Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the process of giving back to the society. As per (Epstein, 2012) CSR provides room for innovation, cost-saving, brand differentiation, customer engagement, and employee engagement. “Levi Strauss and Co.” has focused on reducing the environmental footprints through revamping its manufacturing process, they have saved more than one billion liters of water. Similarly, in the USA alone 500 million disposable plastic straws are used every day which is literally damaging the environment, Starbucks is stopping the use of disposable plastic straws by 2020 (Caron, 2018) . These kinds of activities not only economize the company also enhances the image and brand equity of the company.
Brundtland report on CSR and sustainability focuses on three pillars (environmental, economic and social) emphasizing environment over the economic and social pillar. Most of the time practitioners state sustainability in CSR as homogeneous but I personally feel its heterogeneity could not be denied as it is also impacted by social, cultural, political differences, for example, practitioners in the USA looks CSR and sustainability impliedly, Japanese views as an ethics and harmony, French as creating shared value, and Afghanistan emphasizes on relationship and serving others.
The view towards CSR fluctuates among the age group also, the young generation inclines for the environmentalism whereas the age group 30-45 appreciates shared value as the corporate drive initiatives. Higher level management thinks CSR and sustainability are two different things and can be implemented separately (Thiel, 2016) . Actually, it is hard to implement CSR than well it is said, the social, political, economic factors impact the CSR and its philosophy and CSR concepts changes across the country, age groups, and genders. The young generation focuses on the environmentalism whereas the aged generation inclines for shared value. CSR should build up to the values and beliefs of local communities but should not be obliged to follow internationals.
Skeptics opinions that the company does not want to take the social responsibility and they just want to limit themselves with CSR. Advocates stress that the people, society and government should make the company responsible to follow CSR in long-term and in a sustainable way(the companies are just doing greenwashing)
CRS provides competitiveness thorough first mover advantage and improves the relationship with stakeholders. It can drive new norms and expectation for the businesses. Companies who ignore CSR will be laid back as it gets harder for them to get trust from its stakeholders. It should be dynamic as per the changing society. Corporate social responsibility is not only what companies do with their profit, but it’s about how they make it (Floyd, 2013)
In 2009, the bank of Finland performed a research on companies and their listing as a socially responsible company, the sample period was from 1990 to 2014, the company listed as socially responsible had 2% increase in the stock price but those excluded had the loss of 3% in the stock price.
The CSR definitely has positive impact in the company’s performance and also win-win to society, though it is not mandatory, incorporating it within the company’s strategy will provide competitive edge to the company and it should not be seen as the burden of company also, the society, community, and government should also equally reciprocate it.
The CSR should be sustainable and long-term focused, but CSR requires resources in terms of money, time and energy. So, to be sustainable, firstly it has to come across the first tier of Carroll pyramid, i.e. it has to be profitable. Once the company becomes profitable which is also an economic dimension of CSR, it can come across its obligation towards its employees and shareholders. It can abide legally by paying taxes and also can reinvest in the social capitals to build community skills. Google is investing in “Project Loon” through which it uses a hot air balloon to make internet available in the parts of the globe where the optical fibers are hard to reach.
Bibliography
Caron, C. (2018, June 9). Starbucks to Stop Using Disposable Plastic Straws by 2020. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/business/starbucks-plastic-straws.html
Epstein, J. (2012, February 21). Six Reasons Companies Should Embrace CSR. Retrieved from www.forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/02/21/six-reasons-companies-should-embrace-csr/#5de2d9e33495
Floyd, W. (2013, February 20). Is corporate social responsibility profitable for companies? Retrieved from www.devex.com: https://www.devex.com/news/is-corporate-social-responsibility-profitable-for-companies-80354
Thiel, M. (2016). The Social Domain in CSR and Sustainability: A Critical Study of Social Responsibility among Governments, Local Communities and Corporations. New York: Routledge.
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