Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility for M&S: A Detailed Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with a focus on Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an introduction to the concept of CSR and its importance for organizations, followed by an in-depth examination of M&S's CSR initiatives. The main body delves into the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of CSR, highlighting how M&S integrates these aspects into its business model. The report further explores the impact of CSR on various stakeholders, including customers, employees, and the community, as well as its influence on corporate tax and investment decisions. The analysis considers the significance of CSR in enhancing customer relationships, employee motivation, profitability, and public relations. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the need for effective implementation of CSR strategies to achieve sustainable business practices. The report uses various academic sources to support its findings.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Corporate social responsibility is a concept with the help of which the organisations aim
to contribute to the society by way of regulating the activities. It is the policies of the company
which is followed by them as per the implications imposed on them and on the basis of the
decisions which are taken by the management. The policy of CSR which has been followed need
to be aligned with the business model that the company has incorporated. In this report the
organisation which is taken into consideration is M&S which is a multinational retailer offering
better quality clothes, food products and home products. For the organisation, the role and
importance of the CSR for the business organisation are taken into consideration, apart from this
the influence of such policies on the corporate tax and the investment decisions are also
analysed.
MAIN BODY
In the recent years the concept of corporate social responsibility became so very
important for the organisation as they believes that it offers various advantages to the companies,
communities, employees, environment etc. It is much more than philanthropy as the voluntary
actions are taken by the organisations so that they can become accountable to all the
stakeholders. With the help of CSR the business operates with efficiency so that they can meet
up with all the legal requirements which are imposed on them. For contributing to the society the
organisations establish their own standards and activities with the help of which they determine
the code of conduct as per which the employees need to perform ethically (Harjoto, 2015).
With the help of various policies of the Corporate Social Responsibility the organisations
do well for the society, customers, environment etc. that offers them long term benefits so that
they establish and maintain better relations with all of their stakeholders. The CSR has three
dimensions which are taken into consideration by the M&S which includes the economic aspect,
social aspect and the environmental aspect. On the basis of these dimensions the role of
corporate social responsibility for M&S can be analysed (Cheng, 2014). The economic aspect of
corporate social responsibility helps in analysing the impact of the operations of M&S and
various issues which includes financial issues, recording of the figures related with the
employment and debts etc. Other than this various factors that are part of economic aspect are
the effect on the stakeholders of various operations and activities as due to them the profitability

of the organisation gets influenced and that ultimately can influence the earnings of the
shareholders. Also the tax base as per which the M&S pays the taxes has impact as with the help
of this the wealth is distributed among the people in the society. The societal aspect of
corporate social responsibility is the newest concept in which the organisation considers and
addresses various social concerns. It includes various key aspects that considers the
responsibility of the organisation towards the customers, towards the employees and towards the
community. In this the M&S need to consider the quality of the products which are offered to the
customers so that their needs and wants can effectively be satisfied. For the customers various
features such as the safety, durability, after sales services etc. need to be provided. The
organisations need to consider the requirements of the employees in terms of various
opportunities for them on the grounds of equality among all. The overall performance and the
contribution of M&S defines their concerns for the community as it includes the producers,
suppliers, employees and customers etc. (Kim, 2014) The Environmental aspect of CSR are
considered to be important factors as the organisation need to determine the influence of their
operations on the environment. The key aspects related with the environment includes measuring
the impact on the environment by way of life cycle assessment, material input per service unit
etc. Also the management of the environment need to be considered which includes the aspects
of cleaner production, resource productivity, quality related issues etc. For M&S the role of
corporate social responsibility is crucial as they help them to determine the sector which need to
focussed by them.
Apart from this the M&S need to consider the importance for corporate social
responsibility so that their function can be made effective. The significance of CSR are Social
responsibility and customer relationship, the CSR helps the companies in going beyond ethics
with the help of which they can make the community actively involved and with this M&S can
effectively manage the relations with the customers. Better relations with the people in the
society helps them in establishment connections with the local market in which they operates.
Motivated employees, the employees of the organisation need to be treated fairly with due
respect as this guides their behaviour and making working place an effective one. Due to this the
practices of the recruiting, selecting are made fair and equality among the employees improves
the morale of the people of M&S (Korschun, 2014). Profitability and value, improves the
probability for the organisation and the values which they provides. The M&S uses various

techniques which are efficient to deal with the changes and improving the processes of the
organisation so that their operating cost can be reduced and profitability can be enhanced. Also
with this the value can be improved by improving the quality of the products and services so that
the stakeholders can be satisfied. Public relations benefits, are the tools with the help of which
the perception of the employees can be improved. M&S does so by way of advertising their
efforts among the stakeholders with which they get to know about their actions. This helps in
making the relations with the public effective. Showing true commitment, the corporate social
responsibility integrates various activities with which a true commitment is served by the M&S.
This can be reflected by way of various materials in the products and services, donations of the
funds for dealing with the environmental cause and many more. Build a positive workplace
environment, this helps M&S in making the workplace motivating for the employees so that
their performance can be improved. This makes the employees works consciously for the
organisation as they feel enthusiastic and engaged (Lins, 2017). It develops a sense of
togetherness , community and team spirit among the employees in M&S.
For Marks and Spencer the policy of CSR is important as it helps them to engage their
employees with the organisation. With the help of this they can effectively improve and manage
the image of the company. The competitors can be easily be managed by the management of the
M&S as they can build and develop better relations with the suppliers, managers, employees and
various other partners of the supply chain. But they have to face resistance from the employees
which has to be managed by them.
The role and importance of CSR has been discussed and on the basis of this it can be
analysed that they have to managed effectively by way of implementing the concept of corporate
governance, alignment of various activities of the organisation with that of the goals, strategies,
structures, tactics etc. as with this not only the operations can be improved but the satisfaction
level of the employees can also be improved. Corporate governance helps them to formulate
various rules and regulations, processes with which they can operated, regulated, controlled etc.
also by way of integrating all the activities the resistance can be managed effectively. Also the
use of auditing and the accounting principles at the workplace helps the M&S in developing the
standards, procedures etc. with which the social and ethical behaviour can be made prevailing at
the workplace (Marquis, 2014).

Corporate social responsibility of the organisation has impact on various other decisions
of the organisations which can be related with the taxes that are to be paid. Also these policies
have impact on the decisions of the organisation. Various regulatory requirements need to be
complied with by the M&S so that efficient contribution is made by each and every organisation.
For the businesses, the taxes are treated as the cost which has to be borne by them. But from the
point of view of the government it is the transfer of the funds from one sector to the other. From
the accounting perspective, tax is not treated as the cost but as distribution out of the profits and
it can also be considered as a return to the stakeholders of the enterprises. The company M&S
considers the shareholders theory due to which they consider the interest of the shareholders. The
profit of the company has to be allocated among the shareholders against the investment that
they have made. But such contribution reduces the divisible profits for the investors as the tax is
to be paid by such organisation (Saeidi, 2015).
The investment decisions are related with investing of the funds in any avenue so that the
returns can be maximised. Such decisions are taken by the top management of the organisation
or the investors. These helps in generating revenue for the company with which the income for
the investors can be increased as the remaining profits are allocated among them. But the
companies such as M&S considers various corporate social responsibility at international level
that includes the formation of supportability reports, natural reports, corporate social duty reports
etc. The amount of CSR reduces the funds available to the management for the investment
purpose due to which the investors and the other stakeholders may get affected (Watson, 2015) .
The company M&S has been undertaking various CSR activities such as they are
providing donations as charity, community funding etc. with the help of which they can promote
the small charitable organisation that have limited and small budgets. But with the support of
such activities they can help these organisation in achievement of their objectives. Also the
company contributes to the needy people the clothes which are returned by the customers and
even the surplus of the operations. Such policy of CSR affects the decisions making of the
company as the amount which has been contributed to the companies would rather have invested
by the company in some profitable avenue. Due to this the interest of the investors of the M&S
also get affected as this affects their profitability.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the organisations need to consider various
factors that can contribute to the welfare of the society by way of corporate social
responsibilities. Such policies varies from organisation to organisation as it depends upon the
nature of the business and the impact of the operations on various stakeholders. CSR offers
various benefits to the organisation such as improved image, better engagement of the
employees, advantage over the competitors etc. Further it is concluded that the corporate taxes
and the decisions of the investment also gets affected from various corporate social
responsibilities.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic management journal. 35(1). pp.1-23.
Harjoto, M., Laksmana, I. and Lee, R., 2015. Board diversity and corporate social
responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics.132(4). pp.641-660.
Kim, Y., Li, H. and Li, S., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and stock price crash
risk. Journal of Banking & Finance. 43. pp.1-13.
Korschun, D. and et. al., 2014. Corporate social responsibility, customer orientation, and the job
performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing. 78(3). pp.20-37.
Lins, K.V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2017. Social capital, trust, and firm performance: The
value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of
Finance. 72(4). pp.1785-1824.
Marquis, C. and Qian, C., 2014. Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: Symbol or
substance?. Organization science. 25(1). pp.127-148.
Saeidi, S.P. and et. al., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm
financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and
customer satisfaction. Journal of business research. 68(2). pp.341-350.
Watson, L., 2015. Corporate social responsibility research in accounting. Journal of Accounting
Literature. 34. pp.1-16.
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