CSR is the obligations of the business to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society. According to (Carroll and Shabana, 2010), CSR has also become one of the most orthodox and widely accepted concepts in the business world during recent years. According to (Sweeney and Coughlan 2008) and (Maignan and Ralston 2002; Wanderley et al. 2008), Organizations increasingly use CSR activities to position their corporate brand in the eyes of consumers and other stakeholders, such as through their annual reporting . communicating about social activities does not always benefit the communicating organization, notably because CSR communication may trigger stakeholders' scepticism and cynicism (Mohr et al. 2001; Schlegelmilch and Pollach 2005).Many organizations engage in CSR because they believe that it is in the organization’s best …show more content…
Consumers are more loyal to those companies that have a reputation of being a good corporate citizen. Research at Tilburg University in the Netherlands showed that consumers are prepared to pay a 10 percent higher price for products they deem to be socially responsible.
Costs
The main disadvantage of CSR is that its costs fall disproportionally on small businesses. Major corporations can afford to allocate a budget to CSR reporting, but this is not always open to smaller businesses with between 10 and 200 employees. A small business can use social media to communicate its CSR policy to customers and the local community. But it takes time to monitor exchanges and could involve hiring extra personnel that the business may not be able to afford.
Disadvantages Corporate Social Responsibility
Shift from the Profit-Making
Current approaches to CSR are fragmented and/or disconnected from business goals. Many firms still consider CSR as another generic public relations problem in which media campaigns and CSR reports are used to paint the company as a positive ethical, social and or environmental advocator and supporter. For example, the annual reports discuss a firm’s sensitivities to CSR issues, but completely lack the entire story and offer no further forward commitments from the firm. Further, the ratings and rankings measurements are self-appointed by the firm, not always accurate to validate the work and direct impact to what they are measuring, and the criteria base varies widely and weighed differently in the final scoring. Worst of all the data lacks impartial auditors for validating the data to ensure the ratings have been accurately met, and data is statistically significant and a good proxy for what it is supposed to reflect. This has resulted in reactive initiatives designed to appease vocal
Every organized company worldwide should have among its structure, one planning and coordination division in which social and business goals are integrated. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are necessary for commercial business as an element of risk management and represent an outstanding mechanism for the stakeholders to identify weaknesses when their own actions or others conduct in its operating environment generate social risk. (Kytle and Ruggie 2005).
Based on my interpretation of CSR, I see it as a voluntary obligation that companies have promised to their stakeholders to fulfill by improving, or at least not harm, the environmental and social wellbeing. When companies engage in CSR, they voluntarily promise to, for example, carry the responsibility to protect the environment and take actions against bribe or other corruptive activities related to their business. It certainly has some positive influences to specific areas based on my knowledge gained from other classes; nevertheless, when judge CSR in the context of total impacts on our society and environment, it is obvious that CSR has failed its mission to lessen the negative impacts of business based on the evidences that provided by the author. Also, since there is a strong positive relationship between CSR behaviors and consumers’ reactions to a firm’s products and services, it seems to me, now, that CSR for the most companies is just a fancy cover that helps them to create or promote a good image and reputation. The recent case that shows the failure of CSR of Volkswagen even make me believe that CSR programs may be just a marketing or public relation exercise for many
In recent years, increasing number of customers and businessmen start to concern about the ethical issues in businesses. Although the main purpose of business is to make profits, the social influence of it also appears to be focused by a large proportion of customers and businessmen. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is closely connected with this concentration, was put forward in 1953 with the meaning of interacting social, environmental, and economic considerations into the decision-making structures and processes of business (Industry Canada, 2013). Although criticized, there is a business case for CSR because it could enhance customers’ loyalty, improve
This recent reality, combined with globalization, is forcing companies to forge new kinds of relationships with buyers and countries. The financial valuation of companies are taking ever greater account of intangible elements, such as brands, patents and the company’s general image, with companies being bound to take account of these things in an effort to satisfy their shareholders. Environmental protection has become a highly motivating factor, and companies are being pressed to identify stakeholders with whom to team up. With brand value and reputation increasingly being seen as one of a company’s most valuable assets, CSR is now seen as building loyalty and trust amongst shareholders, employees and customers ( Tssa, (n.d.)).
Even though customers are a major key to success of any business, limiting CSR practices to an external group of stakeholder is insufficient. From the customers’ side, the focus is “on the corporate brand and its societal relationships with external constituencies.” (Lacey, Hensel 316). It is undeniable that implementation of CSR can attract the customers and lead them to be a significant are source of a financial gain. That is because CSR changes the way consumers behave in the market and alter their beliefs toward the company standards.” (Lacey, Hensel 316). Nevertheless, extensive focus on the social gains may cause the business to suffer financially. If that happened, the case is considered to be a failure of executing CSR. Again, this is a result of shifting all the business gears to benefit a sole group the stakeholders.
In this essay, we will discuss why organizations began CSR and how it is or can be or why should it be implemented. CSR usually get started off either as an integral part of the business strategy or corporate identity, or it can be used as a defensive policy, with the latter being used more often by companies targeted
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
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.
One of the most dominating concepts of business reporting is Corporate Social Responsibility. It has become mandatory for every business to include a policy with regards to CSR and produce a detailed report with regards to its activities. CSR can be defined as the relationship between a corporate company and the society in which the company operates. The concept of CSR became famous during the late 1960’s and since then it has helped corporations to sustain itself in the market.
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.
Corporate Social Responsibility is likely to be a game charger because one benefit companies have using CSR is to enhance brand awareness
Just like these economists, consumers also have different understandings of CSR, but seem to act in a similar way that supports the notion of CSR. Asking a person if a business should be socially responsible or not could be misleading because the definition of CSR may be vague and not widely known to the people. The survey I conducted aimed to obtain 10 responses from college students that range between 17 and 25 years old. My class is a microcosm of the world because it consists of people who have different understanding of CSR due to their different backgrounds. Those whom I surveyed identified a business as socially responsible in distinctive ways, such as paying taxes, a good reputation, giving back to the community and taking care
Companies are under scrutiny from consumers and from the government and CSR initiatives are expected from companies. Investing in CSR will gain respect from people and consumers will be more likely to support companies who show that they care about issues they care about. Employees can defend the company to local communities and in the media and give the company good exposure by talking about their CSR activities. A good reputation can lead to higher sales and can attract new customers. Companies can attract talented employees by offering them a company that they can identify with and that shares their views on being a benefit society. This identification with the company will create an emotional attachment to the company. Employee loyalty will increase and they will want to remain with the organization and the company will save money due to decreasing employee turnover. An example of this would be Market Basket. The employees believe that the company is serving the community by providing jobs and economic growth, supporting local farms and vendors, and providing the best prices for
4 in 5 are more likely to purchase from a company that support a cause that they care about.