...EXPLAIN WITH EXAMPLES WHAT IS MEANT BY CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DISCUSS WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO MODERN BUSINESSES Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important part of strategic policy for companies. Barbara and Parker (2008, p.433) state that companies without CSR can not survive and success in this modern life where people can get information about them easily. In order for companies to survive and success in this modern life, they seems to get a clear idea of what CSR means and do good work as CSR in the eye of the public. This essay attempts to show the definitions of CSR and argue that why CSR is considered to be important in modern life in terms of stakeholder. 1 Main body 1.1 What is meant by Corporate Social Responsibility. Over the past 40 years the definition of CSR has been debated by a lot of scholars. Although it has attracted a considerable attention, according to Blowfield and Murray (2008, p.6), there has never been a single definition of CSR. Similarly, Mc Williams, Siegel and Wright (2006, p.327) claim that we have not reached to an accepted consensus on how to define CSR. Garriga and Mele (2004, p.51, cited in Benn and Bolton, 2011, p.56) point out that “Theories and practices around notions such as ‘society and business, social issues management, public policy and business, stakeholder management, (and) corporate accountability’ have contributed to definitional variations”. Moreover, Isa (2012, p.327-328)...
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...WHAT IS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OR CSR? For long it was argued that the role of businesses was purely economical and that economics was the parameter on the basis of which their success or failure was to be determined. Corporations, since eons, have been regarded as the providers of jobs, products and services and it was believed that they are only financially responsible and profit making is their only motive. But recent times have seen a departure from that tradition and now CSR is being taken up in a broader societal context, mainly due to globalisation and the change in the ecological balance. They stakeholders i.e. the employees, community, suppliers and shareholders are redefining the role of the corporations. As a result of this particular kind of shift, many organisations have started endorsing the idea of businesses leaving the purely economic front and blending in some societal dimension as well. THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF CSR: CSR is not a new concept. It has been there since always though not necessarily by this name. Various ancient scriptures mention that businesses should be run ethically and more importantly, they should benefit the deprived section of the society. It has always been said that those who are privileged must lend a helping hand to those who aren’t. Chanakya, the teacher and guardian of Chandragupta Maurya, in his book ‘Arthashastra’ emphasised that ethical means be used while operating businesses. It is often argued that the level...
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...business organization is obvious and enormous. This influence, termed corporate power- refers to the capability of corporations to influence government, the economy, and society based on their organizational resources. - Power is often a function of size and by almost any measure used, the world’s largest business enterprises are impressively big. -One way to get a sense of the economic power of the world’s largest companies is to compare them with nations -The size and global reach of major transnational corporations such as Walmart give them tremendous power. -We count on corporations for job creation; much of our community well-being; the standard of living we enjoy; the tax base for essential municipal, state, and national services; and our needs for banking and financial services, insurance, transportation, communication, utilities, entertainment, and growing proportion of health care. -Corporations not only dominate the traditional domains of product manufacture and service delivery. -The following well-known quotation, frequently appearing in journals for business executives challenges its readers to assume a responsible role for business in society: business has become… the most powerful institution on the planet. The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole… every decision that is made, every action that is taken, must be viewed in light of that kind of responsibility. -the tremendous power of the world’s leading corporations has...
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... In his article, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits,” Milton Friedman asserts that businesses should devote themselves to the sole quest of optimizing earnings. Friedman’s entire hypothesis rests on a model where an executive decides the activities the company shall undertake alone. This model is possible, but unlikely since business activities ought to be designed by many stakeholder groups, other than the executives. (p. 211). This is because public relations is an effective tool for shaping the opinion of consumers regarding a corporation and structuring the image of the business. However, in expressing his argument, Friedman relies on several logical fallacies that constitute abstract relations meant to stir the emotions of the reader. By creating a false society where income and collective good are mutually exclusive, social accountability compares to communism, and workers are separated from the society. Friedman’s narrow argument is devoid of scale and methodical firmness and fails to persuade the reader of its logical qualities. This commentary aims at clarifying the significance of corporate social responsibility and establishes how organizations can achieve their profit motives in a socially responsible manner. First, Friedman pushes the reader to take his side by creating an abstract division amid profits and social accountability. In his view of a capitalist economy, the one and only responsibility of a corporation is to...
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...and Evolution of CSR: Indian Detailed Before the term and concept of corporate social and environmental responsibility came into common usage in the 1990s, the terms “charity” and “philanthropy” were prevalent in business circles. The idea of corporate involvement in social well-being as a voluntary response to social issues and problems and responsible behaviour in business, is as old as business itself. However, although the evidence of the concern of business for society goes back several centuries, formal writing on corporate social responsibility is largely a twentieth century phenomenon. The account given below presents the shifts, from merchant charity to corporate citizenship in India. Such shifts occurred over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as business responded to evolving societal needs and demands. Merchant communities: The pre–industrial era The practice of business giving continued through the ages, and the business response to social needs changed with evolving economic, political and social conditions. This is described as a shift from merchant charity to modern-day corporate citizenship. Although business traditions in India had their beginnings thousands of years ago, India is still a relatively young industrial nation compared to the industrialized countries of the West. The merchant class played an important role in India’s pre-industrial society, and in spurring the ideals of modern capitalism. The merchants were engaged both in domestic and international...
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...Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility Introduction Corporate Responsibility or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a term coined in the previous century in order to define the social responsibilities of corporate heads and their corporations in securing the trust of its community by determining and fulfilling its roles towards the betterment of society. Simply following the rules set down by legislation would not do; corporate authorities and workers alike were demanded to be ethically inclined and considerate of how their actions affect society in general, both as residents and providers within their immediate communities. But both ethics and responsibility are vague terms, and prior to the 19th to 20th centuries, neither of them has been attached to business entities like corporations. Business ethics and corporate responsibilities, then, are much vaguer terms in that they entail more than simple and faithful provision of goods and services to people; some may even think that corporate giants and ethics do not exactly go together, or even share a superficial partnership. But these revolutionary concepts have played a major role in redefining corporations in the 21st century; these conceptual standards remain strong factors towards corporate determination of company action and assessment of overall company performance today. This paper will discuss business ethics and corporate responsibilities as sister terms, but also as discrete concepts, both of which...
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...Although academic business ethics is relatively recent, its intellectual roots are found in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business and society literatures originating in law and in business in the early and middle 20th century (Marcoux). The corporate focus is evident in the titles of early works of academic business ethics that have done much to shape the subsequent discussion in the field. Velasquez’s "International Business, Morality and the Common Good" 1992 paper takes business ethics to be concerned centrally with questions about the corporation's proper role in and relationship to the social order. These questions are said to surround the moral status of the corporation: Is the corporation a moral agent? Do multinational companies have any moral obligations to contribute to the international common good? While dominant management thinking is steered by profit maximization, this paper proposes that sustained organizational growth can best be stimulated by attention to the common good and the capacity of corporate leaders to create commitment to the common good. However, the complex process of re-orientating corporate priorities towards the common good requires alertness and concerted effort if both business and society are to truly benefit. In our contemporary post-modern context, it has become increasingly awkward to talk about a good that is shared by all. This is particularly true in the context of multi-national corporations operating in global markets...
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...and corporate social responsibility. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 21(4), 275-277. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10672-009-9124-4 This article emphasises on keeping up of a good employee-employer relationship as the important element of maintaining ethics and corporate social responsibility. Employee as one of the inevitable factors of organisation should be considered as the most important stakeholder of business. Restrictive approaches towards employee will badly affect the organisation and the organisation may not be successful towards external stake holders like society as its basic duty itself towards the employee is a failure. At the same time, the employee has to be concerned about his duty towards organisation and should try to fulfil it in union with the employer. In conclusion, employee and employer relationship is an unavoidable element to secure ethics and social responsibility of the firm. This article gives a bird’s eye view about the requirement of maintaining a good employee-employer relationship, although it does not deal with the topic in a wide manner. The article consists of some relevant examples to prove the writers’ arguments. But, it does not put forward relevant suggestions to make the point practical. In spite of that, the writers have won in ascertaining employee and employer relationship as the requirement of time to secure ethics and social responsibility in this modern business world. Holme, C. (2010). Corporate social responsibility:...
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...SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: WHY IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO “Being socially responsible means that people and organizations must behave ethically and with sensitivity toward social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. Striving for social responsibility helps individuals, organizations and governments have a positive impact on development, business and society with a positive contribution to bottom-line results,” (http://www.imasocialentrepreneur.com/social-responsibility/). In layman’s terms, corporations have a responsibility to serve the community while providing goods and services and making a profit. Business Law author Henry Cheeseman identifies the four theories of social responsibility as: a) maximizing profits, b) moral minimum, c) stakeholder interest, and d) corporate citizenship. In order to comply with social responsibility standards, all requirements must be met. Unfortunately, not all business owners feel obligated to be fully socially responsible. T.J. Rodgers, founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, is one who does not. His primary interests are in maximizing profits and stakeholder interests. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, on the other hand, fully grasps the idea of and practices all aspects of social responsibility. There are legitimate arguments for and against businesses performing social responsibility activities. The strongest argument in support of social responsibility is that because businesses have such a profound impact on their communities...
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...Freeman vs. Friedman In their theories of how a business should operate, R. Edward Freeman and Milton Friedman hold virtually opposite beliefs as to what businesses’ responsibilities should be. In favor of the Stakeholder theory, Freeman believes that any person or organization that has a “stake” in the business should also play a role of participation in the business’s actions and decisions. In the other corner of the ring stands Milton Friedman, who holds the belief that said business is only responsible for those that actually own stock in the business – the owners, or stockholders. A strong believer in his reconceptualized Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation, R. Edward Freeman believes the key to success in business is several stakeholders working together in a sort of interconnected “corporate system”. Freeman begins his argument by raising a simple question: For whose benefit and at whose expense should the firm be managed? To answer this question, Freeman attempts to explain why managerial capitalism no longer works. He notes, “The basic idea of managerial capitalism is that in return for controlling the firm, management vigorously pursues the interest of the stockholders” (Freeman, 38). Freeman begins to attack this idea of managerial capitalism with several arguments pertaining to why this form of capitalism no longer can work. He argues that corporations act with limited liability for their actions and remain seemingly immortal since the existence...
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...Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Introduction Business houses, right from the inception of human race, have been regarded as constructive partners in the communities in which they operate. Though they have been instrumental in creating employment, wealth, products and services, yet the pressure on business to play a role in social issues involving employees, stakeholders, society, environment, government etc. is continuously increasing. The society is questioning the existence of business houses, especially in the wake of the scandals and scams conducted by the business houses like UTI, Enron, and WorldCom. In response to it, the organizations around the globe are forced to wake up to the need for being committed towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Over the years this concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained unprecedent momentum in business and public debate and has become a strategic issue crossing the departmental boundaries, and affecting the way in which a company does business. It has become so important that many organizations have rebranded their core values to include social responsibility. Almost all corporate websites/ policies/reports talk about their endeavors for CSR which has become a way of ensuring that the organization is fulfilling all the obligations towards society and thus is eligible for the license to operate. It assures that the organization can grow on sustainable basis. These activities of CSR ranging from small...
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...Corporate helping hand Zahurul Alam The role of the private sector in the global economy has increased over the years. In Bangladesh, the private sector's involvement in the economy has steadily increased over the last two decades. According to some estimates, the sector accounted for more than 99% of the exports, 93% of the employment, and 75%, 73% and 89% of the investment, fixed assets and value added, respectively, in 2004, against 26%, 71%, 29%, 66% and 44% respectively in 1980. The situation has not changed radically since then. These figures highlight the necessity of the role that the private sector should play in conducting socially responsible business as an integral part of its corporate social responsibility. The simple logic is that, with the enormous share in the economy, a sector's passive role in worker and social welfare would not allow the country's major development indicators attain the expected level to compete in the global arena. More importantly, the sector with overwhelming share of employment, income generation and investment should proceed with ethical business and strive to make a positive contribution to the society. Integrated in the business, the obligation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the pathway to attaining a sustainable positive impact of business on society through socially responsible business. Although CSR as a concept came into being in the 1980s, with the recognition of business's social and environmental responsibilities...
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...& ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH The concept of social responsibility is not new. Although the idea was considered in the early part of the twentieth century, the modern discussion of social responsibility got a major impetus with the book "Social Responsibilities of the Businessman" by Howard R. Bowen. Bowen suggested that business should consider the social implications of their decisions. Fortune magazine annually assess America's most Admired Corporations and does so by evaluating over 300 organisations against 8 criteria, one of the eight used is "Community and Environmental Responsibility". Firms such as Merck, Rubber maid, Procter and Gamble, Wal-mart, Pepsico, Coca-cola and 3 M have received consistently high overall ratings. The presence of strong social values such as social responsibility has a powerful impact on organisations and their actions. It leads them to use a socio-economic model of decision making in which both social costs and benefits are considered along with the traditional economic and technical values. “Corporate social responsibility in the form of corporate philanthropy, or donating to charities, has been practiced since early 1800 at least in the US (Sethi, 1977). It was legitimate in so far that it directly benefited the shareholders, and corporate donations were mostly on the agenda of those companies that could afford it. Today’s concept of corporate social responsibility was developed primarily during the 1960s in the USA with...
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...environment The Business Environment 1. Role of Business in the economy The economy favors the existence of businesses, without one the other cannot exist. As they cover all sectors of industry and all walks of society, businesses have come to define the way modern free market or capitalistic economies are setup. The framework and design of various businesses transcends different settings and purposes. The common denominator is for the achievement of set goals, whether it is for profit or not for profit. These settings may be in many industries, such as agriculture, banking, healthcare and manufacturing as well as in the grand scheme of things the national economy itself can be viewed as a business. In earlier in the history of mankind certain activities have been born due to the necessity of running businesses, banking for the funds raised by profits, manufacturing for products to be sold and consumed to complete the retail chain; humanity and business have become synonymous. Throughout history times have been changing meanwhile, business has been changing with them. Economic specialists describe resources manpower, capital, land and entrepreneurship put into the mix to result in the basic business model. As a result civilizations have made commercial activities that come with business their mainstay and this is a prominent role that business plays the modern economy. It drives production, with the trade of the goods and services for value. This in turn stimulates the...
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...Positive Impact of Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility On an Organization Abstract Corporate social responsibility and business ethics have become the focus of an increasing amount of attention from the business sector and academicians following the scandal-ridden era of Enron and others during the 1990s. Although the findings from the research to date are mixed, there is a growing body of research in this area that has lent support to the notion that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility initiatives have a positive impact on companies in terms of profitability as well as other less quantifiable areas. This review of literature examines these issues systematically to identify current trends and to describe the positive impacts that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility programs can have for companies of all sizes and types. The Positive Impact of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility on an Organization To act in a socially responsible way requires organizational leaders to consider the effect of their decisions on the well-being of society; thus, managers must ask themselves what their actions do to society and what their actions do for society. – Ronald Sims, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall 2003, p. 66 Chapter Two: Review of Literature The epigraph above makes it clear that today, there is a growing recognition among the business community that they...
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