Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

In recent years, companies are becoming socially responsible and now stakeholders almost expect a company to have CSR policies. Therefore, in twentieth century, corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important development in public life (Barnett, ND).Corporate social responsibility is defined as “the ways in which an organisation exceeds the minimum obligations to stakeholders specified through regulation and corporate governance” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). Stakeholders can be defined as “those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organisation depends” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). There are many

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a very controversial topic. A question that has been debated for the past few decades is; is it corporately viable to introduce social responsibility as a proposed addition to the work ethic of business organisations. As well as, if adopting the framework of corporate social responsibility would yield positive improvements for those organisations.

When an organization partakes in “proactive behavior…for the benefit of society,” it is deemed as socially responsible (P. 155). However, prior to labeling a organization as socially responsible, it is important that we first identify what specific elements of proactive behavior constitute a socially responsible business. To begin, for an organization to be considered socially responsible on the highest level, it must take a proactive approach to doing business. This is defined as “[taking a] approach to social responsibility in which an organization goes beyond industry norms to solve and prevent problems” (P.155). In addition, it is standard for a socially responsible organization to incorporate a larger scope of stakeholders, to include external stakeholders, in their business decisions to create positive externalities, and mitigate negative ones, to benefit society as a whole.

The expectation that businesses behave responsibly and positively contribute to society all while pursuing their economic goals is one that holds firm through all generations. Stakeholders, both market and nonmarket, expect businesses to be socially responsible. Many companies have responded to this by including this growing expectation as part of their overall business operations. There are companies in existence today whose sole purpose is to socially benefit society alongside businesses who simply combine social benefits with their economic goals as their company mission. These changes in societal expectations and thus company purpose we’ve seen in the business community over time often blurs the line of what it means to be socially

Social responsibility has been always a point of discussion for entrepreneurs, nevertheless, not till recently have there been debates on its importance. This paper will be discussing the effect of corporate social responsibility on the financial performance of a company. This report first addresses the methodology used in searching for relevant resources in the first section of the report, section two summarizes the research while critically analyzing the sources used to answer this paper and the final section will be the conclusion.

Also, a study by the Society of Human Resource Management (SRHM) states that Corporate Social Responsibility has positive effects on productivity, recruitment of top employees, loyalty and retention, and most importantly, the employee morale. The famous CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, once said, “You build the best team, you win.” A study by Net Impact, which created a “What Workers Want” report, said that 45% of employees would have a 15% salary cut for work that has a social or environmental impact. Another 51% of workers say that helping to "make a better world" and make a "contribution to society" is essential to their ideal work . This goes on to show that in today’s world, by following CSR, companies have an easier time in recruiting a talented workforce. A great example in this case would be the Sara Lee Corporation that created a Global Sustainability Development Working Team in an attempt to improve employee satisfaction through Corporate Social Responsibility.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

Corporate social responsibility incorporates environmental, social, and economic dimensions that provide leadership and differentiation opportunities for perceptive organizations. However,

Being socially responsible is a very important way for companies to generate interest in communities, and can contribute to a company performing well (Allenby & Krizov, 2004; De Pelsmacker, Driesen, & Rayp, 2005). When a company moves into an area and starts hiring people and giving back to the community, people who live there see the value in the company and want

Employees are a large part of what make up organizations and they play a vital role within the stakeholders of a company. In order for an company to conceive socially responsible goals, they must focus within their organizations structure and make sure their stakeholders needs are attained, specifically the employees working for them. Companies wouldn 't exist without employees who work and interact with their products, customers and suppliers on a day to day basis. David Chandler and William B. Werther, Jr. present the case study of John Lewis Partnership in their book, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, to illustrate an example of a company that strives to keep their employees a central priority in their organization. The John Lewis Partnership has a unique way of viewing the roles their employees play within the firm that has allowed their overall business to be a major success. The revolutionary concept has pioneered a new way that companies and other organizations strive to incorporate into their business strategy.

Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue

Another abstract contributes to the research of the 100 companies to work for is Ahmed, Nanda, & Schnusenberg (2010). This research aim to identify “Can Firms Do Well While Doing Good?” in term of applying to financial economic. They are looking at the relationship between a firm’s social responsibility and its performance. They argue that Fortune’s approach to identify the Best Companies to Work For is mainly based on employee (not shareholder) surveys, which may provide a more direct measure of the relationship between a firm’s degree of social responsibility and its financial performance.

There are four main categories of social responsibility that many companies are partaking in: environmental efforts, philanthropy, ethical labor practices, and volunteering. As for environmental efforts, every company whether small or big has a large carbon footprint. Any movements a company makes to reduce that will benefit both the company and society as a whole. For philanthropy, companies are socially responsible for donating to large and small charities.

Evaluating the measure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is as much an attempt to ascertain ethical conduct of interactions with stakeholders, as it is a management tool of to limit liability. A research summary of Corporate Responsibility Best Practices, notes that 72% of NYSE Euronext traded firms surveyed have a formal corporate responsibility programs in place (Corporate Responsibility Officer Association, 2011, p. 6). Just 20% of the surveyed firms did not view corporate responsibility as a priority, while many firms believed that ethical corporate responsibility was ingrained throughout their culture and functions.

Employees, as members of an organization, contribute a lot to the enterprise’s manufacture, management and profitability. Corporations’ CSR activities definitely have an enormous influence on the qualities of employees’ behaviors. (Nan, X. & Heo, K. 2007, p.65) Employees may react negatively when they perceive a corporate injustice because that implies a mismatching with their values and threatens their psychological demands. CSR activities on employees are consisted of many aspects, such as skill training, working condition, payment as well as health and safety. Every corporation has its own human and labor policies.