Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Strategies

This report delves into the realm of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its pivotal role in modern business strategies. It commences with an introduction to CSR, emphasizing its significance in enhancing brand image and fostering sustainability across various business sizes. The main body explores sustainable approaches, providing examples of strategies employed by diverse organizations, including financial institutions, sports brands like Nike and Adidas, retail giants like Nestlé and Unilever, and automobile companies. The report identifies competitive advantage gaps and the importance of stakeholder engagement in generating strategies for development. It then offers recommendations for businesses to develop sustainability strategies, such as transitioning from reactive to proactive approaches, quantifying business outcomes, aligning strategies with sustainability goals, promoting transparency, and leveraging competitive advantages. The report further examines CSR approaches used by micro businesses, SMEs, and corporate businesses, providing real-world examples of how these organizations contribute to environmental and social well-being. Finally, the report provides a conclusion and a list of references.

Corporate Social
Responsibilities

Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................4
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Main Body..................................................................................................................................4
Sustainable approach to business strategy.............................................................................4
Different examples of sustainable strategies..........................................................................4
Recommendations to generate strategies for development....................................................6
CSR Approaches used by business............................................................................................7
Corporate social responsibility...............................................................................................7
CSR by micro businesses.......................................................................................................7
CSR by SMEs........................................................................................................................8
CSR by corporate businesses.................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................13

Part 1
Introduction
Every business requires making sure that they are working on different approaches
which will help them to stay in the market for a longer period of time. Sustainability
approaches are used by businesses which helps them to enhance their brand image and also
create a positive image about themselves in the society (Kaymak and Bektas, 2017). In order
to do so organisations are supporting the society and environment. Corporate social
responsibility is the voluntary processes that a business is continuously conducting to support
the society as well as reduce the harm they are causing to the environment. The following
report describes different examples and ways in which business of all sizes are using
corporate social responsibility so that they can create brand image within the organisation.
Reflective essay regarding employability skills required by individuals to work within
organisation is also discussed in the report.
Main Body
Sustainable approach to business strategy
The present business environment requires organisation to make sure that they are
creating different strategies which will help them to create good brand image within the
market along with which they can stay in the market for longer period of time. All these
strategies are used by businesses in order to achieve all the goals and objectives set by them.
It is often seen that employees within an organisation or supporting sustainable strategies
within a business. For a business to achieve all their goals and objectives it is required to
develop sustainability. Sustainable approaches which are adopted by a business are required
to be a combination of all the social, environmental and economic aims which are set by the
business. The stakeholders of company are also focusing upon different sustainable
approaches (Loosemore and Lim, 2017). Businesses are now focusing upon long-term profits
rather than short-term profits due to which they make sure that they are using different
business strategies which can provide them sustainable growth and development within the
market.

Different examples of sustainable strategies
Various organisations are using sustainability concept for their growth. Some of such
steps taken by businesses are mentioned below:
 Different organisation in financial sector are working for the society in which they are
operating. It helps them to do good for local communities and also enhance the living
standard of people. Through this they can enhance their brand image and also focus
upon different cultures.
 Nike and Adidas are different brands working in sports and also developing
sustainable. They are reducing their carbon footprint through which they are affecting
the environment. Along with this they have also reduced used of plastic within their
products.
 Nestlé and Unilever is our huge organisation in retail industries. Along with reducing
carbon footprint in the surrounding the organisations are also developing organic
products. This is helping them to create healthy lifestyle for people they are serving
(Kim, 2019). They also focus upon saving the natural resources of nature so that it can
be made available to future generations.
 Various automobile companies are working upon different ways of providing
products to the consumer that can reduce their effects in the environment. They are
developing electronic cars and also other fuel-efficient cars which will fulfil the
requirement of consumer and also make sure that environment is not harm negatively.
All these are some of the huge organisations which are adopting different strategies of
corporate social responsibility through which they can develop sustainability approaches. All
these steps taken by organisation are helping them to motivate employees within the
organisation and also create good brand image for the organisation in the society. Through
this organisation can provide their services to the society and also achieve all their goals and
objectives.
While working upon different approaches to develop sustainability within market a
business can face different gaps. These gaps are barriers for organisation while developing
strategies. Some of such gaps are described below:
The competitive advantage gap: It is necessary for businesses to understand the
competitive advantage they have within the market. Proper understanding of the features
which can work as USP of business will help them to sustain within the market for a longer
period of time. It is often seen that businesses are not working on their competitive advantage

which is often creating the gap of competitive advantage in sustainable development of the
organisation.
Knowing and doing gap: There are different studies which have revealed that within
an organisation executives are required to take decision (Landon-Lane, 2018). It is necessary
that executives are taking suggestions from the employees in order to make sure that
strategies can be created. This is because the employees are working in ground level and they
are well aware of different situations. Therefore proper communication between employees
and executives will help a business to develop strategies that can help them to grow
sustainably. With the understanding and knowledge of both executive and employers
business can create strategies which will help them in staying within the market for a longer
period of time.
Recommendations to generate strategies for development
Different ways can be used by different organisations in order to develop strategies
for sustainability. Various businesses are developing strategies for sustainability in order to
make sure that they can successfully conduct their businesses for a longer period of time.
Some of recommendations for businesses in order to develop sustainability strategies are
mentioned below:
Reactive to proactive: Businesses are required to focus upon different strategies
which will help them to attain sustainability within the market. A number of challenges are
faced in a market due to changing trends and requirements of consumers. Businesses also
need to make sure that they are working on ways in order to enhance their brand image.
Examples of Nike can be taken where organisation have published a number of policies for
labour management so that they can deal with all the negative allegations which the business
have faced.
Quantifying businesses: Businesses are required to calculate all the returns which
they can achieve through various steps they are taking (Zhang, Oo and Lim, 2019). In order
to earn more profits and stay competitive in the organisation strategies can be developed
through quantifiable manner. It is required by businesses to focus upon quantitative features
which will help them to enhance their competitive advantage as well as profits within a
business.
Alignment of strategies with sustainability: A business is required to make sure that
every strategy they are creating is ultimately helping them to sustain within the market for a
longer period of time. The strategies are different than sustainability of a business it will

never help them to develop good brand image and the businesses will only focus upon short-
term profits rather than long-term profits. It is necessary that the management of businesses
focusing upon long-term profits so that they can develop sustainability.
Transparency in business: Providing transparency in business is one of the way through
which organisations can easily develop sustainability strategies. When employs as well as
consumers are well aware of all the steps that a business is taking it helps them to build trust
upon business. Open communication with stakeholders is also one of the ways in which
businesses can gain trust and also develop strategies for sustainability.
Compliance with competitive advantage: When a business have competitive advantage
within the market they can successfully stay in the market for a longer period of time. It is
required by businesses to deal with all the legal and political strategies and develop
competitive advantage along with it. Fulfilling all the requirements of government where the
business is conducting their activities they can successfully attain competitive advantage in
market. It is one of the sustainable approaches in which businesses can achieve advantages
and also stay in market for a longer period of time.
CSR Approaches used by business
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibilities are various activities which are conducted by
businesses in order to provide services to environment and society which is helping them to
conduct their business. Along with doing well for environment and society the welfare of
employees is also an important part of corporate social responsibility (Chkir and et. al.,
2020). The organisations within every industry are required to make sure that they are
working towards environmental conservation, climatic changes, reducing wastage of
resources and also helping in development of different backward societies. Organisations
these days are taking help of various NGOs and partnering with them which make it easy for
them to conduct corporate social responsibilities.
CSR by micro businesses
Micro businesses are small businesses whose annual revenue and value of assets are
required to be less than $250,000 per year. The numbers of employees which are working
within this organisation are also less than five. It is managed by a single owner who is
responsible to conduct all the management activities. Even the small businesses like micro

businesses are conducting various corporate social responsibilities in order to make sure that
they are successfully staying in the business for a longer period of time and generating their
brand value. An example of two brothers can be taken who have developed an organisation
called Proviz sports. The organisation is providing bicycles to a number of people throughout
the world. They started with only four variant of bicycles and now they are successfully
developing a number of different range of bicycle and also providing it to those in need (Gao
and He, 2017). They have joined hands with a number of different NGOs through which they
can distribute their products within people throughout the world. The organisation is also
effectively providing their customers with an option to donate some part of their buying
towards needy. They are distributing free of cost cycles to a number of people throughout the
world. In this way they are also raising awareness about corporate social responsibility which
can be fulfilled by micro businesses. It is not necessary for businesses to earn huge profits in
order to do good for society. Even small businesses can follow corporate social responsibility
and enhance their brand value along with doing well for the society and environment.
CSR by SMEs
Small and medium enterprises referred to businesses which are having a limited
number of employees working for them. When taking the turnover into context such business
organisations have less than £25 million of turnover and the number of employees working
under them is also less than 250. Along with this the assets present with this organisation are
also around £12.5 million or less. There are a number of small and medium enterprises which
have taken influence of steps in order to fulfil their roles and objectives towards the society.
Example of Basingstoke skip hire can be taken which an organisation is providing recycling
methods. The organisation was set up in 1982 in England and it is providing a number of
different waste management methods to both commercial businesses as well as domestic
houses (Whait and et. al., 2018). The organisation is working on various ways to make the
pollutants and waste recyclable. There are a number of technologies used within the
organisation which helps them to recycle the pollutants which are disposed by different
industries in the environment. They are helping to maintain a balance between business and
the environment in order to make sure that the resources available in environment are
preserved for the future generations.
CSR by corporate businesses
Different huge organisations are considered to be different legal entity and all these
organisations are taking huge steps in order to fulfil the requirement for the society.

Corporate social responsibilities which are carried on by these organisations argues and
affecting a large area of society. Various examples can be taken such as virgin Atlantic which
is conducting a number of different ways through which they can fulfil the requirements of
society as well as their responsibility towards the environment. The organisation is making
sure that the carbon fuel emission which they are releasing in the environment is in check.
There are a number of protocols which are to be followed by the organisation and standards
to be met in order to make sure that they are not harming the environment (Asmussen and
Fosfuri, 2019). There are a number of ways in which organisation is contacting to their
suppliers and making sure that the working condition within the organisation can be
influenced. They are also ensuring welfare of different societies in which they are working.
Huge funds have been invested by the organisation in creating world’s finest Dolphins
sanctuary.
All these are different methods which are used by various organisations so that they
can fulfil their rules and responsibilities towards the society. It is necessary that every
organisation despite of their size is working on various ways in which they can serve the
society. With the help of all these activities organisation can influence societies and make
sure that they are providing their part of services towards environment. It will also
successfully help businesses to enhance their brand value and also affect their profits. Along
with this organisations which are successfully using corporate social responsibility find it
easy to retain employees within the organisation and also influence employees with effective
skills to work with them. In this way businesses are gaining profits and achieving all their
goals and objectives.
Conclusion
With the help of the above report it can be concluded that every organisation requires
maintaining sustainability methods so that all their objectives and goals can be achieved.
Sustainability methods are required by every organisation despite of their size and there
industry. All the strategies are helping organisation to gain competitive advantage along with
profits for their business. A number of gaps are also faced in an organisation which can be
successfully filled using different sustainable approaches. Different recommendations can be
used by organisations which will help them to strategise upon sustainable approaches.
Different size of organisation requires corporate social responsibility which will help them to

generate a good brand image and successfully work within the market for a longer period of
time.
Part 2
Employability skills are all those skills which an individual requires in order to make
sure that they are working within an organisation fulfilling all their responsibilities. It is
necessary that individuals are equipped with all the skills in order to make sure that they are
providing their best work to achieve all the objectives and goals of the organisation. It is
required by individuals to continuously develop various skills which will help them gain
better knowledge about their work and also their performance can be enhanced. There are
various skills required for different jobs however some of the skills are common for every
employee while they are working within an organisation. Interpersonal skills are one of the
skills that is required in every profession. This involves communication as well as basic
listening skills. It is often seen that while working in an organisation individuals are required
to communicate to a number of people. This may include the suppliers as well as consumers.
Interpersonal skills successfully help an individual to make sure that they are working within
an organisation fulfilling all the requirements. I have personally analysed that interpersonal
skills make it easy for an individual to deal with the job responsibilities they are allotted
within an organisation. Along with this it is necessary for me to make sure that my
interpersonal skills are developed well which will help me in attaining all my objectives and
goals while working within an organisation. There are a number of different skills which I
need to develop such as time management skill, decision making skill, analytical skill,
presentation skill and negotiation skill. I need to make sure that I am working on my
strengths to make it better and also my weaknesses in order to eliminate them. It is required
by every individual to conduct a swot analysis of their own characteristics in order to make
sure that they are developing a plan which will help them in future to achieve all their goals
and objectives. Analytical skills as well as statistical skills are one of the major skills which I
need to work upon. While working within an organisation I have analysed that it is necessary
for me to understand every situation and work on finding solutions to different problems.
Analytical skills with successfully helps me to make sure that I am learning about different
problems that are arising within an organisation and taking steps to resolve this problems.
This brings in the need of decision making skills. In order to make sure that I am successfully
taking decisions it is required by me to analyse all the different situations and solutions of a

problem available (Tsitskari and et. al., 2017). There are a number of ways in which an
employee can solve the problems and it is required by an employee to study all the
alternatives available. Analytical skills are helping an employee here and using the best
alternative to resolve a problem will help in developing problem-solving skills. Negotiation
skill is also one of the important employability skills. An employee is regularly required to
deal with a number of clients, consumers, suppliers and so on. In order to make sure that I am
successfully dealing with all the stakeholders while working in an organisation my
negotiation skills are required to be developed. I need to analyse the situation and bring out
the best solutions which will be accepted by the second party I am dealing with. Negotiation
skills will help me in achievement of all my goals as a professional.
Along with this it is often seen that as an employee I need to work upon time management
skills. There is a number of works in a corporate sector which individual is required to
conduct in a team. I need to make sure that I am a team worker and successfully working in a
team in order to make sure that all the goals and objectives of team are achieved. In order to
do so I need to make sure that my communication skills are well and also I understand
strengths and weaknesses of everyone within the team. It is necessary to work on cultural
aspects so that no discrimination within the team occurs. It is necessary for me to make sure
that I am adapting to the situations within the organisation along with different team
members. It is necessary to listen to all the team members and also put my suggestions in
front of everyone. Communication skill is also helping here to generate healthy relationships
with everyone in the team. Leadership skills are one another skill which is also necessary by
me in order to make sure that I am encouraging others and motivating them to fulfil the
requirements of a team. A corporate leader is required to help everyone within the team so
that proper decision making can lead the team towards success. There are a number of
problems which I might face while developing leadership skills which include discrimination,
lack of communication, conflicts within team members and so on. Empathy is another skill
which is required to be generated by me which will help me to successfully set myself as a
leader within an organisation. The leader in an organisation is required to have empathy for
others and understand their feelings and behaviour. When a leader is empathetic towards
others in a team they can gain their trust and also motivate them to fulfil the requirements.
Time management skill is important skill required for everyone. It is necessary for me to
make sure that I am achieving all my task and activities in the stipulated time period. In order
to develop time management skills I am working upon making different schedules and
dividing the work according to their priorities (Suleman, 2018). I make sure that all the tasks

are covered in the schedule and the times allotted to the task are based upon priority of the
task. In this way I can make sure that I am completing the entire task which is allotted to me
within the organisation in time. It is a great way to make sure that the entire task in activities
provided to make and be completed in time and I am achieving all the goals and objectives
along with improving my career growth. Presentation skill is another important skill required
for employability. Intelligence is required to be shown to others while working within an
organisation and presentation skills enable individual to make sure that they are showcasing
their talents and their ideas in front of others. Communication skills and listening skills are
important factor of presentation skills. Along with this I am also required to work upon
various data management techniques and data presentation techniques which will help in
improvement of my presentation skills. I need to successfully overcome stage fear and make
sure that I can analyse different situation and put my ideas in front of others while giving
different presentation. All this skills are required by individuals while working within an
organisation and it will also help them to successfully fulfil all the roles and responsibilities
they are provided within their job.

References
Books and Journals
Gao, Y. and He, W., 2017. Corporate social responsibility and employee organizational
citizenship behavior. Management Decision.
Whait, R.B. and et. al., 2018. What do we know about tax aggressiveness and corporate
social responsibility? An integrative review. Journal of cleaner production, 204,
pp.542-552.
Asmussen, C.G. and Fosfuri, A., 2019. Orchestrating corporate social responsibility in the
multinational enterprise. Strategic Management Journal, 40(6), pp.894-916.
Landon-Lane, M., 2018. Corporate social responsibility in marine plastic debris
governance. Marine pollution bulletin, 127, pp.310-319.
Chkir, I. and et. al., 2020. Does corporate social responsibility influence corporate
innovation? International evidence. Emerging Markets Review, p.100746.
Zhang, Q., Oo, B.L. and Lim, B.T.H., 2019. Drivers, motivations, and barriers to the
implementation of corporate social responsibility practices by construction
enterprises: A review. Journal of cleaner production, 210, pp.563-584.
Kim, S., 2019. The process model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication:
CSR communication and its relationship with consumers’ CSR knowledge, trust,
and corporate reputation perception. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), pp.1143-
1159.
Loosemore, M. and Lim, B.T.H., 2017. Linking corporate social responsibility and
organizational performance in the construction industry. Construction
management and economics, 35(3), pp.90-105.
Kaymak, T. and Bektas, E., 2017. Corporate social responsibility and governance:
Information disclosure in multinational corporations. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(6), pp.555-569.
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2),
pp.263-278.
Tsitskari, E. and et. al., 2017. Employers’ expectations of the employability skills needed in
the sport and recreation environment. Journal of hospitality, leisure, sport &
tourism education, 20, pp.1-9.