Corporate Social Responsibility: A Report on Its Global Significance

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its increasing importance in the contemporary business environment. It begins by defining CSR and its role in promoting ethical business practices, economic welfare, and social development. The report emphasizes how companies that embrace CSR often outperform their competitors by building stronger customer relationships and enhancing brand reputation. It highlights the CSR strategies of various companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Google, and Coca-Cola, illustrating their contributions to environmental sustainability and social welfare. The report concludes by underscoring the essential role of CSR in ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of businesses, as well as its positive impact on the broader community and the planet. The report is a response to the HI5013 Managing Across Borders assignment, which explores the role of CSR in today's business world.

Running head: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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Managing Across Borders
Report
Student
8/12/2019

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Executive Summary
Corporate social responsibility plays a crucial role in today’s business environment. There are
policies adopted by companies to conduct the social and economic welfare of society. To attain
the market share and provide satisfactory services to the customers, companies must commit to
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as, it is being observed that organizations that effectively
exercised this policy, outperformed other companies who have taken this lightly. Customers like
to connect with the companies, which ethically conduct their business. Therefore, the report
focuses on corporate social responsibility in the companies and its significance to the world.

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Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................3
Overview of corporate social responsibilities........................................................................................3
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Today’s world...................................................................4
Companies practicing Corporate Social Responsibility........................................................................5
1. Johnson and Johnson...................................................................................................................6
2. Google..........................................................................................................................................6
3. Coca –Cola (Soft drink company)...............................................................................................6
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
In the Contemporary world, corporate social responsibility has become an integral part of society.
However, there are many companies, which have neglected this responsibility, due to which their
survival has become difficult in this competitive market (Bhardwaj et al., 2018). However, the
companies should prevent such issues by conducting activities that contribute to the development
and after that societal peace and its development can be envisioned. Therefore, to understand the
above terms comprehensively, the focus of the argument is on the corporate social responsibility
and impact on today’s world, following its practical application in the business environment.
Overview of corporate social responsibilities
According to the definition, stated in the World Business Council (WBC) for Sustainable
Development, book “Making Good Business Sense”,
Corporate Social Responsibility is an ethical duty of the business organization performed in a
consistent way to contributes to the economic welfare while securing the interest of their
employees and enhancing their standard of living along with the community as a whole (Grayson
& Hodges, 2017).
In today's corporate culture, it has become an integral part of the business as it highlights the
facts that how companies are making positive impacts on the ecosystem while conducting its
business operations. Companies while promoting their brand, must focus on other Social
responsibility schemes, charity, and volunteering, so that organizations can provide benefit to
the community and environment. It assists the company to develop a long-lasting relationship

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with the employees and workers, which can enhance their morale, make a positive impact, and
empower the employees to perform better.
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Today’s world
CSR strategy, which is also a known sustainability approach, is an important element, as it
provides a competitive edge to the business. It is the procedure of combining social, ecological,
and financial concerns into the morals and beliefs, decisions and functions responsibly and
transparently, thereby building ethical practices in the firm, which can lead to profit generation
and enhancement of the society (Nafi, 2018).
As per the study conducted by the Kenexa High-performance institute in London, it was noted
that an organization that continuously fulfills CSR, has significantly overtaken the companies
who did not exercise CSR (Financier Worldwide Magazine, 2015). Besides this, having a bad
name in society in the context of social and economic welfare can create a negative impact on
the revenue and stability of the company.
As per the study, it was identified that the companies who practice CSR in their business
environment, have high employee involvement, commitment, less personal turnover, and more
customer satisfaction (Bhardwaj et al., 2018). Moreover, customers have become
environmentally conscious and want to invest their money on products and goods they believe in
and want to make good relations with the companies who ethically conduct their activities
(Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010).
The main aim of the companies is to create a positive impact on the community on a large scale
while maximizing the satisfaction level for the staff members, investors, and customers. To

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become a profitable and powerful organization in today's competitive market, companies commit
to accomplishing the responsibilities, which involve encouraging equality among employees and
at each level providing a safe and positive working environment to the workers (Grayson &
Hodges, 2017).
Furthermore, companies forming eco-friendly techniques for promoting a sustainable atmosphere
and volunteering to create awareness, eradicate poverty and other issues that are hampering the
development of society (Financier Worldwide Magazine, 2015). Attributing to this, corporate
social responsibility has become essential for the survival of the companies and for that, various
companies are formulating strategies. A corporate Social Responsibility strategy is taken up by
the companies to establish the brand in the market and to attract the attention of the customers.
To attain great market share, companies must operate with core abilities and ethics (Grayson &
Hodges, 2017). The scope of CSR is not limited to the welfare of the society as it also focuses on
the ecological policies. Thus, the company focuses on conduct the production process in the eco-
friendly method so there is less emission of toxic components, which will eventually reduce the
negative impact on nature (Nafi, 2018).
Companies practicing Corporate Social Responsibility
Observation says that 92% of customers connect and want to become permanent clients of the
companies that support community problems and empower ecological efforts. CSR assist the
company to bring positive change in society (Butler, 2018). Every customer wants to purchase
products from companies who are socially responsible. Socially active companies contribute to
the social and environmental welfare; inspire other people too, due to which society and

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consumers support such companies to perform effectively and efficiently. Few companies that
are actively contributing to the development of society are-
1. Johnson and Johnson
Business magnet Johnson and Johnson is an outstanding example of CSR. The objective of the
company is to revamp the negative impact on the ecosystem and for that, it has been practicing
this activity for the past 3 decades. Their contribution to society involves efficient utilization of
the wind energy to generate and supply clean and safe drinking to all the communities on the
global level. Besides this, it is striving hard to reduce the impact of poisonous components on the
environment, (Re100, 2019).
2. Google
It is one of the powerful companies, which is not only known for eco-friendly initiatives but also
its strong and outspoken CEO Sunder Pichai. Recently, He took a stand against prevailing social
issues including President Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim remarks.
Moreover, the company has won the Reputation Institute 's highest CSR. It also pledged to
contribute $ 1billion to recycle energy projects and will direct other businesses to curb adverse
impacts on the environment through social services (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010).
3. Coca –Cola (Soft drink company)
Coca –Cola is the most popular drink which has taken an initiative to create awareness and
develop the society it has contributed 3.7 million tons of greenhouses to the planet. They have
conducted modifications in their distribution chain including spending money in fewer emission
trucks. The initiative is intended to make a 25% cutoff in carbon foot by 2020 (Coca-Cola

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Company, 2018).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that corporate social responsibility has become an integral part of business
as it assists them to conduct their activities while focusing on the development of society. The
business that does not practice corporate social responsibility in their business environment often
faces difficulties and such decisions can create adverse impacts not only on the business but the
overall community who are closely connected with the company. It leads to a lack of stability
and satisfaction among the stakeholders, employees’ turnover, therefore CSR is essential for the
growth of the company along with the development of the community, there are various that
have taken an initiative to promote CSR across the nations. Thus, from the essay, it can be
understood that plays an integral role in today's world.

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Bibliography
Bhardwaj, , Chatterjee, , P., Demir, , K. & Turut, , 2018. When and how is corporate social
responsibility profitable. Journal of Business Research, 88, pp.206-19.
Butler, , 2018. Do Customers Really Care About Your Environmental Impact? [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnycouncil/2018/11/21/do-customers-really-
care-about-your-environmental-impact/#2bae7157240d [Accessed 12 August 2019].
Coca-Cola Company, 2018. An Ambitious Goal: Reducing Carbon in Our Value Chain. [Online]
Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/an-ambitious-goal-reducing-
carbon-in-our-value-chain [Accessed 12 August 2019].
Financier Worldwide Magazine, 2015. The importance of corporate social responsibility.
[Online] Available at: https://www.financierworldwide.com/the-importance-of-corporate-
social-responsibility#.XU__QugzbIV [Accessed 12 August 2019].
Grayson, D. & Hodges, , 2017. Corporate Social Opportunity! London: Routledge.
Lindgreen, & Swaen, V., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility. International Journal of
Management Reviews, 12(1), pp.1-7.
Nafi, J., 2018. The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Today’s Business.
[Online] Available at: https://www.transparenthands.org/the-importance-of-corporate-social-
responsibility-csr-in-todays-business/ [Accessed 12 August 2019].
Re100, 2019. Johnson & Johnson. [Online] Available at: http://there100.org/johnson-johnson
[Accessed 12 August 2019].

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