Consumer Confidence : Product Lifecycle Pricing

In recent years, increasing number of customers and businessmen start to concern about the ethical issues in businesses. Although the main purpose of business is to make profits, the social influence of it also appears to be focused by a large proportion of customers and businessmen. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is closely connected with this concentration, was put forward in 1953 with the meaning of interacting social, environmental, and economic considerations into the decision-making structures and processes of business (Industry Canada, 2013). Although criticized, there is a business case for CSR because it could enhance customers’ loyalty, improve

A study on the negative impact of CSR on both firms and consumers supported with research and evidence.

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).

The money spent on research, grants, sustainability efforts, supply chain mapping, and marketing are not cost, but capital expenditures. Each year the money put into these areas, are long-term investments, which in the case of Eileen Fisher, yields the immense valuable, authenticity. Eileen Fisher has managed to come a long way from where they started. Ms. Fisher has spearheaded an era growth wherein her firm has made large strides over a many decades, without degrading to long-term value of their efforts by way of credit claiming that runs the risk of diminishing the perceived authenticity of their CSR

Research Challenge Identifying the optimal price for a new product is a critical step in the innovation process – and correcting the price of an existing product is a necessary component of successful brand management. With the wide range of pricing research techniques practiced in the industry, it is not always clear which technique best addresses the business issue at hand. This paper describes the most common methods used for consumer goods pricing research and offers guidelines on when – and when not

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 or ”Corporate Social Responsibility” is a very important keyword for companies these days. Consumers are being more and more aware and conscious about where their clothes come from and how they are made. Consumers also put a lot of thought into where their food comes from, and how it has been produced and treated before it is served at the dinner table. With other words, consumers are demanding better quality and greater responsibility from the companies, than ever before. The consumers of the companies have never demanded as much as they do today from them, and never have companies needed put so much thought in their supply chains and to take this much responsibility for their production and their products. But improving sustainability

I would like to narrow down my project to focus on the affects of CSR on the apparel industry’s supply chain. Therefor my research project aims to examine how CSR as a global trend affects vertically and horizontally integrated manufacturing in the fashion/apparel industry.

C2C protocol became an alternative to the previously accepted C2G approach. C2G was based on monitoring every aspect of a product through its entire life cycle; from design to disposal (Business Dictionary, 2011). C2C, in its tern, is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free (Lovins, L. Hunter, 2008). C2C is based on two premises: − Eco-effectiveness vs. eco-efficiency Eco-efficiency is achieved through delivery of competitively priced goods that satisfy human needs while reducing environmental impacts and resource intensity throughout the entire life-cycle. However, being an eco-efficient company is not enough now. Therefore, the central design principle of eco-effectiveness is waste equals food. − Waste equals food

The report being presented will deliver how consumers have an increased aspiration towards buying products from businesses that demonstrate corporate social responsibility (CSR). Legal compliance, environmental sustainability, social and ethical responsibility will be elaborated on and portrayed how they are incorporated throughout various businesses. Operations processes and strategies will be exemplified throughout the report and broken down further into the supply chain management, outsourcing and technology of a business. An evaluation of the business Lego will be presented and deliver how the business examines CSR and why consumers prefer their business compared to other leading competitors.

As part of product and service creation, successful companies spend significant energy understanding the end users value proposition to ensure the product will create value the consumer is willing to pay for (Expressive Product Design, n.d.). During this initial market and product research phase, the company and the consumer are working on the definition of shared value for the product. By adding sustainability as a core value as part of the product definition, the product can be created to meet the customer need in a way that is also valuable for the company to produce (Williams, 2014). Even Adam Smith acknowledged that human beings are self-interested, but also containing “sympathy, empathy, friendship, love, and the desire for social approval” (Williams, 2014, p. 11). Therefore both profit and social approval are intertwined when creating products consumers want. Embedding CSR in with how products are created ensures a scalable model for accommodating both profit and CSR.

Supply Chain Sustainability (SCS) has been recognized as a key generator of business value and an important element of strong corporate responsibility performance. Throughout the management of environmental, social and economic impacts, and the encouragement of good governance practices, the main purpose of SCS is to create, protect, and grow long-term environmental, social and economic value for all stakeholders involved in bringing products and services to market. By doing so, the potential benefits could be brought by SCS would be impacts on value creation levers such as pricing power, cost savings, and market share….

One of the leading companies that adopted CSR as a pioneer of ethic is The Body Shop. The company has used CSR as a competitive strategy in order to succeed in business. The shop owner knows what she does best. So, products are developed based on a specific group of customers in order to create a strong brand preferences and unique way with a perception of enormous customer groups, called sustainability ideals. The source of The Body Shop success is to utilize the benefits of CSR by selling products based on natural ingredients, paying a fair price and no testing on animal. According to porter (1985), he claimed that sustainability of differentiation depends on two things: "it is continued perceived value to buyers and the lack of competitor ability to imitate it" (Porter 1985 cited in Mallin 2009, p.71). It requires a transparency of work process with stakeholders. From this example, it explains why CSR is important to modern businesses like The Body Shop (Mallin 2009, pp.59-78),(Kwapong 2005, p.89).

It is difficult for an organization to remain competitive in today’s market without taking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into consideration. In today’s market consumers are more aware of how businesses develop their products and service. A few major concerns for consumers are human rights, environmental health, and animal safety. By implementing a strong CSR program organizations will find that they value chain will become more effective and efficient. CSR in the value chain will also foster more good will

Despite being costly to businesses from one end, these businesses understand the risk that lack of CSR can have especially in damaging their reputation. The negative image associated with the company will result in boycotting their products or lack of appeal in them which hurt businesses. In order to effectively manage CSR, businesses have realized that the traditional tools are failing in the delivery of goals and new tools have been devised for the same.