Whole Foods Market: Corporate Social Responsibility

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.

Whole Foods has the Philanthropic Responsibility on Carroll’s global social responsibility pyramid, mainly for their involvement in educating employees, and customers on the importance of lifestyle changes in eating more organic, healthy foods. Moreover, Whole Foods involvement in volunteer work through the communities they serve; however,

With sales of over thirty billion back in 2014, Publix is an American supermarket that has been listed on the top ten American’s largest private companies by Forbes in 2010. It is also the fourteenth largest retailer in America. Publix is privately owned and operated by its 176,500 employees, with its main base in Florida. However, “Publix has 1,103 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina” (Publix Funding) as well. Publix super markets are always trying to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. For example, they create recycling programs, make sustainable choices of where food is purchased, use reusable grocery bags instead of plastic bags, and so much more. In addition to being more sustainable, they partner with many charities, including: Feeding America Foundation, United Way, and Greenville Habitat. These are just a few of the forty affiliates that Publix has connected with.

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.

Tyson foods is a very large food company based out of Springdale Arkansas primarily known for its’ meat products. Donnie Smith the CEO of Tyson foods knows that those who dislike meat production and even meat-eating may never really like his company. Other consumers may wonder if Tyson Foods is just another profit-centered corporation that only cares about the bottom line. Modern companies need to be considered credible by their stakeholders. How can a company like Tyson foods demonstrate corporate social responsibility in a meaningful way that is not shallow, devoid of real significance? Tyson Foods decided to focus on ending childhood hunger.

Since its establishment in 1962, Wal-Mart has grown to be one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. Inevitably, with the expansion of the company, the weight and number of social and ethical issues facing the company has increased.

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

According to Ethics in Action, a Vancouver, BC, organization whose awards program recognizes socially responsible corporations, "Socially responsible companies consider the full scope of their impact on communities and the environment when making decisions, balancing the needs of stakeholders with their need to make a profit." Thus, the success and effect of a socially responsible company is measured according to its whole impact on all who are

But, here is my point. If the social responsibility of a business is to increase profit, this does not omit the probability of degrading the surrounding environments (society, economy, ecology...) which by default will be contradicting to the term social responsibility itself which enhances on bringing benefit to society. For me, a business can be at the same time socially engaged and financially maximizing its profit without using someone else's money. For example, a company can be ecological by doing some really simple actions like recycling papers no longer needed, turning off lights and powering off devices not in use, donating equipment and material no longer used in the work offices, and so on. These simple actions are in fact very beneficial for the

A corporation that says it is socially responsible, claims that they are concerned for society's welfare; which also includes the environment, because now days, we are a lot more concerned about our environment and how everything affect it. The corporation will make sure to insure those values within the company and also to its partners. ("Social responsibility in Marketing," 2012 - 1998) Also, if a corporation says it is ethically responsible and it really is, it shows to their customers and partners their integrity

The business world can define strategic philanthropy as the unique and most effective method for combining company’s marketing goals that are proposing to increase the welfare of society. It is a tool where company combines marketing goal with social responsibility. The strategic philanthropy influences the brand loyalty because it tries to maximize its profit by considering the well-being of the human being. For instance, Target company spends some percentage of their revenue for social well-being and still charge the fair price of their product. Moreover, Target donates a certain percentage of total revenue for education.

Breakfast cereals are an integral part of the British diet, and a key sector of the grocery market in the UK. The breakfast cereals market is made up of two main sectors: the ready-to-eat (RTE) sector, the hot cereals sector. It is a market that is well established and has been dominated by three main companies — Kellogg, Weetabix and Cereal Partners (an alliance between Nestlé and General Mills.) (Keynote, 2011) Together these companies control two thirds of the UK’s cereal intake, which would appear to be ever increasing. This is a trend that would appear to be mirrored around the world as although there are no official statistics available for the worldwide consumption of breakfast cereals, Key Note estimates that, over

The benefit to business of good Corporate Social Responsibility is difficult to quantify as it varies depending on the nature of the enterprise. Some scholars believe that there is a business justification for CSR. That is, what is good for the environment and society will be good for company profitability. And studies have shown a slightly positive correlation between CSR and financial gain (Steiner and Steiner, 2006). However, as Freidmanism claims, the first responsibility of business is to make enough profit to cover the costs for the future. If this social responsibility is not met, no other responsibilities can be (Hargreaves, 2006). Therefore it is critical that CSR activities are included in strategy formulation and that the level of resources devoted to CSR is determined like any other strategy – through cost/benefit analysis. Corporations will not throw money away…they need to see it

Social responsibility is built on a system of ethics, in which decisions and actions must be ethically validated before proceeding. If the action or decision causes harm to society or the environment then it would be considered to be socially irresponsible. Being socially responsible means that people and organization must behave ethically and sensitivity towards, social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues. Striving for social responsibility helps individuals, organization and government to have a positive impact on development, business and society. Often, the ethical implication of decision/action are overlooked for personal gain and the benefits are usually material. This frequently manifest itself in companies that

Corporate social responsibility is the voluntary stance or set of actions from a corporation that demonstrate a contribution to a better society and a cleaner environment. Corporations are already required to operate within the law, but laws do not always protect all people or individuals who will be affected by the corporation’s actions. In addition to this, it is very common for special interests to play a part in legal decisions through lobbying efforts, so it is assumed to be an additional effort for a corporation to be socially responsible. Being socially responsible essentially comes down to being considerate and calculated in the decision making process, paying attention to the consequence of every action. In the ethical decision making model, there are two particular steps that I believe to be of greater importance than the others. The first would be that of