Company Q Social Responsibility

Business organizations today are socially and ethically responsible for doing the right thing, exercising good judgment in their business activities with employees, stakeholders, customers and the community. Business organizations emphasis should not only be on profits, but also on how business decisions impact society.

Today an increasing desire from consumers is to have healthy and organic product offerings. While

Social responsibility is an important part of business today. Company Q’s current attitude towards social responsibilities seems insensitive. This company has shown that profits drive the success of their business. Company Q is closing two stores in high crime rate areas due to lost revenue. It did not seem the company explored other options that would have less impact on the community and their businesses. By exploring other options they could have improved the stores profits while making an investment in the community. Company Q made no efforts to explore other ideas. By researching different options or processes Company Q could have keep its doors open.

Company Q’s actions are not socially responsible. A company that is socially responsible would try to balance its ability it positively influence the community and increase profits. In the scenario we are given the information that they closed two stores in “high-crime-rate” areas.” In high-crime-rate areas we can usually deduce through logical conclusion that people may not be as financially secure. Due to this they may not be able to afford the groceries that Company Q is offering. We can see that Company Q attempts to maximize only its profits when we read the scenario. In the scenario Company Q is very selective about its products and only offers it at “high-margins.” Anyone in these areas that they closed the two stores simply may not be able to afford the high markup costs that Company Q is trying to make.

In this paper I am going to discuss and explain my opinion on why a company Q is or is not socially responsible in the following areas company Q close a couple of stores in high crime areas, company Q started offering a very limited health conscious an organic products, company Q was approached by the local food bank for donations of day old food and company Q declined the donation request from the food bank and started throwing the food away, and company Q suspected possible fraud among its employees.

Company Q is a small local grocery store chain who has made poor decisions when it comes to social responsibility. Company Q’s business is suffering because the owners’ do not know the heart of running a business, Social responsibility. When opening a business it is not all about the money. Sure it is nice to think about growth and reaping the benefits of a bigger bank account, but the first thing that is important in business is the consumers. Who is buying what you are selling? What will make consumers buy more, comeback, or tell friends? Businesses flourish around consumers. So if it is money you are after, then consumers are who you need and want. So in business in order for Company Q to get what they want and need, they will need to give the consumer what they want and need, social responsibility. Give back, it has always been said “It is better to give than to receive.” After careful review of Company Q's business actions, this company lacks social responsibility in many areas.

feel safe shopping at their location. If Company Q felt the risk was more in the employees stealing, then

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) is a term describing a company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholder in all its operation and activities. Socially responsible companies consider the full scope of their impact on communities and the environment when making decisions, balancing the needs of stakeholder with their need to make profit.

Company Q’s attitude towards social responsibility appears to be nonexistent, possibly through ignorance or disconcert. Either way the lack of social responsibility affects their business and community’s perception of their business. It appears that the company management has never developed and ethics program that clearly defines the corporate culture including provisions for social responsibility. Profits, or at least a lack of losses appears to be a primary motivating factor for company Q's management’s decisions. Company Q has been attempting to cut losses by closing stores that were losing money instead of finding innovative ways to

Recently, due to decrease, in sales Company Q had to close two stores in high crime rate areas. Those closures where due to the result of months of losses in profits from those two stores. If those stores, in higher-crime areas were

Companies today are heavily influenced by the demands of customers and stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the social and environmental responsibility policies and practices developed by an organization to increase its positive influence and reduce its negative activity towards society (Parks, 2008). The business approach and corporate philosophy of an organization is easily altered due to economic pressures, technological improvement and stakeholder needs and demands. "Going green" or being eco-friendly is one such demand. Environmental and sustainability concerns originate most often from governments, consumer activists, and the general public (Schlosser, 2008). Thus, organizations must implement sustainability into daily practices. In addition, sustainability alters the nature of competition and drives companies to think differently about products, processes, and technologies (Parks, 2008).

New Balance is privately owned company, which is the second largest footwear manufacture in the United States and the fourth largest footwear manufacture in the world with annual sales in 2008 of $1.61 billion (Veleva, 2010).

Becoming a socially responsible company is an ethical goal every business has a duty to strive for. As a small grocery store, Company Q currently has policies in place that do not create a socially responsible culture. Currently they have three main focuses that need to be addressed, the closing of stores in high crime areas, the high margins on health conscious and organic products, and the policy for day-old products. The current policies do not improve the companies reputation as a socially responsible company. In fact some of the actions negatively impact the company and its reputation.

Corporate social responsibility may also be referred to as "corporate citizenship" and can involve spending finances that do not directly benefit the company but rather advocate positive social and environmental change. The soul in the next economy forum presentation made it evident that achieving corporate social responsibly in a company can reap major benefits in terms of finances, more inspiring workplace and customer satisfaction.

When trust is damaged employee performance declines, employee loyalty declines, employee theft rises and the relationship a company had with its clients ultimately fails.