CSR and Reflection Report - BBS003-1, June Start, UoB

This report examines the importance of integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into business strategies to thrive in a competitive market. It explores the concept of sustainability, highlighting the need for companies to consider stakeholders, including employees, customers, and suppliers. The report uses Primark as a case study, analyzing its CSR approaches, particularly after the Rana Plaza incident. It discusses Primark's initiatives in areas like employee welfare, ethical sourcing, environmental sustainability, and community development. The report also compares CSR approaches across different business sizes (micro, SME, and corporate) and highlights the challenges in measuring CSR success. Finally, it includes a self-assessment section reflecting on the student's learning experience and skill development in business studies.

Running head: CSR AND REFLECTION
CSR AND REFLECTION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Part 1:
Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of including the corporate social
responsibilities in the strategy making capability of the companies to face the competitive
market of the business world. Without developing the perfect approaches to cater all the need
s of the employees, customers and other stakeholders, it is not possible for the companies to
sustain for a long period of time. The international business is growing with the global supply
chain and growing retail base. Therefore, it is mandatory that the companies have perfect
understanding of the business needs in the market and take good care of the stakeholders
associated in any part of the company.
Explanation of a sustainable approach to business strategy and management:
The sustainable approach of the companies in this competitive world of business has
incurred the necessity to bring changes in the strategies of management and the operation.
The importance of sustainability has gone beyond the environmental aspects but included the
competencies of the companies to behave responsibly towards the stakeholders. In this
regard, the wellbeing of the employees, managing end product responsibilities, meeting the
material and psychological needs of the customers, maintaining good relationship with the
suppliers and properly answering the employee unions and other interest groups like
environmental NGOs are detailed (Primark.com 2019). This sustainable strategies in one
hand allow the companies to focus on the innovative approaches and on the other hand
demonstrates compliance which ultimately leads them to attain all the ingredients of long
time growth as well as profitability.
In order to understand the approaches that one of the most importance and challenged
retailing company has taken in the present years after the devastating accident took place. In

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the accident of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the name of Primark has affected the reputation
and sustainability approaches of the company. Primark is a major retail group that was
established in 1969 in Ireland. The company directly appoints 68000 employees from the
countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Belgium,
Austria, France and the US. In addition to this, the company has manufacturing unit in some
of the Asian countries where it employees cheap labours in the manufacturing of garments
that are sold in the Primark retail shops in other parts of the world.
The company through wanted to attain sustainability, did not follow the basic rules of
providing support to the stakeholders. The negative aspect of the strategies of this company
was related to the dependability of the corrupt agents who exploited the cheap labour force in
the name of production. Previously, the company did not include these cheap labours into the
direct workforce but the accident of Rana plaza, Bangladesh where almost five hundred
textile workers were killed due to poor infrastructure.
The positive approaches followed by this company is mainly related to the welfare
of the employees and suppliers from those markets other than the home country. The
company takes care of these employees by ensuring their rights and wellbeing so that they
can grow both personally as well as professionally. The company as operates in the retailing
business does not own the factories for manufacturing but takes help of the agents for
employing cheap workers in the Asian countries. After the incident of Rana Plaza, the
company has launched HER project in the country. The company has started to take
responsibility of those labours who are employed for manufacturing the goods for Primark.
Through this HER project, the company has initiated to employ women workers to empower
them. Over 50% of women are employed through this project in the manufacturing section of
Primark in Bangladesh (Primark.com 2019).

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Before this scenario till today the company has been following some of the
sustainability approaches that has guided Primark to work ethically and leading to
sustainability. There are five sections based on which the company aims to attain
sustainability. These are people and production, planet, product quality, code of conduct,
partners and the collection of resources. There is a sustainability reason why the company has
embraced the approach of corporate social responsibility and acting accordingly. Primark
believes that every business has a responsibility to act ethically. This is the reason why the
company had offered 7 million jobs in the three continents where it operates directly or
indirectly. These employee groups include the suppliers and workers in the manufacturing
process of Primark. The company commit to treat the employees decent and pay their fair
wage. The company though does not own any of the factories for the manufacturing purpose,
it makes sure that it knows it agents properly and they have internationally recognised
standards to maintain the code of conduct for the company. In order to maintain ethical
actions, the company takes care of the HR processes. Primark uses Ethical Trade and
Environmental Sustainability Team to work collaboratively with the suppliers, local and
factory partners and suppliers so that the delivery of the trainings and programmes which
help the factories address locally relevant issues as well as needs (Primark.com 2019).
Secondly, the company also takes ethical decision in the regard of the managing
environmental impact of the business. The environmental sustainability team covers the
sources of the raw materials like cotton, the impact of the manufacturing operation of the
manufacturing process and the recycling of the waste products (Klimkiewicz and Oltra 2017).
The company has partnership with the NGO named Newlife working for children around the
world. The company donates the unsold items from its stores of the European braches and the
samples to these children preventing wastage. The company has big sustainability challenges
so it partners with Zero Discharge of Hazardous chemical Program that reviews the chemical

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used as dye materials. Finally, the packaging of the products and seeling process also do not
harm environment as the customers collect the products in environmental friendly brown
paper bags.
Thirdly, the company has the partnership with the associations like department of
international development, ethical trading initiatives, university of Cambridge fir sustainable
leadership, Verite, UN women and PaCT or partnership for cleaner textile. All of these
institutions help the company for ethical decision making process and promote CSR activities
so that the company attains sustainability.
Fourthly, the code of conduct that serves as the guiding rules of the company is abide
by all the way in all form. The first and foremost of this codes of ethics include the absence
of forced employment. In this company there is no incident of depositing identity papers by
the employees and they can leave their employees by giving reasonable notice (Bass and
Milosevic 2018). The codes of ethics of this company also includes the freedom of
association and right to collective bargaining. The employees have the right to join the trade
unions and ask for having right to association. The code of conduct of Primark also includes
the right to have a safe and hygienic working condition. Through this process, the employees
get proper training about the health and safety measures (Rhou, Singal and Koh 2016). All
the accommodation provided to the employees will be clean and hygienic which will meet the
basic need of the employees. There is no present of the child labour in the employee structure
of the company and all the policies regarding the employee management meets the
requirements as well as guidelines of the international labour organisation. The working
hours are not excessive and the living wages are paid to all the individual employees in this
company (Tata and Prasad 2015). The code of conduct strictly prohibits the company’s
indulgence in inhuman treatment and corruption like bribery and discrimination is not
tolerated in the company premises.

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Finally, the collection and utilisation process of the resources of this company aides
by the international standard properly. The company uses its human resources properly both
in the manufacturing sector as well as in the retail. The human resources are paid higher and
feel empowered. The planet resources like water, chemicals and cotton used in the
manufacturing of clothes are managed by the company properly. The use of restricted
substances are completely prevented so that the company does not contribute in the
environment problems. Finally, the company takes care of the growth of the communities by
arranging the donation in the education sector and growth of the children in the countries
where the manufacturing sector of this company is situated.
Different approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and Corporate Business:
The approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and Corporate Business also include the
method of seeking feedback from the ground level employees so that their views are
incorporated in the decision making process of the company (El-Kassar, Messarra and El-
Khalil 2017). From both the internal as well as the external stakeholders the feedback are
sought so that the threat of doing wrong is understood. All the small and medium business
use this method to constantly improve their operations. This is essential as the improvement
of the operations leads to attain sustainability. In addition to this, the act of embracing change
can create positive impact on the business. All the changes if contribute properly to the
growth without harming the core ethics, can build the business on belief. This is not seen in
the operation of Primark hence the growth of the company’s manufacturing unit in the other
Asian countries like India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and other countries with cheap labour
is absent.
Measuring success after the company has initiated process of CSR activities in
different aspects is not very easy. This is due to the fact that the company already has faced a

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huge challenge of accident in workforce appointed in the foreign country. This issue is so
much overwhelming that the irresponsibility of this company has been clearly pointed out by
the national and international media (Primark.com 2019). Different interest groups like local
community, surviving employees, environmental focused NGOs, human rights group both
national as well as international and the international labour unions have put pressure on the
strategies of the company. This is why the company has initiated a great change in the
decision making process as well as the restructuring of the workplace (Huang, Cheng and
Chen 2017). The success can be measured with the change in the organisational structure,
wide range of activities and incorporation of the NGOs to tackle the environmental and social
responsibilities.
Conclusion:
Therefore it can be concluded CSR activities can help the companies to overcome
many problems in the future. This is same for the case of Primark. In order to attain
sustainability the company has started to take responsibility of those labours who are
employed for manufacturing the goods There are five sections like people, production, planet,
product quality, code of conduct, partners and the collection of resources which are included
in the sustainable strategies. This allows the companies to focus on the innovative approaches
and on the other hand demonstrates compliance which ultimately leads them to attain all the
ingredients of long time growth as well as profitability.

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Part 2:
Self-assessment is process of looking into one’s own self so that the aspects of the
identity cam be analysed. This is the process that instigate the self-evaluation process,
support self-evaluation, self-verification and transformation of the weaknesses to needed
strengths. This process of self-assessment also improve self-view and motivate persons for
gaining self-esteem through proper communication, rationality, decisions making and actions.
There are different aspects of self-assessment but mostly the business students like me can
grow abilities through different tests and techniques which make them realise what they need
and what their passion for gaining knowledge is. Thus a complete information about oneself
from the points of view of the self, peers and mentors are essential. For self-evaluation and
improve my skills I have undergone the classes of business studies will be discussed below.
From these classes I have found out skill is need to develop for employability.
The inclusion in this course I have developed some of the very important
employability skills which I would not have developed if had not entered this course of
business studies. For last few weeks I have been learning different factors that support the
business growth and affected the growth of the country’s market. Through this course I have
also understood how the articles of the business subjects can make me understand these vital
factors of business strategies. In the future I can be placed in the international business
scenario and will be playing the responsibilities of different types. This is the reason why the
skills like problems solving, proper communication process, teamwork, technology use,
adaptability skills and resource management are to be developed. In this case, the classes of
this course have guided me to read, learn, write and properly share my knowledge with the
other team members.
For being placed in the organostions I need to be developing these previously
mentioned skills so that I become competent enough to serve my organizations properly. In

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this regard, the experiential learning theory of Kolb can be mentioned. According to this
theory there are four factors namely concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract
conceptualisation and active experimentation which hep the students to have experience,
review those, reflect on those learnings and then plan what they want to do with that learning
after learning. The effective learning process includes the experience, reflection,
conceptualisation and test of the learning outcome. From the course, I have gained a concrete
experience followed by the observation of and reflection on the experience that leads to the
formation of abstract concept and generalisations which are then used to face the future
situations that ultimately leads to ain new types experience.
Through this course I have gained idea about three aspects of business. One of them is
the communication skills which were taught to us through learning the academic reading and
writing. Only based on these I will be able to read and write and learn verbal and non-verbal
communication which are essential for any type of business. Secondly, the business problems
solving has been detailed in the class where our teacher gave us the feedback for our
assignment. Each of the weaknesses and inabilities are pointed out individuality so that I can
understand what I lack for the successful problem solving process. Finally, from this course I
have learnt about the importance of corporate social responsibilities of one particular
company. This learning process has made me understood that through the CSR activities, the
companies can effectively solve the business problems in the competitive scenario and
mitigate many impossible issues within a limited time period.
In the learning process I have found out the fact that different persons in the class
possess different types of skills which make them fit for their own roles as well as
responsibilities. In this regard mention can be made about the team role theory by Belbin.
The team roles by Belbin details the fact that there are nine types of team roles according to
the strengths and weaknesses. These team roles include shapers, implementer, completer or

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finisher, coordinator, team worker, resource investigator, plant, monitor or evaluator and the
specialist. According to the personal and professional features, my other peers were set in
their team roles.
By following the Belbin team role process I have found that features of the
implementer role is more or less similar to those of mine. I am disciplined, efficient and
reliable in terms of meeting the needs of the situation. I can easily turn ideas into practical
actions. For example in the journals article 3 I have mentioned that in the class we have
knowledge about the Corporate Social Responsibilities of the companies. Like other students
I have learnt about this type of responsibilities served by the companies in the national, local
and international level for the first time but I did not feel satisfied by only knowing about the
company that acted unethically. In this regard I started to research about the fact more and
more so that I can understand what exactly the CSR provides the companies and how it create
a positive impact on the society.
As I have mentioned before, I need to develop the skills like problem solving, proper
communication style, teamwork, technology use, adaptability skills and resource
management to become competitive and competent to match the need of the organizations.
Therefore, I need to develop the SMART goals for each of the skills so that it becomes easy
for me to attain those gaols and skills more easily.
SMART for Problems solving:
Actions
Specific Increase ability to point out the external factors of the problem first
Measurable 50% interests will be identified from others’ perspectives
Achievable 100% factors will be achieved if internal analysis is done
Relevant Analysis of the results of problem will be determined
Time bound Analysis and decision making will be done within a week
SMART for proper communication process:
Actions
Specific Arranging general discussion with peers

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Measurable Three fourth of the peers who are able to grow communication skills will
remain
Achievable Within three months communication skill will be developed
Relevant Through general discussion the listening and understanding of the
perspectives will be understood
Time bound Saturday of the week the genera discussion will be taking place
SMART for teamwork skill:
Actions
Specific Increase attendance in the team meetings for decision making
Measurable Fifty per cent of the members will be attending the project meeting
Achievable Increase attendance in the meetings by 5% from prior week
Relevant Discussion factors of team work with the members
Time bound Skill will be developed by four months
SMART for technology use:
Actions
Specific Learning usage of the online business process in the business
organization
Measurable Thirty per cent increase in the social media usage
Achievable Ability to use variety of software
Relevant Learning new skills in the social media marketing
Time bound Three weeks will be needed to learn and practice technology
SMART for resource management skills:
Actions
Specific Evaluation of different types of resources needed for the business
operation
Measurable 70% resources will be identified within one week
Achievable Increase learning about resources of business from internet sources
Relevant Monitoring ability to find sources of the resource by my own
Time bound Learning this skills within four months

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References:
Bass, A.E. and Milosevic, I., 2018. The ethnographic method in CSR research: The role and
importance of methodological fit. Business & Society, 57(1), pp.174-215.
El-Kassar, A. N., Messarra, L. C., & El-Khalil, R. (2017). CSR, organizational identification,
normative commitment, and the moderating effect of the importance of CSR. The Journal of
Developing Areas, 51(3), 409-424.
Huang, M.H., Cheng, Z.H. and Chen, I.C., 2017. The importance of CSR in forming
customer–company identification and long-term loyalty. Journal of Services
Marketing, 31(1), pp.63-72.
Klimkiewicz, K. and Oltra, V., 2017. Does CSR enhance employer attractiveness? The role
of millennial job seekers' attitudes. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Management, 24(5), pp.449-463.
Primark.com 2019. Resources | Primark UK. [online] Primark.com. Available at:
https://www.primark.com/en/our-ethics/resources/a/ab2ad683-1145-47c9-84e6-
a764d1e69e0d [Accessed 28 Aug. 2019].
Rhou, Y., Singal, M. and Koh, Y., 2016. CSR and financial performance: The role of CSR
awareness in the restaurant industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 57,
pp.30-39.
Tata, J. and Prasad, S., 2015. CSR communication: An impression management
perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(4), pp.765-778.