Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in Marks and Spencer

This report discusses the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in Marks and Spencer, a UK-based clothing company. It covers topics such as sustainable business strategy, protecting the brand, gaining competitive advantage, and cooperative action for change. The report also explores the different approaches to CSR in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations.

Individual Report and
Reflection
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Table of Content
Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Part 2. Reflective report.................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
This report is divided into two parts as first part is report and second part comprises of
reflection. The first part covers corporate social responsibility and several business practices that
ensure sustainability (Cosenz, Rodrigues and Rosati, 2020). CSR is a positive approach that
tends to attract potential candidate and provide a social way to understand the needs of society as
it provides declaration for respect of human rights. Every company maintain integrity and
honesty that provide a framework of diversity in a workplace as there is no discrimination on the
basis of colour, religion, race and origin. This report is based on Marks and Spencer which is
situated in UK as it deals with several products such as clothing, accessories and other
fashionable essentials. The second part consist of reflection which is based on academic skills
and experience of learners.
MAIN BODY
Sustainable business strategy is understood as the combination of economic and
environmental aspect. The manager also emphasise on the main motive is to make firm’s goals
and planning that create a greater value to a society especially to its stakeholders. The manager
would formulation a strategy and takes an immediate action which ensure that the needs and
requirements of stakeholders are met which create a bright future and help in making best use of
natural resources (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019). This create a positive impact on a business
as it helps in addressing several problems such as change in weather and climate, inequal
distribution of income and so on. To ensure that business exist for a longer time, it is necessary
that business must possess good financial success so that they could focus more on expansion
and diversification in different parts of country. There are various reasons that sustainability is
necessary so as to ensure long term financial success are presented as follows:
Protect you brand: If there is damage in an organisation due to occurrence of any
incidents would hamper the growth of a firm and result in decline in reputation. The company
must use sustainable energy so as to promote the interest of workers and also it provides several
precaution measures so as to make assurance of safety measures and thus create a peaceful
environment in a workplace.
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To gain competitive advancement: The company would implement a proper recruitment
and selection strategy so as to measure long term success. In relation to this, the human resource
manager would emphasise on hiring and attracting the talented workforce and provide several
financial and non-financial incentives such as bonus and appreciating and recognising their
efforts in order to maximise the job satisfaction level and enhance the greater productivity over a
marketplace.
Cooperative action could facilitate change: Many powerful and innovative company
drive for change so that they could ensure excellent merchandise or services among their clients.
The firm could focus on certain environmental protection measures so that they could generate a
positive reputation across the globe. Moreover, the firm could bring radical improvements so that
they could drive measures for success and help in achieving sustainability.
Therefore, it has been analysed that sustainability is a crucial element for an
organisation’s success and mitigate risk so that it could gain rivalry edge in a marketplace. A
business practice would assist the business to attain their goal in a respective time period which
ensure greater transparency and accountability and brings efficiency and effectiveness in a
business entity (DesJardins, 2016). The companies emphasise on attracting stakeholders such as
investors, board of directors and many more by meeting their criteria and emphasise their
investors to invest more so that they could generate greater return on investments which
improves the overall profitability ratio. To attain sustainability is challenging for top leading
companies so that they could weigh social and environmental issues that create a goodwill for a
company. By looking this awareness, company has developed several corporate social
responsibility programmes which ensure the development of business and provide a mainstream
and direction to them to complete their targets.
Developing sustainable strategy would open doors of business and provide an
opportunity to internal and external stakeholders that provide essential success to business
enterprise. Certain ethics, norms, beliefs and values are reflected in sustainability which help the
firm to bring proper coordination. As there is conservation towards an environmental aspect, so
the firm would focus on measuring going green by minimising the consumption of energy and
recycling waste and reducing cost as such principles would help the company to gain maximum
exposure across the worldwide (Hopkins, 2016). Nowadays, many stakeholders emphasise on
looking sustainability as they lower their emissions and focus on adopting the use of strategy of
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3R’s such as reduce, recycle and reuse which provide protection towards environmental aspects
and aids in creating new strategic plan as it provide assistance to companies to move to step
ahead of its competitors by using a strategy like promoting new innovations and tactics by
finding a more effective way of developing and creating goods or services in such a manner that
win the hearts of customers. This force would measure the success by attracting new and talented
employees, shareholders and customers which improve the image of company and help them in
facing several challenges through sustainable principle and methods in a corporate world.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the commitment by corporation to behave
ethically while contributing towards economic development and improving the living standard of
employees and their families as well as of society as a whole. They emphasise on devising
several corporate strategies and creating and building business in the interest of society by
boosting their productivity level (Kang, Germann and Grewal, 2016). This is a broader term that
involve multi-dimensional concepts such as economic, social and several environmental
concepts which create diversity and uniqueness in a marketplace as this is considered as an
obligation for the business enterprise. Varied legal and moral obligations of a company would
help in meeting the requirements of a society through CSR and amendments of laws and
legislation would conduce smooth flow of activities. Investors have changed their mind as they
take decision on the basis of ethical concerns that provide better environment to business and
help in creating balance between responsibility and authority.
CSR would assist the company to maximise the sale operations by gaining huge access of
capital and allow it to enjoy greater economy of scale. In today’s modern era, there are several
practices like dumping of waste and other greenhouse gas is a great matter of concern that give
rise to global warming and thus affect the business in an adverse manner. This increase in
pollution both directly and indirectly affect the business which affect on overall operational
performance. Other aspects such as release of toxic substance and other harmful chemical and
clogging of drains would create a negative influence on ecological system. It is necessary to
follow up with implementation of policies and procedures in a systematic manner and abide all
rules and regulations which create a significant positioning of a company at different locations of
country.
Marks and Spencer are one of the reputed brands in clothing industry as it has created
partnership with voluntary organisation such as Oxfam as 30 million garments are being recycled
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and raise the standard of people by raising 21 million with the aim of eradicating poverty. The
concerned firm use 100% cotton in fabrics and avoid the use of plastics and products which are
made of animal skin so as to gain sustainability in a long run. They also provide several safety
measures and protection by proving safety equipment and other measures to them which
generate the interest of workers and thus render a positive atmosphere in a workplace and this
make them satisfied and develop a valuable image (Lüdeke-Freund and Dembek, 2017). The
firm emphasise on producing high quality products which create a long lasting impression that
allow the company to use recycled fabrics such as nylon, polyesters and cotton that create a
positive awareness of a company and also they create a new recycle programme which is famed
as Greenpeace Detox Catwalk and also they set a deadline of removing hazardous chemical from
their manufacturing unit 2020 by making judicious utilisation of resources which help in
providing concern towards sustainable development. They take several initiatives to conserve
water and set specific targets such as they would use planet friendly alternatives by removing the
tons of plastic.
The researchers has given Marks and Spencer as good rating towards environment
aspects which provide a better future and ensure a great path of success and help it to achieve a
strong edge by beating its competitors like John Lewis, Next and so on. They also create a strong
distribution of network with its suppliers by acquiring premium and standard quality of products
which enhance the satisfaction level of customers which in turn raises the level of productivity.
They also take a step of not using product which is made of animal skin and create a room for
improvement by providing the welfare to animal. Marks and Spencer provide greater value
proposition to their customers by emphasise more on innovativeness and build trust which
develop the interest of community. In the context of Marks and Spencer, the several stages of
corporate social responsibility are presented as follows:
Window dressing: The top management of Marks and Spencer would emphasise on using
plan A so it depict a true and fair picture and provide a hierarchy in organisation structure as it
allow a proper financial analysis which improve the overall efficiency and help in managing the
business in systematic manner (Melissen and Moratis, 2017). They provide quality specification
to generate greater value from their clients which maximise the overall profitability.
Cost containment: This is one of the significant aspects which emphasise on creating and
making environment friendly stores and minimise the cost by way of outsourcing the work which
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produces desired level of output. Also, it emphasises on minimising transportation cost by
distributing the product or services in a most efficient manner.
Engagement of stakeholder: The senior executive of respective firm performs several
activities by keeping the engagement of shareholders as it has to deal with them in a different
manner and provide an effective solution to them which create a positive atmosphere in a
workplace.
Sustainability: Marks and Spencer use renewable source of energy which greatly
emphasise on reducing the consumption level of energy and waste and is committed to use
carbon neutrals in their aspects (Schaltegger and Wagner, 2017). Also, it uses smart lighting
system in their workplace which saves electricity and thus provide a better working environment.
Transparency: The manager of concerned firm ensures proper transparency by taking
several factors into consideration such as working hours, child labour and proper working
condition to their colleagues. They use several laws such as health and safety laws, employment
and other laws so as to render a protection towards their workers.
It has been analysed that Marks and Spencer is constantly focussing towards CSR that
provide a shortfall in use of energy and emphasise on more use paper bags. Various other
initiatives are taken by the firm such as best packaging, judicious utilisation of resources, better
transportation facilities would help the firm in minimising the use of carbon footprint and thus
provide greater sustainability in a long run.
Corporate Social Responsibility is most essential for small and medium sized enterprises
as it mainly focus on investing on resources judiciously that generate desired result. In case of
small and medium enterprises, it is difficult for them to achieve greater economy of scale in
adaption of innovative technology which possess a negative impact on the firm. The different
approaches of CSR in relation to SMEs and corporate business are given beneath:
There are different approaches of CSR such as legal, economic, philanthropy and ethical
as each are distinct from each other. An economic component involves the obligations that are
performed in such a manner that maximise its earning per share and improve the efficiency. The
legal responsibility tends to abide all rules and regulation which ensure fairness in a corporation
while the ethical stage consist of certain normative principles that provide greatest benefit to
stakeholders. The philanthropic approach involves being a good corporate citizen such that
business enterprise gives back to their community. Philanthropic is a most crucial function of a
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business as it aids in meeting the expectations of a society and generate goodwill The core aspect
of CSR is to manage ethical responsibilities by creating a balance between economic, ethical and
social issues as small and medium enterprises operates with very limited resources and have
limited vision and mission for achievement of organisational goals.
Small enterprises mainly emphasise on economic imperatives instead of social goals as
they have limited financial resources and less share of market. corporate social responsibility
would create problem for SMEs rather than multi national corporations due to the reason that it is
a tool for reducing the competitive pressure and help in ensuring sustainable development. The
majority of SMEs would cater to local market by taking up responsibilities in a different manner
which make it more effective and innovative (Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund and Hansen, 2016).
The economic responsibility of business enterprise tends to be fulfilled as they utilise resources
in a most efficient manner while the ethical approach hold faith so that proper code of conduct to
be followed in a corporation as it provides a positive environment which aids in fulfilling social
responsibilities. The role of CSR is to provide welfare and help in systematic implementation of
business in a fair manner and in case of large corporations it provides a greater variance.
There is a big difference of the approaches of corporate social responsibility in case of
both small and medium enterprises and large companies. The MNCs would consider stakeholder
approach as most convenient as they possess huge funds while SMEs would consider social
capital as most appropriate stage as it helps in implementation of proper planning as it provide a
better environment and mitigating challenges which provide a better aspect of future (Yakovleva,
2017). This ensure that large business would tends to sell goods or services of different varieties
and make greater investment on resources while small enterprises have fewer resources and
funds which possess a more challenge for them.
CONCLUSION
From the above information, it can be summarised that ensuring sustainability and
several business practice would help a firm to achieve competitive advancement and provide a
way to gain maximum exposure within a marketplace. It has been depicted that CSR provide an
enormous opportunity to a business to grow as it is necessary to create an environmental
awareness which provide a framework to make proper decision that proves to be beneficial in
future. It is essential to implement proper strategies of CSR by engaging stakeholders as they
tend to provide effective solution among their clients which create goodwill across the globe.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cosenz, F., Rodrigues, V.P. and Rosati, F., 2020. Dynamic business modeling for sustainability:
Exploring a system dynamics perspective to develop sustainable business models. Business
Strategy and the Environment. 29(2). pp.651-664.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. eds., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and
cases in a global context. Routledge.
DesJardins, J., 2016. Is it time to jump off the sustainability bandwagon?. Business Ethics
Quarterly. 26(1). pp.117-135.
Hopkins, M., 2016. The planetary bargain: corporate social responsibility comes of age. Springer.
Kang, C., Germann, F. and Grewal, R., 2016. Washing away your sins? Corporate social
responsibility, corporate social irresponsibility, and firm performance. Journal of
Marketing. 80(2). pp.59-79.
Lüdeke-Freund, F. and Dembek, K., 2017. Sustainable business model research and practice:
Emerging field or passing fancy?. Journal of Cleaner Production. 168. pp.1668-1678.
Melissen, F. and Moratis, L., 2017. Developing fourth generation sustainability-oriented business
models: Towards naive, native, and narrative intelligence. In Corporate Social Responsibility
in Times of Crisis (pp. 59-75). Springer, Cham.
Schaltegger, S. and Wagner, M. eds., 2017. Managing the business case for sustainability: The
integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Routledge.
Schaltegger, S., Lüdeke-Freund, F. and Hansen, E.G., 2016. Business models for sustainability: A
co-evolutionary analysis of sustainable entrepreneurship, innovation, and
transformation. Organization & Environment. 29(3). pp.264-289.
Wang, Z. and Sarkis, J., 2017. Corporate social responsibility governance, outcomes, and financial
performance. Journal of Cleaner Production. 162. pp.1607-1616.
Yakovleva, N., 2017. Corporate social responsibility in the mining industries. Routledge.
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Part 2. Reflective report
I have learned several skills in the week 6 that provide a great learning experience as it
aids in taking best decision and improving the efficiency and effectiveness in a workplace. It is
necessary to have great communications skills so as to avoid misunderstanding and confusion in
a business entity. In addition to this, using an appropriate body language such as correct gestures,
smiling face, good posture and maintaining eye contact would create a lasting impression and
create a good image within a firm. I have improved my writing and speaking skills which help in
achieving great height of success in a career. As I am interactive in nature so I develop necessary
strong networks with colleagues and try to gathered as much information from them which
enhance my knowledge level. I have also acquired training and development programmes so as
to be capable of handling sophisticated machines which develop confidence and positive attitude
in me. This enhance a greater level of skills and provide a turning point in my career as I was
able to work with greater potential and efficiency which ensure accomplishment of task in a
proper period of time. Additionally, constant learning and personality development would
nurture my career and ensure a greater level of success and help in making fruitful decision that
enhance more productivity as improvement in communication skills has acknowledged a great
practice which help in improving the overall operations of mine.
I realised that a best way to improve my skills is to focus on feedback that is provided by
supervisor or mentor so that further improvement could be made and also I remain calm and
patient and develop an ability to cope up with pressure through an enriching experience and
provide great future aspects. Learning is an ongoing process as it helps me to face to gain an
insight of knowledge and it is possible by getting out from comfort zone and provide an ability to
handle complicated issues as it ensures smooth flow of activities in a workplace. I also observe
colleagues as hoe they take activate participate in decision making promote new and innovative
ideas which ensure more sustainability of success in a long run. Also, I am so curious that I tends
to ask several questions from the other subordinates as it provide an opportunity to develop
confidence and positive attitude among them. I observe that how colleagues present their
thoughts and take immediate action by communicating smartly which boost their career and
provide an ability to make proper judgements which shape a bright future and enhance greater
success. This assist me to think creatively by focussing on empathetic skills that provide a
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greater scope in my career and develop self-awareness to improve my skills. Active listening is
one of the essential ingredients which create a healthy environment in a corporate world and
provide an ability to grow which depict a true and fair picture of a success.
According to Belbin team role, a team is a group of individuals who formed together for
attaining common purpose as it helps in facilitating changes over a time period. I discover that
several traits such as enthusiastic, cooperativeness, maturity and to be courageous and render a
best alternative of any issue with calmly would help me to provide proper clarity of goals and
help in taking immediate action. Another aspect that is Information Communication Technology
(ICT) is cost effective that require less time has become more popular in an era of globalisation
which provide easy accessibility to clients of services 24*7 and facilitate smooth operations of a
business in a best possible manner. I also discovered that it provides vast job opportunities which
create a better future and help in running fast conduct of activities which takes fewer seconds. It
also improves the communication among their employees as it gives arise of cloud computing
that provide easy access of information in a firm. In case of any problems, they are referring to
an ability in which manager builds a formal relationship with their colleagues and involve them
in day to day decision making so that they could handle challenging roles and responsibilities in
a desirable manner.
In case of any issue or conflicts, I find that managers would listen to both parties and
communication them with great clarity so that they could minimise confusion and make proper
implementation of solution as this create a positive vibe in a corporation. I try to seek and grab
opportunities as early as possible and take participate in every activity which improvised my
overall skills and make a big change in my career. While working with others I develop a sense
of team spirit by helping each other which bring cooperation and unity in an organisation. I
always strive to learn more that provide a better experience as I am so much curious and ask lot
of questions from my colleagues that help me a lot to generate information. It is important to be
interactive in nature and make valuable connections which provide a reasonable support that
adds values and ethics in my life. I actively try to listen to my senior and help them in their work
which teach me a lesson that is to be not afraid of problems and challenges. I focus merely on
positive side as sometimes the situation could be more challenging so it is better to work with
greater efficiency and zeal which assist me a lot in my career in creating a bright future. Keeping
in perspective that no one is all rounder so I learn that to work hard and utilise my overall
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strength which provide a reasonable success in my career. One of the precious aspect that I
analysed and learned is to avoid procrastination as it lead to delay in working procedure and
would affect the overall operations of a firm. It is vital to explore more and more rather than just
limited which enhance my skills. I try to acquire new and advanced skills and take more time
which help me in polishing my skills and provide a great learning experience. The last lesson
that I learned is to take risk and must realise from mistakes as this help a lot in rejuvenating my
career which help in making improvement in my overall skills and development.
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