CSR in Modern Business: Philanthropy, Stakeholders, and Rebranding

This report explores the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the framework of business law, differentiating it from mere philanthropy. It evaluates how modern corporations are integrating CSR goals with both internal (employees) and external (consumers, government, investors) stakeholders, highlighting the transformative potential of CSR beyond simple charitable donations. The analysis extends to CSR rebranding, examining whether it constitutes genuine efforts to address social and environmental issues or merely serves as a public relations exercise. The report concludes that while CSR can enhance public relations, its scope is much broader, driving sustainable development and offering solutions to societal problems, ultimately contributing to a company's long-term reputation and success.

LAW AND BUSINESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAN BODY....................................................................................................................................1
CSR go beyond philanthropy and how modern corporation go beyond philanthropy...............1
Corporations are doing well just public relations or is making difference..................................3
CSR branding purely public relations and what badly companies are doing..............................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Business law which is also known as mercantile law is the rules, agreement or
legislation. Laws in business means rules which must be followed while carrying business
practice. This report will discuss that corporate social responsibility goes beyond philanthropy or
not. It will evaluate how corporations are reinvesting CSR goals with external and internal
stakeholders. Further it will analyse CSR rebranding.
MAN BODY
Is modern organisation and corporate social responsibility are going beyond philanthropy?
Corporate social responsibility- it is the management related concept and is the business
self-regulation. Under this business aims to run its business operations by concerning social and
environmental concerns. In the case of philanthropy, corporation or organisations are only
donating money but the concept of CSR is different. CSR is the activity which is carried by the
business to solve various environmental and social problems which is involved with
corporations. CSR concept is transformative. It can also provide positive effects to the whole
industry (Demir and Budur, 2019). CSR is not the alternative of philanthropy. In corporate
philanthropy, corporate provides donations for charitable causes by donating something from
their profits. Whereas CSR is the continuous process by the corporations to behave in ethical
manner in order to enhance quality of life of their employees and community as a whole. In
order to carry CSR activities modern corporations also does their business in the way which is
helpful in meeting commercial, ethical and society's expectations which they are having with
business. CSR has wide scope whereas philanthropy has narrow scope. So that is why it can be
said that corporate social responsibility is different from philanthropy.
Corporate social responsibility is one of the most important business activities.
Businesses carry CSR activities to improve their business image in the eyes of public. It also
helps in increasing company's sales because consumers gets attracted towards such companies
which contribute in the society. CSR is the continuous process it shows that business is carrying
its operations in ethical manner and also contributing in the economic development.
It is duty of the company to carry their business activities in such a manner which does not
destroy environment in any manner and in this way company is carrying their business well.
Organisation does not have right to harm environment in any manner. Consumers and
government also goes against such companies which harm the environment in any way. In
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simple words CSR means bringing positive impact in the society via company's activities in
regards of communities, environment, consumers, workforces etc. it also involves Philanthropic
efforts. The interest of company in CSR is growing day by day. Nowadays businesses are
focusing to bring improvement in the society. As they very well know that if they serve the
society then only it will become easy to increase sales. As they can able to attract more
consumers (Frederiksen, 2018). If talking about Philanthropic efforts company gives donations
or organize programs to create awareness which can be related to environment or disease etc.
there are many companies which are having good impact via CSR initiatives which brings social
values into business.
Company which is not carrying their business activities in an effective manner and continuously
harming the environment then such businesses are badly impacting the environment.
The social power of the corporations has increased. Now CSR programmes are
providing value to the communities because they are playing important role in protecting various
environmental factors. In Australia, private organisation have started initiative and have also
started seeing society as the vital thing for getting positive change. Companies in Australia have
started giving funds for communities ventures such as sporting events etc. by organising CSR
programs it gives opportunities to the companies and communities to get engage with each
other. CSR goals are impacting its internal as well as its external stakeholders. Internal include
employees etc and external involves consumers, government, investors, aboriginal people etc. it
can be seen that CSR is growing swiftly in recent times. Companies are making such CSR
strategies which have direct relationship with employee well-being. In order to provide job
satisfaction to the employees, organisation's are giving them rewards, development
opportunities, empowerment, work life balance etc. businesses are also investing in health and
safety settings which helps in enhancing company's performance (Arouri, Gomes and
Pukthuanthong, 2019). Company has also made CSR goals for external stakeholder for
improving their health and wellbeing. Corporations have relations with external stakeholder like
consumers. Company manufacture goods or products which is purchased by the consumers.
Australian companies are also providing help to various indigenous groups which include
Aboriginal people. Companies are working to improve living standard of aboriginal people.
They are also funding these people in providing free education and healthcare facilities. Helping
backward societies also comes under corporate social responsibility.
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Corporate rebranding is the broad aspect which means providing brand promise to the
internal and external stakeholders which includes workforce, society, shareholders etc.
rebranding corporation have become concern for the management (Rebranding, 2021). Under
rebranding companies are nurturing relationship between consumers and products. In rebranding
companies opt strategies to carry business activities in such a manner which solves social and
environmental issues. Companies always revise their CSR goals, corporate responsibility is the
wide area so focus of the company is not only at one area like building good public relations
only rather it concentrate on various other areas as well.
Is Corporations are making difference apart from public relations
Although with the help of CSR companies are building healthy public relations but along
with that they are actually doing lot more. Corporate social responsibility comes under business
strategy only and can help company in many ways and not great publicity only. Before starting
CSR activities it is very important for the company to know about their brand because then only
they can communicate to the world about their brand (Advantage, 2020). It can be said that
branding is connected with CSR values. It is the important activities for business to define
themselves among external audiences. If customer gets connected with the brand then it helps
the brand in getting high sales and it also improves customer loyalty. CSR is not only public
relations but it is more than that. There are many brands in the world who is not that much
famous but still providing great contribution to the planet. Every type of corporation should have
CSR as it is lifeblood for them. CSR initiatives helps companies in getting differentiating
factors. CSR is actually making difference in the society like companies are organising various
programs in which they create awareness regarding environment. In order to save environment
many companies have stopped using plastic bags.
Bill Gates who is the owner of Microsoft company carry corporate social responsibility.
company is aiming that till the year 2030 they will reduce carbon emissions and improve their
supply chain. And they further said that by 2050 they will remove all carbon which company is
producing directly or indirectly in the environment (Corporate social responsibility report.,
2021). Microsoft Airband program which is started by the company has helped millions of
people around US in getting broadband facility in rural areas. They had even provided this
facility to rural people outside of the country.
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Are the CSR branding can be considered as public relations exercise
If company face any public relations crisis then in order to move ahead they can opt for
total rebranding. Rebranding means changing the public image of company by removing
negative image and bringing positive one. It is difficult but if the image is totally destroyed then
it is important to go for rebranding for recovery (Tamvada, 2020.). Corporate social
responsibility is the business activity which gives solutions to the business to solve various
social and environmental problems facing by communities. The role of public relations in CSR
is to make sure that stakeholders of the company should know about the company's efforts and
commitment. In every case CSR, initiative should be priority and PR strategy should have come
after that. If company uses PR properly then it helps them in sharing CSR initiative of the
organisation and PR also helps company in improving their image in the market and gaining
customer's trust (Freeman and Dmytriyev, 2017). Company should motivate their employees to
participate in CSR activities. Company should also create awareness among society that what
good they doing to them. In short, it can be said that PR is the voice of the company to
encourage public regarding CSR efforts by the company.
It can be said that there is positive link between company's profitability and social causes
in the Canadian mining industry. Mining firms have carried initiatives which helps in solving
environmental or social issues. There is a program which is helping Canadian mining
companies to run in socially and environmentally correct manner (Adnan, Hay and van Staden,
2018). Mining association of Canada has launched sustainable mining practices which is helping
global mining industry to improve their capacity. In order to improve company's image in the
eyes of public mining industry have started operating their business in sustainable manner. By
doing CSR activities also mining companies cannot completely improve their image. Mining
industry is providing adverse impact on fishery and wildlife. It also disturbs water balance and
impact climate. As chemical which release by mining process affects surface water, loss of
biodiversity, erosion etc.
CONCLUSION
Through this report it can be concluded that corporate social responsibility is different
from philanthropy. In philanthropy company donate money or does charity while in CSR
company make efforts to make this place better. Under CSR organisation make sure that they are
not damaging environment from their business activities. Many companies have started helping
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society in order to update them. CSR is not the PR attempt by the company but it is wide
concept. It brings sustainable development in company. In public relation crisis CSR helps in
improving company's reputation.
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REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Adnan, S.M., Hay, D. and van Staden, C.J., 2018. The influence of culture and corporate
governance on corporate social responsibility disclosure: A cross country
analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production. 198. pp.820-832.
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652618320304>
Advantage, C., 2020. Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR and Socially Responsible Investing
Strategies in Transitioning and Emerging Economies, 65.
<https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=tdHMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA65&dq=Corporate+social+respons
ibility&ots=N_5O694nKR&sig=aI97rD78YMB-
cFtRMN4_1Spjhfo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Corporate%20social
%20responsibility&f=false>
Arouri, M., Gomes, M. and Pukthuanthong, K., 2019. Corporate social responsibility and M&A
uncertainty. Journal of Corporate Finance. 56. pp.176-198.
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0929119918304218>
Demir, A. and Budur, T., 2019. Roles of leadership styles in corporate social responsibility to
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). International Journal of Social Sciences &
Educational Studies. 5(4). pp.174-183. <http://eprints.tiu.edu.iq/16/>
Frederiksen, T., 2018. Corporate social responsibility, risk and development in the mining
industry. Resources Policy. 59. pp.495-505.
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420718301247>
Freeman, R.E. and Dmytriyev, S., 2017. Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory:
Learning from each other. Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management. (1). pp.7-15.
<https://symphonya.unicusano.it/article/view/2017.1.02freeman.dmytriyev>
Tamvada, M., 2020. Corporate social responsibility and accountability: a new theoretical
foundation for regulating CSR. International Journal of Corporate Social
Responsibility. 5(1). pp.1-14. <https://jcsr.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40991-
019-0045-8>
Online
Corporate social responsibility report., 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/report>
Rebranding, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/rebranding>
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