Essay about Wgu Social-Responsibility Critical Analysis

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

Lawrence, Anne (2010). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. 13th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2010. VitalBook file. Bookshelf.

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.

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.

Company Q does not currently have a positive attitude toward social responsibility. They recently closed several stores in higher crime areas. This has eliminated job positions that were held by residents of the area and taken away revenue from the community itself. This is not being socially responsible. The company just started offering a limited selection of health and organic foods despite that the demand from customers has been there for years. They have also made the decision to not donate day old food to the local shelters, opting instead to waste the food by throwing it away. Company Q needs to make several changes in their company behavior in order to become more socially responsible.

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

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.

One of the issues that can be address immediately are the two stores that were closed in the higher-crime-rated areas due to losing revenue in those stores. Closing these stores in these areas has affected the

Company Q has shown little to no social responsibility. They have not demonstrated to the communities they are in that they are a reliable company by staying in the community. By

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

In the scenario involving Company Q, I do not believe that the company was being socially responsible, but instead are acting only on what benifits their company. Social responsibility is defined as "an ethical framework which suggests that an entity, be it an organization or an individual, has an obligation to actfor the benefit of a society at large" (Kalinda, 2001) and there were two examples described that proved Company Q was only concerned with its' own profits. Firstly, the company decided to close two stores in needed areas simply because of the crime rate and they were losing money, even though consumers needed somewhere to buy their groceries. In a socially responsible situation, the store would've remained opened, reinforcing security,

The centre of the debate about the CSR is the nature and extent of corporate obligations that extend beyond the economic and legal responsibilities of the firm. “The idea of social responsibilities supposes that the corporation has not only economic and legal obligations, but also certain responsibilities to society which extend beyond these obligations” (McGuire, 1963: 144). The issue is therefore critical for the firm as it is in the business’s long-term self-interest to be socially responsible. If Chiquita wants to have a healthy climate in which to function in the future, it must take actions now to ensure its long-term viability. Ultimately it will benefit the company by “winning the public” because the public believe firms should take on social responsibility.

Stores like Wal-Mart are famous for keeping their prices so low. This is one reason why they are able to maintain a grip on the consumers of an area. They accomplish this by keeping the cost to produce and transport the goods low. In January, a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. found that, “an individual family could save $589 a year on groceries by shopping at a supercenter. Overall, shoppers could save $3.76 billion in merchandise nationwide.” (Blazier, A, 2004) A major reason they can keep prices lower than mom-and-pop run businesses is their ability to buy merchandise in bulk. Buying in bulk works the same way it does for a consumer. The more of a product that is purchased, the less the cost is per unit. Consumers see this every day when they go to stores like Sam’s Club or Costco. When they buy their merchandise in bulk, they are able to offer it to the consumer at a lower price. (Kale, 2011) This is what could eventually drive the mom-and-pop owned businesses out of the area, and draw a negative criticism from the public. The interesting thing about this criticism is that the public complains about Wal-Mart

Another abstract contributes to the research of the 100 companies to work for is Ahmed, Nanda, & Schnusenberg (2010). This research aim to identify “Can Firms Do Well While Doing Good?” in term of applying to financial economic. They are looking at the relationship between a firm’s social responsibility and its performance. They argue that Fortune’s approach to identify the Best Companies to Work For is mainly based on employee (not shareholder) surveys, which may provide a more direct measure of the relationship between a firm’s degree of social responsibility and its financial performance.

Companies with extensive responsibilities even argue about the system in pursuing social responsibility of business. According to Ulrich Steger, the company should prioritize the shareholders’ incessant interest but they should also be concerned of their social responsibilities, morals and environmental goals that the public expects them to be. Without a doubt, companies’ primary goal is to earn a profit. Emphasizing on profitability affects the fundamental values in the company, its morality. Companies ignore the ethics just to earn a mountainous income. This often causes extensive repercussions in the companies.