...jcc23black.qxd 21/11/06 1:01 pm Page 25 Corporate Social Responsibility as Capability The Case of BHP Billiton Leeora D. Black Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility; and Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University Corporate social responsiveness is what companies do in order to be socially responsible. This paper presents a case study of social responsiveness at the global mining firm BHP Billiton to illustrate a model of social responsiveness capabilities. Until now, corporate social responsiveness has described processes of environmental scanning, issues management and stakeholder management. The model presented here suggests that social responsiveness is rather understood as a cluster of five organisation-level capabilities that span an organisation’s culture and structure. The case study explores evidence for social responsiveness capabilities at BHP Billiton and considers management implications for the development of management abilities for social responsibility. Director of the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Dr Leeora Black is a consultant, researcher and educator focused on integrating social responsibility into business operations and strategies and measuring corporate social responsibility. Her work analyses complex CSR issues and problems and builds organisational CSR capabilities. She works with global firms, government businesses and social-sector organisations on integration of CSR into business...
Words: 6245 - Pages: 25
...Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility December 1, 2008 The Role of Corporations The recent financial crises on Wall Street command a need for higher ethical standard in business. The behavior displayed by corporate heads has caused society, as well as other business to doubt the ability of these corporations to do the right thing. Because of the day-to-day demand of organizational performance not much attention is made to address unethical corporate behavior. Although current events in the business world have drawn our attention to the wrong doings, it there was more focus the process by which corporations meet the challenges of ethical behavior it may promote the practice of higher ethical standards within the world of business. In the past, corporations had little concern for non-economic ventures. The concern for political and social environments was next to none until they became concerns of society. When corporations decided to turn their attentions to the issues that concerned society the most, such as energy and natural resources, pollution control, equal opportunity, and consumer and worker protection there was much debate as to how these businesses should respond to these issues (Bateman & Snell, 2003). These debates resulted in the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) which was issued in 1971 by The Committee for Economic Development, stressed the social role of business as a vital instrument for social progress in a pluralistic...
Words: 1057 - Pages: 5
...Corporate Social Responsibility: Historical Development, Concepts and Practices Historical Development of CSR Carroll (2008, pp. 19-46) relates that despite the provision of schemes prior to the 1950’s to improve workers’ conditons, it is difficult to conclude that the development of social programs by organzations for their workforce was solely as a result of the altruistic nature of the company. The establishment of these social welfare schemes served the dual purpose of reducing social ills which in turn increased efficiency in the workplace. Wren (2005), management hitosrian, cites two cases which depict debates sparked by the question of limted charter powers and the concept of management as a trustee of the stockholders’ property working together to create the 19th century legal basis for corporate philanthropy. In the first case, the company wanted to compensate employees due to job loss. Based on court rulings which would not be aligned with the concepts of CSR, the directors of the company should be more concerned with spending the company’s money solely for the purposes of business and that it should not be used for charity. In the second case however, the court’s decision would be more in line with CSR’s concept of social good where the purchase of land for a school, church and other social institutions would benefit the community in general. These cases highlight the ambiguity that is inherent in CSR’s definition in an attempt to distinguish between social...
Words: 1279 - Pages: 6
...ensure that ethical decision making takes place at all levels of the organization: a. Adopt a company-wide Code of Ethics The company must develop its Code of Ethics. It should be the embodiment of what the business believes in with regards to the nature of the business, business practices, operations, people and its ethical responsiveness. In doing so, the company will always operate under the guidance of the code- legally and ethically; and all business decisions will be made within the principles of the code. b. Create an Ethics and Compliance Committee The company’s Ethics and Compliance Committee will play a pivotal role in the practice, application and training of the Code of Ethics because: • It will ensure that the Code of Ethics remain global- applicable to anyone and everyone within the company and doing business with the company • It will ensure that the Code of Ethics is always in alignment to the ever-changing economic environment- both locally and globally • It will ensure a continuous education and training of all employees at all levels (regular employees, management and executives as well). • It is a resource to all questions and concerns regarding the company’s ethical practices B2. CODE OF ETHICS Every business, every company, every organization should willfully adopt a Code of Ethics. Code of Ethics is important because it embodies the governance of a business. It provides guidance towards fair business practices, social responsiveness, encourage...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...Brandon K Hayes 0221338 Management Assignment # 2 1) Social obligation is the obligation of a business to meet its economic and legal responsibilities and nothing more. Social responsiveness is when a firm engages in social actions in response to some popular social need. Social responsibility is a business's intention, beyond its legal and economic obligations, to do the right things and act in ways that are good for society. The workforce that makes iPods in China live in poor inland farming provinces where work is scarce and head to coastal areas in the south where factories produce the world’s consumer goods. The only reason they can survive in these cities is because work opportunities in manufacturing plants. It has been reported that Chinese factory workers have working hours, pay and other unsafe workplace issues that are exacerbated by a greater array of more hazardous chemicals when manufacturing iPods. Workers earn per month around one-quarter the UK and USA retail price. These workers who assemble iPods work 15 hours a day for US$50 per month. Chinese employees also work and sleep at these plants, sleeping in dormitories with more than 100 people, outside visitors are not allowed, employees have little choice about overtime and they stand at their posts for long hours without being allowed to take a rest. Media outlets sense a strong sense of responsiveness in linking one of the best selling products globally with Chinese workplace conditions. Apple has sold...
Words: 1033 - Pages: 5
...LECTURE OUTLINE I. Stakeholders Define Ethical Issues in Business A. Stakeholders In a business context, customers, investors and shareholders, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and others who have a “stake” or claim in some aspect of a company’s products, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as stakeholders. 1. Stakeholders are influenced by business, but they also have the ability to affect businesses. 2. They apply their values and standards to many diverse issues—for example, working conditions, consumer rights, environmental conservation, product safety, and proper information disclosure—which may or may not directly affect an individual stakeholder’s own welfare. 3. They provide both tangible and intangible resources that are more or less critical to a firm’s long-term success. 4. Individual stakeholders that share similar expectations about desirable business conduct may choose to establish or join formal communities to advocate their values and expectations. 5. Stakeholders’ ability to withdraw—or to threaten to withdraw—valuable needed resources gives them power over businesses. B. Identifying Stakeholders 1. Stakeholders can be divided into two categories. a) Primary stakeholders are those whose continued association is absolutely necessary for a firm’s survival; these include employees, customers, investors, and stockholders, as well as the governments...
Words: 1579 - Pages: 7
...framework Takis Katsoulakos and Yannis Katsoulacos Takis Katsoulakos is a Director at INLECOM Ltd, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK. Yannis Katsoulacos is a Professor at Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece. Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this article is to establish a strategic management framework that supports the integration of corporate social responsibility principles and stakeholder approaches into mainstream business strategy. Design/methodology/approach – A top-down and bottom-up approach was used to develop the proposed framework. The top-down approach focused on analyzing the main strategic management theories including social responsibility movements to identify complementary concepts and create a relevant topology. The bottom-up approach was based on empirical research on the views of business companies on corporate social responsibility, a review of best practices and case studies mainly in Greece. Findings – The paper describes a stakeholder-oriented integrative strategic management framework linking the main strategic management theories across value, responsiveness and responsibility dimensions. A mathematical model is presented describing the synergistic development of advantage-creating knowledge and advantage-creating stakeholder relations in accordance with the criteria of the resource-based theory. Research limitations/implications – The proposed management framework is based on the results of research projects and is not fully...
Words: 7389 - Pages: 30
...examine the Mining Industry via ethical perspectives. This report includes a brief overview of the industry followed by an evaluation of the Mining industry’s value chain; including an environmental analysis of a mining company, as well as an evaluation of the industry’s corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness and finally the corporate social performance. The Mining Industry is one of the World’s largest industries. The ‘idea’ of mining dates back to the beginning stage of civilization. Some examples of early mining can be found in Egypt, Europe and the Philippines. As of now, top mining countries are South Africa, Russia, Australia, Ukraine and Guinea. This industry faces constant technology advancement, consequently it is an expensive investment, with large profit. The Mining Industry can be controversial when looked through an ethical lens. This Industry is analysed through four perspectives. * The utilitarianism perspective, an act is morally right if the outcome benefits the greatest amount of people; * The rights perspective, basically, important entitlements that should be respected and protected in every action; * The justice perspective, fair treatment of individuals in a situation where everyone is involved and gets what they deserve to; * The virtue perspective, morally correct behaviour is practiced by virtuous characters. A main concept when evaluating from an ethical lens is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is...
Words: 9038 - Pages: 37
...customers is specific responsiveness while service to all of the citizens is general responsiveness. To accomplish this, one will propose two ethical concerns that management may need to address. Create the context in which such concerns may or may not be ethical in nature. This paper will also show the overall manner in which organizational structure impacts organizational ethics by selecting one non-profit organization in which your challenges may not be considered actual challenges. Also in this paper, the writer will use the Inventory of Public Management Skills Management to construct a self-evaluation, assess the level of development in each of the skills, and propose a few activities that would help to improve the skills in question. Finally, one will use the results of the self-evaluation and recommendations from Question 3 to formulate a response to the challenges that have presented that create a win-win situation for the organization, the employees, and the public. Predict two potential obstacles to success and two plans to overcome such obstacles. The Ethical Concerns (for Question 1) When chosen an issue that from the Whitehouse.gov site, the issue is of “early childhood education” or rather the lack of high quality early childhood education was an easy pick. However, now one must express the ethical concerns between human resource management, and budgeting. (Whitehouse.gov, 2015) Human resources management is where one of the major ethical concerns will come into...
Words: 1059 - Pages: 5
...Chapter 5 Social Responsibility and Ethics How important is it for organizations and managers to be socially responsible and ethical? In this chapter, we’re going to look at what it means to be socially responsible and ethical and what role managers play in both. Focus on the following learning outcomes as you read and study this chapter. LEARNING OUTCOMES 5.1 Discuss what it means to be socially responsible and what factors influence that decision. 5.2 Explain green management and how organizations can go green. 5.3 Discuss the factors that lead to ethical and unethical behavior. 5.4 Describe management’s role in encouraging ethical behavior. 5.5 Discuss current social responsibility and ethics issues. SPOTLIGHT: Manager at Work Chapter 5 presents contemporary concepts of managerial ethics and social responsibility to help your students explore and appreciate the critical role of these issues in today’s complex business environment. In the opening case, “A Manager at Work,” we see firsthand the complications that arise when companies are caught in the middle of unethical and illegal allegations. The case revolves around allegations of attempted bribery by three Renault executives. After an investigation, all three of the employees were dismissed, but the story doesn’t end there as the Paris prosecutor in charge of the case later dismissed the charges for lack of evidence. Renault would eventually backtrack on the firing of the executives, rehiring all three...
Words: 5313 - Pages: 22
...LETTER FROM THE CEO In this case, we will study the letter of the CEO of the company PEPSI. * Regarding the first point to discussed, corporate social responsibility/ responsiveness/ performance: All these concept deals about the Corporate Citizenship, and this is because the Corporate Social Responsibility may also be referred to as "corporate citizenship" and can involve incurring short-term costs that don´t provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but promote positive social and environmental change. Letter from the Pepsi CEO emphasizes on the fact that “Today, a company’s profits are inextricably tied to the prosperity of its consumers, customers, employees, communities and society writ large”. Is important the responsiveness having the company for the changes happening in society, and implement actions that encourage the development of the company, focused not only on economic issues. * Stakeholders/sustainability/voluntariness aspects of CSR. Regarding stakeholders Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, think that if communities suffer as a result of a company’s actions, those returns are not sustainable. The profits are inextricably tied to the prosperity of its consumers, customers, employees, communities and society. PepsiCo has three pillars of sustainability: Human, Environmental and Talent. These three pillars form the foundation of what they call Performance with Purpose, and they help to drive his financial results...
Words: 451 - Pages: 2
... Group Number: | 1 | Assignment due date: | 18/12/2015 | Date of Submission: | 18/12/2015 | Number of pages including this one: | 9 | Word Count: | 2339 | RMIT International University Vietnam Bachelor of Business Program Assignment Cover Page GOOGLE STRUGLING TO SURVIDE THE ETHICAL ISSUSES IN CHINA I. Introduction Google is the company who provide a wide range of services to both normal consumers and business. They are best known from their search engine while incorporating with other online technologies such as Gmail and Google chrome. While being one of the top company in the world, Google seem to be struggling when operating in China – the country with the largest number of internet user. Though Google is popular with their motto “Don’t be evil”, they were struggling to adapt with Chinese policy toward certain areas such as censorship and certain actions from the government toward Google prevented it from competing with Baidu –their local competitors. Consequently, Google officially leave china and redirect to Hong Kong in order to escape from the censorship of Chinese government in 2010. This report will analyze certain ethical issues occurred between Google.cn and the government of china. II. Ethics and its impact In order to coexist with society businesses require to satisfy the society’s increasing demand of ethically responsible business practices (Joyner and Payne, 2002). Google has always put ethics in high priority...
Words: 2685 - Pages: 11
...Executive summary 11 Social responsibility Ecological sustainability Delivering value Assurance SuSTainabiliTy manaGEmEnT background Sustainability management and reporting is aligned with the three principles of the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles Standard (2008) 1 : materiality, inclusivity and responsiveness. Members are firmly embedded in governance (both in general, and in sustainability governance specifically) and policy formulation (pages 13 and 14). As such, whilst engagement with wider stakeholders is central, there is an additional focus on how democratic structures are used to ensure that strategies, policies and performance respond to stakeholder concerns. This level of responsiveness is almost certainly unique among large businesses in the UK. materiality and strategy In 2010, following consultation with different stakeholders, the Group Board agreed a new vision: ‘to build a better society by excelling at everything we do’. In pursuit of this, six aims are identified: to be a commercially successful business; to meet the needs of the customers and communities served; to respond to members and to share profits; to be an ethical leader; to be an exemplary employer; and to inspire others through co-operation. The key performance indicators underpinning strategy, together with progress, are presented within the Annual Report and Accounts 2 . The Sustainable Development Policy (page 10) and the Ethical Operating Plan...
Words: 3868 - Pages: 16
...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...
Words: 2637 - Pages: 11
...Business & Society http://bas.sagepub.com Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct Archie B. Carroll Business Society 1999; 38; 268 DOI: 10.1177/000765039903800303 The online version of this article can be found at: http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/3/268 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: International Association for Business and Society Additional services and information for Business & Society can be found at: Email Alerts: http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://bas.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://bas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/38/3/268 Downloaded from http://bas.sagepub.com at Biblioteca di Ateneo - Trento on April 28, 2010 Carroll / CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY BUSINESS & SOCIETY / September 1999 Corporate Social Responsibility Evolution of a Definitional Construct ARCHIE B. CARROLL University of Georgia There is an impressive history associated with the evolution of the concept and definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this article, the author traces the evolution of the CSR construct beginning in the 1950s, which marks the modern era of CSR. Definitions expanded during the 1960s and proliferated during the 1970s. In the 1980s, there were fewer new definitions, more empirical research, and alternative themes...
Words: 12021 - Pages: 49
