CSL Limited CSR Report Analysis: Initiatives and Stakeholder Impact

This report analyzes CSL Limited's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, focusing on the motivations behind its initiatives. The report examines the company's voluntary disclosure of social and environmental information, highlighting enlightened self-interest, stakeholder management, and corporate legitimacy as key drivers. It then identifies and evaluates two significant initiatives: innovation in healthcare and the implementation of a Health, Safety, and Sustainability Strategic Plan. The analysis delves into the motivations behind these initiatives, suggesting that the innovation drive is primarily for better stakeholder management, while the EHS plan aims to promote corporate legitimacy. Furthermore, the report assesses the impact of both financial and social/environmental performance on investment decisions, concluding that the latter holds greater weight in determining long-term profitability and ethical standards. The report uses the CSL Limited Our Corporate Responsibility 2016/2017, CSL Limited Annual Report 2017 and the book Corporate Sustainability: Integrating Performance and Reporting by Brockett and Rezaee (2012) as a reference.

Report

A. The possible motivation for a company to voluntarily disclose social and environmental
information is as follows:
 Enlightened self-interest: This refers to the desire of the business companies to strengthen
their brand image in the mind of the customers through philanthropic activities (Brockett
and Rezaee, 2012). For example, CSR programs of Google limited are enlightened by
self interest as by contributing largely to social problem solving and thus developing a
positive brand image of itself amongst the community at large.
 Stakeholder Management: The business corporations also disclose social and
environmental information for promoting transparency in the mind of the stakeholders
and thus developing cordial relationship with them (Brockett and Rezaee, 2012). For
example, ANZ in its CSR report has introduced a Sustainable Procurement Policy for
guiding its suppliers on the basis of environmental and social indicators. The disclosure
of such information has contributed largely to the companies in achieving stakeholder
satisfaction.
 Corporate Legitimacy: It refers to providing information relating to the governance
principles and beliefs adopted by the company for carrying out its business activities. For
example, BHP in its CSR report discloses information relating to social and environment
development for ensuring that it carries out its business operations as per the legitimacy
standards.
B. The two social and environmental initiatives identified from the sustainability report of CSL
Limited as important are as follows:
 Innovation: The Company places high focus on implementation of effective and creative
methods for developing new and improved therapies for the patients. The initiative is
important as it is aimed at promoting the well-being of public at large through providing
them high quality health care services.
 Implementation of Health, Safety and Sustainability Strategic Plan: The Company has
also developed and implemented EHS strategic plan for improving the health and safety
of its workforce and reducing the negative impact of its operations on the environment
(CSL Limited Our Corporate Responsibility, 2017). The initiative is important as it

ensures the safety and welfare of the stakeholders of the company such as employees and
nearby communities (Brockett and Rezaee, 2012).
C. As per my opinion, the motivation for CSL Limited for its initiative of driving innovation in
its business procedures is for better stakeholder management. This is because the main
stakeholders of the company are patients and healthcare institutions and developing high quality
drugs by the company will help in promoting their welfare. On the other hand, the motivation
behind the company initiative for implementation of EHS strategic plan is to promote corporate
legitimacy by adopting legitimate corporate standards. The presence of a safety plan ensures that
there is no negative impact of the business operations on its workforce and existing communities.
The business processes are carried out as per the legitimate standards in accordance with the
EHS plan and therefore the motivation of the company behind its initiative is to promote
corporate legitimacy.
D. The financial information gained by me through analyzing the excel worksheet and the social
and environmental performance both will have large impact on my decision as a investor for
buying shares in the CSL limited. However, as per my opinion the greater impact on the
decision-making process for buying the shares would rely on its social and environmental
performance. This is because it will help in determining whether the company will remain
profitable in the long-term by analyzing its morality and ethical standards through its governance
beliefs and principles (Brockett and Rezaee, 2012).

References
CSL Limited Our Corporate Responsibility. 2017. Our Corporate Responsibility 2016/2017.
Brockett, A. and Rezaee, Z. 2012. Corporate Sustainability: Integrating Performance and
Reporting. John Wiley & Sons.
CSL Limited Annual Report. 2017. Annual Report.