Corporate Social Responsibility Report: New Business Advances

This report delves into the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a crucial element in modern business, highlighting its significance for stakeholder engagement and positive returns. It discusses various CSR activities, benefits, and drawbacks, along with a comparison of CSR policies in the UK and other countries. The report also examines the hindrances companies face in adopting CSR strategies. Key topics include the definition of CSR, its integration with corporate strategy, the importance of business ethics, sustainability principles, and the impact of CSR on environmental and social aspects. The report further analyzes CSR practices in the UK, comparing them with approaches in Germany, Japan, Indonesia, and India, while also addressing the complexities and varying perceptions of CSR globally. The report emphasizes the role of corporate philanthropy and the use of CSR performance indicators.

NEW ADVANCES IN
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CONCEPT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY-.......................................................1
CSR IN UK CORRELATED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES-........................................................3
HINDRANCES FOR COMPANIES TO MAKE CSR................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
The Corporate social responsibility or CSR activities are an important components in
modern business environment. It is a fact that if a company takes care of its different
stakeholders, then all of them will also give positive returns in favour. It is evident that there are
various activities and programmes through which an organisation can present itself as a
responsible firm towards society. Earlier, the CSR activities were taken as an additional work
which was not compulsorily adopted by the companies. But, nowadays, government has made it
a mandatory policy for each and every enterprise (Lindgreen and Swaen, 2010). As a result, the
companies use to incorporate its major corporate strategy along with CSR policies. In present
report, CSR and various activities related to it are discussed. Further, major benefits and
drawbacks of applying CSR strategies for a business have been talked. Apart from this, an
attempt has been made to make a comparison between CSR policies of UK and other countries.
In addition to this, the report has discussed various barriers because of which some organisations
use to oppose the adoption of CSR strategies.
CONCEPT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY-
The corporate social responsibility is abbreviated as CSR, it is generally defined as the
relationship between the industrial sides or the corporate side with the citizens of society
(Schneider and Schmidpeter, 2012). In other words concerned with the impact on stakeholders of
the corporation. It should be the angle between the organisation to the government of the
different capitals and then to the respective civilians. There should be implementation of ethics
in which it should be necessary for the corporation to maintain the credibility of the environment
through its basic operations and responsibility towards social citizenship that can never be lost.
Then debate have some contracts that let a chain between corporative side and social side. A
altruistic behaviour is covered in that contract implies converse selfish nature that shows self
interest. There are so many ideas that kept interest of the particular over the collective, the
centralised fact to the responsibility of the society although contracts the society from the
stakeholders and civilians required that essentially. The responsibility of society towards their
members and future is also required, and responsibility over the environment and of course must
needed (Carroll and Shabana, 2010). CSR is the integration of society and environment with the
corporative operations and it stakeholder interacts with it as a tender. Organization works is a
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business environment and located in the social environment, these both areas are affected by the
activity that is undertaking by the organisation itself. The impact of the various operations
conducted by the corporation can be seen internally or externally or both.
There are some impacts in various forms, such as:
 In the process of production the natural resources are utilised.
 Competition in the market between this and the other companies is also affected.
 The opportunities for the enlistment in the community is enriched.
 Due to wastage of the product and extraction of the raw material the landscapes are
transformed (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012).
 The employees working in the organisation has a wealth distribution created by the firm
itself affect the welfare of the further discrete.
 The gases form greenhouse are affecting the climate which is gradually concerned as so
recent.
Basically the nature of CSR activity are surrounded so uncertain so definition of the CSR
is quit unmeasurable and for any activity it is also tough to be certain. Imperatively the activity
is to be able to identified in such way and the principles are like sustainability, accountability and
the transparency summits the activity. Business ethics is not a fresh thing for the people, To do a
healthy business there are always some rules in the corporation world and standards and
normalities. These can be change according to the society and cultural requirements of the
different country but for the betterment expected rules should be universal (Gainer, 2010). It can
be the code of ethics when these rules, standards, norms are applied in an organisation as a
responsibility. Simply ethics provides the way to behave in a decent manner during the
operations of the business. To get the maximum profit in the shares of the company is the
priority but some problems occurs related to the responsibility and service of the society. After
this the ethics and responsibility in corporate should be justified, this is the reason that
shareholders and stakeholders have the promise from the corporate to be fair, up to the ethics and
be in sum (Dhaliwal and et.al, 2011).
Ethics is important to get the idea about what is good or bad, right or wrong, in business
the easy meaning of ethics is to be honest in your work, to be confident, and have respect as
being a business host. If we suppose to relate the ethics with the CSR then Humanity is the key
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of ethics in each and every activity of the corporation. Moral judgement, basic rules, norms, to
act in the line of these parameters, is the process of ethics naturally and in a defined structure.
Ethics can be discussed in so many ways, the business ethics is a concept which have so much
importance in diverse range of territories so its a difficult task to get the exact definition of
ethics. Society has so many issues with the corporation as company have to maintain the same
ethics with their stakeholders and the individuals of the locations (Barnea and Rubin, 2010).
Ethics can be the solution for their issues and not responding nature in the case of responsibility
of the corporate world towards the society.
Sustainability is one of the principles of CSR, and so quickly it have made a universal
object to the society and business. An organisation always willing to have sustainability in their
work and also try to get the developed practices and sustainable activities. So many of them are
discourse to the people because they have not any desire to fight with the problematic face
concerned to the sustainability. It is targeted for green washing over the CSR, which is a danger.
The debate have the subject that centralising the affinity of company and social citizens that a
assured mark of effect is mounted on the internal or external environment by the best sides if the
corporation world (Peloza and Shang, 2011). The financially and ethically in both terms of any
business also have some responsibility towards the society which also good for the stakeholders
of the business. Right Correlation of the environment with the corporate performance depends on
behaviour with ethics and people having concerned about it. The evidence that carry the profit
by the responsibility of a society to the business. The business managers have not any question
about all this circumstances hence the quality of CSR is always being critical as to company and
its stakeholders (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014).
CSR IN UK CORRELATED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES-
Distribution networks are regulated and managed as it covers UK with 17%(42000km
square), 2.5 million supply points are there to get serve and 7.5 million are having gas., so almost
35000 km area is covered in this network. The policy have support of board and related
executive hence shareholders and customers for both of them the awareness to deal with them is
always a priority. The corporation world in UK is always looking to serve a better service, about
the responsible business practice, they have taking care either it is the society or their business
operated market. The backbreaking work of the employees of the organisation to minimize the
impacts on the both environments, to give support local communities, distributing similar scope
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that will assure them that they are safe and calibrated practices of work, the equal values for the
suppliers, they are working with (Werther Jr and Chandler, 2010). Assure the people that the
workspace we have is the best, will expertise the talent.
UK governance code is involved in the corporate social responsibility, consisting some
duties of company that its shareholders can serve itself. According to the fact company should be
in the values of board, and must be understood by the stakeholder and others. Removes the risk
factor related to safety, social, health issues, market reputation and so many problems of
business. Day by day CSR is going as the activity for government and the locality both, The
Association of British Insurers, London stock exchange have almost 20 per cent of the company
is owned by the members, guiding the issues related to CSR for both organisations and
investment party (Brammer, Jackson and Matten, 2012). There is a social responsible investment
guideline asking the annual report highlighting the risks of environment, society, and
government, if the respective company do not match the parameters it will considered as
irresponsible ESG behaviour. Business in UK have an eye that shows the all three ESG
impingement of various operations and activities run by the companies. More than 850
companies of UK at the business of charity have claimed from the community to be a member
that commits to elaborating the brunt on the social citizens. A corporate responsibility index
checks about the company that how they had deal with CSR.
The UK card association admits that to understand that how the corporative world can
mark impact on the social world, this is CSR all about (Gjølberg, 2010). An environmental
impact should be reduce to increase the performance situated to environment and a business
strategy should be there for methods of operations. UK card association have fairness in there
criteria, according to them opportunities should be equal for both sides, there are bunch of
practices and policies on which a company have to stands have diversity. The club promises to
hold a relationship with support with community either national or local. The business ethics are
very good that pinch all the standards on which it has to be. High esteemed standards are there to
be hold. The organisation have done from the ESG impacts on the wider area of the site.
Recalling the ethics, it connects the foundation to the ideal way of business (Servaes and
Tamayo, 2013).
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UK business have some CSR practices in which they prefer the business-driven
understanding of CSR, but in Germany there is a another approach, the profit is a bit more there
because they do demonstrate the broader area of their country. Although Japan is not that much
developed in business up to the CSR requirements, they have not keeping the practices for CSR.
For them accountability and transparency is so ideal to reach this on global mode. In Indonesia
the customers are completely unaware of CSR there business are quite of bottomless nature.
Europe having a different idea they address more priority to the CR of environment and less to
the social CR. The priority level is compared to the managers of the companies (Goss and
Roberts, 2011). In India the IT companies have so much of creativity in their CSR, MNC's
(multinational company) corporation are specialised to convey the communities but somewhere
CSR development needed an hour of clock. Chinese business theory is moreover depends on the
perception of consumer, it deals with the economic responsibility which is the key factor when
responsibility of philanthropic comes so down in the merit.
Complexity and uncertain nature CSR identified around these 2 words, interchangeably
social responsibility is vary as corporate sustainability & responsibility (Luning, 2012).
Corporate philanthropy is traditionally very deep in UK, chief economics commentator of the
financial times have said these words. The website of the company has all the indicators that the
organisation is growing in such direction, by knowing the the performance CSR indicator's
deployment. The value of organization and CSR reinforced mutually. Here are some obligations
grows up of a consultant of CSR:
 The society have been served by the consultancies conducting the interests of clients.
 May be the consultancies only serve the private interests, as there is no profile for
serving the social interest.
 Incidentally the private interests can be considered but the priority will always relies
for the social interest (Jackson and Apostolakou, 2010).
 May these consultancies incidentally cover the interests of client and society, may
theirs own.
In UK the there is no pre existing list for the consultancies which are regulating the CSR,
requirements of the criteria is must needed to establish this kind of list. So many activities are
there to capitalise the consultancies in UK, but still there is no consultancies to integrate CSR. At
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the first stage, they defined the industry of CSR consultancy which providing the top CSR
strategy for the business in UK (Capriotti, 2011).
Getting CSR models in business and its links with stakeholders
Stakeholder management relationship lies on CSR. There should be two way
communication with stakeholders, i.e. understanding type of support and learning there business
expectations. According to the stakeholder theory, practising CSR creates a high level of
business performance. The success rates for any business of an organization depends on the
capacity to maintain stakeholders relationships. Through stakeholder theory, the organization is
able to express their methodology to stakeholder with whom they have good relationships.
Organizing CSR programmes generally helps to get better position in order to take advantages of
the potential benefits (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012). It creates the flexible and honest relationships
with stakeholders. By establishing appropriate objectives of company, they need to contribute to
short term profits and get long term business growth. CSR should be implemented with the help
of business planning for approval of stakeholders to develop their business strategies and
maximize their benefits along with values of business.
Competitive success includes the customer and employee satisfaction, reputation,
productivity, market share, competitive position which are based on the innovation, quality and
money. CSR contains mainly three variables: suitable stake holder management, firm
performance and profit increment (Gainer, 2010). Such programs also create a positive image in
the eyes of government firms to invest in their company and relaxing them by regulation
authorities.
Advantages for Companies and Public
For the organizations, CSR is not viewed as wastage if organized carefully for the
betterment of customers as well as the business enterprises. Through this, company's relationship
increase the attention and retention of employees, consumers and other networks for trades and
services. It helps in attracting employees by generating happy workforce environment for easier
recruitment and influencing them. Such things enhances the new training recruiters reducing
their cost for making developments in their career. This improves the reputation and creates
positive business opportunities through press coverage and creates future sustainability
development for the business firms (Dhaliwal and et.al, 2011).
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Given are five UK companies incorporating CSR into their business and doing great job.
Entities like Barclays, Thronton's, Ernst & Young, Greggs and BT are doing Social and
Community development, charity works, training and environmental friendly programmes.
Barclays was awarded Lord Mayer's Award for Long standing Achievement. These programmes
not only help the people but also creates chance for exploring clean environment by utilizing
renewable energy sources making one time investment and reducing the cost of production
(Barnea and Rubin, 2010).
Disadvantages for Companies and Public
Although CSR has advantages to the organization but it is criticized too in business
organized circles. According to Milton Firedman, an economist describes the CSR to be
unfavourable for the companies. He describes that main focus of organization should be profit
making. There commitment to shareholders is that they will make profits for them but due to
social and community welfare there funds gets engaged in CSR programs. So the profit making
obligation is not fulfilled and due to outflow of cash there are less possibilities of giving huge
returns to the shareholders of company.
Under the policies of CSR, the firms are bound to disclose various information to general
public which may sometimes result into a huge loss of profits as well as their reputation (Peloza
and Shang, 2011). In general language lets take an example, if there is defect in the
manufacturing of any product like mobiles and it's sold to large number of costumers then
company has to call back all of the product. It create convenience to the consumer but
manufacturer lose their trust and wallops their reputation.
Suppose CSR programmes are organized by the company, if consumer don't see any
instant result about the programs then these are considered as promotional stunts. Because of this
customers are needed to be convinced that results require certain time and they should have faith
in good intentions of the company (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014).
For organizing CSR programmes the enterprises have to increase its expenditure whose
results are reflected through the hike in prices, indirectly affecting the consumer. Large
organization may not get affected so there prices may not rise but for small business they need to
increase the prices of there products to meet the additional expenses (Peloza and Shang, 2011).
Marketing strategies, reputation and public perceptions
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Marketplace strategies are characterised by product quality, price and service. The
company communicate through the advertisement, online promotion, packaging and their social
responsibility to work with the non-profit organization or to support there cause (Werther Jr and
Chandler, 2010). The key-point is to attract the consumer for purchasing the products. As many
firms are using the CRM, mainly in UK, sceptical attitude is generated among the consumers
regarding there involvement in social issue. Hence scepticism can create consumer rejection
towards companies product if they are not able to understand it completely. Reputation is
directly related to the brand awareness by differentiating from others and hence getting
profitability in company gain. But they can also get lose there reputation. Its advantages to the
reputed firms and disadvantage to poorly reputed firms in competition (Brammer, Jackson and
Matten, 2012). Using CSR programmes with the help of non-profit organization can help in
seeking positive reputation and changing attitude of customer. Pro-social agenda is defined as
utilizing market power to define the reputation-al status of company and giving it competitive
environment (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014). At last the key relationship of a firm is to
maintain and focus on there laurels. There should always be difference between your brand
image and brand equity. The consistent image of care and compassion is always rewarded by the
society. Concentration on marketing and communication should be used as powerful tool to
inform the consumers and making awareness among them (Gjølberg, 2010).
Company performance and its profitability
CSR influences customer thinking ideology on the services provided and product and in
end directly affecting the performance of company. The CSR level being above or below the
baseline as decided by the customer will make them accept or boycott the offer. It will define the
satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the consumer. There is no general way to measure the CSR of
any company and how much profit will it get from CSR activities. It is totally based on the
customer perceptions and company performance on a product or service offered to them. The
company performance and its profit is certainly decided by the analysis report of media, the
reviews from the consumers and organizational certification (Servaes and Tamayo, 2013).
Driving forces for companies to take more CSR
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is getting great popularity day by day. Its luring
more and more organizations to showcase the commitment towards CSR. By globalization,
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making difference in market scenario and ethical consumerism, organization are utilizing the
CSR concept to remain in the competition (Werther Jr, and Chandler, 2010). Main consideration
was on the economic responsibility to be profitable for the foundation, legal responsibility to
obey the rules, ethical responsibility to be ethical to do what is right and philanthropic
responsibility to be good corporate citizen and improve there quality of life. Organization started
expenditure on social responsibility, environmental benefits, free educational benefits, public
health care initiatives to the staff and underprivileged (Goss and Roberts, 2011). Through these
drivers there is better understanding between the market and employee. Driving forces helps the
organization to give the better services to costumers by keeping themselves publicly open,
paying taxes to society and accountability to public is shown.
Major trends that influence CSR and the five driving force behind the CSR phenomenon
 Transparency and Knowledge: Due to transparency nothing can be hidden for so long.
Through media, internet and legislation of government the review is instantaneous for
any organization. Its easily accessible due to communication technologies and benefits
the companies which are truly transparent and authentic making long term benefits.
Through transparency consumer can easily access the companies files while purchasing
and stakeholders can invest in the one having the best CSR (Luning, 2012).
 Globalization: This mostly concerned driver which had great impact. Organization and
government of various countries are joining together for better of future so as to utilize
the resources completely and sustain life for as long as possible. It changes the market
scenario and ethical consumerism (Servaes and Tamayo, 2013). The multinational
corporation has increased there wealth and power. But due to cultural difference and
different acceptable behaviour there is little complexity. With great opportunities comes
great responsibility so strategic decisions considering CSR policy should be adopted for
optimal outcomes from diverse stakeholders (Jackson and Apostolakou, 2010).
 Sustainability: This driver is key topic around the world due to increased in population,
pollution, waste, resources depletion, change in environment. We already utilized the
excess of the resources so now sustainable utilization is adopted. Main problem is that
many companies directly rely on these environmental products and had great pressure if
they get extinct/deplete . Now organization adopted to be eco-friendly, for the betterment
of future and long-term availability of resources (Jackson and Apostolakou, 2010).
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 Brand Power: Being a brand is what the main focus of organization for corporate
success. The brand generally depends on the consumer perception of the company. In
other words greater the brand reputation more will be the profit. Utilizing CSR in honest
manner can protect the organization reputation and the brand name.
 Increased Prosperity: Due to above all drivers the affluence of organization increases.
The organization has a relevant growth and gets stabilize. Therefore CSR is manly
concerned in the developed countries. It makes the work stability and security which
provides the social luxury choices (Capriotti, 2011).
Driving forces for companies with CSR
 Stakeholders: The relationship with the government and regulation authorities is the
initial priority for the driving forces from above stated. The shareholders are the
important driving forces by the companies
 Corporation with Governance: For the concept of corporation with governance
internationally best methods are practise for implementing the polices and the reports
management of organization in order to avoid the risks (Jo and Harjoto, 2011).
 Human Resources: For every human being health and resources are the top most
priority that should be declared by the organization to have better relation to the
human resources. It also results that companies organizing the CSR have relevant,
motivated employees. Salary and advantages are selected as the useful tool. It
increases the employability and the loyalty of employees to the organization.
 Environment: The environment generally affects the employees as the contribute
more in effective environment (Tang, Hull and Rothenberg, 2012). Through ranking
with the image of some certification also help company to get good reputation. Its an
important driving force.
 Finance: Credit rating being important driving force to the financial driving forces.
Also EIA reports are used for the project financing.
Organizations role is concerned for implementing and practising social responsibility to
cognizant utilize various skills of there leader, to be an encourager and adopt new styles in order
to get success. Studies suggested that business success and societal responsibility are not
compatible but they can define the opening of new business opportunities (Stanaland, Lwin, and
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