CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Corporate Social Responsibility Introduction

Discussions on CSR are growing by the day as it continues to build relations between the corporations, its stakeholder and society at large. The view of CSR as a measure for improving corporations image in the society calls upon researchers to evaluate further. CSR is suitable for business development, its sustainability and the growth of the society. The growth in the industrial and social aspects in the globe increase the awareness for the need of a social control measures to cohesively attain unified social goals. At the advent of the 20th century, debates on corporate social responsibility took a center stage heightening the development of terminologies and theories. Some of the terminologies include public policy, stakeholder management, corporate accountability, society and business, and management of social issues. In the recent years, these terminologies have received alteration to reflect the society interest. The concept of corporate social responsibility has earned new reference point such as; corporate sustainability and corporate citizenship ( for corporate sustainability; and and for corporate citizenship). From this development one begs to question whether the advancements are meant to entrench the corporations sustainability or the societys wellbeing. The theories advanced on corporate social responsibility employ different approaches but, use the same terminologies in the discussions. Controversy has arisen from the understanding of many as to whether corporate social responsibility is a legal responsibility or liability. Others understand that it is a social responsibility that has a deeper sense of ethics while others look to it as a charitable contribution made to the society. Some corporations have been seen to consider their CSR actions as the legitimizing factor in a given society while other

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY look at it as a fiduciary higher standard imposing duty . The growth realized in the field of

corporate social responsibility only woks to bring in differing views with broad multidisciplinary perspectives and loose boundaries . These differing aspects in the field have set in a sense of misunderstanding to the initially conceptualized ethical concept. Given the conflicting interests, understanding and concepts on corporate social responsibility the study will make a clarification on the matter. The main focus of the paper is to interrogate the perspective taken by UK public listed companies on corporate social responsibility. The research will be carried out to assess whether CSR activities are undertaken are geared toward profit maximization through entrenching sustainability within the society. It will also assess whether the contribution made by the corporation is as a result of the wealth held . Significance of the study The study will contribute to the wealth of knowledge on corporate social responsibility further enhancing a deeper understanding to the corporate and societys view of the phenomenon. The findings of the study will better inform policy formulation to reduce loose operational boundaries in the field. To the advantage of social cohesiveness, the corporations and society can be able to align their interests in order to achieve growth and sustainability in the overall. The study will help organizations in formulating their management strategies to incorporate organizational and social goals. This eliminates the biases that are likely to call attention of regulatory bodies to sanction a corporation inadequacies regarding CSR. Review of the Literature

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This part reviews exiting knowledge on corporate social responsibility highlighting the trends observable among corporations in the UK and discussing the ideal notions held. In this section, the paper presents an overall understanding on corporate social responsibility notion and the available theoretical knowledge on the same. Definition of corporate Social Responsibility defines CSR as voluntary company actions and activities that demonstrate its inclusion and appreciation of the social and environmental concerns in operations of the business. The motivations behind CSR according to are performance (profit and competition), value (image of the company) and stakeholders interests. Corporate social responsibility is also seen as an indicator of a corporations responsiveness to social needs of the external stakeholders . assertion is that, the corporation has to be one with the society it is operations. If the corporation unable to respond to these needs, it is likely to compromise growth and subsequent sustainability of the business. Reasons behind corporate social responsibility In the UK corporate giving in 2009 stood at 762 million a figure that has been seen to increase over the years as the range and proportion of corporate social responsibility rises . From the available literature on UK firms, there is a pro-cyclical relationship in existence between the income earned by firms and their donations towards society. In a survey, by Charities Aid Foundation in 2009 it is indicated that corporations issue less funding to social events when their incomes are falling. Corporation evidence that their wiliness to participate in corporate social responsibility is dependent upon the revenues earned. This demonstrates that corporations that earn high level of profitability will reflect it in donations and budgets towards CSR .

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Bearing in mind the existent positive relationship between corporate profits and CSR budgets, argues that there are two aspects that are likely to influence the levels of corporate

giving. Low and Davenport identify that ethical consumerism and the shareholder influence in terms of their capital share elevates justification for a corporations social investment. Consumerism is seen as a market oriented pressure upon the corporation to show their value for the society and identify with the society. According to Consumerism is a means for corporations to strategically align their objectives ethically participating in some form of social investment. According to ethical consumerism increases corporations visibility in the society as their product gain popularity. Ricks adds that corporations are bowing to pressures of transparency on all their revenues and expenses and justification of their expenses. From this, corporations have slowly shifted for selfinterests to strategic philanthropic measures that open avenues for the corporation to grow . Philosophical view of CSR argues the motivation behind CSR engagements is self-interest driven regardless of whether the activity is for commercial strategy alone, or partly driven by what appears, at least superficially, as altruistic concern. argues that it is not easy to tell whether the behavior is prompted by self-preservation or altruism when CSR are directed towards external stakeholders. Perhaps the most obvious example of altruistic values in CSR can be seen in corporate philanthropy, historically associated in British and American history with the Quakers. In particular: Quakers became known for integrity both in personal relationships and business affairs; they honored contractual promises and they maintained fixed prices for goods . Well-

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known British corporations with Quaker origins are the chocolate manufacturers Rowntree, Fry and Cadbury (the Quakers approved of drinking chocolate as a healthier alternative to alcohol) . However, present a more critical perspective on the motivations of the early philanthropists, ascribing the invention of the Cadbury corporate culture to books and articles that were specifically commissioned by the Cadbury family, for public relations purposes. Particular labor management practices of the firm were developed to respond to contemporary social movements . The evidence appears to show that working conditions at the Cadbury were no different to other companies. It is crucial to point out that philanthropy is not confined to Christianity. Whilst not found in the teachings of all the main religions, the importance of helping other people less fortunate than oneself is in Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam . For example, the notion of Ren in Chinese religion is translated as: "Human-heartedness or loving benevolence toward other humans; a pivotal ethical notion in Confucianism" . Therefore, religious beliefs can be viewed as a motivator of philanthropy or CSR, although it could also be argued that the religious motive is in itself driven by reasons of self-interest, for example, to secure a place in heaven (Christianity), or to practice Karma (Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism) . Personal values and CSR In the U.K., consumer values seem to have changed from the materialism of the 1980s, the decade of the "yuppie", to the so-called "caring sharing" 1990s and the election of a Labour government in the U.K. in 1997, after 18 years of Conservative rule .1 The increasing sales of "Fair Trade" (ethically and sustainably marketed) products in the U.K. (+40% by value in 2001, to 46 million) is also indicative of changing consumer values . According Lamb to Fair trade is

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on a roll because it is tapping into the public mood. Most people do not want to buy goods with a high social price tag . Lamb observes the relative price premium associated with "fairly traded" products compared with their regularly traded counterparts, does not appeal to all customers, in every product category. Thus, even though tapping into the public mood is precisely what a company oriented to marketing would do, it is not a guarantee that not all socially responsible activities by corporations are driven by commercial objectives . observations on CSR reflect that personal values among managements and executives can influence the shape of social values held within a corporation. It is not necessary that a corporation is wealthy or has a higher return on their investment as asserts. The directors and management team personal values will play a key role in influencing the strategies of the corporation in the society. argues that a new, younger generation of managers is emerging, educated to the needs of the planet and their fellow citizens and anxious in doing right. This combined with consumerism campaigns adds weight to the need for corporations to incorporate social values in their strategies. Changing personal values are likely to affect corporate values, not least because employees bring their values including consumer values into the work setting While it is true that empirical evidence supports the view that CEOs tend to establish the ethical norms for corporations , it would be naive to assume that all managerial values are inherited from senior management, rather like some kind of organizational DNA. Indeed Drumwright's findings showed that middle managers were often the socially responsible changeagents and that the all-out support of top management is not necessarily a requirement for the success of socially responsible buying . Moreover, Wood, writing in the context of CSR refers to preferences, Ethical training, life experiences and cultural background that motivate human behaviour and in their empirical study, Harris and Crane highlight the importance of managers'

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY personal beliefs in the adoption of a green organizational culture, finding that these can differ from "the espoused company line" . acknowledge the need for an examination of individuals' ethical behavior within the

context of the organizational climate and they note that, there is now recognition that individual characteristics alone are insufficient to explain moral and ethical behavior . This problem of identifying the ownership of a value, that is, whether it can be attributed to the individual or the organization, was addressed by in their research into values in business. They examined over 200 articles taken from seven management journals published between 1989 and 1999, plus additional articles cited in the bibliographies, in order to produce a framework based on different "levels" of values . These levels were identified as individual, organizational, institutional, societal and global. Institutional values included; the values of professions, industries, societal institutions such as business, government, and labor, and so forth" . Agle and Caldwell argued for the importance of specifying the precise level of analysis so as to avoid harming the validity of values research. For example, researchers are often guilty of using individual level data to represent organizational constructs. They give the example of construing organizational culture in terms of non-aggregated individual responses. Thus, these authors believe it is important to distinguish the personal values of those involved with CSR decision making, from the corporate, or organizational values, which appear to be linked with organizational culture . As part of the epistemological and methodological problems associated with the separation of levels of values, the question of the sources of values arises. Harris and Crane observe (with reference to managers' perceptions of a green culture) that: many managers are

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likely to see their change possibilities constrained by the values underlying the system in which they operate" . This concurs with Harrison, who proposes that: The bulk of the evidence suggests that the values of managers have a strong organizational orientation. Therefore it seems rather doubtful that in the event of a conflict of values, the personal values of the manager would take precedence over organizational values. It is more likely that the manager would accommodate his personal values to the purposes of the organization in such a way as to further his/her own aspirations . Overview of literature The literature reviewed in the study indicates that CSR is pegged upon the values held by an organization and the conditions prevailing in the society. The influence on the social values held by both the external and internal stakeholders plays a pivotal role on the composition of the corporate social responsibility and the strategies. An organizations perspective on the profits and wealth held will have a bearing upon the strategies on CSR where there is a further consideration to be made. The reviewed literature directs to the convictions that besides the need to have a social perspective, a corporation will use CSR to hedge for sustainability. The desire of corporations is not entirely profit maximization. However, this being a paramount goal in any business corporate social responsibility may be stage managed to ensure it attainment. Research objectives The research targets to assess the values held by corporation as regards their profitability, wealth and corporate social responsibility values and strategies. In the research it will be investigated whether corporations in UK use CSR as a measure to bring in profitability. The study objective will be.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 1. To investigate the values and perspective held by corporations regarding CSR 2. To assess whether corporation use corporate social responsibility to increase their competiveness 3. To evaluate the extent to that CSR contribute to corporations profitability 4. To evaluate the ideal measures to meet social values without compromising Shareholders needs. Research Strategy The study will use survey research design to gather information from a sample

corporation listed in UK. The survey will entail analysis of the corporation previous activities in relation to CSR and the strategies they deploy in management. The survey will gather secondary information on corporations expenses that will be compared to the profits and the proportion of CSR expenses. This data will be obtained for the printed public information on company annual reports. To compliment this information a field survey data collection using structured questionnaires will be used to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data will give an opportunity for the study to explore an understanding on values held by the management and directors of corporations. The qualitative data will supplement the biases likely to be realized from secondary data. The structured questionnaire will be self-administered and the respondents will be encouraged to fill and avail them for collection. In cases where it will be observed that the respondents are unwilling to answer the question on their own, an interview

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will be considered. The interview will only be preferred where the respondents are observed to be unwilling to provide the information. Anticipated results The research expects that the corporations will be able to reveal their motivation, values and perspectives of CSR strategies adopted. The survey will highlight how strategies on CSR, sustainability and profitability strike a balance to achieve the social and business ideals. The results expected for the study are that corporation use CSR to ensure their sustainability and this brings in the aspect of profitability. The aspect of profitability and wealth investigated will show that corporation with higher earnings are expected to give more donations and this is to be the case with increase in earnings.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY References

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