BUSS150 Capstone Project: Ethical and CSR Analysis of Goldman Sachs

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Goldman Sachs Group's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability practices. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the company's efforts to maintain its brand image within a competitive industry, emphasizing its commitment to ethical values and the challenges posed by unethical issues. The report delves into Goldman Sachs' CSR and sustainability policies, specifically focusing on the Environmental Policy Framework and its initiatives in climate mitigation, climate risk management, and operational climate approach. It examines whether the company has lived up to its vision and values, particularly concerning its impact on global progress, and assesses its ethical standing, acknowledging both its adherence to ethical codes and allegations of unethical behavior. The report concludes with recommendations for improving Goldman Sachs' reputation and brand image, such as understanding financial implications, improving public image, and creating scorecards. It also offers recommendations for other businesses, including communication and long-term commitment to CSR. The report analyzes the impact of values on the brand image and includes references to relevant sources.

Running head: MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS
Management Fundamentals
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has thrown light in identifying the different CSR and the sustainability related
practices of Goldman Sachs Group for maintaining their brand image in the competitive
industry. The company has been successful in managing their ethicality through
understanding their values and trying to work as per the requirements effectively. Moreover,
it can be seen that the company has been alleged in different issues related to the unethical
issues that affected their brand image, in such scenario, there are different recommendations
provided to them for improving their status in market.

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Table of Contents
7) Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability...................................................3
i) CSR and Sustainability Policies of Goldman Sachs Group company and Analysis of
Level of Ethics and CSR Displayed.......................................................................................3
ii) Analysis of Whether the Company has Lived up to their vision and values.....................4
iii) Analysis of Whether the Company is Ethical or Not with Justification...........................4
iv) Recommendations to Improve Reputation and Image of Goldman Sachs Group
company.................................................................................................................................5
Analysis of the Impact of Values on Brand Image of Goldman Sachs Group company.......5
Recommendations Provided to Other Businesses..................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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7) Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
i) CSR and Sustainability Policies of Goldman Sachs Group company and Analysis of
Level of Ethics and CSR Displayed
In the year 2005, the company has introduced the Environmental Policy Framework
which is the document that helps in formalizing the approach to the stewardship of
environmental aspects and has been able to guide the initiatives. Due to the implementation
of the policies, it helped in providing transparency of the practices and these are being
generally developed with consultation of the stakeholders which includes regulators and
investors.
In addition, the environmental policy framework of Goldman Sachs in 2018 has
articulated the initiatives across each of the business areas which are:
 Mitigation of Climate- The company is trying to expand the clean energy target to
$150 billion in the financings as well as investment by the year 2025 for transition ton
low carbon economy (Goldmansachs.com 2019)
 Climate Risk Management- Itis the other aspect across the Fundamental Equity
Business in Goldman Sachs Asset Management for understanding the strategy and
improved appraisal of the carbon intensive type of factors.
 Approach of Climate in Operations-There will be inclusion of the climate approach
in their operations through minimizing operational influence on change in climate and
strengthen the operational efficiency. From 2015, there has been neutrality in carbon
footprints and targeted $2 billion in green operational investments till the year 2020
(Goldmansachs.com 2019).

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From the above, it can be seen that the company Goldman Sachs has been suitable in
generating high level of ethicality in the different practices which helped them in growing in
the business environment.
ii) Analysis of Whether the Company has Lived up to their vision and values
The Corporate Social Responsibility at Goldman Sachs Group company is one of their
important values and they hold the same at high standard. The CSR aspects of the company is
titled as “Our Impact Drives Global Progress”. The company is fully aware regarding the
impact of the same and they strive for expanding their influence in the entire world. Goldman
Sachs Group and their people are committed towards helping the communities wherein the
individuals work and live. Goldman Sachs Group has been successful in donating more than
$1 million for helping the people of Israel and they have been successful in generating
30000 volunteers who helped in harvesting 7.7 million pounds of the vegetables and
distributed to the ones who are in need (Flammer 2015).
Moreover, the company has lived up to the values and vision wherein the company
has been successful in supporting LGBT Community wherein they supported the respective
political dispute to enact the equality in marriage for maintaining the competitive advantage
in attracting the best as well as brightest people in the world (Graysonand Hodges 2015).
iii) Analysis of Whether the Company is Ethical or Not with Justification
The different decisions on the regulatory and legal rules and the different people of
the Goldman Sachs Group is ethically involved in performing the different activities. The
ethical behavior is inseparable from the good judgment and integrity and every member at
Goldman Sachs Group is the steward to the heritage of the company of the different services
provided to the clients and the reputation as well as brand image of the company is ethical in
nature (Lins,Servaesand Tamayo 2017).

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However, there are different allegations on the ethicality of the company wherein the
company pays high number of bonuses to the traders for making risky investments which
were the ethical hazards and it impacted the reputation of the company lately. Therefore, it
can be seen that the company is ethical in nature as it follows different code of conduct such
as non-retaliationpolicy wherein the people plays the significant role in safeguarding veracity
of the business along with escalating any kind of potential breach of the integrity (Saeidi et
al. 2015).
iv) Recommendations to Improve Reputation and Image of Goldman Sachs Group
company
After the analysis of the few ethical issues, there are different recommendations
which can be incorporated by the company that can be suitable for improving their business
activities in a suitable manner.
Proper understanding of the financial implications is the first and foremost step
which needs to be included by the Goldman Sachs Group as it will be suitable in making the
activities ethical and it will be creating strong influence on the society (Schrempf-Stirling,
Palazzoand Phillips 2016).
Improving the public image and the perception regarding the CSR practices of the
company is the most useful aspect which needs to be incorporated by the company for
creating the stronger community connections. The ethical practices such as repurposing of the
CSR reports play a vital role in appealing the stakeholders and shareholders.
Creation of the Scorecard is the other aspect and recommendation which can be
incorporated by Goldman Sachs which will be keeping it visible on the site and tracking
progress. The honesty is the key element which needs to be incorporated by them for
understanding their setbacks and be authentic in nature (Goldmansachs.com 2019).

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Analysis of the Impact of Values on Brand Image of Goldman Sachs Group company
From the analysis of the CSR and sustainability aspects of the Goldman Sachs Group
company, it can be concluded that besides the different ethical issues which affected brand
image of the company, Goldman Sachs Group has been successful in becoming the strongest
as well as the most sustainable organizations in the entire industry (Goldmansachs.com
2019). They hold themselves a high corporate responsibility and created huge impact in the
world. The company has been successful in depending on the framework with key
imperatives such as: Driving proper as well as sustainable kind of growth, increasing the
financial type of empowerment, advancement in the environmental progress, investing in the
people and managing the same in a responsible manner (Goldmansachs.com 2019).
Recommendations Provided to Other Businesses
From the overall analysis of the sustainability and CSR initiatives of the Goldman
Sachs Group, there are different recommendations which can be provided to the other
businesses which are as follows:
Communication is the first aspect which should be incorporated by the company for
building the CSR strategy as it will be helpful for the businesses to achieve success in the
market (Yakovleva 2017).
There should be long term vision as well as commitment among the different
employees that will be suitable for them in improving the brand image of the company
effectively.

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References
Flammer, C., 2015. Does corporate social responsibility lead to superior financial
performance? A regression discontinuity approach. Management Science, 61(11), pp.2549-
2568.
Goldmansachs.com 2019 (online) Retrieved from
https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/sustainability-reporting/esg-content/esg-report-
2017.pdf [Accessed on 5th September 2019]
Goldmansachs.com 2019 Environmental Stewardship (online) Retrieved from
https://www.goldmansachs.com/s/environmental-policy-framework/index.html [Accessed on
5th September 2019]
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
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.
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.
Schrempf-Stirling, J., Palazzo, G. and Phillips, R.A., 2016. Historic corporate social
responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 41(4), pp.700-719.
Yakovleva, N., 2017. Corporate social responsibility in the mining industries. Routledge.

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GOLDMAN SACHS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
FRAMEWORK