Messages
Proposals
Get Urgent Help In Your Essays, Assignments, Homeworks, Dissertation, Thesis Or Coursework Writing
100% Plagiarism Free Writing - Free Turnitin Report - Professional And Experienced Writers - 24/7 Online Support
Table of Contents
Essay on
Corporate Social Responsibility
Ethical
and environmental issues in supply chain:
Understand
that enhance SCM measures save you the money:
Discuss
various enabling conditions for sustainable business under CSR with example
There
was a time when the business world did not know about the concept of corporate
social responsibility. They all worked to achieve their goals, objectives,
revenues, and profits, but no one thought about society. It was the era of the
1950s when this concept gained momentum when Mr. William J. Bowen came up with
more insights on this concept in his book. He explained the businessmen
regarding their corporate social responsibility, which they owe to society. It
was first time focused by the business world that they should look at the
values and needs of a society, rather than just looking to earn profits. It
means that a business corporation has a lot of responsibility on its shoulders.
They have to take care of the interests of their stakeholders, but at the same
time, they also have to take care of society by paying back to society. This is
how a business organization can achieve long term sustainability without facing
any issues. Moreover, it is important for organizations to be more responsible
and ethical as it is their obligation to society because they are able to earn
revenues and profits due to people, so they should return something back to
people
Before
moving into a more deep discussion of corporate social responsibility, it is
vital to look at some of its definitions and concepts. Different sources have
tried to define it differently than the others, but the overall meaning has
remained the same for each definition. In simple terms, the concept of
corporate social responsibility means companies adopting a variety of practices
so that they can follow the essence of sustainable development. It means that
such organizations are responsible when it comes to making various business
decisions, and they are involved in those practices, which are important to
make a positive and beneficial impact on people and society. European Union has
tried to define CSR for the businesses to have a proper framework, and this
definition is stated as “The voluntary
integration of companies’ social and ecological concerns into their business
activities and their relationships with their stakeholders. Being socially
responsible means not only fully satisfying the applicable legal obligations
but also going beyond and investing ‘more’ in human capital, the environment,
and stakeholder relations.” An official CSR definition has been provided by
ISO 2600, which states that “The
responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and
activities on society and the environment, resulting in ethical behavior and
transparency which contributes to sustainable development, including the health
and well-being of society; takes into account the expectations of stakeholders;
complies with current laws and is consistent with international standards of
behavior; and is integrated throughout
the organization and implemented in its relations.”
Professional
institutions are instructed to show a dynamic behavior related to social environment,
which involves both economic, as well as, cultural aspects. The parameters of
connectivity processes, as well as, development of IT based applications have
enabled a lot of contemporary institutions to dive into new connections with
the involved shareholders of the environment. It is a fact that the involvement
of both the initiation, as well as, strengthening for a beneficial connection
among society and business have made it clear that challenges are not only with
the company overall, but more specifically challenges are related to their code
of conduct. That’s why; corporate social responsibility (CSR) is getting more
attention and popularity both in the context of theoreticians, as well as,
practitioners of operation. In addition, it is observed that the consumers’
behavior also shows a great variation with regards to CSR. At the current time,
their requirements have been relying on the production of the organization in
relation to the needs being reported but also turns out to be more extensive,
playing an active role in calculating crucial environmental issues. It is vital
to know that when CSR is implemented, it requires managing all things in a
socially responsible way, keeping employees, the public sector and local
communities in the context. Moreover, it is also vital to look for social
dialogue so that all boundaries can be extracted. It can also help to develop
common patterns of collaboration for all the participants
It
is vital to keep in mind that the concept of corporate social responsibility
has been focused more in the early 90s. In the modern and global business
environment, the CSR has been considered to be a new tool for organizations to
include in their strategic management, which can help organizations to get
sustainability while keeping the principles of ethics, ecology, and economics
in the context. The above-mentioned description of CSR is clearly showing its
interdisciplinary capability of interests, which involves philosophy,
economics, ethics, and sociology. The beauty of CSR is that it can analyze the
connection of business with all kinds of market entities, having a focus on
their ethical perspective. The various social issues and constraints have been
playing their part in increasing the interest of modern business organizations
in the essence of CSR. A hike in social requirements which have resulted from
the inability of the situation of organization to look after primary social
needs, which includes both social and environmental aspects
There
are so many famous companies around the world, and they have a great
responsibility to show the essence of CSR. It will be good to review how some
of the concepts of CSR are being followed by real-world companies. Starbucks is
going to be used as an example here to see how they are making a difference in
society by following the concept of CSR. It has been observed that the company
was having issues in the past, and their overall performance was very poor. But
then they realized that they need a change in strategy, so a new strategy was
launched by Starbucks with the name of “Transformation Agenda”. This agenda was
not only focused on their people, but it was also focused to improve their work
related to community and environment. The concept of CSR was adopted by the
company on the basis of Ethical Sourcing, Environment, and Community. They
focused on inclusion and diversity in their strategy and started hiring
veterans of the society to make a positive impact. They started donating some
amount to the non-profit partners. They also focused on ethical sourcing to
ensure that their cocoa, tea, coffee, and many other goods are coming from
suppliers, who are following the essence of ethical and responsible production.
They also worked to manage their business in a way that their environmental
impact is decreased. They worked to adopt sustainable energy resources so that
they can play a big part in addressing the issue of climate change
It
is important to understand that there are so many elements to look at in terms
of ensuring the business transparency, where every process is crystal clear,
not faking anything in the eyes of customers and law. The moral and legal
framework should be followed to keep things on the right track. It is a fact
that with the increase in globalization of businesses, the rivalry has got
intense because competitors are competing on various terms, and one of the key elements
in this regard is corporate social responsibility. The consumers are giving
more respect to the organizations showing the essence of CSR, so it is proving
that modern organizations with the integration of CSR policies are able to stay
ahead in the competition. The reputation of such companies helps them to get a
good name in the market, which benefits them in so many ways. That’s why
companies are involved in CSR by showing an ethical conduct to enhance the
image of their organization. It is worth discussing that a key feature of a modern
organization is that they tend to remain responsible in their social conduct by
giving back to the community. The organizations are making required changes in
the policy to deal with any negative image created by unethical conduct, and
driving their energy to become ethical and socially responsible organizations
It
is vital to know that an increment of awareness with regards to environment and
sensitivity of human society to the problem of a major issue which is
environmental protection has a major role on business and the whole
organization which shows positive perception of the companies adopting these
rules is based on the variety of environmental initiatives being taken time to
time, and surging their profile in a positive manner. The ethical diameter of
CSR is something, which focused on the moral and ethical responsibility of the
company factoring its business processes in respect to its code of conduct. The
other primary ethical part of the organization is based on visualizing the
changes its decisions, and it is mostly encouraged by the essence of common
good at the price of leaving parts of its possible revenue and profits. The
problem of CSR triggers a lot of communications, and the theorists, as well as,
those who practice ideas relevant to their work results in different papers.
The CSR concept is known by many intellectuals as a point for calculating
competitive advantage in the outside market having the essence of consumers, investors
& employees, giving an increasing value to noneconomic entity. The analysis
of such parameters within companies is done on the basis of quality, trust,
responsibility and honestly for the stakeholders and credibility. Connectivity
relating to business relationship in the direction to primary and secondary
entities. The technicality to react to market requirements manifested in the
cover of demanding trends and social requirements
Entities
of corporate social responsibility along with their strategy can be seen one of
the social advantage, which is used in local and global organization. The surge
in the motivation, as well as, commitment of employees developing the
organizational behavior, which lowers the expensive of management it also
enables the increasing
ratio of innovation. Then they are marketing the advantages and the
outcome; which are achieved with the help of donations.
The
peaceful behavior in society is vital, which gives a significant increase in
the count of loyal and long term customers. Moreover, it helps to observe an
upward trend in the competition, the investors’ interests, and environmental
prestige happening because of charitable and sponsorship activities. There are
so many major benefits for society such as cultural activities, charity, sports
financing, local community activities, environmental protection, as well as,
finding solutions for a variety of social problems. The experts and researchers
have asked organizations to adopt the principles associated with corporate
social responsibility, and various points can be considered in this regard such
as knowing the fact that there is a correspondence between the companies’ CSR
and the actual expectations. The CSR also allows companies to simulate
processes on the basis of modern policy and technology, and it can also
stimulate the process of getting good attention from the market. The ability of
organizations to be socially responsible is an indication that they are
concerned with their social impact so they tend to review their business
processes in this regard. The organizations should realize the importance of
CSR in developing a great public image, giving more reputation across the
markets. The important thing to keep in mind is that when organizations use
CSR, then they get so many business benefits, but they also help the cause of
protecting the environment, which is an advantage for everyone.
The
socially responsible behavior of organizations is critical for the country of
its operations. It is their moral obligation to involve in business practices,
which are less harmful and risky for the environment. When organizations tend
to show an ethical behavior serving the essence of CSR, then it is a fact that
such counties soften their rules regarding CSR. The important thing to keep in
mind is that bureaucratization of the society along with the economy is not a
good option to adopt for anyone, so this element is reduced by coming up with
soft rules and regulations. A balance is promoted by the corporate social
responsibility between authority and responsibility. The stakeholders should
always be kept in mind, and the beauty of CSR is that it can develop a better relationship
between an organization and its stakeholders including internal and external
stakeholders. The organizations are never asked to practice CSR bearing any
losses, rather it is a practice, which may lower the level of profits, but
still, it is considered by the organizations, which is a good sign in so many
ways. There are a variety of projects in the CSR category, which can be used.
The other great benefit of CSR is that if there is any kind of conflict or
issue in the internal or external environment, then CSR can help to deal with
it in an effective manner. However, there are various arguments, which are
given against CSR. It is said that the economic efficiency of the CSR can be
reduced when forces are dispersed. It has also been observed that practices of
CSR can be expensive than any other thing. Moreover, the profits can also go
down, but keeping both elements in view; it is evident that the benefits of the
CSR are far better as compared to other elements. The issues will always be
there, but the overall process will remain above average
Without
the doubt, implementing the policy of CSR relies on a proper mechanism and
nature of the company and its entities who want to adopt the base concept of
the notion and process the flow changes in the image of pre-established
principle and values. This is currently linked to the organization behavior
trying to go through at a wider organizational difference. Every change is connected
with push to its progress and impact. To counter attack this phenomenon, it is
important to understand regarding the communication process which are most
useful that will lessen non reliability among the members of the companies
connected about 350 changes and their edible negative outcomes. Making
difference without the involvement of employees is mostly pointed towards
failure. However, despite many difficulties which cannot be ignored at any
changing process, it is critical to see the positive outcome which CSR gives on
ethical, social, organizational and business scale
The
planning and management for the flow of goods from the source where it is
produced to the ultimate consumer, along with the basic information needed.
Basically, supply chain management emphasizes on low cost, best quality, great
level of service and less lead time. The rules of the market behavior are
changed when extended producer responsibility is introduced in industries and
countries. The post consumption time of their products is now the main focus of
the manufacturer, which is also known as end-of-life phase (EOL). In these
years the concept of environment friendly supply chain management is rising.
This can be proven by looking at number of initiatives taken by the companies
in recent years. From base source to the end of recovery issue, brand owner is
seen to be responsible for environmental issues in supply chain management. A
sincere partner who can help in making managerial decisions regarding the
environmental issues in supply chain management is necessary to make a friendly
environment in the company. This create the sense of competitiveness and better
customer service and ultimately increase the profitability
For
example, green SCM can act on reducing the effects on industrial activity
without sacrificing cost, efficiency, quality, performance, reliability and
also meet the regulations of the environment not only to reduce the damage that
occur ecologically but it also ensures the economic profit overall.
Now
companies try to accept the ecologically responsive practices in order to meet
the legislative needs but they can also get advantage from green behavior. Like
making organizational capacity in order to collect and recycle and reuse waste
to increase the availability of materials and it also clear up the supply
channels.
As
more negative impacts on environment are becoming evident, more and more people
are trying to reduce their individual effects on the environment. This aspect
is important as regarding the business world because the customers and
consumers are taking in consideration the environmental impacts on the company
when they make their deal in purchasing. If the company management start to
deal with the environmental issues in the supply chain management, the company
will ultimately get a huge profit by reducing effects of environment. But the
question here is what the environmental impacts on supply chain management are?
Things like parts supply, distribution, production EOL phases all these have
their impacts on environment. Once upon a time, the manufacturing units were
only responsible for one thing and that is production. But now company
management has to face several questions from customers as well as employees
and stakeholders. And companies are now focused to develop plans on how to
reduce the impacts of environmental issues. This require to collaborate with
partners and discuss on terms to minimize the environmental negative impacts on
supply chain management and increase the SCM practices. The aforementioned
problems and to make plans to solve them is the biggest step to do
Some
of the management look toward making SCM more environmentally friendly and to
solve negative effects of the company bottom line but this led to wrong line of
thinking. To save a large amount of money in long run it is important to,
reuse, more energy efficient and more sustainable production methods and way of
storage and transport.
This
method is the simplest and the easiest most method to use in order to remove
environmental issues in supply chain management. This method requires no
coordination with the partner in your business. Just have to invest in more
energy efficient, sustainable tools. Like establishing solar power equipment
can help in reducing cost of energy.
We
maybe still can create major waste even if we have all of environmentally
friendly equipment if we are not looking to have sustainable practices. The
environment will be protected with the help of sustainability, which is a profitable
thing. If businesses want to thrive in the future aspect, then it will be
crucial for them to store the information and data
When
in a supply chain process more parties and individuals are involved there is
always a question that who is doing honest and fair stuff. When there is a
little concept and understanding of fair play, problems and issues arise in
supply chain. Following are some ethical issue that supply chain management
face;
Producers:
working conditions, child labor, environment unfriendly practices, labor rates
are some issues in which the organization can mishandle and can deviate from
fair play. If such kind of actions is taken by the organizations, then the
employees are not satisfied. If the idea of some technology is duplicated or
copied from some other producer who has spent millions to create such a value
for end users, such producers who copy are deemed to unethical
Suppliers:
in the process of production in organization, suppliers are the integral part.
They perform the job of precuring some raw materials of best quality and they
maintain high standard of inventory. But there are some suppliers who give
lower quality and cheaper one to save cost and to increase profits margins. The
need of the hour now is mainly to sign a mandatory code of conduct. Some
suppliers make cartel which can manipulate the market. Suppliers go for higher margin
in profit by increasing the prices according to their desire.
Retailors:
when it come to the point of labeling and packaging the product, retailor is
the most important one to be honest. If the retailor partially fill the package
which comes to the cheating because the customer who is going to buy the
product is on the belief that content in the package is equal to what they are
told. Like if a potato wafers packet has 25-30 grams but the disclose weight
was 35 grams
Consumers: When customer tend to buy stuff focusing on
cost and not on the quality, the manufacturer are then forced to make less
quality products and to compromise with this aspect because of lack of sale as
it disturbs the profit margin. Consumers prefer alternatives of the product
because of slightly increase in prices. But there are few other factors, which
are related to the expectations of consumers with regards to corporate social
responsibility. It is a fact that expectations from the consumers’ sides are
increasing with regards to corporations to conduct their business in a more
responsible and ethical manner. One of the research studies has proved with
evidence that consumers expect business organizations to be more responsible
about their labor rights, as well as, ethical responsibility. The other
expectation of the consumers was regarding environmental responsibility and
human rights responsibility. They also expected organizations to be socially
responsible, which means that consumers’’ are increasing their expectations in
this regard. So, businesses should remain fair and loyal to their stakeholders,
but they should also focus on the essence of CSR
Our
common future is the most common and most used definition for sustainability which
is also known as Brundtland, and the publish date of the report was 1987. The
focus of this report is the relationship between human developments and steps
toward environmental responsibility for the help of next generation. Before
this time if we will go thirty years back, empirical research data was focused
in sustainability development agenda. Now academia is forcing for concrete and
policy of actions. Business organizations and companies are becoming proactive
than reactive in social and environmental problems and they are changing their
standard in sustainability. The national government are not able to give
performance standard to big businesses. They recommended that government should
not interfere with these matters of achieving them. As a matter of fact, many
of the companies and corporate industries are reestablishing their code of
conducts, cooperate programs, green politicians, triple bottom line reports, certified
standards and documents about sustainability. It cannot be neglected that many
of the global challenges are still present like water shortage, biodiversity,
bribery, corruption and income inequality among others. The system of
sustainability can be varied or can act as complex one. Some reporters are
linking the sustainability with corporate responsible behaviors. Consider a
nested system of economical, societal and ecological. Corporate sustainability
is related to them. These pillars are related to each other like a network
CSR
is getting linked with corporate philanthropy, contributed toward environmental
and social issues. The approaches which are value based are discussed here can
be considered as guideline of the principles which can leas the future business
towards the long-term sustainability in economic or social perspective. We can
link profit motive to corporate responsible agenda that include concepts of
corporate sustainability and business case. In order to deflect the
environmental and social issues around the globe it will be helpful for
multinational corporate. Corporate responsibility emphasizes on exploiting opportunities
that reconcile with stakeholders demands because many corporations are giving
huge intention to this area of aspect. Most of the multinational companies are
getting a big pressure from stakeholders especially consumers and customer
association to evaluate certain process
After analyzing different elements of corporate social responsibility
along with its management in the essence of supply chain management, it can be
said that CSR is an important concept, which is gaining attention from all the
stakeholders. There was a time when CSR was not focused, as it has been focused
in the modern era. Organizations with better CSR strategies have been doing
well than the others in so many ways. The example of Starbucks has been shared
that when the company was performing poorly, they changed their strategy, and
came up with a strategy that has its basis on CSR. This new strategy gave them
a great boost to increase the growth of their business. The sustainable
enterprises following the footsteps of corporate social responsibility in their
strategy have shown to follow the path of ethical and responsible guidelines.
References of
Ethical and environmental issues in supply chain
Amaeshi, K.M., Osuji, O.K. and Nnodim, P. (2008). Corporate
social responsibility in supply chains of global brands: a boundaryless
responsibility? Clarifications, exceptions and implications’, Journal of
Business Ethics, Vol. 81, No. 1, pp.223–234.
Auroi, C. . (2003). ‘Improving sustainable chain
management through fair trade’, Greener Management International, Autumn, No.
43, pp.25–35.
Bartel, C. A. . (2001). Social comparisons in
boundary-spanning work: Effects of community outreach on members'
organizational identity and identification. Administrative Science Quarterly,
46, 379-413.
Berndtros, I., & Mårtensson, F. (2014). Consumer
Expectations on Corporate Social Responsibility in Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises: A marketing perspective on consumers in Sweden. Master
Thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies.
Brown, L. D., and Caylor, M. L. (2003). A temporal
analysis of earnings management thresholds. Working paper GA: J. Mack
Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta.
Brundtland GH. (1987). Our common future: Report of the
1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations, Oslo.
Camilleri MA. (2014). Advancing the sustainable tourism
agenda through strategic CSR perspectives. Tourism Planning & Development
11(1): 42-56.
Carroll, A. B. (1999). Corporate social responsibility:
Evolution of a definitional construct. Business & Society, 38(3),
268-295.
Chakraborty, I., Hu, P.J and Cui, D. . (2008). Examining
the effects of cognitive style I individuals' technology use decision making.
Decision Support Systems, 45(2), 228-241.
Nelson, J. (1996). Business as partners in development,
creating wealth for countries, companies and communities, The Prince of Wales
Business Leaders Forum, The World Bank and The United Nations Development
Programme, London. .
Vandeveld, K. (2015). SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: HOW STARBUCKS
IS MAKING AN IMPACT. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from
https://www.whywhisper.co/the-blog/2015/9/24/corporate-social-responsibility-how-starbucks-is-making-an-impact
Wilson A. (2000). Making community investment work,
International Institute for Labor Studies, Geneva.
Youmatter. (2020). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
– Definition, History and Evolution. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from
https://youmatter.world/en/definition/csr-definition/
Discuss your homework for free! Start chat
