Innovation, Technology & CSR: A Report on Admiral Group's Growth

This report assesses the impact of innovation and technology on Admiral Group's operations, sales, profit, and growth. It highlights the company's successful adoption of digital technology, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic benefits derived from Confused.com. The report also evaluates the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Admiral Group, focusing on changing consumer perceptions, employee retention, cost savings, and risk management. It emphasizes the need for ethical and sustainable business practices, especially concerning data privacy. Furthermore, the report applies Archie Carroll's CSR model to Admiral Group, examining its economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. The analysis underscores the significance of integrating CSR to enhance brand image, attract talent, reduce costs, and mitigate risks, ultimately contributing to the company's long-term sustainability and growth. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Innovation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Assessment of impact of innovation and technology on sales, operations, profits and growth
of Admiral group ...................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Evaluation of importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for Admiral Group ...............6
Application of Archie Carol's Corporate Social Responsibility model on Admiral Group . .8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is essential for growth and longevity of business firms as it helps business
firms respond to market changes effectively and exploit growth opportunities. Corporate social
responsibility is defined as integration of social and environmental concerns in business
operations of an enterprise. Admiral group is the selected company for this report which is
financial services company headquartered in Wales, United Kingdom. The present report assess
the impact of innovation and technology on operations, sales, profit and growth of the Admiral
group. In addition to this, the significance of corporate social responsibility for Admiral Group is
provided in this report. Archie Carol's CSR model is applied to Admiral group in this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Assessment of impact of innovation and technology on sales, operations, profits and growth of
Admiral group
Overview of the company: Admiral group was established in the year 1991 and was
known as car insurance specialist firm. The company expanded to offer other financial services
including price comparison, housing and travel insurance, personal loans and legal services
(Admiral group, 2021). The company currently offers their services in Europe, America and UK
and has offices in Spain, Italy, India and Canada. Innovation is one of the main reasons behind
rapid growth of the company.
Innovation and technological change facilitates economic progress of an enterprise.
Business software and technology upgrades are common technological changes which assist in
growth of the company by improving efficiency of the firm (Hu and Liu, 2021). In context of
Admiral group technological change and upgrades have played an important role in economic
progress of the company. The company is leveraging cloud, data, analytics and digital
technology to build more agile organization and enhance consumer experience. The company
started remote working during the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic and was able to
successfully face challenges of remote working with the help of technological changes and
upgrades. The company was able to start their work from home operations just after two weeks
of Coronavirus lock-down by connecting employees through secure digital network. Currently
majority of staff at Cardiff headquarters is working from home while small number of employees

are attending office (Covid: Welsh firms looking at flexi-working 'permanently', 2021).
Technological change of adopting digital network helped the company quickly adopt to remote
working. This ensured that best services are provided to consumers and played an important role
in success of the company during COVID-19 pandemic. The company aims to embrace new
technology in the future and become digital first business. This will help the company prepare
for the future and quickly adapt to market changes caused by digital technology or other external
factors.
Innovation assists in economic development of the company in different ways.
Innovation can be used to reduce employee turnover, enhance efficiency and lower overall costs.
This increases the revenue of the firm and contributes to economic development. Apart from this
products differentiation helps the company offer unique products and services which also assists
in economic development and growth of the company. Technological innovation helped Admiral
group gain quick economic development. Confused.com was launched by Admiral group in the
year 2001 which played a significant role in rapid economic growth of respective corporation.
This technological innovation was fist of its kind platform in UK which specialized in
comparison of insurance and financial services. This terotechnological innovation was quickly
accepted by UK consumers as it provides consumers easier way to shop insurance according to
their needs. Confused helped Admiral group gain economic growth with profitability of more
than £36 million in the year 2007. In addition to this Confused.com has also helped Admiral
group survive through periods of financial distress such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Admiral
group has concluded that sale of Confused.com to RVU for the price of £508 million (Admiral
concludes £508m sale of interests including its price comparison venture Confused.com, 2021).
This sale will help the company survive from the negative economic impact of COVID-19 and
invest in making the corporation more agile and innovative. The success of technological
innovation Confused.com for Admiral group and its role in helping the company grow rapidly
and gain high economic returns depicts the importance of technological innovation. It is
important to foster technological innovation in order to gain economic development.
Technological innovation by Admiral group has affected sale, operations and profitability of the
corporation. The introduction of Confused.com in 2001 is the main technological innovation of
Admiral group. The estimated annual revenue of the firm is currently £50.9 million per year.
Admiral group was able to experience rapid growth in early 2000's because of profits gained

from Confused.com. This helped he company get listed in London Stock Exchange. Despite
facing stiff competition in year 2015 Confused.com was able to provide the company pre-tax
profits of £12.5 million. In the year 2020 the annual revenue generated by Confused.com
equalled to £158.4 million on a global scale. This depicts the impact of this technological
innovation on profitability and sale of Admiral group. The operations of the company were also
affected by Confused.com as the company had to develop innovative marketing techniques to
successfully launch financial technology service in UK. Innovation affects business operations as
changes need to be implemented to ensure that consumers gain innovative products and services
quickly (Sharma and et. al., 2021). The firm developed unique marketing campaigns in order to
promote Confused.com. This included promotional campaign based around character Cara
confused which helped introduce the usage of Confused.com in purchasing insurance more
effectively. In addition to this, Brian the robot was character of another marketing campaign by
Confused.com which depicted the character on mission to save pounds of the consumers. The
technological innovation of Confused.com impact the marketing operation by introducing the
need of developing unique marketing campaigns specifically designed to attract consumers for
this new service in United Kingdom. In addition to this Confused.com also required development
of more effective cyber security to protect company and consumer data from cyber crime. This
also affected business operations at Admiral Group as every business operation need to be
changed to enhance cyber security. In addition to this business operations of Admiral group are
also affected by launch of Confused.com as it initiates bi-directional communication with the
consumers. Admiral group is able to directly interact with consumers which affects consumer
service operations. In addition to this, sales operations at Admiral group are also affected as
launch of e-commerce business provides new sales channels to the company. Management of
digital sales channels brings change to business operations of the respective corporation. It is
essential to address changes made by innovation on business operations in order to gain
successful results from introduction of innovation (Ulubeyli, Kazaz and Sahin, 2018). The
primary ICT issue affecting business operations at Admiral group is related to cyber security. It
is important to maintain cyber-security to ensure effective functioning of confused.com and
provide consumer safe and effective experience. Technological innovation of Confused.com has
helped Admiral group make financial progress and rapid expansion all over the globe. This is
because Confused.com generated high profits for the company which helped the company

expand to new markets. In addition to this the recent sale of Confused.com has provided the
company capital required for complete digitization of Admiral group. The respective firm will be
able to utilize finances gained from the sale of Confused.com to reduce negative impact of
COVID-19 and implement plans for future growth effectively. It is important to create an
environment which fosters technological innovation as it has positive impact on sales, growth
and profitability of a business.
TASK 2
Evaluation of importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for Admiral Group
Corporate social responsibility is defined as the practices and policies taken by the
company to operate in an ethical and sustainable manner and handle environmental and social
concerns effectively (Razumovskaya and et. al., 2018). This involves taking impact on
communities, environment, human rights and society into consideration in order to fulfil ethical
and social responsibilities. Admiral group operates in financial technology sector and it is
important for the company to develop an effective corporate social responsibility strategies. The
primary reason which increase the significance of corporate social responsibility for Admiral
group are explained below:
Changing consumer perception
Global consumers expect business firms to maintain substantially and operate in an
ethical manner which reduces negative environmental and social impact. Increasing climate
change awareness and social concerns about big data analytics breaching consumer privacy have
resulted in consumers scrutinizing unethical business practices and scrutinizing unsustainable
firms. Admiral group has previously been part of controversy revolving around using big data
analytics to gain information about private data of Facebook users. This harmed the brand image
of the company as it involved beaching privacy of consumers. Admiral group needs to build
interactive Corporate Social Responsibility strategy in order to change public perception and
create positive branding. This will help the company attract consumers as they will trust that the
company will ethically use their data.
Employee retention
Corporate social responsibility plays a crucial role in retaining skilled employees (Al
Mubarak, 2020). The primary reason behind this is that talented employees want to associate

themselves with ethical business firms who take action for social and environmental
improvement. Admiral group will be able to create an employer brand which attracts skilled
employees from all over the globe if the company implements effective Corporate Social
Responsibility strategy. This will help Admiral group build highly talented workforce in the
financial technology industry and retain employees for long time period. This employer branding
will help the firm build and retain talented workforce in foreign regions easily. High employee
retention reduces recruitment expenditure and improves efficiency which will help Admiral
group attain their goal of complete digitization quickly. CSR is significant for Admiral group as
it will; help the company maximise employee retention to reduce costs and attain innovation and
digitization goals quickly.
Cost Savings
This is common reason for adopting Corporate Social Responsibility as it helps reduce
costs and enhance profitability of the company. CSR increases sustainability of the company
which involves reducing energy consumption and changing business processes to reduce costs
(Contini and et. al., 2020). This not only lowers negative environmental imp-act caused by the
company but also reduces overall costs. Admiral group needs to adopt Corporate Social
Responsibility initiatives which focus on sustainability in o0rder to reduce costs of the company.
This is because the company will be able to easily handle global economic downturn caused by
COVID-19 pandemic. Recently Admiral group sold their technological innovation e-commerce
website Confused.com for £508 million. This will help the company recover from negative
impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Adoption of sustainable CSR will assist in cost minimization so
that the respective company is able to handle economic distress more effectively and do not have
to sell their IP top recover from negative impact. Corporate Social Responsibility is significant
for Admiral group as it will help the company reduce costs and recover from distressful
economic conditions quickly.
Risk management
Social issues and environmental degradation is not beneficial for business firms as it
hinders continuous growth of the company. Corporate Social Responsibility activities improve
society and reduce environmental damage which assists in collective growth of the company and
society (Győri and et. al., 2021). Admiral group needs to adopt corporate social responsibility in
order to improve risk management. Corporate Social Responsibility will help in elimination of

social and environmental factors which negatively impact growth of the company and improving
risk management. Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives which provide children and college
going adults financial literacy and education can help the company attain growth as more
individuals will seek financial services of the company. This will improve society and help the
company attain long-term growth which increases significance of Corporate Social responsibility
for Admiral group.
Application of Archie Carol's Corporate Social Responsibility model on Admiral Group
Archie Carol has constructed a simplified model of complex social responsibility which
describes the multi-faceted nature of Corporate social responsibility and assists in meeting
organizational goals (Salehzadeh, Pool and Najafabadi, 2018). This model provides a pyramid of
responsibilities which need to be fulfilled from bottom to top in order to attain CSR goals. The
application of this model to Admiral group is provided below:
Economic responsibility
This is the first level of the pyramid which includes focuses on attaining growth and
profitability. Generating profits is a part of CSR in this model as without profits the company
will not be able to provide remunerations to employees which will lead to closure of the
enterprise. It is duty of Admiral group to attain profitability and growth in order to do beneficial
acts of society and offer effective financial services at reasonable price to fulfil consumer
demand. Admiral group needs to develop innovation and unique to offer best consumer
experience and seek continuous growth. This will provide the company capital required to
implement successful CSR initiatives.
Legal responsibility
The second level of the pyramid focuses on fulfilling legal obligations by adhering to
law. Failure top adhere to laws is highly disadvantageous to business firms as it damages brand
reputation and can also lead to closure of the company (Tarabashkina and et. al., 2020). Admiral
group needs to follow law in order to develop ethical business practices. Ensuring enforcement
of employment legislation and data protection Act is essential for Admiral group in order to
satisfy consumers and employees. This builds consumer trust and fosters strong employee bonds.
In addition to this the company will be able to avoid lawsuits which damage company reputation
and increase expenditure.
Ethical responsibility

This level of the model focuses on ensuring fairness and acting in responsible manner to
meet societal expectations from business firms. This involves implementing fair practices in the
workplace to provide employees workplace equality. Admiral group needs to uphold moral
standards in order to depict ethical business practices of the company to the stakeholders and
consumers. This is not an obligation which means that leaders at Admiral group have to make
decision and conduct difficult cost benefit analysis to maintain fairness in every business practice
in order to fulfil requirements of this level.
Philanthropic responsibility
This is the final level of the corporate social responsibility model and centrers around
taking action to give back to the communities affected by business operations of the company.
This responsibility encompasses philanthropic acts done by the company in order to ensure
social development and lower environmental damage (Darabi and PAHLANAN, 2020). Admiral
group needs to implement initiatives which give back to the community during weak economic
environment and assist in educational development of underprivileged children. This will not
only improve branding of the firm but also help in long-term growth of the company.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that innovation is essential for growth and
economic progress of business firms. Technological innovation plays an important role in
development of organizations financially as well as geographically. Apart from this
technological change is another factor which facilitates economic development of enterprises. It
is important to build organizational culture which is innovation oriented and supports
implementation for technological change as it helps in economic growth of the company.
Corporate social responsibility is crucial for sustainable and long term development of business
firms. This is because corporate social responsibility assists in changing consumer perception
and improves risk management to quickly recover from weak economic conditions. Corporate
social responsibility also increases employee retention and reduces costs which increases the
value of CSR activities for business firms. Archie Carol's Corporate Social Responsibility model
describes four levels of CSR which need to be fulfilled in order to gain effective results from
CSR initiatives.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al Mubarak, M., 2020. Sustainable development through five senses of effective corporate social
responsibility strategy. Social Responsibility Journal.
Contini and et. al., 2020. Exploring the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
domains on consumers’ loyalty: an experiment in BRICS countries. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 247. p.119158.
Darabi, R. and PAHLANAN, S., 2020. The Relationship between Corporate Social
Responsibility and CEO Compensation. Journal of accounting, accountability and
society interests, 9(4). pp.83-100.
Győri and et. al., 2021. Corporate Social Responsibility in Hungary. In Current Global Practices
of Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 193-211). Springer, Cham.
Hu, Y. and Liu, H., 2021. Evaluating innovation capability of Chinese listed companies based on
comprehensive methods. International Journal of Innovation Science.
Razumovskaya and et. al., 2018. Corporate Social Responsibility and Company's Economic
Efficiency: Russian Experience. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, 13(5).
Salehzadeh, R., Pool, J. K. and Najafabadi, A. H. J., 2018. Exploring the relationship between
corporate social responsibility, brand image and brand equity in Iranian banking
industry. Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research.
Sharma and et. al., 2021. Analysing the relationship of adaption of green culture, innovation,
green performance for achieving sustainability: Mediating role of employee
commitment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 303. p.127039.
Tarabashkina and et. al., 2020. Does corporate social responsibility improve brands’ responsible
and active personality dimensions? An experimental investigation. Journal of Product &
Brand Management.
Ulubeyli, S., Kazaz, A. and Sahin, S., 2018. Survival of construction SMEs in macroeconomic
crises: Innovation-based competitive strategies. Journal of Engineering, Design and
Technology.
Online
Admiral concludes £508m sale of interests including its price comparison venture Confused.com,
2021. [Online] Available through <https://www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/admiral-
concludes-508m-sale-interests-20502142>
Admiral group, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/admiral-group>
Covid: Welsh firms looking at flexi-working 'permanently', 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56377442>