Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Strategy

This assignment tasks students with examining the connection between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and strategic management. It requires students to analyze scholarly articles on topics such as CSR disclosure, its impact on analyst forecast accuracy, and the causal relationship between governance and CSR. Additionally, students should consider the role of ethical considerations in business decisions and explore how marketing strategies can promote healthy food choices.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Running head: CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF BUSINESS
Christian Philosophy of Business
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s note
Strategic Management

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Business Plan.........................................................................................................................2
Revision of Main Components................................................................................................2
1.2 Ethics and Social Responsibility Plan...................................................................................6
Creating jobs............................................................................................................................7
Laws of Jurisdiction.................................................................................................................7
Treatment of Employees..........................................................................................................7
Non-Discrimination of Employees..........................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Smooth Drinks Limited is a Non-Alcoholic Beverages or NAB company. This
organization includes soft drinks and hot drinks. The soft drinks, commonly known as cold
drinks, constitute of several non-carbonated or carbonated water, a sweeter and a distinct flavor
(Ashurst, 2016). The classification of soft drinks is dominating the non-alcoholic beverages
industry and it involves energy drinks, bottled water, juice, sports drinks and readymade tea and
coffee. The soft drinks are known as Liquid Refreshment Beverages or LRBs.
The report outlines a brief description of the business plan of the Smooth Drinks Limited
Company. The business plan comprises of the major components of Smooth Drinks Limited
company like the company description, industry analysis and trends, strategic position and risk
assessment (Gollenia, 2016). The business plan also covers the competition, target market and
the marketing plan and sales strategy of Smooth Drinks Limited Company. The following report
also covers a\n ethics and social responsibility plan of the company.
Discussion
1.1 Business Plan
Revision of Main Components
Company Description
Smooth Drinks Limited is a non-alcoholic beverages company. This organization widely
includes hot drinks and soft drinks. Hot beverages include tea and coffee. Soft drinks or
commonly known as cold drinks, constitutes of carbonated and non-carbonated water, a

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sweetener and a distinct flavor (Sharma, 2012). This particular category of soft drinks is leading
the market of non-alcoholic beverages industry. Smooth Drinks Limited includes energy drinks,
sport drinks, juice, carbonate, and bottled water and readymade tea and coffee. The main mission
of this company is to make healthy drinks, which can be consumed before and after exercises
(Gollenia, 2016). The product will have low sugar count that will be beneficial for both athletes
and patients.
Industry Analysis and Trends
Non-alcoholic beverage drinks is a leading marketing industry in modern world. The
leading brands in this industry are Pepsi and Coca Cola. The sales of these companies make
billions each day (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). However, they face challenges and threats in
the market. The products contain high sugar and thus they were not good for the patients and
athletes. Smooth Drinks Limited made a plan to serve drinks with low sugar content and can
even be taken in leisure (Sholtis et al., 2013). There is a major challenge to make position in the
current market so, Smooth Drinks Limited opted to venture in the niche market of energy drinks.
The company believes that by using the correct program of marketing, they will be able to grow
its revenue by 6% every year. Industry analysis is a technique, which makes the position
understanding of a company smoother and faster. Smooth Drinks Limited has done their analysis
of industry by understanding their position in the market in comparison to other companies
making similar products (Wheelen & Hunger, 2017). In this case, the companies are Pepsi and
Coca Cola.
Strategic Position and Risk Assessment
The strategy of a particular business is defined by strategic positioning. It shows how
well the company is competing and serving the customers in the market. Smooth Drinks Limited

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has done their strategic positioning by distributing their products to the right market (World
Health Organization, 2012). Distribution is the only way out to sell their products to the right
customers. They are making sports drinks. Therefore, they will utilize sports events as a
distributing channel. The company will at first sponsor the sports events and after wards sell their
products to the targeted customers (Hollensen, 2015). The major reason behind this is that once
the athletes have known the products, they will be interested in becoming regular customers.
Risk analysis or risk assessment is done on the three significant threats that Smooth
Drinks Limited will face in its operations. The three risks are as follows:
i) Technological Hazards: The main challenge that the company may face is due to the
insecurity of the technical equipments and data (Ni Mhurchu et al., 2013). They should hire
proper experts to advise on this problem.
ii) Regulation: The Company would handle the food items and this poses a great
challenge on control. Another important aspect would be the cleanliness of the company.
iii) Competition: Competition is another risk for any company (Sharma, 2012). The
industry has many players and it will not be easy to get the market share from these big
companies.
Target Market
The target market for Smooth Drinks Limited depends on the customers of the company.
To know their target market, the company has to do a market survey. They should access the
local market and the people living nearby. The factors that are kept in mind to assess the local
market are the gender, income, ethnic groups, educational level and many more (Hitt, Ireland &
Hoskisson, 2012). The target of this company is the middle class people as they have the

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tendency to buy such beverages on a higher note. Income rate plays an important role for these
people and this is beneficial for the non-alcoholic beverage industry. The most encouraging
information for this industry is the market intelligence (Parrott, 2014). According to Euromonitor
International, the total number of middle class people will be on higher position. The educational
level of the middle class people is another major feature of the market target. People with lesser
income will accept the lower prices of the beverages served by Smooth Drinks Limited (Ni
Mhurchu et al., 2013). Age factor is another major factor for target market. The youth generation
and the children get more attracted towards these drinks than the older age group. They should
do their marketing in such a way that the product should reach all the youth generation.
The comprehensive community of the United States and the people of various countries
like Mexico, South or Central America, Cuba and Puerto Rico together constitute the Hispanic
groups (McGrath, 2013). According to statistics, these Hispanic will increase their power of
buying to at least 1.5 trillion dollars by 2015. It is a huge rise and extremely beneficial for the
market of any company especially new companies.
Competition
The market leaders for soft drink industry are the Pepsi and the Coca Cola companies.
Market competition is extremely high for any new company like Smooth Drinks Limited. The
necessity for perfect marketing will increase the customers in a huge amount (Gollenia, 2016).
The big fishes in the industry are the Monster Beverage Corporation and Dr. Pepper Snapple
Group. These companies have maintained their position with their amazing advertising and
marketing strategies (Parrott, 2014). The other competitors of Smooth Drinks Limited will be
Nescafe, Fanta, Tropicana, Sprite and Red bull.

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The strategy that has to be taken by the company is the advertising and branding of their
products. The main focus should be given on the qualities of the products and safe packaging.
Social networking sites and advertisements in television channels can do advertising (Levy &
Slavin, 2013). They will have to compete against their competitors, as it will be difficult to
match them. They will have to be dependable on the niche markets and the demographic
audience.
Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy
The marketing plan of any company is to sell their products. Smooth Drinks Limited has
the strategy to target the middle class people and sell their products to them. The message of the
company is to serve healthy drinks to their customers (Kirchmer, 2012). The main strength of
this company is their availability of clients, their stable distribution channel and superior quality
products than the niche market. As Pepsi and Coca Cola are already ruling the soft drinks
industry, Smooth Drinks Limited is focusing on energy drinks. This is their marketing plan.
Their sales strategy is to sell their products to the sports persons and the youth generation
(McGrath, 2013). This strategy will help them to achieve their objectives.
1.2 Ethics and Social Responsibility Plan
The ethics and social responsibility plan of any company refers to the work ethics and
how the company is giving benefits to the rest of the world. Smooth Drinks Limited is making
beverages but with perfect quality (Jo & Harjoto, 2012). The health of their customers are not
getting affected for their drinks. They are keeping in mind about the patients and the athletes as
well. They are maintaining a perfect ethical and social responsibility.

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Creating jobs
Smooth Drinks Limited is a non-alcoholic beverage company serving hot drinks and cold
drinks. The primary goal of this company is to reach to the middle class customers, who cannot
afford to drinks of high prices (Hopkins, 2012). This company also focuses on the quality of the
products and the health of their customers. This company has made their strategic plan in such a
way that they follow an ethics and social responsibility plan (Kim, Park & Wier, 2012). They
have started giving jobs to all individuals even with lower educational qualification. They do not
segregate individuals on the basis of gender, caste or religion. This is extremely important for all
organization (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald, 2014). The people who did not have jobs
earlier are getting jobs because of them.
Laws of Jurisdiction
The company is following all the necessary laws and rules of the government regarding
sales and marketing. If any kind of mishaps occur with any customer due to their products, they
will take complete responsibility (Dhaliwal et al., 2012). These legal steps will stop the company
workers to do any illegal task. The marketing department, the finance and the sales departments,
all of them have to maintain the rules and at according to the laws. Any kind of misconduct can
lead them to prison.
Treatment of Employees
The employees and the staff members are treated with honesty and fair means, so that
they do not feel isolated and discriminated (Bardy, Drew & Kennedy, 2012). They get proper
salary on time. Smooth Drinks Limited is famous for their treatment towards the employees. This
positive treatment is good for the social life on all employees. According to work ethics, it is the
responsibility of both employer and the employee to behave properly (Crane, Matten & Spence,

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2013). The company always tries to make the staffs happy with good facilities and good hike in
salaries. The employees are motivated in this way.
Non-Discrimination of Employees
Smooth Drinks Limited is hiring employees from all places. This will reduce the
discrimination amongst the employees and they will work with full motivation (Aguinis &
Glavas, 2012). They are hiring people irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, age and gender.
All the employees are working together and with similar facilities. This is increasing cultural
diversity in the company, which is extremely important for all organizations (Cheng, Ioannou &
Serafeim, 2014). Another major benefit of this mass recruit is that people are learning how to
work in groups and they are getting socially involved with each other.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above report it can be concluded that, smooth Drinks Limited is
making non-alcoholic beverages and they are maintaining proper business plan for it. The
business plan comprises of company description, the competition, the target market and the
strategic plans of the company. The report also covers the ethics and social responsibility plan of
Smooth Drinks Limited.

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References
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social
responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of management, 38(4), 932-968.
Ashurst, P. R. (2016). Chemistry and technology of soft drinks and fruit juices. John Wiley &
Sons.
Bardy, R., Drew, S., & Kennedy, T. F. (2012). Foreign investment and ethics: How to contribute
to social responsibility by doing business in less-developed countries. Journal of Business
Ethics, 106(3), 267-282.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), 1-23.
Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spence, L. J. (2013). Corporate social responsibility in a global context.
Dhaliwal, D. S., Radhakrishnan, S., Tsang, A., & Yang, Y. G. (2012). Nonfinancial disclosure
and analyst forecast accuracy: International evidence on corporate social responsibility
disclosure. The Accounting Review, 87(3), 723-759.
Gollenia, L. A. (2016). Business transformation management methodology. Routledge.
Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J. R., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business ethics: Decision making
for personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

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Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2012). Strategic management cases:
competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Hopkins, M. (2012). The planetary bargain: Corporate social responsibility matters. Routledge.
Jo, H., & Harjoto, M. A. (2012). The causal effect of corporate governance on corporate social
responsibility. Journal of business ethics, 106(1), 53-72.
Kim, Y., Park, M. S., & Wier, B. (2012). Is earnings quality associated with corporate social
responsibility?. The Accounting Review, 87(3), 761-796.
Kirchmer, M. (2012). Business process oriented implementation of standard software: how to
achieve competitive advantage efficiently and effectively. Springer Science & Business
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Levy, C. S., & Slavin, S. (2013). Social work ethics on the line. Routledge.
McGrath, R. G. (2013). The end of competitive advantage: How to keep your strategy moving as
fast as your business. Harvard Business Review Press.
Ni Mhurchu, C., Vandevijvere, S., Waterlander, W., Thornton, L. E., Kelly, B., Cameron, A.
J., ... & Swinburn, B. (2013). Monitoring the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods
and non‐alcoholic beverages in community and consumer retail food environments
globally. obesity reviews, 14(S1), 108-119.
Parrott, L. (2014). Values and ethics in social work practice. Learning Matters.

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Sharma, K. R. (2012). Preparation of Emulsified Encapsulated Nanoparticles of Bovine Serum
Albumin of Bound Glucose Oxidase and their Application in Soft Drinks/Non-Alcoholic
Beverage. J Biotechnol Biomaterial, 2(126), 2.
Sholtis, S. A., LeClair, T. F., Ihrie, R. W., & Del Favero, J. R. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,554,644.
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Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. pearson.
World Health Organization. (2012). A framework for implementing the set of recommendations
on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children.