Approaches to CSR in Micro, SME, and Corporate Businesses

This article discusses the various approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in micro, SME, and corporate businesses. It explores the economic approach for micro companies, stakeholder approach for SMEs, and societal and environmental approaches for corporates. The article also highlights how businesses can measure success in their CSR strategies.

Foundations of business
communication

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction or summary........................................................................................................1
Sustainable approach to business strategy and management in order to operate businesses in
ethical and sustainable manner...............................................................................................1
Analyse approaches to CSR of micro, SME and corporate business and how businesses can
measure success in its CSR strategies....................................................................................5
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
References..............................................................................................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
Reflective report on key skills development in problem solving area...................................9

INTRODUCTION
Businesses are refers to an economic activity that are used in making money through
buying and selling of goods and services in order to make better living of individual's. There are
several types of businesses like micro, SME as well as large scale that operates in a different way
and follow varied kind of strategies related to the corporate social responsibilities and engaged
their workforce towards their commitment and works. This will result in productivity as well as
profitability enhancement. In this report Argos Ltd. is chosen which is a British catalogue retailer
that operates in UK and Ireland. It was founded in 1972 with headquartered in England and it
deals in consumer goods through online and physical shops over 883 retail shops. Under this
report mainly focus on the individual report which contains sustainable approaches related to the
business strategies and management towards the attainment of organisational success in ethical
and sustainable way. Also, discuss about the CSR approaches of micro, SME and corporate
strategies and measures their success as well. Lastly, emphasise on the reflective statement on
the skill development towards problem solving skills.
PART 1
Introduction or summary.
In the individual report discuss about the several strategies and approaches related to the
operating business operations ethically as well as sustainably. Along with this, discuss about the
corporate social responsibilities within the context of micro, SME as well as corporate
businesses. Also, determine or measures companies success by applying CSR strategies or
approaches and justify appropriate conclusion on the individual report. As corporate social
responsibilities termed as a management approach that a company integrate with the social as
well as environmental concerns within a business organisation in order to operates functions as
well as interact with the stakeholders.
Sustainable approach to business strategy and management in order to operate businesses in
ethical and sustainable manner.
In order to manage a business organisation in an effective manner, they needs to adopts
several sustainable approaches as a strategic plan that helps in performing business operations in
a an ethical as well as sustainable way. This will result in the sustainable growth and
development along with the high profitability. Within the context of company Argos Ltd., they

believe in their own abilities in order to grow and expand in an international, dynamic as well as
competitive business environments. The company thanks to their appropriate management of risk
as well as social, environmental and economic opportunities for their sustainable growth and
expansion. The main aim of the company is based on creating values for company as well as
society that's why the sustainability of business is in the core of strategies and they highly
focused on their objective that is to create better sustainable value. In respects of Argos Ltd.
Several actions are targeted for the purpose of creating values for the firm and society which
helps in making possible to create own dreams which drives the entire development as well as
transforms lives (Sustainability Strategy, 2018). The sustainable approaches to business
management and strategies of company are as follows:
(Source : Sustainability strategies, 2018) Trust relationship: Trust refers to the situation that is directed to the future in which a
person is willing to rely on the actions of another party. In order to gain a sustainable
competitive advantages and perform operational activities in ethical manner a company
requires to build up a trustworthy relationships with their interest groups or stakeholders
because these are the members who increases the chances of high sustainability in the
market. Within the context of Argos Ltd., the relationship with the interest groups are
totally based on the mutual support and transparency. As they are fostering by continual
talking and collective construction that leads towards the accomplishment of their
common goals and objectives (Stoian, 2017). For example, if a company creates or
develop the trustworthy relations with their employees then they puts more contribution

towards the achievement of organisational objectives which helps in increasing the
growth and sustainable development of company. Responsible production: It is associated with the consumption and production of goods
and services that includes the minimisation of ecological footprints. This will assist in
accomplishing economic growth as well as sustainable development of a business
organisation. In other words, responsible production is the requisites of sustainable
growth and development as it is totally based on the creation of products and services by
using that systems and processes which are non polluting as well as conserving natural
resources, safe and healthy for workers and society (Stoian, 2017). The companies who
take responsibilities towards the not only their products but for the environment and
region as well as employees and customers termed as a responsible production. It is also
based on the concept of “doing better and more with the less” that helps in enhancing the
welfare along with the minimising deforestation, pollution etc. in order to facilitate the
better quality of life to the people. The company Argos Ltd. use their resources in a
responsible way as they work daily in order to prevent as well as minimise and take
corrective actions towards the impacts of environmental effects in their value chain. For
example, A company take some responsibilities towards the production of goods and
services as all these are made eco-friendly in nature and produce less harmful substances
towards the nature which will helps in growing the company in a sustainable manner. Shared values: Creating shared values for the sustainability of businesses is a way to
integrate stakeholders within the management of businesses. As companies requires to
adopts effective communication strategies in order to convey the end results of
sustainable activities. Also, companies analyse corporate social responsibility strategy for
integrating the sustainable development objectives and goals which helps in increasing
their sustainability within the competitive marketplace (Spence, 2016). With respect of
Argos Ltd., in order to transform their future the company thinks that it is essential to
transform present firstly which begins from the individual's actions and performance.
That's why the company contribute more towards the empowerment of stakeholders from
their duty as a cause of change. For example, If company have shared values and
objectives and consider the both as employees and organisation together in order to earn
profit then it will produce better outcomes.

 Business profitability: The profitability refers to the company's ability in order to earn
maximum profits and there are several factors that impacts on the level of profitability
which includes the production unit, costs as well as overheads. As sustainable bushiness
organisation refers to that kind of firms that have less negative impacts on the economic,
society and environmental aspects. The company Argos Ltd., more oriented towards the
decisions of innovation concept and adequate range of solutions in order to enhance the
level of profitability (Razak, 2016). As they work towards the aim of maximising vale
created for their customers as well as business. For example, As the company earn huge
amount of profit within the competitive marketplace than they will be able to achieve
sustainable market growth and development.
Along with these there are several other strategies also that are uses or can be used by the
Argos Ltd. company in order to operates business operations in an effective, sustainable as well
as ethical form. Some of these are as follows: Developmental goals: In order to promote the sustainable development of an organisation
it is essential to implement appropriate goals and objectives which ensures the better
quality of living to their people. As the company Argos Ltd., have assumed that
commitment towards taking an appropriate actions as well as contribute to the
environments creation which provides huge opportunities and the better livings to all
people (Linnenluecke, 2017). The company starts their work with the chosen of specific
goals which helps in performing business operations effectively, ethically as well as
sustainably. As the company sets primary goals along with the material issues have been
set as a Development Goals (SDGs). For example, The company needs to creates
developmental goals and objectives in order to get competitive position by grabbing
several new opportunities as well as take an advantage of sustainable development.
 Employee development: Most of the companies focused on employee development as it
increase their knowledge and skills that are the attributes of employees which helps in
gaining competitive and sustainable advantage in the market (Lee, 2018). Within the
context of Argos Ltd., company focus on the sustainable workforce by following several
strategies such as employee development, effective compensation, minimise workers
turnover, provide opportunities, develop in a completable manner against their rivals and
so on (Sustainability Strategy, 2020). Along with this, the company use adequate mode of

communication and consider employee’s inputs or suggestions in making decisions. This
is very helpful for the company as strong base of staff members leads to the long term
retention in future which provides effective management of businesses.
Analyse approaches to CSR of micro, SME and corporate business and how businesses can
measure success in its CSR strategies.
Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the important concept where companies are
required to manage their business activity in positive manner in front of the society for positive
result. It is necessary for the business organisation to follow in each and every situation once the
falls under the category of CSR requirement (Teh, 2015). In addition, it is crucial for each and
every business organisation to understand that they must work according to guidelines of CSR
and if in any of the situation they fails to do so then legal actions can be taken which can create
lots of problem for the business organisation. Talking about the benefit, it can be said that CSR
can be the one which can help the business organisation to improve their performance through
which goals can be accomplished easily. There are four different approaches of CSR and they are
societal approach, environmental approach, economic approach and stakeholder approach.
Below, there is the discussion of different approaches of CSR on different form of business
organisation.
Micro Company: Any of the micro company has to perform their business activity at a
certain ground where their main motive is to earn the profit by selling their goods and services in
the market. It is the initial phase of the business where they doesn't have any of the responsibility
towards the society but still they are required work CSR approach (Kernbach, 2015). This are the
companies which have to adopt the economic approach. In this types of approach, it will be
important for the business organisation to understand that they must work according to the legal
requirement by following all of the rules and regulations in a systematist manner. One of the best
example of micro company who is required to adopt the economic approach is The Lily Vanilli
Bakery. It is their responsibility to perform their business activity as per their available resources.
SME Company: This are the business organisation which performs the business activity
at a greater platform as compared to micro companies. The main responsibility of this type of
company is earn profit and provide all of the necessary benefits to each and every stakeholders to
sustain with the market. This types of company has to look for stakeholders approaches in
which it is necessary that company must work as per the requirement of stakeholders (Voegtlin,

2016). In stakeholders approaches, it will be necessary for the management to find that what
stakeholders are willing from the organisation in future period of time and according to that they
are required to perform their each and every steps. Talking about SME companies, Rowlinson
Knitwear is the perfect example where company has to follow the stakeholder approach of CSR.
If in any of the situation the management of the company is not able to perform as per the
requirement then company might have to face different kind of issues at different stages.
Corporates: A legal form of business establishments which declares that organisation has
separate legal entity with the owner of business. These kinds of business operations are wholly
controlled and owned by the members and the profit of corporations are ascertained by the
contribution of shares in a company. Now a days, companies are focusing on the social
responsibilities like protecting women rights, environmental protection, attempts towards reduce
poverty on national as well as international level (Jain, 2016). Mainly social responsible
strategies and approaches mainly works towards the attracting and retaining customers that
considers as an essential aspects which is necessary for the long term growth and success of
company. These kind of companies mainly moves towards the societal and environmental
approaches because all the corporations wants to stay for a long time in the market with the
leading position. In order to get the huge market success corporations should require to consider
societal as well as environmental approaches which results in the favour of business, society,
customers, employees as well as nature. This will gives effective results and high level of
productivity, profitability and performance as well.
No, all the CSR approaches are not same in the context of micro, SME and corporates
because all are focused on the different strategies in order to get success as per their size and
requirements. As micro businesses considers the economic approach for the social
responsibilities as they focused on performing business activities according to the availability of
resources. Also, they considers that they perform their organisational activities in a legal manner
which helps in increasing the chances of earning huge profitability as well as get high success in
the competitive marketplace (Buckley, 2015). Whereas SME companies follows the stakeholders
approach for the CSR activities as they mainly emphasised on the needs and desires of
stakeholders so it is essential for the management of businesses to search about what a person is
willing from establishments in future and in accordance to that plan and implement several
strategies and procedures in order to earn profits. In addition, corporates follows societal as well

as environmental approaches for the huge market success as they want to sustain for a long time
period in the market and its also establish their operations at a large scale. So all kind of
businesses adopts different approaches for the social responsibilities and get a advantage of
market success.
As there are several ways that are used in order to measures the success of business
organisations which includes the acquisitions of new customers, cost saving, gain valuable
results and so on. As all businesses wants to achieve huge market success so that they can use
CSR activities which gives benefits towards the sustainability (Bovée, 2016). In order to
measures the success by using CSR approaches companies can view their results in many terms
such as increment in their profitability, customer base, income, selling as well as investors and if
companies are able to minimise wastages, complaints as well as cost then they moves towards
the success of business.
Conclusion.
It has been concluded from the above report that in order to get the sustainable
development and growth in the competitive marketplace a business required to formulate several
strategies and approaches. Sustainable approaches includes trustworthy relations, developmental
goals, profitability, shared values, employee development and so forth that helps company to get
appropriate results and sustainable growth. In addition, several CSR activities or approaches also
applied in an organisation to measure the success of businesses as well as all these strategies are
different in the context of micro, SME as well as corporate areas or businesses.

References.
Books & Journals
Bovée, and et. al, 2016. Business communication today. Pearson Education India.
Buckley, P.J. and Ghauri, P. eds., 2015. International business strategy: theory and practice.
Routledge.
Jain, P. and et. al, 2016. Corporate social responsibility and financial performance in SMEs: A
structural equation modelling approach. Global Business Review. 17(3). pp.630-653.
Kernbach, S., Eppler, M.J. and Bresciani, S., 2015. The use of visualization in the
communication of business strategies: An experimental evaluation. International
Journal of Business Communication. 52(2). pp.164-187.
Lee, Y.M. and Hu, J.L., 2018. Integrated approaches for business sustainability: The perspective
of corporate social responsibility. Sustainability. 10(7). p.2318.
Linnenluecke, and et. al, 2017. A review of collaborative planning approaches for transformative
change towards a sustainable future. Journal of cleaner production. 142. pp.3212-3224.
Razak, and et. al, 2016. Theories of knowledge sharing behavior in business strategy. Procedia
Economics and Finance. 37. pp.545-553.
Spence, L.J., 2016. Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory. Business &
Society. 55(1). pp.23-55.
Stoian, C. and Gilman, M., 2017. Corporate social responsibility that “pays”: A strategic
approach to CSR for SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management. 55(1). pp.5-31.
Stoian, C. and Gilman, M., 2017. Corporate social responsibility that “pays”: A strategic
approach to CSR for SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management. 55(1). pp.5-31.
Teh, D. and Corbitt, B., 2015. Building sustainability strategy in business. Journal of Business
Strategy. 36(6). pp.39-46.
Voegtlin, C. and Greenwood, M., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and human resource
management: A systematic review and conceptual analysis. Human Resource
Management Review. 26(3). pp.181-197.
Online
Sustainability Strategy. 2018. [Online] Available through: <https://argos.co/en/Integrated-
Report/bck-Sustainability-Strategy>.
Sustainability Strategy. 2020. [Online] Available through: <https://www.wisegeek.com/what-
are-the-different-types-of-sustainability-strategies.htm>.

PART 2
Reflective report on key skills development in problem solving area.
On the basis of above report reflective statement is prepared in order to know about the
key skill development areas and their evaluation by proper evidence. There are several areas
such as communication, numeracy, problem solving and working with others. Basically I has
developed my problem solving skills through conducting and completing the research on
sustainable development and growth of businesses by analysing the strategies and approaches. In
this reflective statement I considered to define the concept of key developmental area and their
value and how I improved this in me as a skill.
Firstly, the key skills development refers to the process of analysing the skill gap and
works towards develop it because it is essential to determine the skills and abilities of mine in
order to execute the plan along with the success and growth of company or individual as well. As
there are several skills which requires to have in an individual that includes the communication
skills, coordination and cooperation skill, problem solving skill, data statistics skill and so on.
During the course of actions on a title of foundation of business communication I have
developed and worked on many academic skills which includes communication, problem solving
as well as team work skill. These are discussed below in detail: Communication skill: During the research on a business communication foundations
topic towards the business sustainability as well as success I have learned many things
towards this concept and developed my communication skill. I have learned towards the
corporate social responsibilities and their importance in an organisation for the success as
these approaches are different in respects of different organisation. In addition, I have
learned about the sustainable approaches that are applied within the Argos Ltd. In order
to operates their organisational activities in an ethical and sustainable manner. As the
entire study required to discuss, present as well as prepare a formal report which
enhanced my communication skill as oral and written also. In order to discuss in the
classroom I need to speak and present entire research in a summarised way for the
purpose of increasing the understanding of all about the research data. So it helped in
increasing my verbal communication at a great extent. Whereas, I also prepare a report of

all these discussion in detail along with the depth study which helped me in brining the
improvement in my written communication also. Problem solving skill: As I reflect that during the course of action towards the
foundations of business communication I have learned a lot that it helped in enhancing
my problem solving skill. As during the collection of appropriate information towards the
research topic I faced many problems and finds many ways to resolve the issues on time
in an effective way regarding the data collection which helped me a lot in developing my
problem solving ability. As a result of this I successfully completed my whole works on a
specified time period and able to collect appropriate, correct, concise, reliable and
valuable information. The problem solving ability is most required in personal as well as
professional life because it helps in solving several issues of individual's life and gives
appropriate way to solve a problem. Also, it gave valuable experience because at every
stage of life I faced issues which are not solves in a winning full manner but after
conducting this research I found that I enhanced my level of confidence, different sets of
ideas, ways to solve them, coolness, calmness as well as patience.
 Team work skill: During the course of this research report I worked on searching about
the foundation of business communication which includes the topics regarding
sustainable approaches as well as corporate social responsibilities strategies. As these are
required for the businesses in order to get the high success in the market in an ethical and
sustainable manner. While conducing research on this topic I required an effective team
which worked together for the collection of appropriate knowledge and information. This
gave me a fruitful and better experience to work in a team and it enhanced my skills of
team work or working with others. As team work required more patience, knowledge,
confidence, planning, positivity, punctuality, listening skill, decision making skill,
influencing as well as conflict solving ability. All these are developed along with the
working in a team as team work helped in learning many things because all individuals
have specific or distinct sets of abilities, skills as well as experience which was shared by
all according to their own way. This was developed or learned by all in order to react on a
particular situation.
At last I said that the entire project is valuable and precious which gave lot of knowledge,
understanding and experience that helps me in present as well as in future in order to accomplish

the objectives and goals of research tasks in an effective manner. As I personally felt that the
development in my skills directly developed my overall personality which helped in grabbing the
several opportunities with a confidence. This is directly linked with the increment in the skills
and knowledge of individual so that a result I am very thankful to all who gave me an
opportunity to enhance my understanding, knowledge and experience towards a specific title and
subject as well as increased my personality by developing several areas like skills and
capabilities which includes my verbal and written communication, decision making skill,
problem solving as well as coordination and cooperation ability with the other members. That
gave me a valuable experience. Moreover, the valuable experience helps in facilitating the more
opportunities in future as it facilitates more confidence at a time of grabbing an opportunity
which is fruitful for me.