Corporate Social Responsibility Analysis: BT vs Airtel Telecom

This report provides a comparative analysis of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of British Telecom (BT) in the UK and Airtel Telecom in India. It examines their approaches to sustainability, environmental initiatives, and community engagement. The report highlights key differences, such as BT's focus on environmental standards and stakeholder relations, including investors, while Airtel emphasizes community well-being through education and employment generation. The analysis also explores their CSR reporting, customer initiatives, and economic sustainability strategies, including their responses to environmental challenges, carbon emissions, and resource management. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of CSR for ethical business practices and sustainable development, summarizing the distinct approaches of both companies in addressing social and environmental concerns. The report uses the provided references from the original document.

RUNNING HEAD: CSR 0
2020
Corporate Social Responsibility
Student’s Details-

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Differences in CSR Activities of British Telecom and Airtel
Telecom in India
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is that business model that aims to integrate the social
and environmental concerns into the business practices and making the business socially
accountable (Crane, et al., 2019). Moreover, it is important for the companies to report the CSR
activities which improves the company’s brand and often helps in maintaining long lasting
relationship with the stakeholders and make the financial success. The paper has discussed the
CSR activities of British Telecom in UK and highlighting the differences with CSR activities for
Airtel Telecom in India.
British Telecom sees CSR as their voluntary action which can contribute to the sustainable
development. The company manages the social and environmental issues which will help the
customers and brand to build. The company has significant contribution to the CSR programs
and are continued to be forward looking and ensure their reputation excellence. With respect to
their responsibility towards the environment, the company has met the environment management
standard ISO 14001 which was renewed and have received the certifications for Ireland, Italy
and Belgium (BT Plc, 2018). Majorly, the company has prioritized sustainability through social
inclusion, sustainable economic growth and climate change. The CSR approach for the Airtel
India is different and focus upon the community wellbeing and empowerment which is to be
used by means of supporting the disadvantaged people. Airtel majorly focuses upon the
education, employment generations and the initiatives related to the progress of the stakeholders
which can be seen as an agent of the positivity and aspiring nation. Unlike British Telecom,
Airtel has focused upon the empowerment of the communities though the quality educational
programs.
Further, CSR reporting of British Telecom shows that the company has been interacting with the
customers, suppliers and the investors and also look after the communities through charity and
showing concerns for the environment. The company donates 1 percent of profits into the CSR
funding. The company has approaches for the stakeholders such as investors in which the
company recognizes their concerns and matches the strategies for reducing the potential risks.
The company has made due investments in showing the contribution to society and demonstrated

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the voluntary contribution of 28.7 million pounds and the company is committed to 1 percent
target for the tracking of performance as a responsible business (BT Group, 2019). This is
different from the CSR activities of Airtel India as the company has majorly focused upon the
holistic community initiatives. The company has started the educational programs for the
community initiatives. The company has made ‘win with people’ strategy which is the training
intervention for the company. Moreover, CSR must include the satisfaction of the customers
which is the ethical approach for the companies (Wang & Li, 2019). Similarly, Airtel India has
differently contributed to the customer initiatives in which listening to the customer’s
touchpoints and made overall increase in the online interactions by 74 percent and often have
seen that 10 million social media queries are answered last year (Airtel, 2016).
Further, it is important that the companies are environmentally sustainable through making the
activities in an environment friendly manner and also making the ethical approaches which can
attract the attention of the customers. Moreover, British Telecom in UK has made the approaches
for the attaining of the environment sustainability through the waste reduction and recycling of
the waste materials to the landfills. As into the communication technology, the company has
reduced the carbon emissions (Ricketts, 2019). Besides, the company’s energy saving initiatives
are largest into the world. This environmental approach is different from the Airtel India. Airtel
India has adopted the Adhar card instant verification which can reduce the paperwork. The
environmental initiatives of the company also include the 23% reduction in the CO2 emissions
and also 9% decrease in the CO2 emissions per track in 2015-16 (India CSR Network, 2017).
Bharti Airtel acknowledges the reality and focus on the green solutions and is committed to
green practices by adapting new technologies. The company has purchased six solar plants and
reduced the emissions of 900 tons annually. The company has utilized the resource management
framework for the management of wastages which is generally being generated by the
telecommunication industry.
Furthermore, British Telecom has made the economic sustainability through making the new
products and services in which the company attempts to make the economic growth. The
economic growth is developed through the raising awareness and other stakeholders. Sustainable
economic growth is required for the companies for the earning of the profits (Wang & Li, 2019).
Moreover, British Telecom has contributed to the technology and make focus on the UK in

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which the company declares to be purposeful and make the profits. This is different from the
CSR practices of Airtel India which seeks to facilitate the long-term value to the shareholders
and keep the employees engaged for attaining the economic growth (Airtel, 2016). Airtel can
improve their sustainable practice by making the business responsible in the terms of green and
also in terms of protecting the rights of the employees. The company should maintain the strong
culture which can lead to the productivity and also it can lead to more employee satisfaction
which is the efficient way to deal with the CSR practices (Wang & Li, 2019).
To conclude, it can be said that Corporate Social Responsibility is an important for the
organization as it defines the purpose of the company to be ethical and make the approaches for
the making the sustainable practices. Here, the paper has discussed the CSR activities of British
Telecom and the way it is different from the Airtel India. Both the companies have the
approaches for making the sustainable practices and have made the efforts for the community
engagements. There are differences in the British Telecom and Airtel India in which the
companies have different environmental approaches and have a different way of dealing with the
social factors in order to be sustainable.

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References
Airtel, 2016. Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability. [Online]
Available at: https://www.airtel.in/airtel-annual-report-2015-16/corporate-social-
responsibility.html
[Accessed 6 March 2020].
BT Group, 2019. Building better digital lives. [Online]
Available at: https://www.btplc.com/Digitalimpactandsustainability/Ourreport/Downloads/
2019/BT_Digital_Impact_Sustainability_Report_2018_19.pdf
[Accessed 6 March 2020].
BT Plc, 2018. Being Purposeful. [Online]
Available at: https://www.btplc.com/Purposefulbusiness/Deliveringourpurpose/2018summary/
[Accessed 6 March 2020].
Crane, A., Matten, D. & Spence, L., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and cases
in a global context. s.l.:Routledge.
India CSR Network, 2017. Airtel releases 2017 India Sustainability Report. [Online]
Available at: https://indiacsr.in/airtel-releases-2017-india-sustainability-report/
[Accessed 6 March 2020].
Ricketts, A., 2019. BT 'still committed' to corporate social responsibility. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/bt-still-committed-corporate-social-responsibility/
fundraising/article/1523700
[Accessed 6 March 2020].
Wang, S. & Li, D., 2019. Responding to public disclosure of corporate social irresponsibility in
host countries: Information control and ownership control. Journal of International Business
Studies, pp. 1-27.