A Business Report on the Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

This report examines the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for companies, focusing on how incorporating CSR initiatives can improve a company's reputation, attract customers, and increase profits. It uses Unos Property Development (UDP) as a case study, highlighting the company's initial neglect of CSR and the subsequent negative impact on its reputation. The report recommends that UDP improve its energy and water efficiency through measures such as smart home energy visualization, green roofs, smart home energy management systems, and renewable energy sources. By implementing these strategies, UDP can enhance its CSR profile, improve its reputation, and contribute to a more sustainable environment. Desklib provides access to this report along with a wealth of study resources and solved assignments for students.

Business Report
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Executive summary
The purpose of this report is to study corporate social responsibility to see how it’s important for
companies. For any company to have a good reputation and thus have many customers and earn
more profits, it needs to incorporate the aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its
operations. CSR involves incorporating some initiatives which will be of benefits not only to the
company but also to the societies around the company. Unos Property Development (UDP) is a
successful company in the sector of property development but does not consider CSR in its
operations which has tarnished its reputation. After getting a negative reputation which led to a
decline, the company decided to consider CSR in its operations mainly by considering how it can
improve energy and water efficiency which it had ignored in most of its operations.
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Table of Contents
Executive summary................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................4
2. Findings and discussions....................................................................................................4
2.1 Corporate social responsibility (CSR).........................................................................4
3. Recommendations..............................................................................................................5
3.1 The company should improve energy efficiency in its projects..................................5
3.2 The company should improve water efficiency in its projects....................................6
4 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................6
References..............................................................................................................................7
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1. Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the term used to describe the initiatives which are taken
by organisations in attempt to improve the living conditions and the well-being of the people
around them by making sure they conserve the environment, engage in sustainable projects, and
avoid any activities which can have negative effects to the societies around them. Unos Property
Development (UDP) is one of the most successful companies in the sector of property
development as it has been in operation for over 35 years where it has undertaken many
successful projects of commercial and residential properties development. Unfortunately, the
company has not been keen to observe CSR which has been made its reputation to suffer, and
therefore, the company wants to improve its CSR profile. This paper will discuss how the
company can help to improve its CSR profile by engaging in on sustainable practices where it
will mainly focus on how the company can improve on water efficiency and energy efficiency.
2. Findings and discussions
2.1 Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
As we know, in CSR profile of Unos Property Development (UDP) is not very good which has
tarnished its reputation in the market despite the fact that the company has undertaken many
successful commercial and residential development projects for over 35 years. The problem with
the CSR of the company which leads to tarnishing of its name results from the fact that the
company has not been very keen to come with highly reliable and highly sustainable projects
which can live for a long time meeting the requirements of the customers without depreciating so
much in terms of quality. Also, in its projects, the company has not been very keen in terms of
water and the energy management which are among the core necessities in the societies which
any company is expected to manage well and address all the issues related to water and energy as
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required for the benefits of the societies around them. For the company to improve its CSR
profile and hence its reputation, it must consider all the guidelines and the requirements of the
societies around it as it undertake its projects and follow them as required. Improving water
efficiency and energy efficiency are among the major steps which the company should undertake
as it tries to improve its CSR profile.
3. Recommendations
Basing on the findings above about the company’s poor corporate social responsibility (CSR)
profile and reputation, we can make the following recommendations which can help in
improving the CSR and the reputation of the company:
3.1 The company should improve energy efficiency in its projects
Energy is one of the major requirements in both residential and commercial properties (housings)
and any company dealing with projects related to residential and commercial properties is
expected to be very keen when dealing with energy to make sure it won’t waste any energy and
at the same time will provide enough energy required in its properties. Some of the major
recommendations which the company should implement to make sure it improves energy
efficiency in its projects include:
Coming up with smart home energy visualisation when developing its housing projects. The
smart home energy visualisation allows the residents to use their smartphones to know the
electricity consumption in their households and this can help to improve energy efficiency as the
users (residents) can know how electricity is being consumed in their houses and apply the right
mechanisms to control electricity consumption and wastage by taking some measures such as
avoiding some of the electrical appliances which consume high amounts of energy (Fan et al.,
2017, pp. 2545-2548).
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Building houses with green roofs which can help to save on energy. Research has shown that
green roofs are very advantageous as they can offer some cooling and some heating effects when
required. During the cold seasons, green roofs help to save electrical energy in the sense that they
warm the houses and so the electrical energy which could have been used for warming is saved
(Castleton et al., 2010, pp.1582-1591).
The company should come up with smart home energy management systems which have proved
to be very effective in improving the efficiency, the economics, the reliability, and the energy
conservations for houses (Zhou et al., 2016, pp.30-40).
Another measure which should be taken by the company to improve on energy efficiency is
employing the use of renewable energy in its operations and this will help to reduce the threat of
depletion of the non-renewable energy sources. Renewable energy is also more advantageous as
it doesn’t pollute the environment with so much greenhouse gases emissions like the non-
renewable energy sources (McGee, 2013).
The company should come with some measures to reduce carbon emissions on the atmosphere
and also encourage people to embrace and accept renewable energy which is cheaper and
friendlier to the environment (Berry et al., 2014, pp.80-89).
3.2 The company should improve water efficiency in its projects
To improve water efficiency in its housings, the company should design and come up with
houses which can be easily connected to water supply from various sources and the company
should control the water usage in its housings to make sure the water is not being wasted or
misused by the residents (Byrne, Dallas, and Newman, 2014).
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4 Conclusion
From the discussion, we can say that energy efficiency and water efficiency are very important
and companies should always make sure they should incorporate the right strategies to encourage
water efficiency and energy efficiency. To our company which has a very poor CSR profile and
a bad public reputation, incorporating the measures which can help to improve energy efficiency
and water efficiency in their operations can help to build its reputation in a great way.
References
Zhou, B., Wentao, L., Wing, C., Yijia, C., Yonghong, K., Xi, L., and Xiong, W., 2016. Smart
home energy management systems: Concept, configurations, and scheduling strategies.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 61, pp. 30-40.
Castleton, Stovin, V., Beck, M., and Davison, B., 2010. Green roofs; building energy savings
and the potential for retrofit. Energy and Buildings, Volume 42, p. 1582–1591.
Byrne, J., Dallas, S., and Newman, P., 2014. Optimising Residential Water Efficiency – The
Josh’s House Project, Brisbane: Australian Water Association.
McGee, C., 2013. Energy, s.l.: s.n.
Berry, S., David, W., Kathryn, D., and Wasim, S., 2014. Do the numbers stack up? Lessons from
a zero carbon housing estate. Renewable Energy, Volume 67, pp. 80-89.
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Fan, X., Bo, Q., Yuanyuan, L., Haijing, Z., and Bochong, H., 2017. Energy Visualization for
Smart Home. Science Direct, Volume 105, p. 2545 – 2548.
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