Logistics Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting A closer look at involvement of UPS, FedEx and DHL on "Sustainable Development" issues

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.

The framework of corporate social responsibility is such that it is relatively complex and multidimensional. A three-dimensional

Smith, A. D. (2011). Corporate social responsibility implementation. International Journal of Accounting and Information Management, 19(3), 231-246. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/18347641111169241

Petrenko. A. Corporate social responsibility [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: https://moodle.yorku.ca/moodle/course/view.php?id=39261

ompanies that sell soap, perfume, candy bars, and other consumer products are expert at “decommoditizing” them: finding and capturing the value of intangible benefits and building strong brand names that can provide a kind of differentiation in the minds of consumers. But companies that sell products such as bulk chemicals, paper, and steel to businesses tend to be unsophisticated in these matters. Burdened by corporate cultures that emphasize operations and sales over marketing, many of these

6. Following trends of marketing: - Innovative, differentiated brands, however, can offer potent advantages. Not only can they offer the consumer real benefits and thus give the consumer a reason to change, they can also serve to outmode existing brands (Murphy, 1988).

Corporate social responsibility is not going to solve the world’s problems. With that being said, corporate social responsibility is a way for companies to benefit themselves while also benefiting society. It allows companies to take small steps to make big differences in areas of need. Some may say that it is a bunch of “greenwashing” – the deceptive use of green marketing that promotes a misleading perception that a company’s policies, practices, products or services are environmentally friendly – but there is a call to action that inspires a company to get involved in the community (Kewalramani, Sobelsohn).

It has been held in the United Brands case that product differentiation acts as a barrier to entry. Product differentiation is the development or incorporation of properties such as pricing, style etc. that the intended buyers of a product perceive to be different from others and therefore desirable. In the instant case the product differentiation has been made by different annual fee for licence of patented product.

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.

Stated in the previous section, product differentiation provides a wide selection of products or services in the market. Firms develop unique products to respond to the consumers’ preferences. Product differentiation gives the consumers different segments of the market a wide variety of goods to choose from. Jeans come in a wide variety of styles, colors, and fabrics. As trends come jean companies respect the fashion industry and what their consumers want and accommodate to their wants.

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

Differentiation requires a constantly changing product line and is more successful when the company is able to offer a portfolio of products that complement each other, which enriches the experience for customers and satisfies a variety of consumer needs. And when differentiated products truly satisfy customers’ unique needs, the company is able to charge premium prices. For customers to be willing to pay a premium price, however, Ford's products must truly be perceived as unique in some way. The ability to sell goods or services at prices that substantially exceed the cost of creating the differentiated features will allow Ford to outperform its rivals and earn above-average returns.

Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2010) ‘Corporate social responsibility’, (3rd edition) Business Ethics. Oxford: Oxford university press, pp.51-60

Thesis in Marketing, 15 ECTS credits Final seminar: 25.05.2010 Authors : Elise MEYER (890511) Ingrid BERNIER (901218) Supervisor: Jean-Charles LANGUILAIRE Examiner: Roger STRÖM

➢ Product differentiation - Products that are relatively the same will compete based on price. Brand identification can reduce rivalry.