The Role of CSR in Enhancing Sofitel Hotel's Performance

This report, focusing on "CSR and stability in firm performance," analyzes the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in achieving a competitive advantage for Sofitel Hotel. The study outlines aims and objectives, including assessing CSR's significance, examining its relationship with competitive advantage, and suggesting tactics for gaining a competitive edge. The research employs a project management plan addressing cost, time, and communication, along with a Gantt chart for timeframes. Qualitative research methods, including thematic analysis, were used to analyze primary data. Findings, presented through tables, charts, and interpretations, reveal that CSR is crucial for firm performance and image. Recommendations include focusing on CSR activities related to health and employee safety. The report concludes with a reflection on learning and performance, supported by references and appendices, highlighting the importance of CSR in enhancing stakeholder engagement and business growth for Sofitel Hotel. The research also identifies key problems such as employee safety and low occupancy rates, suggesting that CSR can help in addressing these issues.

MANAGING SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
P1 Aims and objectives of Sofitel hotel.................................................................................3
P2 Project management plan with covering the aspects of Cost, time and communication.. 3
P3 Producing Gantt chart for providing time frames.............................................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
P4 Small scale research for carrying by applying qualitative research method.....................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Research and data using appropriate tool and techniques.................................................7
P6 Recommendation by considering results.........................................................................17
P7 Reflection on learning and performance.........................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................21

Title: CSR and stability in firm performance
P1 Aims and objectives of Sofitel hotel.
Topic: “CSR and stability in firm performance”.
Background of study :
Corporate social responsibility is considered as the most important part of an organization under
which all important information regarding welfare of stakeholders is provided. This enables firm
to create its unique identify along with satisfaction of customers. For every sort of business firm
there is a great importance of the corporate social responsibility concept (Andersen and Skjoett-
Larsen, 2009). This is because this concept help business firm in creating its good image among
the customers. There are large numbers of customers which by considering such kind of image of
company take purchase related decisions. This help business firm in gaining competitive
advantage over competitors. Thus, it become very important for the business firm to perform
corporate social responsibility related activities. By performing corporate social responsibility
related activities employees and general public both can be benefited by the business firm. Thus,
it can be said that Sofitel hotel can derive multiple benefits by performing CSR activities at
ground level (What is Corporate Social Responsibility?. 2017).
Aim: To analyze the role of CSR activities in achieving competitive advantage - A study on
Sofitel hotel.
Objectives:
 To access the significance of corporate social responsibility for the business firm
 To find out relationship that exists among CSR and competitive advantage.
 To recommended some tactics that can be followed by the firms to competitive advantage
over competitors.
Research question
 What is the significance of the CSR activities for the varied firms?
 What is the relationship between CSR and competitive advantage?
 What are the tactics that can be followed to gain competitive advantage over
competitors?

P2 Project management plan with covering the aspects of Cost, time and communication. Cost: Cost of project is moderate as small sample size is taken in to account. Lots of
stages are followed in order to complete the project. Hence, cost of employment is high
in project. Scope: There is wide scope of project as it cover CSR, firm performance and impact of
CSR on firm as well as areas where is can perform social activities. Thus, current
research project cover lots of things. Time: Project will be performed for five month time period and during this duration all
stages related to data collection and analysis will be performed. Quality: In order to maintain quality it is ensured that data is gathered from reliable sort
of people and there are no missing values. Communication: In order to promote communication among employees group
messenger was used so that coordination can be promoted among them. Risk and resources: Financial and human resources are used in current project. There is
risk that respondents may give wrong answers but care was taken and it was ensured that
only reliable facts are used for analysis purpose.
Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Cost Resource
Names
Auto
Scheduled Research project 94 days Thu
9/21/17
Tue
1/30/18 $290.00
Auto
Scheduled Planning 24 days Thu
9/21/17
Tue
10/24/17 $65.00
Auto
Scheduled
Finding the
research topic 10 days Thu
9/21/17
Wed
10/4/17 $50.00 Internet
Auto
Scheduled
making
problem statement 6 days Thu
10/5/17
Thu
10/12/17 3 $10.00 Human
resource
Auto
Scheduled
Setting the time
frame for the
allocation of
resources
8 days Fri
10/13/17
Tue
10/24/17 4 $5.00
Data analysis
of available
resources
Auto
Scheduled Implementation 61 days Wed
10/25/17
Wed
1/17/18 $195.00
Auto
Scheduled
Carrying out
literature review
16 days Wed
10/25/17
Wed
11/15/17
5 $100.00 Through
internet
varied
research

papers were
collected
Auto
Scheduled
Choosing
research
methodologies
18 days Thu
11/16/17
Mon
12/11/17 7 $5.00 Human
resource
Auto
Scheduled
Calculation of
the costs 7 days Tue
12/12/17
Wed
12/20/17 8 $10.00
Excel
software was
used to
compute
cost
Auto
Scheduled
Data analysis
and interpretation 20 days Thu
12/21/17
Wed
1/17/18 9 $60.00
Excel was
used to
analyze data
Auto
Scheduled
Evaluation of
result and outcomes 11 days Thu
12/21/17
Thu
1/4/18 9 $20.00 Human
resource
Auto
Scheduled Project closer 18 days Fri 1/5/18 Tue
1/30/18 $30.00
Auto
Scheduled
presenting
conclusion and
recommendations
9 days Fri 1/5/18 Wed
1/17/18 11 $10.00 Word
package
Auto
Scheduled
Proper
documentation of
results
7 days Thu
1/18/18
Fri
1/26/18 13 $15.00 Word
package
Auto
Scheduled
Submission of
report 2 days Mon
1/29/18
Tue
1/30/18 14 $5.00
Internet was
used to mail
report

P3 Producing Gantt chart for providing time frames
It can be seen from the above image that entire research work will be divided in to different
categories like planning, implementation and project closure. It can be seen that under planning
varied activities are performed like finding research problem and preparing problem statement
and thereafter time frame is determined for allocation of resources. In second stage literature
review is done and under this varied research papers are reviewed and sample size that need to
be taken is determined. At this stage, data is collected and analysis of same is done. In third and
final stage of project closure project report is prepared and submission of same is done and in
this way entire research work is carried out.

Task 2
P4 Small scale research for carrying by applying qualitative research method
Research methodology is the most important part which consists of information related to
different kind of tools and techniques applied for collection of information and analysis of the
same. These are explained as follows- Research method-There are varied sort of research methodologies such as qualitative and
quantitative. The researcher, in present research will be using qualitative type of
investigation of the purpose of conducting the in-depth analysis (Howell, 2013).
However, quantitative research has not been used because researcher it require to
availability of specific facts and figures for collection of information. Apart from this, use
of quantitative method facilitates to understand the impact of single variable on other. In
this manner, qualitative type of investigation is considered as the most suitable method. Research design- Selection of the research design is based on the nature as well as
requirement of the study (Ihantola and Kihn, 2011). Here, exploratory research design
demands to discover something new with exploration of the study effectively.
Furthermore, application of descriptive research design allow scholar to collect the
information effectively and use the same for the purpose of presenting the findings in a
most effective manner. Therefore, descriptive research design is considered as the most
appropriate for collection of the information and analysing the findings. The main reason
behind selecting the descriptive research design is to analyze the characteristics of
population which is being studied for the current investigation (Vaivio, 2008). Research approach-Deductive and inductive are two major kind of research approaches
which are having their different characteristics for completion of research effectively.
The deductive research design begins with generalization of information and thus
reaching to the specific outcome. Furthermore, inductive research design start with
specific evaluation of the problem and end up with formulation of suitable theory
(Franklin, 2012). This in turn deductive as the most suitable approach has been selected
to understand the implementation of CSR activities within organisations to meet
sustainable objectives. Here, at first research collect information from available sources
and then accordingly reach the valid outcome effectively.

 Data collection-Data collection is considered as the most important process into the
research methodology. However, primary and secondary data are collected for
completion of the current investigation. The method applied for collection of primary
data is questionnaire under which close ended questions are added. This questionnaire is
floated among manager of Sofitel hotel (Fiegen, 2010). However, the sample size
selected for the study is 10 where purposive sampling has been adopted. It proves to be
effective for researcher to gather the information effectively and reach at the end results.
On the other hand, varied sources like journals, books and online articles are selected in
order to collect secondary data.
 Data analysis-The process of data analysis is completed with the the application of
qualitative technique under which thematic analysis has been used. The collected
information from primary and secondary sources are analysed with the help of
construction of themes on the basis of questionnaire. Each theme will be followed by
graphical presentation along with detail expansion of implementation of CSR activities in
Sofitel hotel. Hence, thematic analysis proves to be the most effective method of data
analysis and assists researcher in drawing valid outcome accordingly (Mok, Sparks and
Kadampully, 2013).
The study is being conducted with the help of small scale research along with application of
qualitative research method. For this purpose, close ended questionnaire has been prepared
which aids to collect the primary information from the respondents and derive the valid outcome
accordingly.
Name:___________________
Age:_____________________
Occupation:_______________
Income level:______________
1.) Do you think that CSR is very important for the business firms?
 Yes
 no
2.) There is a close connection between CSR and Sofitel hotel growth and good image among
stakeholders.
 Highly agree

 Agree
 Somewhat agree
 Disagree
 Highly disagree
3.) Sofitel hotel responsible for performing CSR activities at ground level.
 Highly agree
 Agree
 Somewhat agree
 Disagree
 Highly disagree
4.) In your view point which problems firm is currently facing in its business?
 Low occupancy rate
 employee safety
 Non satisfaction of customers from aesthetic of exterior of hotel
5) CSR activities can help business firm in solving above selected problem.
 Highly agree
 Agree
 Somewhat agree
 Disagree
 Highly disagree
6) To what extent CSR can help firm in solving these problems.
 Highly
 Moderately
 Low
7.) On which of below given alternative hotel must work in order to create its good image
among the customer.
 Health
 Protection of environment
 Employees safety
8.) Which of below given approaches hotel must follow in order to implement CSR activities at
ground level?

 Giving financial help to local community
 Organizing charity event
 Taking help of voluntary organization
9.) In Sofitel hotel which of the below given entity is chiefly liable to implement CSR at ground
level?
 HR department
 Administration
 Manager
TASK 4
P5 Research and data using appropriate tool and techniques
Table 1Calculation of mean, median and mode
There is a
close
connection
between
CSR and
Sofitel hotel
growth and
good image
among
stakeholders.
On which
of below
given
alternative
hotel must
work in
order to
create its
good
image
among the
customer.
In your
view
point
which
problems
firm is
currently
facing in
its
business?
1 1 1 1
2 1 2 2
3 2 1 3
4 3 2 2
5 1 1 1
6 1 3 3

7 4 1 3
8 1 2 1
9 1 1 2
10 5 1 1
Mean 2 1.5 1.9
Median 1 1 2
MODE 1 1 1
Interpretation
Mean value in case of variable close connection between CSR and Soffietal hotel
performance is 2 and median as well as mode values are 1 which reflect that large number of
respondents are strongly agree with fact that CSR improve firm performance. In order to create
good image hotel must perform CSR activities related to health activities like medical camps etc.
This fact is supported by values 1.5 of mean and 1 of median and mode. In case of variable
problems that firm is facing in its business mean value is 1.9 and median as well as mode values
are 2 and 1 which reflect that low occupancy and employee safety are major problems that firm
is facing.
Themes
Thematic analysis is being conducted for the collected primary data which enable
researcher to shed light on the outcome effectively. Apart from this, frequency table and
graphical presentation of data is ensured. Thus, themes are prepared on the basis of questionnaire
and accordingly each one is followed by clear themes and data so as to reach at the end results in
a more effective manner.
Do you think that CSR is very important for the business firms?
Yes 8
No 2