Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

or so many years our society has been thinking of forming new creative and innovative businesses, which would be more environmental and customer friendly. Nowadays a large number of different companies follow the social, ethical, as well as moral consequences when it comes to their decision making. One of the relatively new concepts involving economic and social concerns is Corporate Social Responsibility. Many of us apply this approach not only at work, but also in everyday life without even recognizing.

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

Social responsibility is an idea that has been of concern to mankind for many years. Over the last two decades, however, it has become of increasing concern to the business world. This has resulted in growing interaction between governments, businesses and society as a whole. In the past, businesses primarily concerned themselves with the economic results of their decisions. “Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions” (Anderson 15). This paper will discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility. It will give the definition of the phrase, and identify some of the global factors that necessitate corporate social responsibility. It will discuss the importance of corporations setting up corporate social responsibility projects, and the impact these have on society. Social corporate responsibility and the maintenance of high ethical standards is not an option but an obligation for all business.

Every corporation or company is in the business of making a profit. The market is a huge contributing factor that drives corporations to either be socially responsible or not. If making a profit was not a factor, most people would want to be socially responsible because it’s the right thing to do. We will discuss the meaning of corporate social responsibility, how the environment affects the decisions of being socially responsible and my personal experiences.

Many companies question whether positive acts of corporate social responsibility are beneficial to the organization’s profitability or simply cost the company money. Although practicing good corporate social responsibility can be expensive at times, the benefits and positive outcomes outweigh the costs spent. Among many other positive outcomes, acts of corporate social responsibility have the ability to increase investor relations, can benefit a company’s long-term image, and can lead to the development of new products. Thus, good corporate social responsibility is very good for business.

There have been many changes in the way businesses are managed today than it was just a few years ago. Not too long ago, it used to be which product is the cheapest or which one is the most valuable, while nowadays these are not the important criteria in the product purchase process and there are many new factors that consumers consider. Many corporations understood these changes in society that evolved the Corporate Social Responsibility concept and its implications on the companies’ actions. New Balance, one of the biggest footwear companies in the world, was one of the first companies that saw the hidden potential in applying this concept. Despite the applications of social responsibility in the company’s daily activities, it faced difficulties in receiving recognition for its actions because of wrong actions that the company had made in regard of active communication with its stakeholders, difficulty in defining organizational understanding of what social responsibility is and more. In this case, I will present and analyze the actions that New Balance has to perform in order to have stronger and more successful CSR policy in the company.

As businesses have evolved over time, there is no denying that consumers have grown to expect certain behaviors from the variety of companies that they have the option to endorse. A business can spend millions of dollars on advertising, researching, sampling and surveying customers all of which can be undone by a mistake that ruins their reputation. Corporate social responsibility is a term that has its origins in the 1950s. It refers to “situations where the firm goes beyond compliance and engages in actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law” (McWilliams, Siegel & Wright, 2006, p. 1). It was in the 1990s that corporate social responsibility truly became a trend that led to the development of other terms such as ‘business ethics’ (Carroll 2008). In the twenty first century, especially in the North American and European communities, the concept of corporate social responsibility became so widespread, that nowadays, consumers expect business to care and show that they participate in CSR initiatives (Van Der Smissen 2012). Advertising CSR initiatives became an important tool in gaining consumer trust in the company.

As the interest in corporate social responsibility has had the ability to keep increasing and developing and the force that is gain by movement, scholars and practitioners have put effort to follow the progress, development and information of companies’ performance to accomplish their corporate social responsibilities, characteristically to use a particular name corporate social performance (CSP) to describe it. Such corporate social performance shows people and stakeholders things that important about firms’ products, services and the processes of producing the products. It now is accepted by a great many people and in many markets, especially spread all over particular areas such as “environmental impact, social impact, employee relations, and corporate governance” (Kristoffersen, Gerrans and Clark-murphy 2008, 46). Phillip Morris International is an American multinational cigarette and tobacco enterprise, and it is a world’s most important and most successful international tobacco enterprise. It has six international brands within world’s top 15, and its products are available in more than 180 countries (Pim.com). The Philip Morris international company operates not only making cigarettes but also about the style of doing industry and commerce, and the way of having effects on the exterior of its offices, both domestically and internationally. The Philip Morris International aims to maintain both high domestic and international standards of being a socially responsible

There are a number of definitions of “idealism” and “realism”. Idealism is referred to behaviour or consideration based on an idea of things as they would be, or as we would like them to be, with an inclination to be unreal or imaginative. Realism on the other hand is referred to behaviour or consideration based on a formation of things as they actually are, in spite of how we want them to be, with an inclination to be practical and realistic. Corporate social responsibility has been defined in many ways; one way to define CSR is that CSR takes into consideration how companies manage their business processes to generate on the whole a positive impact on society. Stakeholders are people who are affected by a business.

According to Min-Young and Fairhurst (2009), corporate social responsibility is becoming a typical issue as several organizations attempt to incorporate social and environmental issues into the day- to- day operations of their businesses. However, an organization being socially responsible is not considered fad or a discretionary addition. Instead, one might argue that an organization’s interest in being socially responsible is what is described as a “reflective of a deeper change in the relationship” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 140) between an organization and its stakeholders. Furthermore, Min-Young and Fairhurst (2009) stated that a critical perspective of corporate social responsibility appears to be the responsibility to work for the betterment of society. Thus, a socially responsible organization might be seen as an organization simply being a “good corporate citizen” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 141). Theorists such as Wood believed that the fundamental idea of corporate social responsibility is that an organization and society are interconnected rather than “distinct entities” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 142). As a result, society might have an expectation for desirable actions and outcomes from today’s organizations.

Organizations are expected to actively analyze the impact of their operations on the overall financial and social systems in which they operate. Businesses should know expectations of the society and then manage their behavior and actions to yield results that address those expectations. The implementation of corporate social responsibility plan by an organization is an honor to humanity and nature. CSR discourages organizations from engaging in activities that threaten the life of people affected by its operations. An example is waste management strategies a company puts in place to ensure an appropriate disposal of by-products. Waste materials can pose health dangers such as cancer, contamination of water and food which may result in illnesses or even death of community members.

Corporate social responsibility has become one the highly debated issues in the corporate and social sciences world. Nowadays, the most successful companies have the most effective CSR strategies. Starry is the trending startups company of 2017 in the USA because of its innovative idea. It is providing high-speed internet in the USA up to GB/s with the latest technology. It's the company's responsibility to provide this high-speed broadband service to remote areas and adults so that they mays stay connected and grow their business as well. CSR helps a company to build its reputation, media presence, engaged employees and investors' attraction (Salib, Sun, Wu, Wen, & Huang, 2015). CSR is also practiced by

The term social responsibility means different things to different people. Generally, corporate social responsibility is the obligation to take action that protects and improves the welfare of society as whole as well as organizational interests. According to the concept of corporate social responsibility, a manager must strive to achieve both organizational and societal goals.

The perceptivity of sustainability is both in the sense of achieving long-term success and as survivability of a corporation (Zink, Steimle & Fischer 2008). Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn (2003) conceive corporations as channels of social purpose, constructed within society to attain useful social objectives. Henceforth, corporate social responsibility commits a significant role towards the sustainability of corporations. Both corporate social responsibilities and sustainability, and its related concepts influence all aspects of business. Chandler and Werther (2010) acknowledge the understanding of corporate social responsibilities as an

In recent years, Unilever and Proctor & Gamble have both taken major steps in creating a more sustainable future. They have done so through launching major corporate responsibility initiatives with the hopes of becoming more energy efficient while simultaneously increasing global quality of life. Obviously, this is no easy task and it requires reconstruction of every part of their respective companies, not just exclusive to manufacturing and distribution, but also to consumer use and disposal. The two global marketing companies have approached their corporate social responsibility initiatives in different manners, each with a unique outlook and future objectives that have both similarities and differences. Unilever and Proctor & Gamble differ in the way in which they help those in desperate need across the globe. Unilever adopted a method of “Partner to Win”, which was the idea that strategic partnerships with governments and NGOs would enhance efforts to increase sustainability and quality of life. Some of the most notable NGOs Unilever is partnered with include UNICEF, Save the Children, and Rainforest Alliance (Bartlett). These organizations were instrumental in developing strategies for Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan. As opposed to strategic partnerships with NGOs, Proctor & Gamble has a rich history in giving back to the communities they work in through their own corporately developed programs. Their main corporate