Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility By John Lewis Partnership Essay

Social responsibility makes a company more competitive and reduces the risk of sudden damage to the company’s reputation and sales.

Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be “socially responsible” without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders.

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.

Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

In business, Anne Lawrence and James Weber (2014) identify enlightened self-interest as a corporation’s recognition that using corporate resource to serve others, including customers, employees, and the community as a whole, is in the best interest of the company. This social responsibility enhances the company’s image within the community, which increases both customer loyalty and satisfaction of employees. Some of the ways that businesses serve others is through philanthropy and backing environmental sustainability. Within his lecture on ethics and corporate responsibility, Dr. Kahlib Fischer (n.d.) encourages the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in that it provides mutual benefit to both the organization and the community.

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

With employees placed at the top of stakeholder groups, it’s apparent that the hypothesis for high profitability is a direct influence from positive corporate social responsibility. The boards of directors have to take the initiative to showcase positive corporate social responsibility in order to generate these results.

Over the last two centuries the relationship between organizations and their employees have changed as the result of interactions between the two groups and in response to changing governmental legislation. During this period, labor unions arose to advocate for workers and address the inherent power imbalance between individual workers and organizations (Thornton, 2013). In workplaces were unions represent employees, Foss (2008), defines labor relations as the “ongoing interchange between the union and the employer that identifies their common and specific interests and creates mechanism to clarify, mange, reduce and resolve conflicts over their specific interests” (p. 1). The legal framework governing the practice of labor relations is

Suncor Energy’s strategic involvement in corporate social responsibility is a very important factor for me as a possible future employee. I believe a company who gives back to the community where it operates will treat its employees with respect. Their involvement in corporate social responsibility will create a community that will be fertile with employable talents in the future. This participation in corporate social responsibility is seen as an advantage for the company as it will develop the community in which it draws its resources, both human and material. It will also boost the company’s reputation and corporate image and subsequently attract quality applicants.

The long-held belief that a business exists for the only purpose of generating profits for shareholders is quickly going by the wayside, as it becomes increasingly evident how much of an impact organizations have on communities and society. The ability of any enterprise to balance the ethical and economic factors and their respective agendas to joint fulfillment is the foundation of highly profitable and sustainable business for the long-term (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples, Inc., has one of the most advanced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in the retailing industry today. The Soul Program at Staples is based on a foundation of four pillars which include Community, Diversity, Ethics and Environment. Staples has taken these four foundational elements and successfully integrated them into the culture of their corporation, transforming them into a long-term competitive advantage (Field, 2009). The idealized state of CSR Programs is to provide an agile, intelligent framework for integrating economic- and ethically driven programs effective (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples has done this by creating a culture of accountability, one that is defined by scorecards that measure highly specific objectives in each of these four pillar areas, in addition to benchmarking the company's own performance at diversity program attainment, training, and a continual focus on attaining higher levels of delivered value

I agree that businesses should work together in pursuit of social change. Great employees are the best resources at a business’s disposal. We should always look towards improving the well-being of our employees. Find ways to improve their lives, and help them achieve their goals and happiness. From what I’ve seen

Companies today are heavily influenced by the demands of customers and stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the social and environmental responsibility policies and practices developed by an organization to increase its positive influence and reduce its negative activity towards society (Parks, 2008). The business approach and corporate philosophy of an organization is easily altered due to economic pressures, technological improvement and stakeholder needs and demands. "Going green" or being eco-friendly is one such demand. Environmental and sustainability concerns originate most often from governments, consumer activists, and the general public (Schlosser, 2008). Thus, organizations must implement sustainability into daily practices. In addition, sustainability alters the nature of competition and drives companies to think differently about products, processes, and technologies (Parks, 2008).

Shared value is a business strategy which focuses on creating overall value while addressing social problems. This concept of management strategy was expressed in the “Creating Shared Value” article by Porter and Kramer. Shared value is not just an aspect of a company’s growth strategy or general business operations. It is well integrated in the way a company operates along with what their goals are as an organization. The value created for a company’s targeted end user also has some sort of social impact which benefits their company purpose. Creating social impact is a company goal and success is measured through creating a shared value network. Porter believes that “The ability to address social issues is integral to profit maximization instead of treated as outside the profit model.” He is addressing that profits are not measured by impact not just monetary gains for the company, we can change our mindset to think of profit in a different way. Profit can be a benefit or some sort of added value. In this approach Porter argues that “Corporate social responsibility encompasses not only what companies do with their profits, but also how they make them.” This relationship is the driving force for a company’s development and future growth, and it goes beyond corporate strategy it also incorporates investments and key stakeholders for each company. Quantifying a monetary figure and amount for social impact may be extremely difficult, however it has progressed with awareness and

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

Employees, as members of an organization, contribute a lot to the enterprise’s manufacture, management and profitability. Corporations’ CSR activities definitely have an enormous influence on the qualities of employees’ behaviors. (Nan, X. & Heo, K. 2007, p.65) Employees may react negatively when they perceive a corporate injustice because that implies a mismatching with their values and threatens their psychological demands. CSR activities on employees are consisted of many aspects, such as skill training, working condition, payment as well as health and safety. Every corporation has its own human and labor policies.