Analyzing CSR Strategies and Stakeholder Engagement in Organizations

This essay critically evaluates how top private sector organizations enact their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and engage stakeholders, focusing on AmCham Vietnam as a case study. The analysis begins with defining CSR policies and the roles of organizations and stakeholders in implementation, highlighting AmCham's diverse CSR activities, including scholarship programs, blood donation drives, and community initiatives. The essay examines how AmCham integrates CSR into its operations, emphasizing stakeholder engagement, particularly with the Vietnamese healthcare system. It then delves into reputation management theories, linking CSR reporting to a company's image and sustainability, and explores stakeholder theory, discussing internal and external stakeholder engagement. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective CSR management and stakeholder relations in the global market, underscoring how these elements impact a company's reputation and success.

Running head: REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND CSR
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND CSR
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Introduction
The aim of the paper is to analyze the issue of enactment of the CSR strategies of the top
private sector companies and their process of implementation of the same, the paper has been
divided into three parts while the first part of the analysis deals with the definition of the CSR
policies and the role of the organization along with the stakeholders in implementing their
policies. The last part of the analysis is the understanding of the topic in relation to the theories
of reputation management.
CSR policies of the chosen company: Amcham
Amcham is one of the not-for-profits, non-governmental and non-political voluntary
organisations of the country which is focused on the development of the trade and business with
the United States and Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam, 2019). It has been serving as the forum of
American business in the city of Vietnam and fosters their interests regarding their commercial
activities. However what is interesting to note here is that this company is engaged in wide range
of CSR activities and the scope of their engagement with the stakeholders is more
comprehensive than any other private sector organisation of the country (AmCham Vietnam,
2019). One of the primary aspects of their CSR policies is based on the engagement with the
organisations of Vietnam based on mutual trust.
According to Crane et al. 2019, CSR is entirely a business approach which is based on
the understanding of socially responsible actions and benefits for n the stakeholders in terms of
social, economic and environmental benefits. This has become the new keyword of the 21st
century.
This concept has been interpreted in different ways, and each company has adopted its
own style of operations. It is interesting to note that all most all the major companies of the
world have a robust system and structure of CSR responsibilities implemented in practice (Crane
et al. 2019).

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The range of CSR activities of the AmCham
AmCham has taken up a diverse array of CSR activities, and it has a number of
committees and work groups for implementation of the CSR policies (Amcham.it, 2019). It is to
be noted that Amcham company as a whole and the Board of directors are responsible for
managing community responsibilities and community relations.
AmCham scholarship program:
In 2014, this company came out with one of the milestones in their CSR policies. This
scholarship program is designed to help the students from the technical background for which
financial issues are one of the hurdles. This scholarship is available for the students for the
college and university students, and it is known to be creating a positive impact among the
Vietnamese students.
Blood Donor day
Their CSR activities are not only restricted to the scholarship programs for the students,
but it is also meant for reaching to the society at large. Another milestone CSR project taken up
by the AmCham is a blood donation program (AmCham Vietnam, 2019). This is designed to
raise awareness of society in order to sensitize people about the importance of blood donation.
After the sanction of the blood donation program by the Vietnam government, the awareness of
blood donation has increased steadily, and this CSR program by the company has been able to
contribute in this regard positively.
AmCham community day
Since the issue of pollution is one that has been negatively impacting Vietnam’s
conditions, this company has undertaken an initiative of celebrating the community day that is
meant to sensitize the people about the importance of the conservation of the marine life. This
CSR policy is a collaboration of the Marine life conservation and community development
program of the Vietnamese people (AmCham Vietnam, 2019). Moreover, this program is also
collaboration for the engagement of the multiple stakeholders whereby the involvement of the
family, friend and the employees of the local organization and that of AmCham are included.
This CSR policy is supported by the development fund for the people of Vietnam. This is part of
the annual community activities. Moreover, this program is supported by the support and

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engagement of the local organizations of the Ho Chi Minh City which is assistive support for the
multiple stakeholders to get engaged with the socially responsible actions (AmCham Vietnam,
2019). The aim behind their CSR activities is the enhanced engagements of the multiple
stakeholders starting from the families of the employees to the local and regional organization,
the people and the community at large.
What does CSR mean to the company
Corporate social responsibility to the company means the integration of small efforts
within the ongoing practices of taking up socially responsible actions. It is based on the belief of
reaching to the needy of the society and creating an impact. Their CSR activities are regulated
and monitored by the integrated committees and their management of multiple CSR related
activities. It is further supported by the accounting, assessments and reporting of the challenges
of society in order to formulate policies that can cater to the need of the people and the
community at large (AmCham Vietnam, 2019).
Engagement with the stakeholders
AmCham has one of the unique partnerships with the stakeholders since it believes in the
engagement of the partners for promoting the interest of the people and the community. For the
improvement of the healthcare system in Vietnam, it has engaged with the stakeholders in the
health care system of Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam, 2019). Two primary stakeholders with the
company are the Ministry of Health care and the Ministry of Planning and development (Salema
et al. 2017). The reason behind the engagement of the stakeholders is based on the idea of
unification of approach.
Theories of reputation management
It is crucial to note that the idea of reputation management of a company is one of the
primary aspects of managing their image their reputation. The link between reputation
management and CSR reporting is based on the belief that companies should be taking up
socially responsible actions and it is essential for their environmental and societal sustainability.
This company manages its annual reporting of the CSR activities as part of the reputation

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management (Proserpio et al. 2017). Between the periods of 1960 to 70 it was recognized that
corporate activities of the company's operations have a broader impact on the environment,
moreover it is the external societal pressure for the company to take socially responsible actions
as it is believed that such actions have a broader impact on the surrounding (Ward et al.2016).
This is the struggle for sustainability which is determined by the socially responsible actions
taken by the organization (Refer to Appendix A)
According to the theoretical perspective, it has been observed that reputation is seen as
the image based theme which is primarily used in the management and the psychological
researches. However the trend changes in the late 90s, this approach has been used by the
companies in the management sector. However, the concept of reputation management has been
redefined in the later part of the 90s. The issue of reputation becomes one of the most debated
topics in management (Proserpio et al. 2017). it has been further argued that the idea of
reputation is not something that can be measured in the form of a balance sheet however it is one
of the tools that is used in the maintaining the corporate and marketing sectors in order to
maintain the public relations. With the revolution of digital media, the importance of maintaining
a reputation for companies has become of the crucial issues. The reputation management theory
is based on the six principles approach where the successful implementation of the reputation
theory is based on the management of the social media, media reports, corporate company
websites, sharing of reviews and the blog posts (Crowther et al. 2018).
In the case of the chosen company, AmCham, the issue of reputation management has
been given enhanced importance. The company manages their annual reports through their
websites and blogs where the source of information is published in order to maintain their
records for the purposes of maintaining the company’s reputation (AmCham Vietnam, 2019).
This is used as the tool for the management of the records of AmCham’s socially responsible
actions and the list of initiatives taken.

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On the other hand, the issue of Stakeholders theory, it is the integration of the resource-
based view and the market-based view. This is one of the management tools that address the
morals and values of the chosen organization in terms of their engagement with the stakeholders
of the company. This theory is base on the division of the stakeholders in two types, the internal
and the external stakeholders. It is based on the idea that for the holistic engagement of all the
stakeholders, it is crucial for the company to involve employees, managers and the owners at the
internal level (Kannan et al. 2018). While for the external involvement of the stakeholders, it is
significant to focus on the involvement of the suppliers, society, creditors and direct customers
within the activities of the company. This theory has formed the basis of the engagement of
stakeholders for companies like Amcham, which has made a number of attempts to engage the
partners in their socially responsible actions and duties.

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In case of implementing this theory in practice, AmCham has created a blueprint for the
maintenance of their stakeholders management in a systematic manner, and it published its
annual report of the same mentioning trust, mutual respect and commitment from the top to the
bottom of the organization are the key factors of the stakeholders management for the company.
In case the non-traditional stakeholder’s management, this company maintains in-person meeting
for engaging the stakeholders in a meaningful manner. They have also highlighted the need for
developing the technique for the engagement of the traditional and non-traditional stakeholders.
The current state of the stakeholder's management is based on the enhanced focus on
reputation management (93%), stakeholder’s management (82%) and rest of the focus of the
company is given to employee engagement of the company. The motto of the company is
stakeholders, and employee management is based on the shared belief of two-way dialogue
between the parties where the interest of them is protected and promoted (AmCham Vietnam,
2019). Moreover what is interesting to note that the broad array of information of the company is
available to the stakeholders of the company to have strengthened relationship (Flammer et al.
2015). Their stakeholders are based on a multi sectors approach where the role of the national
government of Vietnam, other business partners, employees and the traditional media are
engaged (Crowther et al. 2018). However, it has been argued by the author that the increased
pressure of employee reputation management is based on the enhances pressure of maintaining
an image in the market. There are enhances chances of reputation damage for mistakes and not
meeting the declared expectations. This might be harmful to the company since it will impact the
image in a negative manner (Kannan et al. 2018).
Conclusion
It can be argued that the importance of CSR management and the adoption of the right
strategies are one of the most crucial aspects of any company in the global market situation. This
is solely based on the adoption of the socially responsible actions of the company. Hence it is to
be noted that maintenance of the effective management of the stakeholders of the company is the
key to have a reputation in the market. the management of the CSR activities are to be monitored
through a number of processes, and it is one of the most crucial aspects of the company since it is
this image that will be impacting the company either in a positive or negative manner. However,

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it is crucial to note that the management of CSR is a complex process which requires considering
different aspects of reputation and stakeholders management for the company. Hence it can be
concluded that the idea of CSR management is the critical determining factor of the company
that determines the potential of growth in future.

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References
AmCham Hanoi. 2019. CSR Award 2018. [online] Available at:
http://www.amchamhanoi.com/csraward2018/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
AmCham Vietnam. 2019. Corporate Social Responsibility Group (CSR) - AmCham Vietnam.
[online] Available at: https://www.amchamvietnam.com/amcham-corporate-social-responsibitly-
group/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
Amcham.it. 2019. [online] Available at: http://www.amcham.it/detail.asp?c=1&p=0&id=4964
[Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
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Renneboog, L., 2017. On the foundations of corporate social responsibility. The Journal of
Finance, 72(2), pp.853-910.

9REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND CSR
Kannan, D., 2018. Role of multiple stakeholders and the critical success factor theory for the
sustainable supplier selection process. International Journal of Production Economics, 195,
pp.391-418.
Proserpio, D. and Zervas, G., 2017. Online reputation management: Estimating the impact of
management responses on consumer reviews. Marketing Science, 36(5), pp.645-665.
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Appendix A
Reputation Management