HI5013 - Managing Across Borders: CSR's Role in Today's World

This report examines the crucial role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in today's business world. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction that defines CSR and its importance in maintaining a balance of economic, environmental, and social imperatives. The report explores how CSR enhances brand image, customer engagement, and employee relations. Real-world examples, such as General Mills, Timberland, PepsiCo, Walmart, Sara Lee, Xerox, and Nestle, illustrate the practical application and benefits of CSR. The conclusion reiterates the significance of CSR in achieving business success and highlights both advantages, such as increased market share, and disadvantages, such as heightened competition. The report adheres to the specified business report format, including Harvard referencing and a review of relevant theory, providing a comprehensive analysis of CSR's role in modern business practices.

Managing across borders

Managing across borders
Executive summary
In this paper, the discussion will be made on the concept of Corporate Social responsibility
(CSR). It has been examined that CSR plays an important role in the present business world.
Corporate social responsibility relates with accepting the responsibility and also it focuses on
maintaining the accountability of the companies and its stakeholders. So, in this paper the role of
corporate social responsibility will be explained in relation to the different real examples of the
companies.
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Managing across borders
Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility.........................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................4
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Managing across borders
Introduction
In the competitive era, corporate social responsibility is one of the business practices which are
considered by different firms. CSR is considered as the management concept whereby the
organizations integrate various concerns related with environment and society. Corporate social
responsibility can be defined as the term that maintains the balance of economic, environmental
and social imperatives. The expectations of the stakeholders are considered as it helps in
maintaining the overall activities of the business.
In today’s business world, the companies focuses on the policies of CSR as it enhances the brand
image among the customers and also positively impact the overall profitability ratio of the
business. Corporate social responsibility is to ensure that organizations manage and control the
routine operations in an ethical way. This simply means that it is necessary for the organizations
to consider social, economic and human rights. There are various reasons that relates with
considering the CSR approach. The first reason is concerned with cost savings. It is examined
that it is simple for the companies to engage themselves in sustainability and it is done to use it
as a best way to reduce the costs. One of the best examples can be of General Mills and in this it
is analyzed that the company aims to minimize the energy savings by 20% by 2015. By
considering its 2011 CSR report, it is evaluated that after installing energy monitoring meters on
different areas of equipment at its Covington, Ga, plant the organization saved $600,000.
Therefore, it can be said that CSR approach should be considered by the firms as it can assist in
maintaining competitive edge in the present business environment.
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility
In today’s business world, CSR has a major role. There are different companies in the market
who consider CSR approach and there are various different reasons behind it. If CSR approach is
considered by the companies then it would be easy to differentiate the brand from the
competitors. In the earlier time, brand differentiation was considered as one of the primary
reasons for which organizations embraced CSR (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo, 2017).
For example, Timberland was able to search their voice and also considered the values of the
company into their business model by considering CSR approach. But now, CSR approach is
used to differentiate the brand from the competitors that exist in the market. For example, “Cola
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Managing across borders
Wars” is one of the biggest running competitors in the business. Coke and Pepsi are continuously
focusing on grabbing the large market share, but still both are considering the different CSR
approaches. Pepsi and Coke are considering the strategies of Zero Net Water Usage (Pepsico,
2019). Both the organizations provide the water bottles that are made from sustainable
packaging. So it can be examined that by considering the approach of CSR, the companies in the
present business world are differentiating its brand from the competitors and with this their aim
is to boost the overall profits and sales (Scandelius and Cohen, 2016).
CSR also plays an important role in enhancing the engagement level of the customers. If the
firms are using CSR approach then customers are more attracted and also focus on purchasing
the products or services. For example, Wal-Mart has created its image as the leader of the
environmental efforts and it is also known as the leader in the environmentalism. In 2008, the
company focused on the advertisement which is designed to boost the awareness about the
environment and also the choice of the customers (Saeidi et al., 2015). By considering the
approach related to CSR the customers have been engaged in the different ways. This has also
helped in boosting the communication between different companies. When the companies’
focuses on maintaining the approach related to CSR then customers are more attracted as they
create trust with the product or the service offered in the market (Rupp et al.,2018).
CSR has an essential role in maintaining the engagement level of the employees. It is necessary
to maintain the engagement level of the workers as it can assist in maintaining the overall
productivity and profitability of the organization. It is necessary for your employee to know
about the operations of the company that they are missing. For example, Sara Lee has created a
cross functional and global sustainability working team to assist in creating a strategy for
sustainability. The company at last emphasized on Solo Cup Company which has generated the
sustainability action network to boost the employees in community service emphasizes on the
organizations CSR priorities (Story and Neves, 2015). The other example is of Xerox Company,
in which different programs are offered in reference of supporting the social responsibility. One
of the programs of the company is Community Involvement program that boost the involvement
of the employees. From 1974, there are more than half million employees of the company who
have participated in the program. In 2013, alone the company has facilitated 13,000 workers to
participate in the community focused causes (Xerox, 2019). This approach used by the company
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Managing across borders
has not only boosted the commitment of the workers but has also given support to their
employers (Willamowski et al., 2018).
Long term success is also one of the roles that are played if approach related to CSR is
considered. It is analyzed that if CSR approach is not considered by the companies then it creates
difficulty in accomplishing their set targets and goals. To achieve success in the market, the
initial step is to take into consideration the approach concerned with CSR. For example, Nestle
has attained growth by considering the technique related to CSR. In this approach, the company
focused on offering maximum value to its customers and this has been done by emphasizing on
the areas such as Nutrition, Water and sanitation, rural development and education. Therefore, it
can be said that CSR has a major role in today’s business world (Nestle, 2019).
Conclusion
By analyzing the paper, it has been concluded that CSR plays an essential role in today’s
business world. There are majority of companies who consider CSR approach as it assists in
attaining the significant opportunities that exist in the market. If CSR approach is used by the
companies then it helps in boosting the brand image among the customers and also enhances the
market share. It also helps the companies in achieving the trust of the customers. Apart from the
benefits, there are various disadvantages such as the high level of competition. By considering
the CSR approach the competition level has been enhanced and it has boosted the pressure on the
companies but on the other hand CSR is one of the beneficial approaches that boost the success
ratio of the organizations.
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Managing across borders
References
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.
Nestle, 2019. Corporate social responsibility. [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www.nestle.in/sites/g/files/pydnoa451/files/investors/documents/policiescodeofconduct/
nestlé-india-csr-policy-10nov2016.pdf [Accessed on 18/08/2019].
Pepsico, 2019. Corporate social responsibility. [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www.pepsico.com/sustainability/water [Accessed on 18/08/2019].
Rupp, D.E., Shao, R., Skarlicki, D.P., Paddock, E.L., Kim, T.Y. and Nadisic, T., 2018. Corporate
social responsibility and employee engagement: The moderating role of CSR‐specific relative
autonomy and individualism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(5), pp.559-579.
Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P. and Saaeidi, S.A., 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.
Scandelius, C. and Cohen, G., 2016. Achieving collaboration with diverse stakeholders—The
role of strategic ambiguity in CSR communication. Journal of Business Research, 69(9),
pp.3487-3499.
Story, J. and Neves, P., 2015. When corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases
performance: exploring the role of intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution. Business Ethics: A
European Review, 24(2), pp.111-124.
Willamowski, J., Hoppenot, Y., Castellani, S. and Grasso, M.A., 2018. Impact of Corporate
Social Responsibility on Innovation Activities: The Case of Xerox. In Innovation Management
and Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 263-280). Springer, Cham.
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Xerox, 2019. Corporate social responsibility. [ONLINE] Available from:
https://www.news.xerox.com/news/Xerox-2018-Global-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Report
[Accessed on 18/08/2019].
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