...Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 CSR Background 2.1 Definition of CSR 2.2 Evolution of CSR 2.3 Emergence of CSR 3 Literature Review 3.1 Carroll's CSR Pyramid 3.2 Purpose of the firm and how that shapes views on CSR 3.3 Arguments for and against CSR 3.3.1 Arguments Against 3.3.2 Arguments For 3.3.3 Summary of the key debates 4 Methodology 5 CSR at Apple Inc. 5.1 Apple's profile 5.2 Reasons to engage in CSR 5.3 CSR policies at Apple Inc. 5.4 Type of CSR approach taken by Apple Inc. 5.5 Key dilemmas within CSR challenges 5.5.1. Labour and human rights 5.5.2. Workers’ health and safety 5.6 CSR tactics at Apple Inc. 6 Conclusion 7 References Word Count: 2837 1 Executive Summary Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been highly regarded by most corporations. However, the exact reason why corporations implement CSR initiatives is often very vague and confusing to others. This paper will explore in depth how international corporations are motivated to incorporate CSR into the business strategies and how they deal with it. Based on academic references, the report firstly outlined the CSR background as well as some theory and key debates about CSR. Then, the methodology was summarized. After that, the case study of Apple Inc. was used to demonstrate the reasons for implementing CSR initiatives in depth. Following that, the types of dilemmas the company faced, the CSR approach and tactics it used were analyzed. Finally, a conclusion was drawn...
Words: 3848 - Pages: 16
...Research Report Student Name: Student ID: Lecturer Name: Course ID: Due Date Table Content 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Literature Research 4 2.1 Summary of the literatures 4 2.11 Kenneth, M. A, Onyeka, K. O & Paul, N. (2008) - Journal of Business Ethics 4 2.12 Mette, A & Tage, S. (2009) - Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 5 2.13 Francesco, C, Pierpaolo, P & Barbara, S. (2008) - Journal of Cleaner Production 5 2.14 Jorgensen, H, Peder, M & Margaret, J 2003 - The Word Bank Group & IFC 6 2.15 Esben, R. P & Mette, A. (2006) - Journal of Public Affairs 6 2.2 Group materials under meaningful themes and critical discussion 7 2.3 The practical and theoretical implication of the findings 9 2.4 Evidence from published cases and empirical studies 11 2.5 managerial recommendations in translating CSR in global SC into practice 12 3.0 Conclusions and suggestions for future research 14 4.0 Reference List 15 Executive Summary Integrated supply chain has becoming a significantly important role in the competitive landscape because companies are searching for strategic benefits. Apart from the advantages derived from those more coordinated supply chains, certain social obligations become a concern to business. In reality, the codes of conduct in terms of the CSR are developed by many organizations, especially the buying companies, in order to manage the business behavior of their partners with procurement and supply chain...
Words: 4497 - Pages: 18
...Journal of Management http://jom.sagepub.com/ What We Know and Don't Know About Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review and Research Agenda Herman Aguinis and Ante Glavas Journal of Management 2012 38: 932 originally published online 1 March 2012 DOI: 10.1177/0149206311436079 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jom.sagepub.com/content/38/4/932 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: Southern Management Association Additional services and information for Journal of Management can be found at: Email Alerts: http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://jom.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav >> Version of Record - May 29, 2012 OnlineFirst Version of Record - Mar 1, 2012 What is This? Downloaded from jom.sagepub.com at Sunway Education Group on April 23, 2014 Journal of Management Vol. 38 No. 4, July 2012 932-968 DOI: 10.1177/0149206311436079 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav What We Know and Don’t Know About Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review and Research Agenda Herman Aguinis Indiana University Ante Glavas University of Notre Dame The authors review the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature based on 588 journal articles and 102 books and book chapters. They offer a multilevel and multidisciplinary theoretical framework...
Words: 17984 - Pages: 72
...Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory Laura J. Spence Abstract This paper seeks to expand business and society research in a number of ways. Its primary purpose is to redraw two core CSR theories (stakeholder theory and Carroll’s CSR pyramid), enhancing their relevance for small business. This is done by the application of the ethic of care, informed by the value of feminist perspectives and the extant empirical research on small business social responsibility. It is proposed that the expanded versions of core theory have wider relevance, value and implications beyond the small firm context. The theorization of small business social responsibility enables engagement with the mainstream of CSR research as well as making a contribution to small business studies in scholarly, policy and practice terms. Key words: corporate social responsibility, ethic of care, feminist ethics, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), small business, Carroll’s pyramid, stakeholder theory. Correspondence: Laura J. Spence, PhD. Professor of Business Ethics. Director, Centre for Research into Sustainability, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK. Laura.Spence@rhul.ac.uk Acknowledgements: With sincere thanks to the special issue editors and reviewers, Kate Grosser and Dirk Matten for their insightful comments in the development of this paper. Introduction Small business social responsibility - whether it be a software...
Words: 12529 - Pages: 51
...The role of Strategic Conversations with Stakeholders in the Formation of Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy. Summary The main discussion of this journal is to explore the role and the use of strategic conversations in corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy formation from a conceptual perspective to actual practices. Based on this research, the authors have given the strongly recommendation that by intensifying the stakeholder engagement in the CSR strategy-making process, through the mechanism of strategic conversations, will not only minimize the future stakeholder’s concerns and enhance CSR strategy making effectiveness but also maximize organizational sustainability. The learning outcomes are concluded in the following key points: * Corporate Social Responsibility - The evolution of the Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was from a basic concept and belief to become a popular debating subject in recent decades which is centered in ‘whether CSR should take priority over a company’s obligation to make money for its stockholders or vice versa’. - There was a general consensus to align strategies to take full advantage of CSR business opportunities while also including stakeholders in the strategy-making process. * Strategic conversations - Understanding the variety of strategic conversation definitions and how it works properly in an organization through direct communication mechanisms between three pillars: top management, BSE and relevant...
Words: 1280 - Pages: 6
...International Journal of Hospitality Management 29 (2010) 72–82 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Hospitality Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman Impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality industry Kyung Ho Kang a,*, Seoki Lee b,1, Chang Huh c,2 a School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, 1700 North Broad St., Suite 201, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, 1700 North Broad St., Suite 201-F, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States c College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Niagara University, St. Vincent’s Hall, Room 304, NY 14109, United States b A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: Corporate social responsibility Hospitality industry Financial performance In spite of growing concern for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in various industries including the hospitality industry, the relationship between CSR activities and financial performance is a rarely examined subject in the hospitality context. Especially, research measuring the separate impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on companies’ financial performances remains, as yet, unconsidered. Thus, this study examines different impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on financial performance of hotel, casino, restaurant and airline companies,...
Words: 8320 - Pages: 34
...Business School, 2011 Academic Conference on Social Responsibility held by the University of Washington Tacoma, and 2012 AAA Auditing Section Midyear Conference for their helpful comments. Corporate Social Responsibility, Audit Fees, and Audit Opinions Abstract Using a sample of U.S. firms from 2000-2008, we examine whether and how their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) affects audit fees and the audit opinions. We find that auditors charge lower fees and reduce the propensity to issue going concern qualifications to client firms with superior CSR performance, but increase them for clients with significant CSR concerns. We interpret this finding as suggesting that the auditors use CSR information as an indicator of the client’s audit risk. This interpretation is further strengthened by our finding that the effect of CSR performance on audit fees is stronger in industries with a high average CSR concern and in pollution-prone industries. Our results are robust to the change-specification of the audit fees model, alternative measures of firms’ CSR performance, a categorical analysis of the main CSR dimensions, and...
Words: 23847 - Pages: 96
...critical importance. The motivations for these contracts are continuously being revisited to understand how CSR programs can nurture and contribute to the growth of firms. While CSR issues are attracting a great deal of attention in the developed world, there is a need for more research into CSR in the developing world. This paper considers the CSR practices of a small sample of multinational corporations (MNCs) and local firms in Bangladesh to better understand this situation. Introduction Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has generated significant debate in academic and corporate circles in recent times. This debate acknowledges the importance of CSR in the first-world, but raises questions regarding the extent to which corporations operating in developing countries have CSR obligations (Jamali and Mirshak, 2007). Conventional wisdom suggests that CSR is more relevant to corporations operating in the developed countries due to elevated community expectations of socially responsible behaviour. In contrast there is also a belief that societal expectations in the developing countries mainly centre on economic growth; therefore relegating CSR to be of lesser importance to the society and the firms (Khan, 1985). Against this back drop, this paper discusses the situation prevailing in the developing world to broaden our understanding of the perceptions and practices of CSR. Bangladesh is used as a test case for this purpose because this country is believed to posses the typical...
Words: 2454 - Pages: 10
...SWOT Analysis | What is SWOT Analysis? | Examples of SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis was originally conceived and developed in the 1960s and its basic organising principles have remained largely unchanged in the field of strategic management since that time (Kotler et al., 2013). It is, as Ghazinoory, Abdi and Azadegan-Mehr (2011) comment, a systematic framework which helps managers to develop their business strategies by appraising the internal and external determinants of their organisation’s performance. Internal environmental factors include leadership talent, human resource capabilities, the company’s culture as well as the effectiveness of its policies and procedures. In contrast, external factors include competition, government legislation, changing trends, and social expectations (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008). The SWOT analysis framework involves analysing the strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) of the business’s internal factors, and the opportunities (O) and threats (T) of its external factors of performance (Ghazinoory, Abdi and Azadegan-Mehr, 2011). Through this analysis, the weaknesses and strengths within a company can correspond to the opportunities and threats in the business environment so that effective strategies can be developed (Helms and Nixon, 2010). It follows from this, therefore, that an organisation can derive an effective strategy by taking advantage of its opportunities by using its strengths and neutralise its threats by minimising the impact...
Words: 3497 - Pages: 14
...CSR Activities in Electronic Industry Table of Contents Executive Summary……………………………………...………2 1. Introduction……………………………………………………2 2. CSR activities of Sony, Dell and Apple……………………….3 1. Employees………………………………………...…...……4 2. Environment ………………………………………………..5 3. Consumers…………………………………………………..6 3. Evaluation on CSR activities………………………………….6 3.1 Employees………………………………………………...6 3.2 Environment……………………………………...………7 3.3 Consumers ……………………………………………….8 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………….8 References…………………………………………………………….9 Executive Summary Recent years, encouraged by cultural and economic globalization, the world market is growing rapidly. With the market becoming increasingly mature and rational, corporations not only pay attention to profit and business opportunities, but also the obligation and responsibility to employees, environment and customers. Therefore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become more and more popular among enterprises and markets. Thus, it is important to study the way CSR initiative depicts what corporations have to do in order to shoulder the responsibility for their employees, environment as well as consumers and CSR’s influence on various economic behaviors. This report analyses the CSR activities of Sony, Dell and Apple which are three electronic corporations. Specifically, it focuses on the effect on their employees, environment and consumers. The first part will mainly introduce their CSR initiatives and...
Words: 2092 - Pages: 9
...Management Summary With this thesis I would like to contribute on the on-going CSR discussion. I attempt to investigate the real motives why multinational corporations engage in corporate social responsibility activities. The debate in CSR is nowadays still focused on the link between CSR and financial performance. Research lacks real proof of this link and corporations are failing in formulating a business case. So why is it that MNCs are willing to engage in CSR activities. In the following thesis I would like to give an answer on this question. Inhoudsopgave 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Research Purpose 6 1.2 Problem Statement 6 1.3 Sub questions 7 1.4 Structure 7 2. Theory 8 2.1 Definition CSR 8 2.2 Definition Multinational Corporation (MNC) 9 2.3 Theoretical Framework (Garigga & Mele (2004)) 10 2.3.1 Instrumental theories 10 2.3.2 Political theories 12 2.3.3 Integrative theories 13 2.3.4 Ethical theories 14 2.3.5 Propositions 16 3. Methods 18 3.1 Research approach 18 4. Results 19 4.1 Instrumental motive 20 4.2 Political motive 20 4.3 Integrative motive 21 4.4 Ethical motive 22 5. Conclusion & Recommendation 24 5.1 Conclusion 24 5.2 Limitations & Recommendation 27 6. References 28 1. Introduction Corporate social responsibility is becoming more and more important for companies. The last few years there is an increase of interest from companies in CSR and in the implementation of different CSR activities...
Words: 10695 - Pages: 43
...Relationships Between Productivity, Reputation, and Strategy Abstract: Businesses seek to maximize productivity because it increases efficiency, motivates employees, and can help firms compete on the strategic elements of time, cost, and quality. Productivity has been shown to be positively correlated with reputation such that firms with good reputations tend to have higher productivity. Reputation can be improved through corporate social responsibility initiatives that seek to enhance social and environmental wellbeing. Improved reputation can provide a sustainable competitive advantage and increase the perceived quality of a firm’s goods or services. Introduction In the business world, it is well understood that increased productivity is highly desirable and leads to favorable economic results. Productivity can have numerous effects on a company, particularly in relation to financial performance. Strictly speaking, productivity is defined as output over input for any given unit under evaluation, such as a business, division, department, or a set of employees. However, this measurement can be a bit more complex since productivity is determined and affected by numerous variables, some of which are not readily apparent in the accounting setting. For example, a company’s reputation can have an impact on productivity and labor efficiency, as demonstrated by the findings presented by Marty Stuebs and Li Sun in their article “Business Reputation and Labor Efficiency...
Words: 1787 - Pages: 8
...Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management Jan Bebbington Carlos Larrinaga Jose M. Moneva Article information: Downloaded by University of Strathclyde At 07:57 17 October 2014 (PT) To cite this document: Jan Bebbington Carlos Larrinaga Jose M. Moneva, (2008),"Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 337 - 361 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570810863932 Downloaded on: 17 October 2014, At: 07:57 (PT) References: this document contains references to 70 other documents. To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 10839 times since 2008* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: Jeffrey Unerman, (2008),"Strategic reputation risk management and corporate social responsibility reporting", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 362-364 Carol A. Adams, (2008),"A commentary on: corporate social responsibility reporting and reputation risk management", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 365-370 Pekka Aula, (2010),"Social media, reputation risk and ambient publicity management", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 38 Iss 6 pp. 43-49 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by 117974 [] For Authors If you would like to...
Words: 16821 - Pages: 68
...responsibility (CSR), which came into general use in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Harvard Kennedy School,2008), has become a vital portion in business model. There are a large number of definitions on corporate social responsibility. According to Harvard Kennedy School (2008), CSR is a procedure targeting at embrace responsibility for the company's actions and inspire a positive impact through its activities on the employees, environment, communities, consumers, as well as stakeholders. It seems that CSR is balance between positive social effect and business processes. With the development of CSR, more recent definitions focus mainly on the impact of how the companies manage their core business. In other words, the idea whether CSR serves as a resource of competitive advantage has emerged. In this essay, the author believes that the CSR indeed brings financial profits to the business and is overall beneficial to fashion business development. In the recent years, most high-street brands, such as Primark and Top Shop, including some luxury fashion brands, have worked on sustainability reports and corporate responsibility (CSR) for the sake of their long-term growth. This study will focus on the influence of CSR in the fashion business and discuss the issues mentioned above. Additionally, based on the aspects of CSR definition, this essay is divided into three dimensions, including environment, staff welfare and community in order to discuss the relationship between CSR and competitive...
Words: 2399 - Pages: 10
...profitable for a company, but only when the following requirements are met. First the CSR strategy has to be properly motivated, thus the goal of the CSR should not be profit generation. Second the level of trust of customers should be high enough so that customers will not respond skeptical to the CSR strategy. Third the company should be innovative and not be exposed to too much risk. If these requirements are met it is necessary to choose a CSR strategy that fits the brand and to use the right communication strategy. Only then will market value rise as a result of the higher level of customer satisfaction CSR creates. 2 Table of content Chapter 1: Research proposal 1.1 The problem background 1.2 The problem statement 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Academic relevance 1.5 Managerial relevance 1.6 Overview of the rest of the chapters Chapter 2: Corporate social responsibility from the consumer perspective 2.1 Introduction 2.2 CSR and customers Chapter 3: Consumer reactions and attitudes towards trust, communication strategy and fit 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Fit between CSR and brand 3.3 Communication strategy 3.4 Consumer trust and CSR 3.5 Cross-influences Chapter 4: Customer satisfaction 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The direct effect of communication strategy on customer satisfaction 4.3 The indirect effect of communication strategy on customer satisfaction 4.4 The direct effect of brand fit with CSR on customer satisfaction 4.5 The indirect effect of...
Words: 8717 - Pages: 35