Corporate Social Responsibility: Case Studies of Leading Companies

This report provides an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and examines how it contributes to sustainable development by offering economic, environmental, and social benefits to stakeholders. It includes examples of CSR practices from well-known companies such as Microsoft, Lego, IBM, Starbucks, and The Walt Disney Company, highlighting their efforts in areas like community engagement, environmental protection, ethical governance, and employee welfare. The report emphasizes the importance of CSR in enhancing a company's reputation and its commitment to societal well-being, showcasing how these organizations integrate social responsibility into their business models. Desklib provides access to this and similar solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Examples of Corporate Social Responsibility.................................................................................3
Microsoft......................................................................................................................................3
Lego.............................................................................................................................................4
IBM..............................................................................................................................................5
Starbucks......................................................................................................................................5
Walt Disney Company.................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9

Corporate social responsibility 2
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility refers to as the corporate method that adds to sustainable
development by providing economic, environmental and social welfares to all the interested
party. The report includes a compile of the portfolio with 5 examples of good corporate social
responsibility of well-known companies (Pedersen, 2015). Examples of good practice may
include demonstrations of worthy governance exercise, environmental obligation or additional
ethical or community-oriented activities. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is formed with
the motive to enhance the overall engagement and it also helps in making the employers and
employees get connected to the society (Carroll, 2015).

Corporate social responsibility 3
Examples of Corporate Social Responsibility
Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the reputed and well-known companies with the centre of operations in
Redmond, Washington, USA. Microsoft topped 2012 best CSR which was carried out by
Reputation foundation which a private global is a consulting firm founded in New York. CSR
approach shows that Microsoft Company stick for its efforts with the stockholders, non-profits,
government and other organizations. This approach is clear with the introduction of Microsoft
YouthSpark that came into existence in the year 2012 to create the opportunities for the young
people globally (Dhoul, 2013). Through a partnership with NPOs, government and other
business the company can offer employment, education and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Source: (Strauss, 2017)
Dan Bross is Microsoft’s senior manager of nationality and community matters. Bross talked
about the CSR practice in the conference with Forbes. He said that CSR was an on-going
obligation touched by all the employees of the company. “It’s not just a top-down effort and it’s

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not just a grassroots efforts but it’s important to all of us”. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft is a
proponent of environmental and social responsibility (Strauss, 2017). The CSR responsibility
that is performed by the company is enhancing the education which is a global human issue.
Lego
Lego is the well-known manufacturer of plastic construction toys and the colorful interlocking
plastic bricks. The company is privately held company with the headquarters in Billund,
Denmark. Lego Company tops 2017 schedule of top CSR companies with 7.44 RedTrak points
and the company was in the fifth position last year. According to the RI analysis, the company
has beaten all the other companies in the insight that it acts ethically, operated transparently,
safeguard the environment, conduct the business fairly and support worthy causes (Strauss,
2017). The company has incorporated the social obligation from superiors to subordinates which
is said by the RI chief Research executive Stephen Hahn- Griffiths.
Source: (Strauss, 2017)
The company has the corporation with the World Wildlife Fund (who are the part of the Danish
toy company's push for sustainability) to build the change and sustainable materials center
initiatives.

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IBM
IBM is well-known leading American international technology corporation with the headquarters
in Armonk, New York, US. The company has its operations in more than 170 countries across
the world. IBM came into the existence in the year 1911 as the CTR (Computing-Tabulating-
Recording Company) and was retitled as International Business Machines (IBM) in the year
1924. The company expresses its dedication towards the corporate citizenship. The company
supports a widespread series of the efforts towards the education, disaster relief, global health,
economic development, diversity and many more (Ditlev-Simonsen, & Brogger, 2013). This
approach of corporate citizenship lines up with their business activities which include "applied
technology, continuous transformation, and sustainable change". In the year 2016, The world
community web united the computing control of idle PCs and portable devices around the
worldwide network for a corresponding of 167,000 years of computing period to provide the
support to plans like cancer treatment research.
Starbucks
Starbucks is well-known leading coffee chain who came into the existence in the year 1971.
Since its beginning, the company has all times focused on moral and social obligations
(Starbucks, 2018). The aim of the corporation is to create a product for the benefit of customers
as well as for the environment. The company initiated C.A.F.E program under which the
company set the guidelines to enhance the product quality, social and economic responsibility
and the management of the environment. Being in partnership with Ethos Water the company is
able to provide fresh water to more than one billion customers who don't have access to it. This
shows that the company is focused towards the society before them (Ghiam, 2016). Starbucks is
well-known due to its CSR as they believe in giving back to the community. It clearly reflects

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that the community who offer the great giving programs are more valued that those companies
who don't offer such programs.
Source: (Starbucks, 2018)
The company has operated the CSR practices sensitively with the commitment to sustainability
and strengthening societies. Starbucks has promised to the farmers for the one million coffee
trees as a partner in Conservation International's sustainable coffee contest. Along with this, the
company form strategies to recruit 10,000 refuses through 75 countries in the following 5 years
along with this, 25,000 veterans by the year 2025. This shows how effectively the company is
able to fulfill its social responsibility towards the society.
Walt Disney Company
Disney is one of the well-known corporations across the world and the goodwill or reputation of
the company is still growing in the market (The Walt Disney Company, 2018). Walt Disney
Company mostly pays attentions on areas of social obligation, namely community, the
surroundings, and volunteerism. In Haiti earthquake which took place in the year 2010, the
company offered aid after the earthquake. The company is also focused to defend the

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environment so that they can provide proceeds from countryside films to plant trees in the
rainforest along with this the company also guards thousands of acres of coral reef.
Source: (The Walt Disney Company, 2018)
The company is also considering the welfare of the employees and this is the reason company
introduce a program known as VoluntEars that encourages the employee to donate time which
has a total of approximately 2.9 million hours of facility since 2012 with the objective of
reaching five million hours of member community facility by the year 2020.

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Conclusion
The report is based on the corporate social responsibility that is followed by every company
because they understand their liability towards the welfare of the nation. The paper shows the
examples of the CSR practices conducted by the well-known company which includes
Microsoft, IBM, Lego, Starbucks, and Disney.

Corporate social responsibility 9
Bibliography
Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Organizational Dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.
Dhoul, T. (2013). Five of the Best Socially Responsible Companies to Work for. Retrieved
February 14, 2018, from https://www.topmba.com/jobs/employers/five-best-socially-
responsible-companies-work
Ditlev-Simonsen,, C. D., & Brogger, B. (2013). CSR and employee motivation. CSR and
beyond: A Nordic perspective, 117-134.
Ghiam, O. (2016). 5 Examples of socially responsible companies . Retrieved February 14, 2018,
from https://www.involvesoft.com/5-examples-of-socially-responsible-companies/
Pedersen, E. R. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Sage.
Starbucks. (2018). About Us. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from Starbucks:
http://www.starbucks.in/about-us
Strauss, K. (2017). The 10 Companies With The Best CSR Reputations in 2017. Retrieved
February 14, 2018, from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/09/13/the-10-companies-with-the-best-
csr-reputations-in-2017/#8dcf942546bf
The Walt Disney Company. (2018). About The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved February 2018,
2018, from The Walt Disney Company: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/