FINAL EXAM PAPER
CSR and the Future of Corporate Accountability
As is the case with most anything of any interest, the deeper you look into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) the more difficult it is to define. And as long as it remains difficult to define, it will be difficult to communicate and enforce. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that one is faced with a series of questions related to corporate social responsibility, human rights and the law along a parallel path of considering the importance of profits, business innovation and market share.
Just what is the role of business as it pertains to social responsibility?
Corporations are not in business to save the world. They are in business to make money. But what
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Yet the very nature of CSR makes it difficult to draw clear lines between specific social programs and codes of conduct and these kinds of results.
Business is all about measurement and goal setting. CSR, in so far as it attempts to effect behavior of both internal and external audiences, can be an elusive element to put into an Excel spreadsheet. It’s also something where change occurs over years, rather than over night. One may replace lighting fixtures in a warehouse to improve efficiency and reduce energy use as part of a policy of environmental stewardship which may be a part of a larger CSR program, but even then it can take months or even years to see that investment pay off in lower lighting bills and decreased energy usage.
There is also an element of CSR that holds a negative measurement component.
Effective CSR may PREVENT activities, so instead of measuring what happens, you need to look at what DOESN’T happen as a means of measuring success.
For example, a successful safety and quality of life standard policy may prevent accidents and improve employee job satisfaction. But can you definitively state that either policy directly saved X lives or prevented Y
CSR is all about businesses understanding the effects that they have on the community/wider world. Businesses will use this impact in a positive way to
Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social
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
• Companies do not pay the full costs of their impact. For example the costs of cleaning pollution often fall on society in general. As a result profits of corporations are enhanced at the expense of social or ecological welfare.
Gains from CSR would vary in nature and scale for organizations depending on the activities undertaken and the nature of their respective business and are difficult to quantify .Academicians have come up with various theories like ,Deming's Fourteen Points, Schmidt, and Rynes Journal etc to measure CSR impact. However, ideally a businesses should not be looking at short-run financial gains when developing their CSR strategy, they should at least have a five years time frame while formulating their strategy .The decision of CSR within a company is likely to be based on one of the arguments mentioned ; Triple Bottom Line : like marketing four P’s , CSR has its own set of P’s comprising of People , Planet & Profit . This theory states that people,
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.
One of the most dominating concepts of business reporting is Corporate Social Responsibility. It has become mandatory for every business to include a policy with regards to CSR and produce a detailed report with regards to its activities. CSR can be defined as the relationship between a corporate company and the society in which the company operates. The concept of CSR became famous during the late 1960’s and since then it has helped corporations to sustain itself in the market.
There are now several concepts of CSR and its definition, along with the meaning across corporations. In my opinion, and according with our textbook in page 11. CSR is about a particular set of business and strategies that deal with social issues. In addition, we can clearly perceive that CSRs application along corporations has increase in the past decade due to the several local, and international regulations in order to enforce business to act responsible.
However, nowadays CSR is simply defined as ?operating a business in a manner that meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society demands of business? (Gillis & Spring 2001: 23).
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.
CSR is a significant strategy adopted by businesses today. Hence, this paper begins by defining it and then dwells on why organisations depend on it. This paper also will present a summary of the activities of CSR followed at ‘Thistle, Heathrow, London’ which will also include the personal views of the writer on this topic.
As a group, the community must analyze and criticize the behavior of its member in order to arrive at a consensus on the tolerance of business practices and behaviors. However, the community’s inclinations may provide an obstacle to the entry and continuation of business activity within the community. Governments, as representative of the community, will attempt to influence and regulate the behavior of companies to reflect the expectations of the community in which they operate, as is the case of government mandated. “The main idea behind CSR is
CSR is generally seen as the business contribution to sustainable development, which has been defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", and is generally understood as focusing on how to achieve the integration of economic, environmental, and social imperatives. CSR also overlaps and often is synonymous with many features of other related concepts such as corporate sustainability, corporate accountability, corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, corporate stewardship, etc.
It is not the financial gain that rates the business success rather; it is the impact they leave on society. Implementing CSR is one of the most debated topics in the business world. Because there is no written or documented law in the business industry that states the need of CSR within the business structure, CSR is not an official requirement that must be attended. Yet, CSR practices are key to growth in the industry. Still, some businesses are not aware of the responsibility they have. As a result, the text I chose addresses the shortage of CSR practices. Hundreds of attempts were and are still being made to recover from the impacts of ignoring CSR. One attempt that the text makes is emphasizing the idea of starting simple and local changes to reach global sustainability. There are three interconnected parts of society where CSR is expected to be implemented. These parts are community involvement, environmental sustainability and ethical marketing. It is easy to notice how every person in a society is involved and holds a specific role in these parts. Community involvement means giving back to the community and its people, like building schools, charitable donations and supporting local issues. Environmental sustainability is about making the earth
CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.