Corporate Responsibility & Ethics Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Responsibility Ethics. Answer: Introduction Corporate social responsibility or CSR is a modern corporate approach which focuses on gaining sustainable development by providing economic, environmental and social to various stakeholders of the corporation. By implementing CSR mechanism, a corporation can ensure that all the transaction will be conducted ethically and organisation will work according to the interest of its stakeholders. CSR strategy is focused on performing the duties of a company as a corporate citizen instead of just focusing on the revenues. Most of the multinational organisations implement a CSR approach while dealing in foreign countries. The popularity of CSR strategy has grown but there is still lack of strict regulations to implement the policies of the corporation. Many organisations implement a CSR strategy but failed to comply accordingly. This essay will discuss the benefits and shortcoming of CSR policies and effect of CSR strategy corporations. Further, the essay will analyse the CSR influence from the perspective of various organisations and evaluate the theories of market experts. Merits and Shortcomings of CSR Strategy The concept of corporate social responsibility has grown in previous few years. A large number of organisations have implemented CSR policies in their business model for the sustainable development of their stakeholders. According to Galbreath (2010), the effective CSR strategies adopted by organisation ensure that the activities of a company are based upon developing various stakeholders such as customers, environment, supplier, and shareholders. CSR strategy is self-regulated by the corporations and they can adopt policies according to the requirement of their organisation. Many companies misuse the policies of CSR strategy to gain an unfair advantage. The influence of government has reduced with the increase in the number of corporations. The implementation of CSR policies can assist in the development of a corporation. The recruitment and retention process of organisations is benefited by implementing a strict CSR policy. Crane, Matten and Spence (2013) provided that the International corporations require hiring the talented employees from worldwide and effective CSR policies assist them in achieving such objective. Most multinational corporatism such as Google, Facebook, Apple or Toyota implements an effective CSR policy toward the development of their employees. The organisations provide various benefits and incentives to their employees along with self-development programs. A study provided that employees prefer to work for corporations with effective CSR policies. For example, Google has implemented an effective CSR policy which has gained the title of best place to work many times. A Google employee gets various incentives such as scholarships for further studies, time to work on private assignments, annual facility vacations and much more. Other than these benefits, Google focus maintains var ious environmental provisions which reduce their carbon footprint and preserve the environment (Hansen et al. 2011). By implementing a CSR strategy in the business model, an organisation can enhance their reputation in the market. As per Mishra and Suar (2010), people consider corporations with strict CSR policy as reputable organisations who ensure the sustainable development of their stakeholders. The CSR policies ensure that steps taken by an organisation are for the improvement of its stakeholders which increases the reputation of a company. For example, Apple is one of the worlds most reputable corporations. Apple ensures that their products are safe for the environment and they perform various activities for the societys development. Apple uses 100 percent natural energy to power their factories and data centers, the material used by their in the manufacturing process are also recyclable. This method ensures the protection of the environment and at the same time, it helps Apple sustain their future growth. As per Ruggie (2017), CSR strategy adopted by organisations requires compliance with various guidelines, one of which includes proper and timely disclosure of business transactions. The investor prefers the disclosure made by the company since it assists them in analysing the performance of the corporation. The timely disclosures also ensure that the money invested by financiers are utilised by the corporation is the correct way. Therefore, an effective CSR strategy enhances the amount of investment in a corporation. Most of the people in developing countries prefer to use products which are environmentally friendly. According to Jackson and Apostolakou (2010), corporations can charge a high price for same products if they implement the environmental friendly procedure in their manufacturing process. Starbucks is known for their high-quality coffee which produced by corporations only form ethical sources. A study provides that a maximum number of online customers prefer to buy products form corporations with better environmental protection policies. Therefore, CSR policies regarding preservation of environmental resources can increase the sale of an organisation. The CSR strategy has gained popularity in developed markets but most small and medium scale corporations avoid implementing the strategy in their business model due to its shortcomings. Aras, Aybars and Kutlu (2010) provided that the main difficulty of CSR policy is that it increases the expenditure of an organisation. The incentive of employees and the environmental friendly procedures cost significantly higher than compared to other sources. Large corporations such as Apple or Google can afford the high expenditures but smaller corporations avoid the expenditures. For the environmental friendly procedure, corporations require to completely change their manufacturing and selling procedure. The complete overhaul of procedures can be significantly expensive of organisations which can reduce their revenues. For example, Volkswagen uses highly pollutant material in their cars to reduce their costs. Such material increases the pollution from Volkswagen vehicles. The primary objective of companies is to increase its profits and shareholders value, but CSR policies shift such object to stakeholder interest. According to Chih, Chih and Chen (2010), CSR strategy requires the organisation to provide benefits to society and stakeholders which is not beneficial for shareholders value. If the corporations focus on providing benefit to stakeholders than their market share reduces considerably. CSR policies can hinder the companys success because they would not be able to engage in the profit-making activities. The number of companies shareholder can also decrease since their interest is not the first objective of the organisation. The disclosures made by a corporation can be detrimental to the success of a company. Regular disclosure can frustrate the board of directors of the organisation. As per Dhaliwal et al. (2012), the information can be used by competitors of the company to formulate competitive strategies against the company. The disclosures also provide information regarding the drawback of corporation products to the customers, which can reduce the reputation of the organisation. For example, if a company discloses information regarding the pollutant material used by them or the shortcoming of their products, customers will not purchase such products. Such information can eventually reduce the organisations market share. The popularity of CSR strategy has grown mostly in developed countries, customers in such countries live a high-class lifestyle, therefore, they can afford high price products. Horrigan (2010) provided in his book that in case of developing and underdeveloped countries, the demand for high quality and environmentally friendly products are not significant. The maximum number of customers lives in such countries, therefore, it is difficult for corporations to increase the rate of their products. To increase their market shares, companies reduce their prices by avoiding the CSR policies. For example, Starbucks enter into a joint venture with Indian company Tata to reduce their process while entering in the Indian market. Due to the lack of legal regulations, the strict implementation of CSR policies is difficult for government. As per Kanji and Chopra (2010), international corporations use their resources to avoid implementation of CSR policies for augmentation of their profits. Many reputable corporations have found guilty of breaching their CSR policies to increase their revenues. For example, in 2014, various large corporations such as Facebook, Amazon, and Starbucks found guilty of tax evasion by using their properties in the United Kingdom. HSBC bank has also found guilty of breaching their CSR policies by disclosing wrong information regarding their market valuation. The company also assists their rich clients by letting them evade tax through the bank (Lanis and Richardson, 2012). The above-methodized incidences show the necessity of strict regulations regarding CSR strategy. As per Kolk and Pinkse (2010), by implementing effective CSR policies corporations can avoid fraud or abuse of their position. The government is required to pass legislative policies regarding CSR strategy and introduce a strict penalty for its breach. For the preservation of environmental resources, corporations in developing or underdeveloped countries should also apply environmental effective CSR policies. Global implementation of CSR strategy can benefit the society and corporation by sustaining their future growth. Conclusion From the above essay, it can be concluded that the concept of CSR strategy has benefited various sections of society. The advantage of CSR policies benefits not only the company and its stakeholders but overall society too. It is necessary that organisations analyse their working environment to implement an effective CSR strategy. Many corporations misuse their CSR policies to gain profits; therefore, the government should provide new regulations which enforce the proper implementation of CSR policies. The awareness regarding the benefits of CSR strategy should be spread between small and medium enterprises. Effective CSR strategy benefits society and environment which should be mandatory for all the corporations worldwide. References Aras, G., Aybars, A. and Kutlu, O., 2010. Managing corporate performance: Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in emerging markets.International Journal of productivity and Performance management,59(3), pp.229-254. Chih, H.L., Chih, H.H. and Chen, T.Y., 2010. On the determinants of corporate social responsibility: International evidence on the financial industry.Journal of Business Ethics,93(1), pp.115-135. Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L.J., 2013. Corporate social responsibility in a global context. Dhaliwal, D.S., Radhakrishnan, S., Tsang, A. and Yang, Y.G., 2012. 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