Business Case Study : New Balance

Inside CVS Health, there are many stakeholders that come into play and are effected by the new change. The employees, customers and clients, suppliers and venders, investors, and local communities, are the stakeholders that are involved with and are close to CVS Health. CVS Health believes that staying close and involving their stakeholders to their CSR strategy, will help them be successful. Having employees that help contribute to the purpose that CVS Health stands for, helps the consumers get on a path to better health, and also contributes to the local communities outside of work. I am going to select ‘employees’ as the stakeholder for this analysis.

Nyke Shoe Company has been in business for over 50 years. Over the last five years, the company has been undergoing some financial hardship due to an erratic market and an inability to understand what the consumer actually needs. In a last ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy, they have adopted a new business model which entails the development of only one shoe size. In order to achieve this goal, statistical data must be utilized and applied to make the best choice. The data used will be explained to the fullest and a conclusion will be then obtained.

Kroger’s CSR efforts regarding environmental efforts are more robust than employee stakeholder support. Even with this, Kroger is considered a laggard with environmental CSR standards when compared to Walmart and Target (van der Ven, 2014). A main reason for this could be due to Kroger’s relatively light involvement with CSR focused organizations. Their leadership may simply not be exposed to CSR ideas as much as their peers (van der Ven, 2014). Expanding CSR knowledge, and leadership widening their network on CSR possibilities will give Kroger’s leaders access to industry leaders best practice knowledge.

New Balance (NB) had some great deeds and practices to flaunt on, specifically in the four categories of overall governance, community support, operations and products and services. New Balance was also an industry leader in many of the initiatives they took and were ranked fourth-largest footwear brand in the world. (2010, Dr. Veleva.V. “New Balance – Developing an Integrated CSR strategy.” Page 14.) However, they have been rather shy/reluctant about talking about their various initiatives they have implemented. In fact, their employees were also not completely aware of what the organization was doing from a CSR standpoint. If I headed public relations for the company, I would use tactics and strategies that targeted both internally and externally to promote the various good deeds/doings of the company. I have explained on them below:

Quality is ensured at LULU by the Corporate Social Responsibility department (CSR). This department encourages members of the staff to take personal responsibility for their individual activities at LULU and elsewhere. The CSR department came up with the grassroots actions and company actions to ensure customer satisfaction. According to Gray (2008), on the one hand, grassroots actions take place in

Current approaches to CSR are fragmented and/or disconnected from business goals. Many firms still consider CSR as another generic public relations problem in which media campaigns and CSR reports are used to paint the company as a positive ethical, social and or environmental advocator and supporter. For example, the annual reports discuss a firm’s sensitivities to CSR issues, but completely lack the entire story and offer no further forward commitments from the firm. Further, the ratings and rankings measurements are self-appointed by the firm, not always accurate to validate the work and direct impact to what they are measuring, and the criteria base varies widely and weighed differently in the final scoring. Worst of all the data lacks impartial auditors for validating the data to ensure the ratings have been accurately met, and data is statistically significant and a good proxy for what it is supposed to reflect. This has resulted in reactive initiatives designed to appease vocal

CSR is the concept that businesses should balance profit-making with activities that benefit society, as Bruce Dayton believed “businesses should act in the best interest of society” (Target, 2015). Accordingly, Target’s commitment is to design tomorrow’s Target through our value chain, building community and creating a great workplace. As such, its 5 core beliefs: innovation, leadership, growth, inclusivity, and community influence its ongoing commitment to CSR. Furthermore, they achieve this by concentrating on:

sale of Nike’s high-margin products to high-end customers. Regardless of the low cost of the World Shoes, they

New Balance International was founded during the early 1990s specializing in orthopedic footware to improve the fit of their shoes. Today the company continues its founding values in a highly specialized niche business of providing athletic footware in a wide range of widths and sizes which distinguishes the product from its competitors. With the philosophy of “one size did not fit all,” New Balance expanded operation from the US and currently markets its product in 160 countries in six continents. New Balance Inc. first appeared in South Africa In 1976 when a Durban based company obtained a license to distribute the brand. Under this distribution plan the company held a very small percentage of

New Balance has a significant opportunity to expand its operations in the western region. While the commitment to northeastern operations may have provided an early advantage, there is certainly an opportunity to capitalize on the explosive growth within the western market (Chang, 2012). It is important to balance growth across various markets, to ensure market share is captured, in order to get ahead of the expanding market culture before brand dominance is established by the competition.

Much of the strengths of New Balance lie in the quality of their product and the good relationships they have with their retailers/ distributers. Their weaknesses are in that they are too focussed on the functionality of product, whereas the market is constantly changing and they need to be evolving with the market. Opportunities lie in the diversification of the product and making it more contemporary. They also need to employ stronger marketing techniques.

This recent reality, combined with globalization, is forcing companies to forge new kinds of relationships with buyers and countries. The financial valuation of companies are taking ever greater account of intangible elements, such as brands, patents and the company’s general image, with companies being bound to take account of these things in an effort to satisfy their shareholders. Environmental protection has become a highly motivating factor, and companies are being pressed to identify stakeholders with whom to team up. With brand value and reputation increasingly being seen as one of a company’s most valuable assets, CSR is now seen as building loyalty and trust amongst shareholders, employees and customers ( Tssa, (n.d.)).

CSR lacks universal methods. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) mentions that it is important to draw a distinction between CSR as part of strategic business management concept and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy. The latter applications make valuable social impacts that enhance the reputations of the companies, however, CSR is a continual effort instead of an instance. A few features that CSR should focus on are: eco-efficiency, employee and community relations, environmental management, gender balance, responsible souring, anti-corruption, stakeholder engagement and human rights. Utilizing some of these key features a company can bring competitive advantages into the market place. Increased sales and profits from operational cost savings as well as improved reputation and brand image and customer loyalty can result from a well-defined CSR strategy.

Dr. Veleva’s 2010 case study, “New Balance: Developing an integrated CSR strategy”, examines the company’s history and corporate culture, and describes how in 2006 it started to approach CSR more formally, creating a CSR steering committee. In 2008, the company engaged the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (BCCCC) to help develop a framework, conduct

It seems that the objective of the CSR has been misconstrued. Every company must have its CSR activities keeping in view the needs of the locality where it is situated and also the prevailing environment.