Corporate Social Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis (ACCT20071)

This report critically analyzes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of JB Hi-Fi Limited and Harvey Norman Holdings. It begins with an executive summary outlining the merits and demerits of CSR, emphasizing the increasing importance of CSR initiatives. The report then delves into the advantages of CSR, such as enhanced company image, renewable energy promotion, investor attraction, reduced regulatory intimidation, employee retention, and positive promotion. Conversely, it addresses the disadvantages, including increased production costs, potential customer impatience, and shifts in profit objectives. The report provides overviews of JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, followed by a detailed examination of their respective CSR activities, including JB Hi-Fi's "Helping Hands" initiative and Harvey Norman's sustainable growth strategies. The analysis draws upon their annual reports and sustainability reports to evaluate the impact of their CSR efforts, offering a comparative assessment within the context of the provided assignment brief for ACCT20071. The report also includes a literature review and critical evaluation of the companies' CSR approaches.

Running head: CSR AND CRITICAL REVIEW
CSR AND THE CRITICAL REVIEW
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHORS NOTE

1CSR And The Critical Review
Executive Summary
This paper will discuss about the merits and demerits of the Corporate Social
Responsibility or CSR. The more people are getting aware of their merits and demerits the more
people are getting inclined to work over it. Therefore, the paper will further get into details of the
companies that are involved in the CSR activities and how this is affecting the profits of the
company and whether it is creating any value addition to the company or not.

2CSR And The Critical Review
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Advantages of the corporate social responsibility...........................................................................2
The company image enhances.....................................................................................................2
Renewable Energy Promotion.....................................................................................................2
Attraction of more investors........................................................................................................3
Lesser Intimidation from the Regulatory Authorities..................................................................3
Retention of Employees...............................................................................................................3
Positive promotion.......................................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of Corporate Social Responsibility..........................................................................3
Rise in the production cost..........................................................................................................3
Development of Impatience Among the Customers....................................................................4
Shift In The Money Making Objective And Increase In The Cost Of Production......................4
Critical Evaluation...........................................................................................................................4
JB Hi-Fi Limited..........................................................................................................................4
Harvey Norman Holdings............................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

3CSR And The Critical Review
Overview
JB Hi-Fi Limited
JB Hi-Fi has been established in the year 1974 by John barbuto and it has been trading as
a single store in East Keilor, Victoria. Mr Barbuto was following the simple philosophy of
delivering the special range of Hi-Fi and music that is recorded at the Australia’s lowest price.
After getting listed in the Australia Stock Exchange in the year 2003, it has become the largest
growing retailers of home entertainment and also the fastest growing retailers. The company is
however, the world leader in providing world class brand for computers, TVs, Cameras, Home
Theatre, Tablets. JB Hi-Fi also offers the largest range of games, DVD music + Blu-Ray,
recorded music, TV shows and DVD movies and everything in the cheap price (JB Hi-Fi. 2020).
Harvey Norman Holdings
Harvey Norman Holdings is one of the largest furniture retailers in Australia. It is the
public company that is listed in ASX. It usually operated by taking franchises in Australia;
however the main stores are handled by the Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. Their primary
activity deals with integrated retail, digital property, franchise and digital enterprises. Brands
sold around 168 Harvey Norman franchised are leaders in the market in the core technology and
audio visual segment in Australia (Harvey Norman Holdings 2020).
CSR- A Growing Responsibility
With a growing concern over the corporate social responsibilities, which has itself got an
acronym CSR, companies in several industries try their best to accelerate initiatives to show their
commitments towards the CSR activities. The companies driven forces such as stakeholders,
consumers, societies and government are forcing more and more companies to involve in the
CSR activities like the HSBC who is the world leader in the banking sector has worked upon and
announced a carbon neutral initiative in order to show their CSR activity and their work and
concern towards the climate change and the problems related to that. Thereby this show the fact
that the company should be accountable to the society at large also along with their stakeholders.
There are different kinds of corporate social responsibility of which the paper will further discuss
upon the community based corporate based responsibility, where in order to safeguard the well-
being of the society, the company along with the help of different organisations usually the non-
profit organisation, come up with the various programs. The companies either fund the programs
or arrange the fund in order to carry forward the planned programs. ("What is CSR? | UNIDO",
2020)

4CSR And The Critical Review
Advantages of the corporate social responsibility
The company image enhances
The most and foremost importance of having the corporate social responsibility is the
increase of the goodwill of the company. It definitely adds value to any organization and increase
the value of the intangible asset of the organization. This ultimately have an effect on the
customers, who are willing to do transaction with the company with good goodwill and would
have will to purchase their goods. Along with that other companies would also be willing to
associate with the company that has a goodwill in the market. However it has been noted that
CSR has been a factor that has enhanced the reputation of the company at the society in large as
being one of the consistent and the trustworthy and it is the human nature to usually associate
with the brand that is more reliable and best in the market. For example JB Hi-Fi has been able to
build a huge brand basis on the basis of their CSR Activities.
Renewable Energy Promotion
Companies that remain involve in the CSR activities and programs make sure that their
processes does not lead to any harm in the environment. The companies always tries to introduce
those production methods that does not have any bad effects on the environment, they however
also prefer to bring new techniques and machinery that also reduces any harmful effect that
might happen to the environment. Therefore, due to this consideration the companies also tries to
utilize and also access the possibilities of utilizing and the generation of the renewable energy
sources and they think it will be a great deal as just by making a one-time investment, the
company can actually save its overall cost over production. Harvey Norman Holdings is one
such example of getting into energy saving mode on.
Attraction of more investors
Investors are definitely attracted to the company that posses great goodwill in the market.
The companies having good reputation also gets access to the foreign direct investment, thereby
attracting the foreign investors. Regulations become lesser for the companies having involved in
the CSR activities and therefore even the government has their willingness to invest in such
companies.
Lesser Intimidation from the Regulatory Authorities
Regulatory authorities usually pay more attention to details to the companies that does
not involve in the CSR activities. However, it is believed and assumed by the regulatory
authorities that since if a company is performing its CSR activities, it is definitely doing well for

5CSR And The Critical Review
the environment and for the society at large. Therefore they think that the companies are having
a good rapport with the people and must be complying with the rules and regulations as well.
Retention of Employees
Candidates those are willing to have a job gets more inclined to the company which has a
great reputation in the market and also has certain plans and programs that are for the benefit of
the society and for them as well. Therefore this attract the potential employees as well as they
find the companies are meeting with all the regulations and is consistent and even trustworthy
which is clearly visible from JB Hi-Fi limited.
Positive promotion
It is a proverb that “any publicity is the good publicity”; however, there is a difference
between the publicity and the publicity that has positive light attached to it. In the business
environment it is important to have positive name and reputation in the eyes of the public.
However it can be possible to gain some positive promotion by getting involved in the CSR
activities.
Disadvantages of Corporate Social Responsibility
Rise in the production cost
There was a economist named Milton Friedman who has been one of the biggest
criticizer of the CSR, where he has that view that CSR deviates the main motive of the company
to earn profit to using their earned profit for the welfare of the society. Milton strongly criticizes
and have an opinion that the CSR activities are nothing but mere outflow of money and an added
expenditure with no future pay back or any kind of profit retention.
Development of Impatience Among the Customers
Initially customers do get excited regarding the CSR programs; however as the time
passes they tend to become more impatient and want to see the results from such activities
instantly. When they don’t receive such results then ultimately they start to have an assumption
that this has been nothing but a mere publicity stunts. However this lead to the loss of the trust,
which is utmost required by any business enterprises.

6CSR And The Critical Review
Shift In The Money Making Objective And Increase In The Cost Of
Production
As it has been stated earlier that companies having CSR activities usually ends up
diverting or shifting from their main motive which is to earn money make profit and enrich the
business and flourish it even more. CSR programs ultimately adds extra cost to the company.
Therefore the increased costs lead to the increase in the prices of the products which is ultimately
bourne by the customers.
JB Hi-Fi Limited CSR Activities
For the purpose of critical evaluation of the company, JB Hi Fi has been selected and
however and it has been noted from the sustainable report of the Jb Hi- Fi limited for the year
2018-2019, where it has been noted that the management has also given importance to the
Corporate social responsibility and does things for the protection of the environment and also put
emphasis over the welfare of the society at large. For example the JB Hi- Fi helping hands
intiative where the company has recognized its responsibility to give it back to the community
and the society at large and therefore in the year 2008 november, the company has founded the
helping hands workplace giving initiative. As per this initiative the company has allowed its
employees to donate to ten charity partners through their regular deductions from the payroll.
With this employees donations to the charity the company has doubled the positive impact on the
charity. ("CSR information for JB Hi-Fi Limited", 2020)
In the span of last eleven years JB hi-Fi has raised over $20 million for their charity
partners. The money however, has gone to the people who are struggling with sickness and are
not fortunate. There are a staff force of 6000 members who are contributing to the program each
week, which is almost seventy six percent of the total workforce population in a nation.
("Corporate Social Responsibility | JB Hi-Fi Solutions", 2020).
Helping hands has been able to get many awards for being one of the most innovative
charity/employer partnership and have also received almost six workplace giving awards. It has
to be noted that JB Hi-Fi has been a proud member of the workplace giving Australia. They have
been able to reach upto 1million donors.
The company has also taken a change for change initiative where one can spare the
change in the boxes present in the Jb Hi-Fi limited stores. They have also joined hands with the
current helping hands charity groups and also other charities to deliver one-stop fundraising
campaigns over $200 thousand has been received by the current partners like Songroom and
ReachOut.
Recently, JB Hi-Fi has raised in and donated the amount of $100,000 to the Australian
Red Cross Disaster Relief and to Recovery Fund in order to help the community who got

7CSR And The Critical Review
effected in the Bush fire in Australia. Furthermore, they have also raised $50,000 for the
donation for the efforts in the emergency wildlife response.
Thereby it has been noted that the company has literally contributed to the society at
large with its innovative CSR programs that literally has an impact at the large amount and has
been successful throughout.
Harvey Norman Holdings CSR Activities
After going through the annual reports of the Harvey Norman Holdings of the year 2018
it has been noted that the entity has acknowledges the fact that the integration of the sustainable
growth into their strategy and also its business decisions will ultimately lead to the long term
goal achievement of creation of value. The company has made sure to consider their social,
economic and environmental risks and also look into the opportunities, according to which, the
company believe in having a sustainable practices that will generate long-term value creation for
all its stakeholders and any person related to them whether internally or externally.
The company has adopted the conflicts of interest policy, the gifts and benefits policies in
order to have a best practices of corporate governance. They have indulged in the solar energy
program where they have analyzed a net saving of around 10.59 % of electricity which is
1308310kwh of electricity and has marked a reduction of carbon dioxide by 1209 tonnes which
is equal to taking down of 200 cars from the road for a year. The other initiative has been of the
LED lighting one where there has been seen reduction in the consumption of the energies and
also there has been savings on the maintenance as excess as $ 1.40 million per annum which is
an average payback of the 2.7 years. The other project was the Stormwater harvesting system in
the financial year 2018 where the company has installed four rainwater harvesting system in their
franchised complexes, which are subject to collect almost 916000 litres of rainwater which can
further be utilized for the purpose of irrigation and there will be lesser dependence on the main
water supply for the said purpose. ("Harvey Norman Holdings Limited - AnnualReports.com",
2020)
Critical Evaluation
It has been noted that both the retail companies has their own set of principles and they
are doing a great job at taking initiative for the welfare of the society, their stakeholders and for
the environment at large. However, it has to be noted that JB Hi-Fi limited has invested more in
their sustainable development as compared to its competitors and this gives an added advantage
to the company in the society at large. Since JB Hi-Fi has been focused on more welfare of the
human rights, JB Hi-Fi limited has an added advantage and they are free to conduct such
activities and further it lead to their image getting appreciated in front of their stakeholders like
customers, suppliers and also the employees of the company. Harvey Norman Holdings CSR
activities as compared to the JB Hi-Fi seemed to be lesser effective, However they are opting for
more adaptation of renewable energies and this is where their advantages lies as compared to

8CSR And The Critical Review
their competitors JB Hi-Fi limited and which lead to their brand establishment in the market as
JB Hi-Fi limited has not done things for the energy savings process. However JB Hi-Fi has been
opting for more sustainable strategies and structure which Harvey Norman Holdings lacks.
Conclusion
This paper has analyzed a detailed study related to the CSR activity at large and also has
cited examples of the companies and the activities that they are pursuing over the application of
their CSR rights. It has been noted that with the growing concerns more and more companies
have come up with the consciousness to do something for the society and not only this they have
also developed a particular group in order to get new ideas and plan new and innovative stuffs.
The company has literally taken the word “responsibility” too seriously and tried to render their
duties. However, this has ultimately act as an advantage to them where they have raised their
goodwill in the market and people find them most reliable and trustworthy. In both the JB Hi-Fi
limited and the Harvey Norman Holdings, the companies have taken initiatives that has been
innovative in their own ways and has been helpful to the society, employees, less fortunate and
the environment at large. However it has been noted that JB Hi-Fi limited has worked towards
the sustainable environment and it has been observed that they had made the welfare of their
employees, their families and society at large, their statutory obligation. On the other hand it has
been witnessed that Harvey Norman Holdings has been lesser effective in CSR activities as
compared to their competitors. However both the companies have contributed in one or another
ways. This shows the willingness of the management of these companies who puts emphasis on
the overall welfare and sustainable growth of their companies, seeking for the higher long-term
value addition to the company.

9CSR And The Critical Review
References
Corporate Social Responsibility | JB Hi-Fi Solutions. (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2020, from
https://investors.jbhifi.com.au/helpinghands/
CSR information for JB Hi-Fi Limited. (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2020, from
https://www.csrhub.com/CSR_and_sustainability_information/JB-Hi-Fi-Limited
Harvey Norman Holdings Limited - AnnualReports.com. (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2020,
from http://www.annualreports.com/Company/harvey-norman-holdings-limited
Harvey Norman Holdings. (2020). Company Overview — Harvey Norman Holdings. [online]
Available at: http://www.harveynormanholdings.com.au/company [Accessed 21 Jan. 2020].
JB Hi-Fi. (2020). JB Hi-Fi - Australia's Largest Home Entertainment Retailer. [online]
Available at: https://www.jbhifi.com.au/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2020].
What is CSR? | UNIDO. (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2020, from https://www.unido.org/our-
focus/advancing-economic-competitiveness/competitive-trade-capacities-and-corporate-
responsibility/corporate-social-responsibility-market-integration/what-csr