HI5013 - Managing Across Borders: Corporate Social Responsibility Role

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its multifaceted role in the contemporary business landscape. It begins by defining CSR as a self-regulated model that promotes sustainable, ethical, and socially accountable business practices. The essay explores the benefits of CSR for organizational growth, including sustained profit-making through investor engagement, enhanced brand identity, cost reduction via efficient resource use, competitive advantages, employee loyalty, and improved public perception. Furthermore, the essay highlights CSR's contributions to society, such as improving community welfare, ensuring product quality, and promoting fair business practices. It also emphasizes the role of CSR in environmental sustainability by encouraging responsible resource management and reducing environmental impact. The essay concludes by underscoring the integral role of CSR in building organizational reputation, fostering financial stability, and promoting societal and environmental development, making it an essential aspect of modern business strategy. References and examples are provided to support the arguments.

Running head: THE ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
THE ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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Executive Summary:
This paper aims in understanding the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility and identify the
important roles as well as the relevance of it in the present world scenario. In the present
globalized world scenario, the corporates are striving to maximize profit and grow. In this,
process the introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility playing as vital role through
initiating the partial contribution towards society, environment, economy and the business
development. After conducting the whole analysis, the paper concludes that Corporate Social
Responsibility plays an integral part in building organizational reputation and goodwill through
establishing the right brand image among investors and customers as well as contributing to the
society.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................3
The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Organizational Growth:...................................3
1. Sustained Profit Making:...............................................................................................3
2. Enhanced Brand Identity:..............................................................................................4
3. Cost Reduction:.............................................................................................................4
4. Achieve Competitive Advantage:.................................................................................5
5. Ensured Employee Loyalty:..........................................................................................5
6. Improved Popularity:.....................................................................................................5
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Society:...................................................................6
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Environment...........................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a self-controlled industrial model that supports
the organizations to perform sustainably, ethically and make it socially accountable. This paper
concentrating on exploring the role of this specific aspect of business in the present environment.
There are various benefits which Corporate Social Responsibilities can contribute like in
business it can ensure cost-saving, increased consumer-employee engagement, increased brand
awareness, financial growth and to achieve the competitive advantages. It can also contribute to
the society through providing quality product, ensure healthy pollution free environment, achieve
customer loyalty, sustain and create wealth and employment, less corruption and litigation. In the
next section of the paper the effective role and relevance of this corporate initiative to the growth
of business as well as the society is discussed in detail.
Discussion:
Corporate social responsibility is the social commitment of the corporations to behave in
ethical way contributing to the society with creating social value. It allows the organization to
operate without spoiling the environment and violating the human right
The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Organizational Growth:
In ensuring effective business operation CSR performs various roles, which are discussed below:
1. Sustained Profit Making:
The functions of corporate social responsibility help an organization to establish sustainable
financial growth for a more extended period through ensuring the better engagement and interest
of investors, loyal employee and effective utilization of resources, energies and return to the
economy of the nation (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). Nestle has ensured sustained

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growth as well as efficacy through creation of long-term worth for the shareholders and
community. In 2016 Nestle has achieved the profit of 16% then incremented to 17.5% in next
several years and in present committed to enlarge the edge of profit making by 18.5% till 2020
(Mellentin and Heasman 2014).
2. Enhanced Brand Identity:
Business practices can furnish brand images through changing the perceptions of the
individuals, which in turn can increase or expand their customer base (Rodriguez and
Fernandez 2016). Corporate Social Responsibility helps to improve the brand image among
the customers, competitors, investors, shareholders and other people engaged directly and
indirectly with the business. The Co-operative Group and The Body Shop are established on
value of ethics (Chun, 2016).
3. Cost Reduction:
Significant changes in sustainability, such as using a lesser amount of packaging,
introduction of less as well as efficient energy and waste recycle will support the reduction of
production cost. It helps and motivates in developing and establishing products that use limited
energy and less packaging and thus reduce utility bills and raw material cost which in turn lead
to a sudden decrease in the production cost. The case of General Mills can be mentioned here. It
is going to reduce its energy by more than 15%. The company also aims to ensure the cost-
saving benefits by growing efficiency and by expanding its business with the help of lower
budgets. (Azzimonti, Battaglini and Coate 2016).

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4. Achieve Competitive Advantage:
Corporate Social Responsibility enables the organization stand out from its competitors in its
field through ensuring the quality from the loyal employee, strong brand image, maximum
customer retention and market capture (Hudson et al. 2016). For example, Daimler Inc., which is
regarded as a subsidiary of Mercedes, has various other brands like Public utility buses, business
units, trucks, and vans services, which have helped, provide Mercedes in different businesses for
their establishment. It has also helped them get constant support like technological guidance,
dealership management and financing. Mercedes has started their brand and positioning their
marketing and sales plans with customer demand requirements, it means they are developing
themselves from its product basis to consumer-centric company (Su etal. 2014).
5. Ensured Employee Loyalty:
Corporate social responsibility helps to attract and retain the right talent in their company.
The employee often looks for employers who demonstrate ethical value and behavior that line up
with their own. CSR incorporates the obligation of treating the human beings with respect as
well as the initiatives taken by the CSR provides a good feeling for the organization they are
working and thus ensure their loyalty towards the organization. The variety of organizations saw
employee’s honesty, loyalty and motivation increase after involving them in corporate social
responsibility initiatives. These companies assumed that they were capable of obtaining talented
employees.
6. Improved Popularity:
The people prefer and develop good feelings for the brand or the organization, which is
contributing something good for them. This makes them towards the product and creates
wide market through their word of mouth. Thus, CSR helps to develop a public image for the

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product like, in China McDonalds found that CSR performance influenced customers more
than the service or product quality (Xu 2014).
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Society:
 This initiative step make the corporation able to go and take certain moves for the
improvement of the community people like, education for poor children, arrange nutrition
for the people in rural areas, send some help to the flooded areas. CSR influence the
corporations pay back to society and ensure the development of community people.
 CSR not only ensure the development of the people in community but also make it
responsible towards the customers. This influence corporation to be respectful provides
value to their money through quality product, fair advertisement, information and trading.
 Through implementing CSR corporations ensure the welfare to the society in general as
well as to the employees in specific. It provides them quality working life, equality,
dignity, and multiple opportunities. Thus, it contributes for betterment of the society in
large (Šontaitė-Petkevičienė 2015).
Role of Corporate Social Responsibility to Environment
Environmental concern and the sustainable development is the focus of CSR. In recent
environmental scenario occupied with the issues like, misuse of non-renewable energy and
natural resources, waste pollution, biodiversity degradation, deforestation and climate change in
general. CSR makes the business corporates responsible to the well management of a healthy
environment measuring the environmental impact of their initiatives and become
environmentally accountable. CSR through increasing resource based clean productivity, less use
of chemicals and go for green and harmless raw materials and produce more healthy as well as
quality products. Thus, the companies can improve their performance, which is environmentally

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good and healthy. To take all such initiatives the corporation is required to utilize the resources
mindfully, go for business, which does not use or refrain from the use of materials, which are not
harmful for life, renewable, and not within the list of resources, which are not maintaining
sustainability. Thus Corporate Social Responsibility can ensure healthy as well as wealthy
business congenial to the environment (Cho and Patten 2013).
Conclusion:
In context to the whole observation it can be stated that Corporate Social Responsibility
enables a company to be socially responsible which in turn helps it to retain as well as attract
talent, establish employee loyalty and harmonious cooperative organizational culture which in
turn can lead towards the better performance and productivity. Corporate Social Responsibility is
the kind of initiative that not only can improve the reputation, image but also ensure the financial
stability of a particular organization. Corporate Social Responsibility proves itself as effective
not only in facilitating the environmental development through ensuring the preference of less
harmful, waste making and safe use of the materials but also for the societal as well as economic
development. It ensures sustainability both for the living species and beings. It is an inevitable
step to take in recent arena.

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References:
Azzimonti, M., Battaglini, M. and Coate, S., 2016. The costs and benefits of balanced budget
rules: Lessons from a political economy model of fiscal policy. Journal of Public
Economics, 136, pp.45-61.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic management journal, 35(1), pp.1-23.
Cho, C.H. and Patten, D.M., 2013. Green accounting: Reflections from a CSR and
environmental disclosure perspective. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 24(6), pp.443-447.
Chun, R., 2016. What holds ethical consumers to a cosmetics brand: The Body Shop
case. Business & Society, 55(4), pp.528-549.
Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M.S. and Madden, T.J., 2016. The influence of social media
interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and
marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), pp.27-41.
Mellentin, J. and Heasman, M., 2014. The functional foods revolution: healthy people, healthy
profits. Routledge.
Rodriguez-Fernandez, M., 2016. Social responsibility and financial performance: The role of
good corporate governance. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 19(2), pp.137-151.
Šontaitė-Petkevičienė, M., 2015. CSR reasons, practices and impact to corporate
reputation. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, pp.503-508.

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Su, H.C., Linderman, K., Schroeder, R.G. and Van de Ven, A.H., 2014. A comparative case
study of sustaining quality as a competitive advantage. Journal of Operations
Management, 32(7-8), pp.429-445.
Xu, Y., 2014. Understanding CSR from the perspective of Chinese diners: the case of
McDonald’s. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(6), pp.1002-
1020.