Option C: Donation
Highlights
Product donation has emerged as a cost effective alternative to disposal. Donation to charities is a great way for businesses to give back to their communities and building their image and reputation in the community. It has also helped free the needed warehouse space, reduce the cost of storage and take advantage of the special tax deduction.
Methodology
When our team agreed upon the decision to donate the excess and obsolete inventories as our third alternative, we decided to look into the Syria crisis and non-profit organization that has an extensive experience responding to nature disaster nationwide. Our research consists of, researching for non-profit organization that will accept excess inventories,
…show more content…
According to Bartkus & Morris, “Studies have shown that reputation as measured by Fortune’s “most admired corporations” survey is positively correlated with financial performance”. In the Cone Case Evolution Study: 83% of surveyed Americans say they want more of the products, services, and retailers, they use to benefit causes, and 80% are likely to switch brands, when similar in price and quality, to one that support a cause (Mercy Corps, 2011). These surveys have demonstrated that consumers are more swayed by a corporation’s social purpose and are willing to pay for items that comes from social responsible businesses.
In addition, product donations can provide a positive public image enhancement for Dr. Comfort. According the Cone Case study, 85% have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about (Mercy Corps, 2011). The company’s donation can be publicized as a way to enhance their marketing efforts and advertising programs because they produce benefits for corporations through image and brand building. Product donation can create a more visual transaction and can effectively demonstrate a corporation’s value. For example, if Dr. Comforts were to donate shoes to a country in need where shoes are a rarity and it makes a huge impact on the lives who are at risk for infections due to lack of footwear, such scenes will have high visual impact and can go far in shaping a
Social responsibility makes a company more competitive and reduces the risk of sudden damage to the company’s reputation and sales.
There are a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations that support donations covering clothes, furniture, home items and in same cases food (normally via restaurants and supermarkets). Some of these have programs to help the needy either by redistributing and some re-sell these items cheaply which provided funds and an income stream for their charity/organisation. In all cases this reduces waste and provides an opportunity to re-use and make better use of items that are not needed by the original owners.
The greatest benefit provided to companies that donate is probably their increased visibility throughout communities. From a marketing perspective, donating is one of the most efficient ways to
Social responsibility causes can really boost company morale and improve sales. For example if a company supports cancer by giving the employees a paid day off to walk for cancer, that may boost company morale. If a company gives 10% of profits or sales to a cause such as the make a wish foundation, that can boost sales. I cannot think of any drawbacks to a company or corporation becoming involved in a socially responsible cause.
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
We then match the IPO database with the CSR database. We gather CSR data from MSCI KLD 400 Social Index Database. This data set is the most comprehensive CSR database and is widely used in the literature (Agle et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2007; Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Hillman and Keim, 2001; Rehbein et al., 2004; Waddock and Graves, 1997). The MSCI KLD database provides social performance records for more than 3,000 publicly traded US companies across a range of dimensions covering business-related social performance parameters including corporate governance, environment, product quality, and employment practices (Chen et al., 2007). The MSCI database assigns strengths and concerns to each of these dimensions. Detailed
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.
One of MAB’s greatest competitive advantages is its CSR strategy. This can be explained and has been shownthrough existing literature. First, research shows that a CSR strategy is linked to improved image and reputation. It has also been shown that consumers are more likely to switch to products that are associated with a good cause. Furthermore, being a good corporate citizen encourages consumers to become brand ambassadors and engage in supportof the bsuiness, such as word-of-mouth marketing. Other advantages that MAB may gain from its CSR strategy include becoming an attractive workplace and investment as a result of strong stakeholder relationships. By implementing a CSR strategy, the company is protecting its reputation and building brand
However, to a certain extent, for-profit corporations are limited in their capacity to address social issues as a result of their responsibility to their shareholders to maximize share value. While legal scholars continue to debate this claim, it is generally accepted that shareholders reserve the right to demand that corporations put profits above all else. The Unilever forced buyout of Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 is one notable example often cited as evidence that corporations, even those that have operated with a strong social purpose, can be forced to put share-value first. Even if, as some argue, Ben and Jerry’s was not legally obligated to sell to Unilever, the widespread perception is that they were (Page and Katz, 2015). The implications of this belief have caused socially-minded corporations to either limit in how fully they incorporate social missions into their operations or to reduce or abandon socially conscious objectives when they may reduce financial profitability. Additionally, while societal pressures have encouraged for-profit entities to pay attention to environmental and social causes, the impact of for-profit CRS programs and sustainability efforts is often questionable. More than half of all S&P 500 companies issue annual sustainability reports
As Kline (2017) stated, “Socially responsible companies can reduce their credit spread by 40%, avoid market losses from crises (saving millions), double the probability of receiving investment grade ratings, reduce share price volatility 2-10%, and reduce systematic or market risk by 4%.” More interestingly, Kline (2017) mentioned, “...the researchers found that corporate responsibility could potentially increase the market value of a company by up to 6% over a 15- year period. Market value may grow even more -- to 40-80% higher than peers ' and competitors ' market value -- for companies with strong relationships with stakeholders such as environmental and social NGOs.” Similarly, Kline (2017) voiced, “The study found several advantages on the human resources front due to retention of talent attracted to CR. Staff turnover rates are 25 to 50% lower in responsible companies, who can save around $3700 on average in wage increases to encourage an employee to stay when he or she would rather go elsewhere.” Kline (2017) brought up some engaging trends, “ In fact, in responsible companies 5% of employees say they are willing to accept a decline in compensation. These companies register a 7.5% increase in
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept that corporations are expected to perform certain acts for the betterment of society. The article “Doing Right Leads to Doing Well”, explores CSR by contending that although firms use these tactics for some societal good, they may also be linked with increased brand identification and consumer trust, which may bloat the firm’s bottom line. The authors maintain that CSR outputs such as sponsorship, cause-related marketing, and pure philanthropy can be positively correlated to both “in-role” and “extra-role” consumer behaviors. In-role behaviors consist of directly supporting the company through acts such as purchasing, while extra-role behavior is the indirect support
For The Warehouse Group (TWG), it has long been understood that having a strong reputation relates to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and store brand the organisation assumes. The purpose of this report is an investigation into CSR efforts, affording an indirect measurement of reputation. It describes a series of CSR activities, and finds that in each case, TWG 's reputation is reinforced and is stronger than competing organisations who lack or do not efficiently execute such techniques. The supporting references used describe research that has previously investigated how CSR activities have become pivotal to how an organisation is portrayed. Findings are that an organisation 's reputation correlates to the CSR activities it partakes in without any loss of 'face ', and hence makes communications with publics more successful.
When our team agreed upon the decision to donate the excess and obsolete inventories as our third alternative, we decided to look into the Syria crisis and non-profit organization that has an extensive experience responding to nature disaster nationwide. Our research consist of, researching for non-profit organizations that will accept excess inventories, nonprofit organization that works closely with the Syria crisis, and literature review on charity donations and how it can help the companies.
Nowadays, corporations which are considered to be profit-driven organizations try hard to come up with novel marketing strategies and utilize them to maximum their own profits. Moreover, more and more consumers’ attitude toward corporations’ impression are on the basis of their performance on social environment. This trend makes corporations tend to concentrate on how to give consumers a so called “good” impression (CSR or CRM?).
Mohr, L. A., Webb, D. J., & Harris, K. E. (2001). Do Consumers Expect Companies to be Socially Responsible? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Buying Behavior. Journal Of Consumer Affairs, 35(1), 45.