The Benefits of Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Programs

The scale and nature of the benefits of CSR for an organization can vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, and are difficult to quantify, though there is a large body of literature exhorting business to

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.

CSR lacks universal methods. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) mentions that it is important to draw a distinction between CSR as part of strategic business management concept and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy. The latter applications make valuable social impacts that enhance the reputations of the companies, however, CSR is a continual effort instead of an instance. A few features that CSR should focus on are: eco-efficiency, employee and community relations, environmental management, gender balance, responsible souring, anti-corruption, stakeholder engagement and human rights. Utilizing some of these key features a company can bring competitive advantages into the market place. Increased sales and profits from operational cost savings as well as improved reputation and brand image and customer loyalty can result from a well-defined CSR strategy.

A combination of recent changed to the world scene and pressures from public opinion now requires corporations to take on a new role, social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is a corporation’s initiative to monitor and ensure compliance with the law, ethical standards, and norms. It can also be defined as corporation’s actions that further social good and go beyond the interests of the firm in order to make the world a better place. Essentially a corporation should embrace the idea of corporate citizenship, the idea that businesses are socially responsible for meeting legal, as well as ethical and economic responsibilities placed on them by shareholders. Although this is an alluring concept, it is also a flawed one. It

There is a change in the expectation of employees, customers and shareholders which makes CSR more favorable in doing business today. It is a more sustainable way of doing business and those organization which are more involved in corporate social responsibility will most likely reap the rewards in the longrun.In today’s fast speed and digital world, each business despite its size need to have CSR program in place. Those without CSR programs must implement it as fast as possible otherwise they will lose valuable stakeholders in the long run.

Proper implication of CSR can bring benefits to the organisation by increases in capital, sales, profit, markets, brand name, and customer loyalty.

Through globalization the gap between the rich and poor has increased, while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. This can be one of the many reasons why companies choose to be more social responsible as CSR aims to reduce conflicts between stakeholders. Although, individuals are aware that more companies are producing social responsible goods, companies can benefit from CSR practices in different ways. When companies decide to be socially and environmentally active, not only will the society and the environment benefit from the companies ethical practices, but they can also differentiate themselves in today's competitive market.

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.

CSR brings benefits to all stakeholders associated with an organisation. Typically, it is very challenging to be able to generate monies benefits of CSR, as numerous advantages simply get visible and are therefore ultimately elicited by good improvements through CSR. This specific research will differentiate

Throughout the years, this statement has been debated and criticised by many scholars such as Mcwilliams and Siegel(2001) and they noted CSR as an ‘action that appears to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law.’

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.

It is widely believed that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the most important tasks in the twenty century. Some people may consider that companies have always been the profit organizations, and social affairs are in charge by the government, which is a common sense that there are no directly relationships between each other. However, CSR is considered one of the key elements to sustain companies to vary their original operation levels. In this essay, I attempt to outline the different definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility and evaluate the reasons why CSR became a prominent part of the business world by actual

The aim of this paper is to highlight the impact that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has on company performance and profitability. It will also assess the role of CSR in business activities and in general the theoretical foundations as well as Corporate Citizenship. Furthermore this paper will assess the notion that implementing CSR activities positively affects the image of the organization and can thus boost consumers’ attention and commitment to the organization, which leads to better financial performance for the firm.

CSR can improve the company’s reputation and branding and this in turn improves the prospects for the company to be more effective to attract new customers and increase market share.

Despite being costly to businesses from one end, these businesses understand the risk that lack of CSR can have especially in damaging their reputation. The negative image associated with the company will result in boycotting their products or lack of appeal in them which hurt businesses. In order to effectively manage CSR, businesses have realized that the traditional tools are failing in the delivery of goals and new tools have been devised for the same.