Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INDEX
1 Introduction 1
2 Objective 4
4 Approaches 12
5 Implementation 14
7 Criticisms 19
8 Geography 23
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
11 Corporate sustainability 42
13 Data anylisis 56
14 Conclusion 85
15 Bibliography 86
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
The term "corporate social responsibility" became popular in the 1960s and has
remained a term used indiscriminately by many to cover legal and moral
responsibility more narrowly construed.
Proponents argue that corporations increase long term profits by operating with a
CSR perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from business' economic
role. A 2000 study compared existing econometric studies of the relationship
between social and financial performance, concluding that the contradictory results
of previous studies reporting positive, negative, and neutral financial impact, were
due to flawed empirical analysis and claimed when the study is properly specified,
CSR has a neutral impact on financial outcomes.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Definition
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Consumer perspectives
Most consumers agree that while achieving business targets, companies should do
CSR at the same time. However not all CSR activities are popular. Most
consumers believe companies doing charity will receive a positive
response. Somerville also found that consumers are loyal and willing to spend
more on retailers that support charity. Consumers also believe that retailers selling
local products will gain loyalty Smith (2013). shares the belief that marketing local
products will gain consumer trust. However, environmental efforts are receiving
negative views given the belief that this would affect customer service.Oppewal et
al. (2006) found that not all CSR activities are attractive to consumers. They
recommended that retailers focus on one activity. Becker-Olsen (2006) found that
if the social initiative done by the company is not aligned with other company
goals it will have a negative impact. Mohr et al.(2001) and Groza et al. (2011) also
emphasise the importance of reaching the consumer.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
CHAPTER 2 : OBJECTIVES.
The objectives that we set out in the corporate social responsibility of business is to
support the company's strategic objectives, in particular the impact on society and
minimize the negative influence on the environment and JSW image as a credible
and reliable business partner for suppliers and customers.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
7
Corporate social responsibility towards business
The triple bottom line refers to an extension of the criteria used to measure
organisational success. Traditionally, business success (or failure) is measured in
terms of its economic performance. A business is considered to be successful if it
has generated a sufficient financial return from its investments, financing activities
and operating activities. The triple bottom line takes into account three criteria for
assessing organisational performance; economic, social and environmental.
The financial or economic performance of an organisation is the easiest of the three
criteria to measure accurately. Traditional accounting methods take into account
the inflow and outflow of resources from the business, generally including cash
and finances, assets, liabilities and other easily definable business resources. The
economic criteria can then be used to determine how much an organisation
generates in monetary value. It can also be used to determine the net worth of the
business at a given point in time.
The social performance of an organisation is somewhat more difficult to define and
measure. The social criterion of the triple bottom line takes into account the impact
that a business has on people within the business (employees) and people outside
of the business (the community). A business applying the triple bottom line
principles will act in a way that benefits the community and will ensure that people
are not being exploited or endangered by the operation of the business. Social
factors that should be considered include labourutilisation and wages, working
conditions and contribution to community living standards.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
There is much debate and criticism surrounding the concept of corporate social
responsibility. Some people believe that the actual responsibility of a business is
only to its owners and shareholders. Others believe that a business should be held
accountable for all of its actions (past, present and future) that impact the
environment and community.
One of the common criticisms of corporate social responsibility is that there is a
conflict between the purpose of business and the concept of social responsibility. It
is argued by many businesspeople and economists that the true purpose of business
is to make a profit for the benefit of shareholders. Doing anything outside of this
purpose undermines this fundamental business principle.
If an organisation has a responsibility to its shareholders to make as much profit as
possible, how can it justify spending some of those profits on socially responsible
projects or making decisions that will negatively affect the bottom line?
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
course, the solution is to find socially responsible projects that do offer some
tangible benefits; however, many consider this to corrupt the motivation behind
responsible business practices. It is debatable as to how much a business should
sacrifice in its pursuit of social responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility also comes under criticism because it is disposable
or reversible. Many businesses get involved in sustainable projects when economic
conditions are excellent and they have plenty of disposable resources, however, as
soon as conditions worsen, their community projects are the first thing to go. This
can be detrimental to groups who were reliant on the assistance they were
receiving from the organisation.
Clearly, organisations that want to be socially responsible must face many
challenges and overcome a number of barriers and criticisms. You need to weigh
up all of the advantages and disadvantages that are associated with corporate social
responsibility and determine what is best for the sustainability of your business.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
projects going on in local communities that you mightn't even be aware of, so get
in contact with a charitable organisation and see if there is any way you can help
out.
Not-for-profit organisations are organisations that don't distribute their surplus
funds to owners or shareholders. Instead, they divert all of their funds into
achieving their objectives and goals. For example, a large international charity
doesn't distribute its funds to shareholders, but uses the money it generates to
operate its community projects around the world.
One significant criticism of philanthropy in the business world is that it takes away
a person's opportunity to choose if or where they would like to contribute to the
community. If a company dips into its profits to make payments to a charity, it is
reducing the available funds that would otherwise be distributed to shareholders (or
possibly employees). The forced contribution takes away the opportunity for
shareholders to choose where their money goes.
Another issue is that many people are cynical of the philanthropic efforts of
business. Unfortunately, many see it as simply another public relations exercise
and that companies wouldn't get involved unless they stood to gain something in
return. Whilst this may be true to some extent in certain circumstances, it is
important to remember that businesses are under no obligation to make donations
or engage in socially responsible activities. It is considered by most that some
contribution is preferable to none at all.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
CSR Approaches
Creating Shared Value, or CSV is based on the idea that corporate success and
social welfare are interdependent. A business needs a healthy, educated workforce,
sustainable resources and adept government to compete effectively. For society to
thrive, profitable and competitive businesses must be developed and supported to
create income, wealth, tax revenues and philanthropy. The Harvard Business
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Review article Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and
Corporate Social Responsibility provided examples of companies that have
developed deep linkages between their business strategies and CSR. CSV
acknowledges trade-offs between short-term profitability and social or
environmental goals, but emphasizes the opportunities for competitive advantage
from building a social value proposition into corporate strategy. CSV gives the
impression that only two stakeholders are important - shareholders and consumers.
Cost-benefit analysis
RBV presumes that firms are bundles of heterogeneous resources and capabilities
that are imperfectly mobile across firms. This imperfect mobility can produce
competitive advantages for firms that acquire immobile resources. McWilliams
and Siegel (2001) examined CSR activities and attributes as a differentiation
strategy. They concluded that managers can determine the appropriate level of
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
investment in CSR by conducting cost benefit analysis in the same way that they
analyze other investments.
Reinhardt (1998) found that a firm engaging in a CSR-based strategy could only
sustain an abnormal return if it could prevent competitors from imitating its
strategy.
Scope
Supply chain
Incidents like the 2013 Savar building collapse pushed companies to consider how
the behavior of their suppliers impacted their overall impact on society.
Irresponsible behavior reflected on both the misbehaving firm, but also on its
corporate customers. Supply chain management expanded to consider the CSR
context. Wieland and Hand field (2013) suggested that companies need to include
social responsibility in their reviews of component quality. They highlighted the
use of technology in improving visibility across the supply chain.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
CSR may be based within the human resources, business development or public
relations departments of an organisation,or may be a separate unit reporting to
the CEO or the board of directors. Some companies approach CSR without a
clearly defined team or programme.
Engagement plan
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
In nations such as France, legal requirements for social accounting, auditing and
reporting exist, though international or national agreement on meaningful
measurements of social and environmental performance has not been achieved.
Many companies produce externally audited annual reports that cover Sustainable
Development and CSR issues ("Triple Bottom Line Reports"), but the reports vary
widely in format, style, and evaluation methodology (even within the same
industry). Critics dismiss these reports as lip service, citing examples such
as Enron's yearly "Corporate Responsibility Annual Report" and tobacco
companies' social reports.
In South Africa, as of June 2010, all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange (JSE) were required to produce an integrated report in place of an annual
financial report and sustainability report. An integrated report reviews
environmental, social and economic performance alongside financial performance.
This requirement was implemented in the absence of formal or legal standards. An
Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) was established to issue guidelines for good
practice.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Common actions
Community involvement: This can include raising money for local charities,
providing volunteers, sponsoring local events, employing local workers,
supporting local economic growth, engaging in fair trade practices, etc.
Social license
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
The business case for CSR within a company employs one or more of these
arguments:
"People, planet and profit", also known as the triple bottom line form one way to
evaluate CSR. "People" refers to fair labour practices, the community and region
where the business operates. "Planet" refers to sustainable environmental
practices. Profit is the economic value created by the organization after deducting
the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the capital (unlike accounting
definitions of profit).
This measure was claimed to help some companies be more conscious of their
social and moral responsibilities.However, critics claim that it is selective and
substitutes a company's perspective for that of the community. Another criticism is
about the absence of a standard auditing procedure.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Human resources
A CSR program can be an aid to recruitment and retention, particularly within the
competitive graduate student market. Potential recruits often consider a firm's CSR
policy. CSR can also help improve the perception of a company among its staff,
particularly when staff can become involved through payroll
giving, fundraising activities or community volunteering. CSR has been credited
with encouraging customer orientation among customer-facing employees.
Risk management
Brand differentiation
CSR can help build customer loyalty based on distinctive ethical values.Some
companies use their commitment to CSR as their primary positioning tool,
e.g., The Co-operative Group, The Body Shop and American Apparel
Reduced scrutiny
Supplier relations
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
CSR concerns include its relationship to the purpose of business and the motives
for engaging in it.
Nature of business
While some CSR supporters claim that companies practicing CSR, especially in
developing countries, are less likely to exploit workers and communities, critics
claim that CSR itself imposes outside values on local communities with
unpredictable outcomes.
Motives
Some critics believe that CSR programs are undertaken by companies to distract
the public from ethical questions posed by their core operations. They argue that
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
the reputational benefits that CSR companies receive (cited above as a benefit to
the corporation) demonstrate the hypocrisy of the approach.
Misdirection
Another concern is that sometimes companies use CSR to direct public attention
away from other, harmful business practices. For example, McDonald's
Corporation positioned its association with Ronald McDonald House as CSR while
its meals have been accused of promoting poor eating habits.
Controversial industries
Industries such as tobacco, alcohol or munitions firms make products that damage
their consumers and/or the environment. Such firms may engage in the same
philanthropic activities as those in other industries. This duality complicates
assessments of such firms with respect to CSR.
Stakeholder influence
Branco and Rodrigues (2007) describe the stakeholder perspective of CSR as the
set of views of corporate responsibility held by all groups or constituents with a
relationship to the firm.In their normative model the company accepts these views
as long as they do not hinder the organization. The stakeholder perspective fails to
acknowledge the complexity of network interactions that can occur in cross-sector
partnerships. It relegates communication to a maintenance function, similar to the
exchange perspective.
Ethical consumerism
The rise in popularity of ethical consumerism over the last two decades can be
linked to the rise of CSR.Consumers are becoming more aware of the
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Shareholders and investors, through socially responsible investing are using their
capital to encourage behavior they consider responsible. However, definitions of
what constitutes ethical behavior vary. For example, some religious investors in the
US have withdrawn investment from companies that violate their religious views,
while secular investors divest from companies that they see as imposing religious
views on workers or customers.
(CSV) claims to be more community aware than CSR. Several companies are
refining their collaboration with stakeholders accordingly.
Public policies
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
practices.[ CSR critics such as Robert Reich argued that governments should set
the agenda for social responsibility with laws and regulation that describe how to
conduct business responsibly.
Regulation
Fifteen European Union countries actively engaged in CSR regulation and public
policy development.CSR efforts and policies are different among countries,
responding to the complexity and diversity of governmental, corporate and societal
roles. Studies claimed that the role and effectiveness of these actors were case-
specific.
Canada adopted CSR in 2007. Prime Minister Harper encouraged Canadian mining
companies to meet Canadas newly developed CSR standards.
Laws
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
CSR/SRI policies
How such policies are implemented in practice
Results and management expectations
In 2014, India became the world's first country to enact a mandatory minimum
CSR spending law. Under Companies Act, 2013, any company having a net worth
of 500 crore or more or a turnover of 1,000 crore or a net profit of 5 crore must
spend 2% of their net profits on CSR activities. The rules came into effect from 1
April 2014.
Crises have encouraged the adoption of CSR. The CERES principles were adopted
following the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident.Other examples include the lead
paint used by toy maker Mattel, which required the recall of millions of toys and
caused the company to initiate new risk management and quality control
processes. Magellan Metals was found responsible for lead contamination killing
thousands of birds in Australia. The company ceased business immediately and
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Corporations that employ CSR behaviors do not always behave consistently in all
parts of the world.[94] Conversely, a single behavior may not be considered ethical
in all jurisdictions. E.g., some jurisdictions forbid women from driving, while
others require women to be treated equally in employment decisions.
UK retail sector
A 2006 study found that the UK retail sector showed the greatest rate of CSR
involvement. Many of the big retail companies in the UK joined the Ethical
Trading Initiative,an association established to improving working conditions and
worker health.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
intent and assume liability for its products. Environmental responsibility means
that a company is perceived to produce environmental-friendly, ecological, and
non-harmful products. Jones et al. (2005) found that environmental issues are the
most commonly reported CSR programs among top retailers.
Business ethics
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
beneficial directions. Ethics implicitly regulates areas and details of behavior that
lie beyond governmental control. The emergence of large corporations with limited
relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated
the development of formal ethics regimes.
Finance
Finance paradigm
Aristotle said, "the end and purpose of the polis is the good life".Adam
Smith characterized the good life in terms of material goods and intellectual and
moral excellences of character.Smith in his The Wealth of Nations commented,
"All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world,
to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Dobson observes, "a rational agent is simply one who pursues personal material
advantage ad infinitum. In essence, to be rational in finance is to be individualistic,
materialistic, and competitive. Business is a game played by individuals, as with all
games the object is to win, and winning is measured in terms solely of material
wealth. Within the discipline this rationality concept is never questioned, and has
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Other issues
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Once hired, employees have the right to occasional cost of living increases, as well
as raises based on merit. Promotions, however, are not a right, and there are often
fewer openings than qualified applicants. It may seem unfair if an employee who
has been with a company longer is passed over for a promotion, but it is not
unethical. It is only unethical if the employer did not give the employee proper
consideration or used improper criteria for the promotion.
Employers must consider workplace safety, which may involve modifying the
workplace, or providing appropriate training or hazard disclosure.
Larger economic issues such as immigration, trade policy, globalization and trade
unionism affect workplaces and have an ethical dimension, but are often beyond
the purview of individual companies.
International issues
While business ethics emerged as a field in the 1970s, international business ethics
did not emerge until the late 1990s, looking back on the international developments
of that decade.Many new practical issues arose out of the international context of
business. Theoretical issues such as cultural relativity of ethical values receive
more emphasis in this field. Other, older issues can be grouped here as well. Issues
and subfields include:
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Implementation
Corporate policies
Many companies are assessing the environmental factors that can lead employees
to engage in unethical conduct. A competitive business environment may call for
unethical behaviour. Lying has become expected in fields such as trading. An
example of this are the issues surrounding the unethical actions of the Saloman
Brothers.
Not everyone supports corporate policies that govern ethical conduct. Some claim
that ethical problems are better dealt with by depending upon employees to use
their own judgment.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Others believe that corporate ethics policies are primarily rooted in utilitarian
concerns, and that they are mainly to limit the company's legal liability, or to curry
public favour by giving the appearance of being a good corporate citizen. Ideally,
the company will avoid a lawsuit because its employees will follow the rules.
Should a lawsuit occur, the company can claim that the problem would not have
arisen if the employee had only followed the code properly.
Sometimes there is disconnection between the company's code of ethics and the
company's actual practices. Thus, whether or not such conduct is explicitly
sanctioned by management, at worst, this makes the policy duplicitous, and, at
best, it is merely a marketing tool.
Jones and Parker write, "Most of what we read under the name business ethics is
either sentimental common sense, or a set of excuses for being unpleasant."Many
manuals are procedural form filling exercises unconcerned about the real ethical
dilemmas. For instance, US Department of Commerce ethics program treats
business ethics as a set of instructions and procedures to be followed by 'ethics
officers'., some others claim being ethical is just for the sake of being
ethical.Business ethicists may trivialize the subject, offering standard answers that
do not reflect the situation's complexity.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Ethics officers
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
In the wake of numerous corporate scandals between 2001 and 2004 (affecting
large corporations like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco), even small and medium-
sized companies have begun to appoint ethics officers. They often report to the
Chief Executive Officer and are responsible for assessing the ethical implications
of the company's activities, making recommendations regarding the company's
ethical policies, and disseminating information to employees. They are particularly
interested in uncovering or preventing unethical and illegal actions. This trend is
partly due to the SarbanesOxley Act in the United States, which was enacted in
reaction to the above scandals. A related trend is the introduction of risk
assessment officers that monitor how shareholders' investments might be affected
by the company's decisions.
The foundation for ethical behaviour goes well beyond corporate culture and the
policies of any given company, for it also depends greatly upon an individual's
early moral training, the other institutions that affect an individual, the competitive
business environment the company is in and, indeed, society as a whole.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Businesses can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses by making
decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with
the corporation.For instance if a company follows the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for emissions on dangerous pollutants and
even goes an extra step to get involved in the community and address those
concerns that the public might have; they would be less likely to have the EPA
investigate them for environmental concerns. A significant element of current
thinking about privacy, however, stresses "self-regulation" rather than market or
government mechanisms for protecting personal information.
According to some experts, most rules and regulations are formed due to public
outcry, which threatens profit maximization and therefore the well-being of the
shareholder, and that if there is not outcry there often will be limited regulation.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Critics argue that Corporate social responsibility (CSR) distracts from the
fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than
superficial window-dressing; others argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role
of governments as a watchdog over powerful corporations though there is no
systematic evidence to support these criticisms. A significant number of studies
have shown no negative influence on shareholder results from CSR but rather a
slightly negative correlation with improved shareholder returns.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Modern applications
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
SIF's 2012 Report on Sustainable and Responsible Investing Trends in the United
States. As of 2012, nearly one of every nine dollars under professional
management in the US is involved in socially responsible investing11.3% of the
$33.3 trillion in total assets under management tracked by Thomson Reuters
Nelson.
Research estimates by financial consultancy Celent predict that the SRI market in
the US will reach $3 trillion by 2011. The European SRI market grew from 1
trillion in 2005 to 1.6 trillion in 2007.
Government-controlled funds
Government-controlled funds such as pension funds are often very large players in
the investment field, and are being pressured by the citizenry and by activist
groups to adopt investment policies which encourage ethical corporate behavior,
respect the rights of workers, consider environmental concerns, and avoid
violations of human rights. One outstanding endorsement of such policies is The
Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is mandated to avoid "investments
which constitute an unacceptable risk that the Fund may contribute to unethical
acts or omissions, such as violations of fundamental humanitarian principles,
serious violations of human rights, gross corruption or severe environmental
damages."
Many pension funds are currently under pressure to disinvest from the arms
company BAE Systems, partially due to a campaign run by the Campaign Against
Arms Trade (CAAT).[18] Liverpool City Council has passed a successful resolution
to disinvest from the company,[19] but a similar attempt by the Scottish Green
Party in Edinburgh City Council was blocked by the Liberal Democrats.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Socially responsible mutual funds counted by the 2012 Trends Report increased in
number to 333 in 2012, up from 250 in 2010, 173 in 2005 & 2007, 189 in 2003,
and 167 in 2001. The overall number of mutual funds incorporating environmental,
social and corporate governance (ESG) has increased 33% since 2010.
Additionally, 28 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that incorporate ESG criteria were
identified with $4 billion in assets at the end of 2011, a 76% increase from the 26
ETFs with $2.25 billion in net assets identified at the end of 2009 [11]. Unlike the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which severely
limits the extent to which socially responsible goals can be considered in managing
corporate and Taft-Hartley pension assets (due to ERISA's overriding goal of
protecting employees' pensions),registered investment companies can take these
factors into account so long as the disclosure and other requirements of the
Investment Company Act of 1940 are met. US SIF maintains charts describing the
socially responsible mutual funds offered by its member firms
Investing strategies
Investing in capital markets
Social investors use several strategies to maximize financial return and attempt to
maximize social good. These strategies may satisfy the ethical principal of non-
harming, but with the exception of shareholder activism/engagement, they do not
necessarily create positive social impact.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Negative screening
The longest-running SRI index, the Domini 400now the MSCI KLD 400was
started in May 1990. It has continued to perform competitively with average
annualized total returns of 9.51% through December 2009 compared with 8.66%
for the S&P 500.
Despite this impressive growth, it has long been commonly perceived that SRI
brings smaller returns than unrestricted investing. So-called "sin stocks", including
purveyors of tobacco, alcohol, gambling and defense contractors, were banned
from portfolios on moral or ethical grounds. And shutting out entire industries
hurts performance, the critics said.However, in a comprehensive study, financial
economists Lobe, Roithmeier, and Walkshusl taking the position of
the advocatusdiaboli, answer the question whether to invest in a socially
responsible way or not? They create a set of global and domestic sin indexes
consisting of 755 publicly traded socially irresponsible stocks around the world
belonging to the Sextet of Sin: adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, nuclear
power, tobacco, and weapons. They compare their stock market performance
directly with a set of virtue comparables consisting of the most important
international socially responsible investment indexes. They find no compelling
evidence that ethical and unethical screens lead to a significant difference in their
financial performance, which is in contrast with the results of prior studies on
sinful investing.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Divestment
Divesting is the act of removing stocks from a portfolio based on mainly ethical,
non-financial objections to certain business activities of a corporation. Recently,
CalSTRS (California State Teachers' Retirement System) announced the removal
of more than $237 million in tobacco holdings from its investment portfolio after 6
months of financial analysis and deliberations.
Shareholder activism
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Community investment
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
organization that helps communities create and sustain land trusts, to a meeting of
US SIF (formerly the Social Investment Forum). It is likely that this was the first
time a nonprofit organization with a loan fund would meet directly with SRI
managers. Trillium clients began investing in ICE later that year.
Impact investing
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Types
There are several related marketing concepts that fall under the umbrella of
socially responsible marketing, these include: social marketing, cause related
marketing, environmental or green marketing, enviropreneurial marketing, quality
of life, and socially responsible buying.
Enlightened Marketing
The philosophy of enlightened marketing is a concept that falls under the umbrella
of socially responsible marketing. Enlightened marketing states that a companys
marketing should support the best long-run performance of the marketing system.
This concept contains the five principles: consumer-oriented marketing, innovative
marketing, value marketing, sense-of-mission marketing and societal marketing.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
The principle of value marketing contends that a company "should put most of its
resources into value-building marketing investments." One criticism of marketing
its short term focus in the sense of promotions and minor improvements. Value
marketing seeks to create long term customer loyalty by adding significant value to
the consumer offers.
Benefits to Business
The practice of socially responsible marketing has many distinct advantages for
businesses who choose to embrace it.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Even in cases where pre-determined benefits like this are not available as
incentives, it is still in a company's best interest in the long run to move towards
more socially responsible methods. By dealing proactively with potentially
harmful or socially detrimental marketing methods and deciding to promote the
public well-being with their products, a company can effectively eliminate the
need for legislative and regulative obstacles in the future. In other words, by
making a concerted effort to be socially responsible in the first place, a company
provides less of a reason for the government to develop any taxes or extra
restrictions on their business in the first place, which helps them in the long run.
Customers also appreciate social responsibility and as a result, companies can gain
business and maintain it with more ease. For example, if a company can certify
their product as "green," they gain a certain degree of competitive advantage over
competition and many customers will be more willing to buy their product than
one that has not been certified as "green," because they perceive the value of the
product to be higher than others. Further, these types of things can instill a sense of
faith and goodwill in customers and cause the consumers not only to feel better
about buying the product in the first place, but also feel better about buying it
again. Socially responsible marketing makes sense as a business strategy because it
not only broadens and expands the customer base.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
The phrase is derived from two keys sources. The Brundtland Commission's
Report, Our Common Future, described sustainable development as, "development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs". This desire to grow without damaging future
generations' prospects is becoming more and more central to business philosophies.
Within more academic management circles, Elkington (1999) developed the
concept of the Triple Bottom Line which proposed that business goals were
inseparable from the societies and environments within which they operate. Whilst
short-term economic gain could be chased, a failure to account for social and
environmental impacts would make those business practices unsustainable.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
The challenge for many businesses in this new field is to quantify the positive
impacts of sustainability. Sustainability can increase revenue, reduce energy
expenses, reduce waste expenses, reduce materials and water expenses, increase
employee productivity, reduce hiring and attrition expenses, and reduce strategic
and operational risks.Furthermore, sustainable business practices may
attract talent and generate tax breaks.
Transparency
Transparency deals with the idea that by having an engaging and open
environment in the company as well as the community will improve performance
and increase profits. It is an open culture that promotes employee involvement in
the innovation and creative processes. Reaching out to the community creates a
much bigger team is extremely cheap and provides evaluation from all angles.
Companies are looking inward and realizing changes must be made to fulfill
environment needs such as energy efficiency, limiting product waste and toxicity,
and designing innovative products. One way for companies to accomplish this is
through open communications with stakeholders characterized by high levels of
information disclosure, clarity, and accuracy.
Stakeholder engagement
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Thinking ahead
Professionals
Corporate behaviour
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Influential factors
Political
Economic
Social
Changes in trends and the market is a social factor which affects Corporate
behaviour. Organisations may have to change their products or services in order to
keep up to date with new trends. In order to do this, employees may be required to
learn new skills within a short amount of time to make these changes; relationships
between employees and management could be at risk due to these changes.
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Technological
Legal
Legislative rules such as tax may increase which would increase an organisations
costs. Changes such as, changing the way the organisation operates may have to be
made in order to cover these extra costs.
Environmental
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Conscious business
Doing no harm
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Profit
This is what distinguishes the entity as a business from the general social
enterprise. The degree of understanding or "consciousness" of any conflict of
interest between the profit motive and social goods varies widely from the standard
sloganeering capital accumulating firm ("don't be evil") to those who seek nothing
more than break-even to pay for their operations, are completely employee owned,
etc..
People
A conscious business seeks to benefit both the external livelihood as well as the
internal lives of its shareholders and employees. Furthermore, the business seeks to
benefit all stakeholders including manufacturers, affected communities, and
humanity at large. Some trends in conscious business which have arisen out of
these efforts include:
A conscious business will seek to minimize its impact on the environment, and
replenish the environment where it is able. Conscious businesses may choose to
benefit the environment in many different ways, some trends include:
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Many conscious businesses choose to use their resources to benefit social and
environmental programs that are not directly related to the creation or distribution
of the product or service. Frequently, a conscious business will donate employee
paid time, money, or products towards various non-profit organizations.
Sometimes a conscious business will create a foundation, which works with one
particular cause. Also, some conscious businesses will become involved with
social or political campaigns to protect the environment, animals, or people.
Conscious businesses will sometimes use significant amounts of their profit
towards these causes. Furthermore, a conscious business will sometimes work
closely with suppliers in either a farming or manufacturing community in a
developing country, and help to develop the community economically and
replenish it environmentally.
Many believe that Anita Roddick pioneered the conscious business movement with
her company, The Body Shop in 1976. This company has been an environmental
leader, and worked to support various activist causes including putting an end to
animal testing, and defending human rights.
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There are various agencies and companies that catalogue the social and
environmental practices of businesses for consumer use, as well as companies
which consult with businesses to increase their awareness and beneficial practices
in the world.
Conscious business is about people who are aware of the impact each of their
habits and actions has on their environment (people and planet). It is about people
who live their lives based on knowing that everything is interconnected. It is about
people, who know who they are:
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There has been renewed interest in the corporate governance practices of modern
corporations, particularly in relation to accountability, since the high-profile
collapses of a number of large corporations during 20012002, most of which
involved accounting fraud; and then again after the recent financial crisis in
2008. Corporate scandals of various forms have maintained public and political
interest in the regulation of corporate governance. In the U.S., these
include Enron and MCI Inc. (formerly WorldCom). Their demise is associated
with the U.S. federal government passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002,
intending to restore public confidence in corporate governance. Comparable
failures in Australia (HIH, One.Tel) are associated with the eventual passage of
the CLERP 9 reforms. Similar corporate failures in other countries stimulated
increased regulatory interest (e.g., Parmalat in Italy).
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Regulation
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constitution that provides individual rules that govern the corporation and
authorize or constrain its decision-makers. This constitution is identified by a
variety of terms; in English-speaking jurisdictions, it is usually known as the
Corporate Charter or the [Memorandum] and Articles of Association. The capacity
of shareholders to modify the constitution of their corporation can vary
substantially.
The U.S. passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, with
subsequent modifications. This law made it illegal to bribe government officials
and required corporations to maintain adequate accounting controls. It is enforced
by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). Substantial civil and criminal penalties have been levied on corporations
and executives convicted of bribery.
The UK passed the Bribery Act in 2010. This law made it illegal to bribe either
government or private citizens or make facilitating payments (i.e., payment to a
government official to perform their routine duties more quickly). It also required
corporations to establish controls to prevent bribery.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was enacted in the wake of a series of high
profile corporate scandals. It established a series of requirements that affect
corporate governance in the U.S. and influenced similar laws in many other
countries. The law required, along with many other elements, that:
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Internal corporate governance controls monitor activities and then take corrective
action to accomplish organisational goals. Examples include:
Monitoring by the board of directors: The board of directors, with its legal
authority to hire, fire and compensate top management, safeguards invested
capital. Regular board meetings allow potential problems to be identified,
discussed and avoided. Whilst non-executive directors are thought to be more
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In publicly traded U.S. corporations, boards of directors are largely chosen by the
President/CEO and the President/CEO often takes the Chair of the Board position
for him/herself (which makes it much more difficult for the institutional owners to
"fire" him/her). The practice of the CEO also being the Chair of the Board is fairly
common in large American corporations.
While this practice is common in the U.S., it is relatively rare elsewhere. In the
U.K., successive codes of best practice have recommended against duality
competition
debt covenants
demand for and assessment of performance information (especially financial
statements)
government regulations
managerial labour market
media pressure
takeovers
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Customer engagement
Customer engagement has been discussed widely online; hundreds of pages have
been written, published, read and commented upon. Numerous high-profile
conferences, seminars and roundtables have either had CE as a primary theme or
included papers on the topic.
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Amazon recently re-branded into 'serving the world's largest engaged online
community', the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has created a 'Blueprint
for Consumer-Centric Holistic Measurement' and the Association of National
Advertisers (ANA), American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and
the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), have put together the 'Engagement
Steering Committee' to work on the customer engagement metric. Nielsen Media
Research, IAG Research and Simmons Research are also all in the process of
developing a CE definition and metric.
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Amazon recently re-branded into 'serving the world's largest engaged online
community', the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has created a 'Blueprint
for Consumer-Centric Holistic Measurement' and the Association of National
Advertisers (ANA), American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and
the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), have put together the 'Engagement
Steering Committee' to work on the customer engagement metric. Nielsen Media
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Research, IAG Research and Simmons Research are also all in the process of
developing a CE definition and metric.
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a) Planning:
Specify the way in which target customers engage, or want to engage, with the
company or offering.
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Root metrics
Duration of visit
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% repeat visits
Recency of visit
Click-through rate
Sales
Lifetime value
Action metrics
Inquiries
Downloads
Content resyndication
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Customer reviews
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
A corporate social entrepreneur (CSE) is defined as "an employee of the firm who
operates in a socially entrepreneurial manner; identifying opportunities for and/ or
championing socially responsible activity; in addition to helping the firm achieve
its business targets. The CSE operates regardless of an organisational context that
is pre-disposed towards corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is because the
CSE is driven by their dominant self-transcendent (concerned with the welfare of
others) as opposed to their self-enhancement personal values.[1] Consequently, the
CSE does not necessarily have a formal socially responsible job role, nor do they
necessarily have to be in a senior management position to progress their socially
responsible agenda." The notion of the CSE first emerged in 2002 from a
conceptual working paper which was published in the Hull University Business
School Research Memoranda Series.[3] In that paper, it was argued that CSR can
also be motivated by an altruistic impulse driven by managers personal values, in
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addition to the more obvious economic and macro political drivers for CSR. This
reflected the traditional philosophical and business ethics debate regarding moral
agency.This paper was followed by a U.K. conference paper which highlighted the
importance of managerial discretion in CSR and was published the next year in
the Journal of Business Ethics. In this latter paper, the concept of entrepreneurial
discretion as an overlooked antecedent of CSR was mooted.
Consequently, the term corporate social entrepreneur was first coined in a paper
that was presented at the 17th Annual European Business Ethics Network
Conference, in June 2004. Here, the term Corporate Social Entrepreneur was first
defined and differentiated from the different types of entrepreneurs: the regular
executive entrepreneur; theintrapreneur; the policy entrepreneur and the public
or social entrepreneur.(See also Austin et al., 2006a for a description of the
similarities and differences between commercial and social
entrepreneurship). Initially, the concept was discussed in relation to managers.
However, it was soon widened to include employees at any level of the firm,
regardless of their formally appointed status. To be a CSE you do not necessarily
have to be a manager. Seniority is not necessary, but, of course, it helps.
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Significantly, whilst the social entrepreneur and corporate social entrepreneur are
united in their quest to create social value: a business ethics perspective encourages
us to ask the question For what end? Here business ethics is useful, as it uses
intellectual frameworks to encourage us to think deeply about means and
ends.[19][20][21] For example, the idea of the CSE creating social value which benefits
both the corporation and society is known as enlightened self-interest.
Alternatively, a deontological viewpoint frames acts of socially responsible
behaviour as driven by the individual's sense of duty to society, which may be
viewed in terms of altruism.Altruism is of course very difficult to support
empirically, although there have been many studies of prosocialbehaviour and
support for the notion of self-transcendent (other-oriented) personal values
in social psychology.
Threat or opportunity?
All this leads us to the inherent complexity surrounding the subject of CSR,
regarding its connection to and its essentially contested nature.[29] So, whilst
some studies have shown a positive relationship between CSR and financial
performance- others are currently investigating the notion of non-market
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Ethical consumerism
The term "ethical consumer", now used generically, was first popularised by the
UK magazine the Ethical Consumer, first published in 1989. Ethical
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B corporation
Dolphin safe
EKOenergy for electricity agreements
Equal Exchange
Ethical Consumer Best Buy label
Fairtrade
Free-range poultry
FSC-certified sustainably sourced wood
Grass fed beef
Green America Seal of Approval
Halal (religious standard)
Kosher (religious standard)
Local food
Made in USA
MSC-certified sustainably sourced seafood
No Pork No Lard (semi-religious standard)
Organic food
Organic Trade Association
Product Red
Rainforest Alliance certified
Recycled/recyclable
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Shade-grown coffee
Social Accountability 8000
Union-made
Vegan
These labels serve as tokens of some reliable validation process, some instructional
capital, much as does a brand name or a nation's flag. They also signal some social
capital, or trust, in some community of auditors that must follow those instructions
to validate those labels.
Some companies in the United States, though currently not required to reduce their
carbon footprint, are doing so voluntarily by changing their energy use practices,
as well as by directly funding (through carbon offsets), businesses that are already
sustainableor are developing or improving green technologies for the future.
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Over time, some theorists suggest, the amount of social capital or trust invested in
nation-states (or "flags") will continue to decrease, and that placed in corporations
(or "brands") will increase. This can only be offset by retrenched national
sovereignty to reinforce shared national standards in tax, trade, and tariff laws, and
by placing the trust in civil society in such "moral labels". These arguments have
been a major focus of the anti-globalization movement, which includes many
broader arguments against the amoral nature of markets as such. However, the
economic school of Public Choice Theory pioneered by James M. Buchanan has
offered counter-arguments based on economic demonstration to this theory of
'amoral markets' versus 'moral governments'.
Related concepts
Conscientious consumption
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
Some of these efforts are based on concept brands: the consumer is buying an
association with women's health or environmental concerns as much as he is
buying a tangible product.
Alternative giving
Main article: Alternative giving
Responsible mining
Groups
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
BioVerde, S.A. provides consultancies to protect and advance the rights and
traditions of small and medium size mining communities, to provide responsible
mining plans of operation, appropriate technology, and to help market limited
quantities of precious metals and gems. Two of BioVerde directors were founders
of ARM.
The Framework for Responsible Mining is a project of the Center for Science in
Public Participation. They define their mission as "a joint effort" that "outlines
environmental, human rights, and social issues associated with mining and mined
products."
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operations are consistent with healthy communities and environments, and they
leave positive legacies."
The Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining is a project of the Pew Environment
Group, focused mainly on reforming the General Mining Act of 1872 in the United
States
Organizational ethics
There are at least four elements that aim to create an ethical culture and behavior of
employees within an organization. These elements are:
1) a written code of ethics and standards (ethical code)
2) ethics training for executives, managers, and employees
3) the availability of ethical situational advice (i.e. advice lines or offices)
4) confidential reporting systems
Organizations are constantly striving for a better ethical atmosphere within the
business climate and culture. Businesses must create an ethical business climate in
order to develop an ethical organization. Otherwise saying, companies must focus
on the ethics of employees in order to create an ethical business. Employees must
know the difference between what is acceptable and unacceptable in the
workplace. These standards are found within the written code of ethics or may be
referred to as the employee handbook. These standards are a written form of
employee conduct and performance expectations.
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There are many theories and organizational studies that are related to
organizational ethics, but "organizations" and "ethics" are wide and varied in
application and scope. These theories and studies can range
from individual(s), team(s), stakeholder, management, leadership, human
resources, group(s) interaction(s), as well as the psychologicalframework behind
each area to include the distribution of job tasks within various types of
organizations. As among these areas, the influence of leadership in any
organization cannot go unexamined, because a clear understanding of
the organizations vision, goals (to include immediate and long-term strategic
plans), and values. Leadership sets the tone for organizational management
(strategic actions taken by an organization to create a positive image to both
internal and external publics). In turn, leadership directly influences the
organizational symbolism (which reflects the culture, the language of the members,
any meaningful objects, representations, and/or how someone may act or think
within an organization). The values and ideals within an organization generally
center upon values for business as the theoretical approach most leaders use to
present to their "co-members" (which in truth maybe subordinates).
In fact, an examination of business reveals that most leaders approach the X(?)
from the perspective of values for the business.[5][6] Alongside presenting the
vision, values, and goals of the organization, the leader should
infuse empowerment and motivation to its members. Leaders
using empowerment to motivate their subordinates, is based upon the view of:
Achieving organizational ownership of company values is a continuous process of
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The European Commission stated in 2013 that because Responsible Research and
Innovation was "a cross-cutting action that is implemented throughout Horizon
2020, 0.5% of the budgets for the 'Societal Challenges' and 'Industrial Leadership'
pillars of Horizon 2020 [was] earmarked for RRI/Science with and for Society
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actions."Innovation and new technologies should meet the global challenges such
as climate change and global warming, the efficient use of natural resources,
demographic change, global health and development, social cohesion and the
maintenance of economic prosperity.
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The main difference between Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and RRI is that
the CSR approach tends to be industry-driven or rather "an expression of corporate
strategy, corporate identity, market power". CSR decisions are driven by the values
of stakeholders by asking "What do stakeholders care about?". In contrast to that
RRI establishes procedures to better integrate societal needs in the process of
research and innovation and its methodology is centered on the equal roles and
responsibility of societal actors and innovators.
The principle of Creating Shared Value (CSV) starts where the UN Global
Compact stops, namely how businesses can pursue social goals as part of their
licence to operate. As such there is an overlap with RRI and its focus on societal
desirability. However, the goal of CSV is to improve the competitiveness and
economic profit of a company by addressing societal issues, whereas RRI ensures
that science and innovation are ethically acceptable, sustainable and focused on
societal benefits for society as a whole.
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Corporate Sustainability
The central premise behind creating shared value is that the competitiveness of a
company and the health of the communities around it are mutually dependent.
Recognizing and capitalizing on these connections between societal and economic
progress has the power to unleash the next wave of global growth and to
redefine capitalism.
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Critics, on the other hand, argue that Porter and Kramer basically tell the old story
of economic rationality as the one and only tool of smart management, with faith in
innovation and growth, and they celebrate a capitalism that now needs to adjust a
little bit. They regard the authors arguments as a one-trick pony approach with
little chance that an increasingly critical civil society will buy into such a story.[4]
Mechanism
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Many approaches to CSR pit businesses against society, emphasizing the costs and
limitations of compliance with externally imposed social and environmental
standards. CSV acknowledges tradeoffs between short-term profitability and social
or environmental goals, but focuses more on the opportunities for competitive
advantage from building a socialvalue proposition into corporate strategy.
Rather, CSV is a transition and expansion from the concept of CSR. Business
responsibility has evolved from Traditional CSR 1.0 (Stages: Defensive,
Charitable, Promotional and Strategic), Transformative CSR 2.0 and to CSR 3.0
what is similar to CSV.[10] Such development of stages by redefining CSR has laid
theoretical foundations for companies and society to sustainably and communally
overcome societal issues. As capitalism matures, it is companies duties to break
itself out of the traditional CSR by realizing its limitations and try to restructure
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and pursue new market strategies that value both economic and societal
development.
CSV concept supersedes CSR for it is a way for corporations to sustain in the
competitive capitalistic market. Whereas CSR focuses on reputation with placing
value in doing good by societal pressure, it generates both economic and societal
benefits relative to cost in real competition of maximizing the profits. Instead of
being pushed by external factors, CSV is internally generated not confined to
financial budget as CSR is. With the advent of CSV and following strong
worldwide advocacy for it, companies started to overthink about their vision for
their sustainable growth.
Critics, however, argue that Porter & Kramer seem to have a very particular and
limited understanding of CSR, one that neither reflects the academic debates of the
past few decades nor captures most of todays CSR practices adequately. ()
Instead of dealing with a contemporary understanding of CSR, corporate social
responsibility seems to be used instead as a straw man to rhetorically justify the
authors contribution and its proclaimed originality.
A literature review was conducted into the important early work of 'shared value'.
Researchers found some literature focusing on the development of shared value by
Porter and Kramer (2006) with most work coming from few sources like the
Monitor Group.
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Outside these case studies, limited literature was found so the paper presented
lessons learnt from shared value and interrelated business models to show how
they developed and business strategies to engage with the bottom of the pyramid.
the term shared value is found in Porter and Kramer (2006), Strategy and
society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social
responsibility and was a development by Porter of previous thinking on business
strategy.[13]
To boost innovation and competitive advantage they say companies need to make
CSR part of their core business strategy and researchers saw this as development of
Porters 1985 Competitive Advantage work where firms activities were
redefined through their value chains to boost competitive advantage through cost
improvements or differentiation.
They argue shared value can do both contrasts with Milton Friedmans view that
the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.[13]
Social value activities can overlap with traditional CSR. Efforts to promote
sustainability through CSR may cut costs for the company and boost profitability,
CSR and core business processes can become indistinguishable from one another,
moving to what the authors term corporate social integration. By drawing
attention to the way society impinges on business (rather than only business on
society) it provides justification for solving societys problems as a core business
strategy.
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The researchers found Shared value has not greatly progressed, with subsequent
literature focused on the types of models and activities that businesses are
undertaking to create shared value (create shared value).
They claim a slight development was Porter and Kramers 2011 attempt to broaden
the concept of shared value beyond the arena of corporate social
responsibility with a greater focus on the nature of capitalism and markets, noting
dislocations with current capitalism, emphasising the inherent social nature of
markets, and suggesting that by adopting shared value principles business and
society will be reconnected creating new innovation and socially imbued
capitalism.
Porter and Kramer identify GE, Google, IBM and Unilever as having adopted
shared value principles but note that, our recognition of the transformative power
of shared value is still in its genesis. and argue that addressing social constraints
does not necessarily raise internal costs for firms. Through innovation in new
technologies, operating methods, and management approaches a firm can improve
society while increasing their productivity and profitability.
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They found authors that have promoted shared value provide case studies from US
based MNCs that are explicitly pursuing shared value principles and that resource
flows could be significant as GE are investing $6bn to improve health-care access
through there Healthymagination programme. They found little analysis as to
how much this represents of total GE investment or how shared value investment
in a sector compares with nonshared value- investment.
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The researchers claim Multi National Corporation motivations are mixed with
some highlighting climate change and others a desire for employees to have better
links with local communities.
The researchers propose that shared value may have added to the wider discourse
that views the private sector as key for development and profitable business
models as consistent with enhancing social impact but make clear that they dont
mean that shared value directly influenced the more established interest
in inclusive business, with few of the initial inclusive business papers discussing
shared value concepts in any detail. They say a more direct influence, consistent
with moves in inclusive business, is companies pursuing shared value developed
new types of relationships with other organisations like NGOs.
Much focus has been on the application of shared value at the bottom of the
pyramid reflecting both greater social needs among this group and the new markets
they offer.
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
value creation by reorientating their core business to provide products for these
consumers.
The researchers claim this thesis challenged assumptions that business success and
creating social value was not possible at the lower end of the market.
Direct links between shared value and the bottom of the pyramid were further
brought together in a 2007 conference titled The role of the private sector in
expanding economic opportunity through collaborative action hosted by Harvard
CSR Initiative, FSG Social Impact Advisors, and the IFC focusing on how
companies could improve livelihoods of the bottom of the pyramid through both
new services and new markets.
inclusive business models which aim to directly involve the poor in their
value chains
complementary strategies that aim to enhance the overall environment for
such models to flourish, for example by shaping public policy or up-skilling
workers.
The researchers used the 2008 UNDP definition create value by providing
products and services to or sourcing from the poor, including the earned income
strategies of non-governmental organisations to describeInclusive business
models as an umbrella term for a range of models.
They show the UNDP paper (2008) Creating Value for All: Strategies for Doing
Business with the Poor which examines over 50 inclusive business ventures and
the partnership between World Business Council for Sustainable Development
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
(WBCSD) and SNV (2008) which developed the concept in Latin America,
captured in, Inclusive Business - profitable business for successful development.
They found whilst inclusive business is closely related to shared value in that both
highlight profits motives as being compatible with doing good, its origins are
less centred in CSR strategies, and that Caroline Ashley in her 2009 paper that as
the shared value concept moved CSR to be more grounded in business strategy
and inclusive businessmoved sustainable business terminology towards a more
profit and less ethical framework.
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Conclusion
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Corporate social responsibility towards business
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Economics Times
http://www.answers.com/topic/social-responsibility-and-organizational-ethics
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.iso.org
www. corpwatch.org.
gradestack.com/.../Social-Responsibility
www.slideshare.net
smallbusiness.chron.com
www.triplepundit.com
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