Corporate Social Responsibility: Meaning, Importance, And Implementation Process

Discussion

This report is based on focusing on the topic “The Social Responsibility of Business in order to increase their Profits.” This term was firstly coined by Milton Friedman in 1970. The discussions based on this topic would be notable for the analytical looseness. Based on the views of the author, it could be discusses that the managers have a high form of moral responsibility to act in a better way based on the interest of the shareholders (Tai and Chuang 2014). According to the author, the sole motivation of the manager would be to engage in long-term increase of the wealth of the shareholder. The author also puts focus on the responsibility of the manager base on the evaluation of stakeholders and discuss the issue faced during such evaluation. Based on the different kinds of social responsibility for businesses, it could be discussed that these businesses should be able to make use of their resources (Epstein 2018). They should also be able to engage in different kinds of activities, which would be designed for increasing the profits. The following discussion is focussed on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, the process of implementation and the accompanied real-life examples of companies.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) could be defined as the ways in which different companies would be able to manage the different processes of the business. This would be highly helpful in producing an overall impact on the society. CSR would be able to cover the aspect of sustainability, social ethical impacts and the ways in which the core business would be able to correctly function together (Schultz, Castelló and Morsing 2013). The CSR could also be defined as a form of business approach that would be able to contribute towards the sustainable development of the organization. This would be able to deliver based on social, economic and environmental benefits based on the stakeholders.

CSR could also be defined as a concept that would be supported with many forms of practices and definitions. The way of understanding, adopting and implementation of CSR practices would vary from one company to another. Moreover, CSR could be defined as a broad concept that would be able to address many and various kinds of topics (Höllerer et al. 2013). These topics would include corporate governance, human rights, environmental effects, health and safety, efficient working conditions and various contribution towards economic development.

Based on the consideration of CSR at the level of organisations, the CSR could be considered as a form of organisational policy. The CSR should be able to align and thus integrated within the model of business in order to achieve successful measures within the business (Khan, Muttakin and Siddiqui 2013). Based on different kinds of ethical perspective, it could be considered that some businesses and organisations should be able to adopt the policies and practices of CSR due to the ethical beliefs based on senior management.

Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility

It would be highly important that the concerned company would be able to operate in such a way that would be able to demonstrate the social responsibility of the corporate sector. Though this is not a legal requirement but it could be defined as a good practice for accounting on the social and environmental issues (Saeidi et al. 2015). Some of the most important benefits of corporate social responsibility are:

• Improvement of Brand Image– Consumers would only assess the websites of such companies that would have a brand image within the highly competitive market. With the help of improving the quality of the services of the businesses, it would be helpful for the business to give their best output to the customers (He and Lai 2014). These customers would be able to use their services and based on the service, they would be able to put a major feedback about the brand. This would eventually lead to an impact within the business.

Starbucks focuses on creation of an experience, which would be remembered by the customers. The company has evolved for taking advantage of the emerging platforms based on customer engagement. The discussion is based in ‘for’ of the statement. The company also supports a website, where customers would be able to leave their ideas for the betterment of the company and improvement of products (Time 2018). This would improve the level of engagement based within the community and also enhance the social responsibility of the business. Based on the commitment of the organisation towards the use of ethical practices, it would be useful to maintain the recognition of the brand (Tschopp and Nastanski 2014). High quality of performance of the brand would be helpful for recognising the brand based on the feedback of the customers.

• Differentiation of the Brand – The impact of CSR for the organization would be able to provide a massive opportunity to stand apart within the highly competitive massive market. The participation of the concerned organization in different businesses would be able to benefit the community. This would be extremely beneficial for fostering the image of the brand (Hur, Kim and Woo 2014). This form of corporate identity would be integral to the shared impressions of the public.

Starbucks has differentiated itself from most of the other brands based on a unique and unconventional method of advertising their products. The company would rarely advertise their products on newspapers, magazines or billboards. Few of the television advertisements would generally put focus on the offerings of specific products. These would mostly highlight the way of preparing the products and also for promotion campaigns (Time 2018). The company mainly puts focus on the development and building of brand image based on word-of-mouth channels and also by being visible in the life of the consumer. The principle of building of brand image and differentiating themselves is clearly reflected within the promotion of the brand and their adopted strategies of communication.

With the help of following such kind of principles, it would be helpful that the customers associated with the organization would remain contented and stay for a longer time within the organization when they would feel that the organization would be thinking about their concerns. The company has 13 million Starbucks Reward members. Besides the success of the company in using useful technologies such as coupon downloads, QR codes and virtual gift cards, they have also leveraged AI for permitting customers to place their orders with a messaging interface or a simple voice command (Time 2018). This form of brand differentiation has led to an increase in customer engagement.

Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

The organisations that are able to implement a fully structured and thorough planning with the help of CSR would be able to demonstrate a trustful form of leadership within the expanding world of business. The use of corporate social responsibility would imply a certain process of implementation. This would include:

• Research on the Objectives of the Organization– The primary step that is taken by the organization in the implementation of corporate social responsibility is on the identification of the focus of the current program (Baumann-Pauly et al. 2013). Narrowing the focus of the organization based on the current program, it could be helpful for the helpful for the participants of the program to receive the most form of participants.
• Determination of Costs – The impact of CSR would be able to involve different kinds of financial considerations based on different levels. The organisation should decide upon several factors based on the issues of cost. Though the focus of CSR is to help in benefiting others, different organizations should be able to consider their costs (Asif et al.2013). This would be helpful for ensuring that the program would be feasible for the organization.
• Engagement of Employees– The organizations that are successful in the implementation of CSR would mainly involve the employees. These organization would mainly encourage their employees in order to make use of their skills for helping in the cause of the organizations (Bondy and Starkey 2014). These organizations also solicit feedback from their employees, which would help them in understanding the different causes in which they would have any form of interests.  
• Communication with Stakeholders – An organization would be able to implement the best form of CSR in order to benefit the recipients of the current program, the employees and the entire organisation itself. The information in relation to the corporate effort should be entirely shared with different stakeholders that includes business partners, community and customers (Jones Christensen, Mackey and Whetten 2014). The various organisations would be able to promote their social efforts with the help of social media websites, news releases and opportunities based on public relations and networking events.  

The statement proposed by Milton Friedman could be approached based on the basis of ‘for’ or ‘against’ the conclusion based on the statement.

Based on the conclusions drawn from the statement, it could be discussed that the pursuit of social responsibility within a free-enterprise system would be able to represent an unadulterated form of socialism. The directors of a particular organisation have a particular kind of responsibility to perform different kinds of acts that would be based on the interest of the stakeholders (Asif et al. 2013). Based on the approach of the stakeholders, it could be discussed that the shareholders within an organization would serve as the economic engine within the organization. The primary goal of different organization would be to maximize the profits. They would also return a portion of the profits to the respective shareholders. The views regarding the statement based on Friedman is that there would be only one form of social responsibility for the approach to the business (Tai and Chuang 2014). This would be based on the using of resources and engaging within different kinds of activities, which would be designed in order to increase the profits of the business.

On the other hand, the view against the statement would be that a company would not have any form of social responsibility to the society or public. The only concern of the company would be to increase the profits for the organisation. They would also increase the profits for the shareholders in relation to the organization. The shareholders should be able to decide about the ways in which they would be able to engage with the shareholders and would also provide benefits for the society.

CSR could be thus defined as an idea that a company would be socially involved with the environment of the organisation. Some of the real-life examples of social responsibility within businesses are:

• BMW– The primary key for the success of the organisation would be based on alignment of the organisation. This could be considered as the best example of CSR techniques due to the balance between the facts based on help on social causes and a good model of business. The views supported by the author based on the social responsibility of the business of BMW, argues that free-market capitalism would be able to increase the social welfare of the people within the organisation.
• Starbucks Coffee – The main factors of success of Starbucks based within the highly competitive market is based on their initiatives on focusing on the needs of the society (Schäfer 2016). Starbucks has also set different guidelines in order to increase the quality of products, economic and social responsibility and management of environment.
• Levi Strauss and Co. – The Company is considered as one another example that would be able to focus on their efforts based on CSR. The approach followed by the company would be based on reducing the footprint of the environment by acting within the causes of environmental and human rights.
• SurveyMonkey – This organisation is popularly known for their popular software based on the creation of surveys. They have thus created a back program, which would be helpful for improving the social responsibilities (De Colle, Henriques and Sarasvathy 2014). The example based on the CSR of SurveyMonkey would be based beyond engagement of the organisation with their customers. This organisation based on making betterment for the society. This would help in bringing a good reputation to the company.

Conclusion

Based on the conclusions drawn from the research, it could be concluded that social responsibility could be defined as an idea for different businesses. Based on the Carroll’s CSR Pyramid Theory, there could be four kinds of theories, which would be responsible for the success of an organisation. These would also include the engagement of stakeholders and shareholders who would be responsible to abide by the four responsibilities of Carroll’s Pyramid Theory that include the economic, legal, philanthropic and ethical. Evaluation of the above discussion based on the theory, it could be concluded that the impacts of CSR within an organisation would emphasize on the profits of the organisation. The organisations would be responsible to abide by the laws, act morally and ethically. They would also have the responsibility to return something good for the society. 

References

Asif, M., Searcy, C., Zutshi, A. and Fisscher, O.A., 2013. An integrated management systems approach to corporate social responsibility. Journal of cleaner production, 56, pp.7-17.

Baumann-Pauly, D., Wickert, C., Spence, L.J. and Scherer, A.G., 2013. Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and large firms: Size matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(4), pp.693-705.

Bondy, K. and Starkey, K., 2014. The dilemmas of internationalization: Corporate social responsibility in the multinational corporation. British Journal of Management, 25(1), pp.4-22.

De Colle, S., Henriques, A. and Sarasvathy, S., 2014. The paradox of corporate social responsibility standards. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(2), pp.177-191.

Epstein, M.J., 2018. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental and economic impacts. Routledge.

He, Y. and Lai, K.K., 2014. The effect of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty: the mediating role of brand image. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(3-4), pp.249-263.

Höllerer, M.A., Jancsary, D., Meyer, R.E. and Vettori, O., 2013. Imageries of corporate social responsibility: Visual recontextualization and field-level meaning. In Institutional Logics in Action, Part B (pp. 139-174). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Hur, W.M., Kim, H. and Woo, J., 2014. How CSR leads to corporate brand equity: Mediating mechanisms of corporate brand credibility and reputation. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(1), pp.75-86.

Jones Christensen, L., Mackey, A. and Whetten, D., 2014. Taking responsibility for corporate social responsibility: The role of leaders in creating, implementing, sustaining, or avoiding socially responsible firm behaviors. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2), pp.164-178.

Khan, A., Muttakin, M.B. and Siddiqui, J., 2013. Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from an emerging economy. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), pp.207-223.

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.

Schäfer, H., 2016. 26 Corporate Social Responsibility Rating. A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility, p.449.

Schultz, F., Castelló, I. and Morsing, M., 2013. The construction of corporate social responsibility in network societies: A communication view. Journal of business ethics, 115(4), pp.681-692.

Tai, F.M. and Chuang, S.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), p.117.

Tai, F.M. and Chuang, S.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), p.117.

Time. (2018). https://time.com. [online] Available at: https://time.com/5349533/europe-against-tourists/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

Tschopp, D. and Nastanski, M., 2014. The harmonization and convergence of corporate social responsibility reporting standards. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(1), pp.147-162.