feel them valuable by sharing their thoughts to the team member (Guiding
Principles for Corporate Social Responsibility. 2014.). It also helps them to enhance the
corporate value and build mutual confidence by talking action against the John's Boss for using
his power unethically and take the advantage of his emGolob, U. and Podnar, K., 2019.
Researching CSR and brands in the here and now: an integrative perspective.ployees.
John's Boss threatened the other employees to sell the 500 gold coloured door knobs at
the end of the month otherwise he fires the employee. This kind of practice not only create
conflict in company but also reflect wrong image in the market because employee start to get bad
feedback and review about the company' s manager. To resolve this issues CSR principles help
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the employees in protecting their rights and also help the company to rebuild the company image
by the CSR activities. The unethical practices of John' Boss create hostile environment in which
employee feel stressed and burdened and refuses to take and initiative because their work never
be recognized by the manager (Golob and Podnar, 2019). The CSR principle of creating non
Hostile or friendly environment for the employees and customer help them to work with the
efficiency and effectiveness. It also helps them to enjoy their work and feel stress free.
CONCLUSION
From the above case it can be concluded that the CSR principles help the employees of
John's Boss by protecting their rights and creating a safe and secure environment. CSR principles
also help to create non hostile working environment so the employees can freely work in the
company without any stress and tension. It helps them to gain the mental peace and work with
the more efficiency and effectiveness.
CONCLUSION
The report summarizes that the different corporate social responsibilities of the company
to enhance the market image by focusing on social, environmental and economic factors. It can
be concluded from the study that the different CSR activities provide various benefits like
improving market image, attracting customer, increasing share price, enhancing brand value etc.
the triple bottom line support the CSR activity by work for the social benefits and welfare. From
the case study it can be concluded that the different CSR principles help the company to resolve
the ethical issues and illegal practices by the John's Boss.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baird, D., Fitzgerald, H.J. and Kieselstein, M., 2016. Conflicts of Interest & Other Ethical
Issues. DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal. 1(4). p.557.
Brammer, S., He, H. and Mellahi, K., 2015. Corporate social responsibility, employee
organizational identification, and creative effort: The moderating impact of corporate
ability. Group & Organization Management. 40(3). pp.323-352.
Chan, T.J. and Saad, S., 2019. Predictors of Consumers’ Purchase Intention through Triple
Bottom Line Corporate Social Responsibility Practices: A Study of the Branded Coffee
Retailing Industry. Journal of Arts & Social Sciences. 3(1). pp.47-59.
Claire, M.D., 2017. Human rights: The emerging norm of corporate social responsibility.
In Human Rights and Corporations (pp. 149-178). Routledge.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. eds., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and
cases in a global context. Routledge.
Das, M. and Rangarajan, K., 2017, July. Corporate sustainability as a business strategy in SMEs-
A literature review in the emerging market context. In Proceedings of International
Conference on Strategies in Volatile and Uncertain Environment for Emerging
Markets (pp. 505-511).
Epstein, M.J., 2018. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring
corporate social, environmental and economic impacts. Routledge.
Golob, U. and Podnar, K., 2019. Researching CSR and brands in the here and now: an
integrative perspective.
Hossain, A., Bashar, K.A. and Noor, B., 2017. The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) on National and International Corporations Prevailing in Bangladesh: A
Comparison of CSR on the Basis of Carroll’s Pyramid. Journal of Investment and
Management. 6(1). pp.6-12.
Kumar, B.N. and Steinmann, H. eds., 2015. Ethics in international management (Vol. 84).
Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Lins, K. V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2017. Social capital, trust, and firm performance: The
value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of
Finance. 72(4). pp.1785-1824.
Marano, V., Tashman, P. and Kostova, T., 2017. Escaping the iron cage: Liabilities of origin and
CSR reporting of emerging market multinational enterprises. Journal of International
Business Studies. 48(3). pp.386-408.
Salvioni, D., Gennari, F. and Bosetti, L., 2016. Sustainability and convergence: the future of
corporate governance systems?. Sustainability. 8(11). p.1203.
Schulz, S.A. and Flanigan, R.L., 2016. Developing competitive advantage using the triple bottom
line: A conceptual framework. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 31(4). pp.449-
458.
Scullion, R., 2017. Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate Communications Degrees.
The Place of CSR in Teaching Corporate Communications Programs (Advertising,
Branding and Public Relations). In Corporate Social Responsibility in the Post-Financial
Crisis Era (pp. 3-23). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Online
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What is cause-related marketing?. 2018. [Online]. Available through :
<https://grantspace.org/resources/knowledge-base/cause-related-marketing/>.
Guiding Principles for Corporate Social Responsibility. 2014. [Online]. Available through :
<https://www.oyo.co.jp/english/corporate-profile/management-philosophy-vision/csr-
activities-policy/>.
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