Social Responsibility and Company Essay example

Company Q is a corporation whose stakeholders have not placed a major emphasis on social responsibility, instead it appears that the primary focus is placed on profit. With their profits on the decline, they are shying away from opportunities to help their community. By placing a higher priority on social responsibility Company Q will have the opportunity to help the community through charitable donations, employee volunteer initiatives, and creating quality jobs for the persons who live in the community. At the same time, Company Q will can also improve their public image and potentially increase profit.

Social responsibility in business can be defined as the obligation an organization has to minimize its negative social impact on stakeholders and to maximize its positive impact. In this case study we are introduced to a small local grocery chain referred to as Company Q. Located in a major metropolis, Company Q has recently closed some stores in areas of the city with higher crime-rates. They have started to stock a very limited amount of organic and health-conscience products after years of requests from their customers. Management has declined participating in a program to send expired food to a local food bank based on fears of employee theft by means of taking advantage of the situation. Based on the

Company Q is a small local grocery store chain that has a poor attitude toward social responsibility. After reviewing the given, I feel the chain is more committed to profit than social responsibility. Most companies are in a business to make a profit, however, the difference in what is considered reasonable and what is considered ridiculous comes into play. Most people start companies because it something they are interested in and to make a living. In today’s society the line between outright social responsibility

The ethical issues presented in this case are the different views that each individual has on how the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This dispute is between Mr. Milton Friedman, John Mackey, and T.J. Rodgers; all of which has a different outlook on CSR. The definition of CSR refers to the responsibilities that business has to the society in which it operates and to those actions that a business can be held accountable. Most philosophers have come up with three different types of responsibilities that corporations can be held accountable for. The first and most important of the three is a corporation’s duty to not cause harm. If a corporation can

Among the most monumental examples of failure regarding corporate social responsibility, that is to "maximize profits within the law" (Dejardins, 2014, p.53), is the Deepwater Horizon blowout catastrophe, occurring April 20, 2010. Historically noted as the single greatest environmental failure in the United States, the blowout of the Macondo well claimed 11 lives, injured dozens more, leaked 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, disrupted ecosystems and communities globally, and economic loss as a result of a phenomenon know as "effective compression" which occurs when there are "extreme pressure differences inside and outside the drill pipes, causing them to buckle", Enerknol Research (2015). Influenced by the article Deepwater Horizon 's Final Hours, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/us/26spill.html?pagewanted=all, questions to explore regarding this event are: What was the path to this tragedy? What are the causes and consequences of this disaster? What are the lessons learned? Who is ethically responsible? These questions and more will be examined through first hand accounts of the men and women working on Deepwater Horizon, statements given by Transocean, BP Oil, research firms findings as well research and facts from government and environmental organizations. A number of parties were involved to some degree on the Macondo well blowout, however, I surmise, that as the lead and greatest benefactor that responsibility for the great magnitude of this

Company Q has had a large demand from their customers to provide healthy and organic foods over the last few years. They recently started offering a small variety of health and organic food items, which is a step in the right direction toward being socially responsible. They need to be more attentive to the needs and wants of their customers as it shouldn’t have taken years to bring in these demanded products. When there is a demand for products and the company doesn’t respond to that demand, it’s perceived by the consumers that the company simply doesn’t care about their needs and wants. Bringing in a selection of these products was a good start in satisfying their customers. However, with such a demand for these items, having a small and limited selection is just not enough. Expanding the line of health and organic food items will accomplish two things. First and foremost it will appease the current customers and bring in a new clientele that is health conscious, thus helping to create a healthier community and at the same time increasing sales. The higher margin on the health and organic items coupled with the increase in sales will really boost the overall profit margin of the company. Company Q does need to be sure that they don’t over price these products so as to not push away business due to overpricing.

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.

Keeping this definition in mind while evaluating Company Q’s attitude toward social responsibility, it is apparent they have developed a reputation for not caring about the community by closing stores in higher crime rate areas, only offering a limited supply of healthconscience and organic products, and

The recommendations above will support Company Q in moving away from being a social responsible inept grocery chain with one that is admired and respected in the community and is an example of corporate citizenship. As a result, Company Q stakeholders that include the owners, managers, employees, customers, farmers and distributors will benefit from being a part of a strong and economically viable grocery

In evaluating Company Q for social responsibility, I have found that the company has not made a commitment to being completely socially responsible. The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility according to Lord Holme and Richard Watts (2000), “is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large”. The company has made some attempts at social responsible behavior by listening to a portion of their customers supplying them with health-conscience and organic products; however, this concession came after years of request from their customers and the

In this case, the company has the ability to show social responsibility in bringing healthier products into its stores and have the added benefit that these items are high-margin, delivering profit opportunities to company shareholders. Because the items are high-margin, the costs of purchasing a reasonable supply and variety of items is relatively low as compared to lower margin items that are most likely currently stocked in each store. The company even has an opportunity to reduce costs in the stores purchases by eliminating similar products that are lower in margin to the ones that they will be bringing in based on customer requests. Promotion of the social responsibility plan is important. With no additional cost in advertising, company Q can promote these new healthy products in its advertising. Doing so can bring back some of their lost business as well as bring in new customers to the stores. This situation is a win not only for Company Q but is also a win for customers and employees. The additional profits from higher-margin items will assist the company in creating wages that are appropriate for each position and opportunities for advancement in pay and position for its employees. This can help create an atmosphere that retains employees and reduces turnover, consequently, reducing the costs of obtaining and training new employees on a regular basis.

Businesses today face a plethora of ethical duties such as upholding corporate governance, maintaining stakeholder relationships, and presenting an image of social responsibility. In review of Company Q’s (Q) current ethics culture, its image in regards to social responsibility is not equivalent to that of its competitors. In a growing market faced with increasingly challenging competition, there are several areas that Q can and needs to address to bring the company to a level of social responsibility that exceeds stakeholder expectations. First, attention Q needs to address market demands for additional locations to better

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

Do you agree or disagree with the following quotation: “There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say engages in free and open competition, without deception and fraud.” Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winning economist. In other words, the social responsibility of business is to make a profit.

"What great did the animals of the earth do to the mists that pour the rain? So in reality should you serve society, looking for no arrival. Great men set forth industry and create riches, not for themselves but rather for the utilization of society. Riches is not to be earned with the end goal of liberality or for fulfillment of avarice. Riches ought to be dealt with as the native 's instrument for support. The word is not simply accommodation but rather supportiveness joined with a feeling of obligation. There is no delight in this or in the other world equivalent to the delight of being useful to everyone around you. Try not to lose the open door for this uncommon joy."