Is Csr A Socially Responsible Or Not?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept of businesses considering economic, social and environmental benefits for all their stakeholders. Friedman’s position on CSR appears very negative, his argument is the only social responsibility businesses have is to exploit their capabilities to increase profits, therefore implying businesses solely aim to increase profits while disregarding social and environmental factors (Friedman, 1970). I disagree with this view because I believe businesses are required to undertake social responsibilities, such as recycling and using fair trade ingredients, to provide customer satisfaction and create a good public image. If customers were not satisfied with the products or services, they purchase or thought they were buying from an unethical company this could decrease demand and profits. Therefore, CSR is important to businesses because businesses need customers to survive and a method of retaining or gaining customers is to be socially responsible.

The Dannon Company is a story of company that did not know what to do with itself. The company wanted to promote its corporate social responsibility (CSR), but did not know how or where to do so. Question arose on whether or not the company wanted to promote CSR communications. Dannon 's management team was at a precipice, but how should the company get across? Michael Neuwirth, senior director of public relations for Dannon, was considering what part the company 's CSR could act, if any, in the company 's advancement (Marquis et al, 2011). This paper 's intention is to analyze both the benefits and risks of communicating Dannon 's CSR to the public forum on a larger scale, as well as the role of the parent company, Danone. Additionally, this paper will suggest a communication strategy which, I would propose, would fall in line with the company 's vision and history of CSR.

Based on my interpretation of CSR, I see it as a voluntary obligation that companies have promised to their stakeholders to fulfill by improving, or at least not harm, the environmental and social wellbeing. When companies engage in CSR, they voluntarily promise to, for example, carry the responsibility to protect the environment and take actions against bribe or other corruptive activities related to their business. It certainly has some positive influences to specific areas based on my knowledge gained from other classes; nevertheless, when judge CSR in the context of total impacts on our society and environment, it is obvious that CSR has failed its mission to lessen the negative impacts of business based on the evidences that provided by the author. Also, since there is a strong positive relationship between CSR behaviors and consumers’ reactions to a firm’s products and services, it seems to me, now, that CSR for the most companies is just a fancy cover that helps them to create or promote a good image and reputation. The recent case that shows the failure of CSR of Volkswagen even make me believe that CSR programs may be just a marketing or public relation exercise for many

In this article, “The Truth About CSR,” authors Rangan, Chase and Karim stress the importance in aligning a company’s social and environmental activities with its business purpose and values (Rangan, Chase, & Karim, 2015, 41). Outcomes of CSR programs should be a “spillover” and not a primary focus of a business, expressing concern towards social responsibility and corporations failing to contribute to society accordingly (Rangan, Chase, Karim, 2015, 42). There is a great deal of importance in companies refocusing their CSR activities on a primary goal and in providing an organized process for bringing consistency and discipline to CSR strategies (42). Rangan, Chase and Karim want corporations to understand why it is important for them to evaluate their CSR activities and refocus them towards the goal of reinforcing the firm’s societal and environmental actions, while also ensuring their actions add to the overall purpose and values of the corporation. According to the authors, even though

1. It is hard for companies to communicate their efforts in CSR to shareholders and investors. Although companies have progressed from only 20% of public companies publishing CSR reports to 72% from 2011 to 2013, there are still no universal standards established for reporting CSR information. Therefore, even the best CSR efforts can lose their value simply because the efforts are not communicated to users of financial statements. This is also in part due to CSR efforts being ill-defined. While some CSR ideas are universal many of the aspects of CSR are industry specific and hard to translate into meaningful disclosures for interested parties.

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

Communicating Dannon’s CSR comes with risks. Consumers are increasingly unaccepting of unethical business practices or organizations who act irresponsibly. Advances in social media mean that negative or destructive practices leak online quickly. Organizations are accountable for their actions like never before. Communicating can cause spending time and money on the smoke and mirrors of CSR, for little to no profit. Nickel, McHugh, and McHugh state that some individuals feel that spending money on CSR is using others people’s funds that could be invested elsewhere and that it is essentially stealing from its

Controversy exists as to whether companies have a duty to recognize and fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR), or whether it is sufficient for them to discharge their business functions while complying with the law. The opponents of CSR argue that managers are custodians of shareholders' wealth and should only engage in business functions that they are qualified in, leaving social functions to be performed by the government. However, CSR has now become a strategic part of business activity because it enables companies to gain legitimacy and approval of the community to ensure their survival, while contributing towards profitability.

There has been a seismic shift in how companies market themselves and their respective goods and services. The primary reason for the shift seems to be a changing consumer base; one that incorporates social, environmental and ethical issues into their buying decisions. Pressure from these more socially conscious consumers has driven companies to adopt more robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies in order not only maintain customers but garner new ones as well. It now seems that in all most every advertisement there is some mention of the company’s CSR endeavors. Over the last few decades major corporations have shifted their focus from one of a mostly profit driven focus to one in which CSR has become

Therefore, corporate’ activities have strong influences to the stakeholders. Hildebrand,D,et,al (2011) argued that under a specific but identifiable situation, a company’s CSR actions are able to satisfy stakeholders’ higher-order and self-related demand, meanwhile enabling the stakeholders to identify with the company. On the other hand, Piercy, N. and Lane, N.(2009) indicated that CSR seems to be the most efficient way for the corporate marketing efforts of most firms. It may enable the stakeholders to be loyal even life-long customers of the companies.

The researcher also had discussions with the interviewees regarding the benefits that these CSR activities have brought to the organization. It was established that many organizations have a CSR Policy, which defines areas of concern and initiatives to improve relations with the people and environments affected by business operations (Bell, 2016). The interviewees agreed however that CSR is about more than environmental responsibility or having a recycling policy. Its initiatives take organizations beyond compliance with legislation and leads them to honor ethical values, respect people, communities and the natural environment. But most of all CSR is sustainable - involving activities that their organization can maintain without adversely affecting the business goals. Few benefits mentioned were;

Over past 15 years a research has gradually evolved understanding the relationship between CSR and consumer perception and behavior. The research indicated that responsible firm conduct attracted consumer outcomes such as consumer loyalty, product consideration, company and product evaluation, purchase intention and willingness to pay. However, consumers are not willing to sacrifice product quality for CSR.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), otherwise called maintainable capable business, or corporate social execution, is a type of corporate self-regulation coordinated into a plan of action. In a perfect world, CSR approach would work as an inherent, automatic component whereby business would screen and guarantee their adherence to law, moral gauges, and international standards. If you are reading this introduction, chances are you work in your company’s department for community relations, corporate communications, public affairs, public relations, environmental stewardship, corporate responsibility, or corporate citizenship. In any case, it is pretty much as likely that you are a promoting administrator or an item supervisor, have obligation regarding some part of corporate charity, or are on staff at a corporate establishment. Then again, you may work at a publicizing, advertising, or open undertakings firm and be looked to for exhortation by your corporate

After a theoretical analysis of the pharmaceutical industry, the research includes the development of an analytical framework, which serves as a basis for the examination of the selected websites. This is followed by an analysis based on the CSR section of the websites of three world leader pharmaceutical wholesalers and service providers within the pharmaceutical industry. A qualitative methodology applied to the written content of the websites allows drawing conclusions on the reasons that lead these companies to get involved in CSR. It also provides an interpretation of how these firms organize their CSR communication, and which CSR communication strategies they use for addressing their stakeholders. Findings: The engagement in CSR of companies developing its activities and business within the pharmaceutical industry respond to the different challenges this industry faces. External stakeholders (NGOs, media, consumer advocacy groups and the public opinion) carefully watch the steps taken by pharmaceuticals. As a consequence, the initiatives and communications must be designed to satisfy the stakeholders´ needs and expectations. Pharmaceutical wholesalers implement different CSR communication strategies to reach their objectives. Moreover, organizations choose from a variety of channels to communicate with specific stakeholder groups (e.g. surveys,

Corporations that do not equip themselves with CSR activities will often be left behind with the increasing global competition and borderless markets, and international corporations with sound CSR activities grow stronger (Altman, 2007). As the education level increases, consumers are made more aware of the need for pro social corporate behaviour.