...How do Global Retail Companies utilize Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? “A Comparative Study using Hennes & Mauritz (Sweden) and UNIQLO (Japan)” Authors: Greg Jogie Ayaz Shukat Master thesis – FE2413 Spring 2010 Supervisor: Eva Wittbom How do Global Retail Companies utilize Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Abstract Abstract Corporations around the world are today acknowledging more and more the need of long-term sustainability strategies integrated into their core businesses. This has led to the use of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework. H&M and UNIQLO are no different. They are established global retailing companies and heavily affected by the consumers demand of a sustainable work process. The demands are often heard when news hits of problems in the supply-chain. This can be issues like unsatisfactory working conditions in factories, environmental issues caused by production and general imbalance of labor policies. Such problems have put pressure on the companies to enact a proper reporting framework for their sustainability efforts and that is the focus of this thesis. The objective is to understand how well the organizations‘ have been using CSR and the goal is to look at their behavior within their supply chain processes and their environmental focus. We will then benchmark them according to the sustainability measurement framework called Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). GRI is a framework widely used by the top global companies...
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...Name University Course Tutor Date Business Ethics Business Ethics Ethics can be defined as moral guidelines which govern good behavior. Therefore, business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It is increasingly being applied in businesses to guide their operations. It captures different aspects norms and values that govern the behavior of a business. For instance, it has codes of practices that are increasingly becoming popular. These cover different areas such as corporate social responsibility, environmental policy and actions, rules for personal and corporate integrity, dealings with customers and the supply chain. Business ethics guide how businesses and people should behave in the world of business or commerce. Ethical Theories There are several ethical theories that explain how people and business entities should behave in the society so that their behavior may be considered to be morally good. Some of these theories are briefly explained below in relation to business behavior. Utilitarianism This theory holds that an act can be judged as morally good or bad, right or wrong when it produces amount of pleasure or lack of pain for the greatest number of people (Sadler 9). Business ethics operates under greatest happiness principle. This implies that businesses and their managers need to maximize positive outcomes for the largest number of people...
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...To what extent is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) beneficial to a company’s performance? CSR—A double-edged sword for company’s performance Starting from the refined corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies issued by the European Commission in 2011, a stinging debate is being aroused on the influence of CSR to the whole society. The most influential critic is Noble Prize winner Milton Friedman, who regards CSR as a waste of stockholders’ money (1970). However, many other articles claim, opposite Friedman, that CSR actually improves companies’ financial performance in the long run (Bagnoli and Watts, 2003; McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). There are plenty of arguments on CSR’s influence on company’s performance. As far as I am concerned, CSR plays as a double-edged sword in company performance. The definition of CSR is quite easy to understand. According to Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), CSR is defined as “achieving commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.” McWilliams and Siegel (2001:117) describe CSR as “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interest of the firm and that which is required by law.” These suggest that a socially responsible corporation should take a step forward and adopt strategies and business practices that go beyond the profit requirements and contribute to some social-friendly activities. However, when companies choose to engage in CSR...
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...UGB247- Responsible Business Report on Corporate Responsibility ‘Fashion Retailing in Europe’ Laura Wallace: 1083579942 Module Leader/ Tutor: Mark Winter 15th May 2015 Word Count: 3,296 1 Contents 1.0 What is Corporate Responsibility? Page 3 2.0 Key Issues of Corporate Responsibility Page 3 2.1 Issues Relating to Outsourcing Page 4 and 5 2.2 Child Labour Page 5 and 6 2.3 The Use of Animal Fur and Environmental Issues Page 6 and 7 3.0 Best Practice Within the Sector Page 7 3.1 Primark, Compensation and Utilitarianism Page 7 and 8 3.2 H&M, Child Labour and Deontology Page 8 3.3 M&S and Virtue Theory Page 8 and 9 4.0 Recommendations Page 9 4.1 Responsibility Auditing Page 9 4.2 Education Page 9 and 10 4.3 Making a Stand Against Animal Fur Page 10 5.0 Conclusion Page 10 6.0 References Page 11 and 12 7.0 Appendices Page 13, 14, 15 and 16 2 1.0 What is Corporate Responsibility? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is “about businesses and other organizations going beyond the legal obligations to manage the impact they have on the environment and society.” (Lea, 2002) In recent years, the fashion retailing sector in Europe has gained a lot of media interest over its irresponsibility to society and its employees. Some companies which have been under scrutiny around this issue include: Primark, Zara and H&M as well as many other brands which are increasingly popular...
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...English Patient and the Chinese takeaway: examining social responsibilities in the MG Rover collapse 1a. Main Stakeholders: - Phoenix Group -Longbridge site owners - Employees (6500, at Longbridge -Around 9-12,000 employees from West Midlands -BMW/shareholders from BMW -financial industry in general -Unions -Local communities -Chinese state owned Shanghai Automotve Industrial Corporation (SAIC) -Chinese company Nanjing Automotive -Deloitte -Creditors -Media -Government -British Tax Payers -Competitors -Suppliers of Longbridge Theory Mitchell's framework of stakeholder salience: ‘Determines the importance of stakeholders and categorizes them on the basis of salience, defined with regard to the attributes Power, Legitimacy and Urgency’ (Grisseri & Seppala, 2010) Stakeholder Power Legitimacy Urgency ‘Phoenix Group’ H H H Employees at Longbridge L H L BMW /Shareholders H H H Deloitte L H L Unions MG Rover customers (dealers) L L L SAIC H H H Nanjing Automative M M M/H British Government M/H H M/H Creditors Competitors of MG Rover Media H H M/H Local Community L L/M L Suppliers of Longbridge L/M L/M L 2. MG Rover's actions in the case in terms of Carrol's Pyramid of CSR (responsibilities and ranking, appropriate or inappropriate in this situation, could it have done more to treat its employees ethically?) Theory Carrol's Pyramid of CSR: ‘Corporate social responsibility includes the economic, legal, ethical and philanthrophic...
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...English Patient and the Chinese takeaway: examining social responsibilities in the MG Rover collapse 1a. Main Stakeholders: - Phoenix Group -Longbridge site owners - Employees (6500, at Longbridge -Around 9-12,000 employees from West Midlands -BMW/shareholders from BMW -financial industry in general -Unions -Local communities -Chinese state owned Shanghai Automotve Industrial Corporation (SAIC) -Chinese company Nanjing Automotive -Deloitte -Creditors -Media -Government -British Tax Payers -Competitors -Suppliers of Longbridge Theory Mitchell's framework of stakeholder salience: ‘Determines the importance of stakeholders and categorizes them on the basis of salience, defined with regard to the attributes Power, Legitimacy and Urgency’ (Grisseri & Seppala, 2010) Stakeholder Power Legitimacy Urgency ‘Phoenix Group’ H H H Employees at Longbridge L H L BMW /Shareholders H H H Deloitte L H L Unions MG Rover customers (dealers) L L L SAIC H H H Nanjing Automative M M M/H British Government M/H H M/H Creditors Competitors of MG Rover Media H H M/H Local Community L L/M L Suppliers of Longbridge L/M L/M L 2. MG Rover's actions in the case in terms of Carrol's Pyramid of CSR (responsibilities and ranking, appropriate or inappropriate in this situation, could it have done more to treat its employees ethically?) Theory Carrol's Pyramid of CSR: ‘Corporate social responsibility includes the economic, legal, ethical and philanthrophic...
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...INTRODUCTION Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an idea that corporations taking some sort of activities with responsibility for society’s benefits to effect their customers, employees, shareholder and environment within their operations. This is a voluntary behavior to improve employees and their families’ quality of life as well as society. Nevertheless, it is not a statutory law that organizations have to comply with. Over the last two decades, the public and the media have increasingly concerned about CSR. Therefore, this has led to more interactions between governments and organizations and society as a whole. In the past, corporations focus on earning profit invariably, “Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions” (Anderson 15). A growing number of people are keeping a watchful eye on corporations’ background whether it has a contribution to society instead of how much profit they have gained. However, corporate social responsibility has become a significant matter in the international business. The image of corporations depends on how much they take on social responsibilities. E.g. consumers are more likely satisfied with reliable global brands. Similarly, employees are more willing to work for good-welfare companies. “The brand manager uses consumer concern for business responsibility as a means for securing competitive advantage. At the same time a charitable cause receives substantial...
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...characteristics on corporate social responsibility disclosure by Islamic banks: evidence from Gulf Cooperation Council countries Abdullah Awadh Bukair and Azhar Abdul Rahman Abstract Corporate social activities have become major subjects because of their effects on the quality life of citizens, in particular, and on the society at large. Therefore, today, there is an increase awareness of social responsibility due to the challenges meeting the financial institutions (particularly, Islamic banking) around the world. This paper examines the influence of the board of directors’ characteristics, consisting of board size, board composition, and the separation roles of CEO and chairman, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in 53 annual reports of Islamic banks of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries after controlling of bank size, financial performance and relevant public. Based on the framework of legitimacy theory, the findings show that CSR disclosure has a negative and insignificant relationship with board composition. On contrast, the study found insignificantly and positive association between CSR disclosure and other characteristics of board of directors (board size and the separation roles of CEO and chairman). With regards control variables, the study indicates that bank size and financial performance have a positive and significant influence on CSR disclosure, while relevant public has no effect. Therefore, the results indicate that corporate governance structure...
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...To what extent is corporate social responsibility a source of competitive advantage Suffering from air pollution and water contamination, citizens gradually demand businesses to take action on social responsibility. As a result, corporate social 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...
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...Misery Loves Companies: Whither Social Initiatives by Business? Joshua D. Margolis Harvard University jmargolis@hbs.edu 617-495-6444 James P. Walsh University of Michigan jpwalsh@umich.edu 734-936-2768 December 16, 2002 We want to thank Christine Oliver, our three anonymous reviewers, Paul Adler, Howard Aldrich, Alan Andreasen, Jim Austin, Charles Behling, Mary Gentile, Tom Gladwin, Morten Hansen, Stu Hart, Nien-he Hsieh, Linda Lim, Nitin Nohria, Lynn Paine, Gail Pesyna, Rob Phillips, Lance Sandelands, Debora Spar, Joe White, Richard Wolfe and the students in Jim Walsh’s “The Corporation in Society” Ph.D. seminar for their constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper. We also want to thank Marguerite Booker, John Galvin and Nichole Pelak for their helpful research assistance. The Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan Business School, and the Aspen Institute’s Initiative for Social Innovation through Business provided invaluable support for this project. Misery Loves Companies: Whither Social Initiatives by Business? Abstract Companies are increasingly being asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery. Organization and management scholarship can play an important role in understanding and guiding possible corporate responses. Theory and research to date have sought to reconcile possible corporate responses with economic premises about the purpose of the firm. Our goals in this paper are to reorient the...
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...------------------------------------------------- Competitive environment analysis: H&M ------------------------------------------------- Introduction We chose to write our report about H&M for many different reasons. First of all, even if we focus on the French market, the fact that H&M is a global brand, operating from nearly everywhere in the world, both made us sure that we would have to analyze a very strong and efficient strategy, and to face some difficulties, deeply linked with the industry (such as problems of relocations or competition from Chinese textile) that would help us understand a strategy better. Besides fashion is an unavoidable factor of our daily life. It always seemed interesting to analyze what stands behind the doors of a store in which we shop. Presentation of the brand H&M is a Sweden based company. It was funded in 1947 by two Swede Hennes and Mauritz, which gave the brand their name. The firm designs, produces and retails clothing items and accessories (including cosmetic products). Its range of product includes clothing (innerwear and sportswear) for men, women and children. Presently, H&M operates in 28 countries. Its largest/major markets are in Germany, Sweden and the UK. The company also allows its customers to buy on the Internet through their online shop (not available in all countries.) H&M reflects international trends through different concepts and ranges of clothes that...
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...CHAN Ching To (UID 3035102223) To what extent is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) beneficial to a company’s performance? An analysis of the relationship between CSR and financial soundness, quality of marketing, people management and long-term investment value. Introduction Since the late 1990s, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been increasingly discussed in the society and it slowly becomes one of the important components in the business world (Jenkins, 2005). McWilliams and Siegel (2006) interpret CSR as ‘situations where the firm goes beyond compliance and engages in “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law”’. In general, CSR is believed to, in long-term, enhance business performance and boost employee morale. Also, CSR could be a tool to improve company image and to prevent crises (Weber, 2008). This essay argues that CSR has a positive relationship with a company’s performance, meaning that it brings benefits to corporate performance to a large extent. To measure one’s performance, three key aspects are considered, namely financial soundness, quality of marketing and people management. These three aspects are chosen from the criteria for Britain's Most Admired Companies 2014 (Management Today, 2014). Effects of CSR on Financial Soundness One of the most crucial criteria to determine a company’s performance is by analysing its financial soundness. Common indicators...
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...o bo k 0 s2 0 s log p o t.c o m Class Notes June 2011 ebooks2000.blogspot.com eb o s ok 2 0 00 .b s log p o t.c o m © The Accountancy College Ltd, January 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Accountancy College Ltd. ebooks2000.blogspot.com 2 www.studyinteractive.org Contents PAGE INTRODUCTION TO THE PAPER CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER 3: CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 6: CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 9: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – AN INTRODUCTION CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – MORE DETAILED AREAS AGENCY THEORY AND TRANSACTION COST THEORY GOVERNANCE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND ORGANISATIONS RISK MANAGEMENT INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS STAKEHOLDER THEORY AND CSR BUSINESS ETHICS THE PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT 5 7 21 29 35 49 61 69 e o bo k 0 s2 0 .bl 0 o p gs o t.c o m 81 93 www.studyinteractive.org ebooks2000.blogspot.com 3 eb o s ok 2 0 00 .b s log p o t.c o m 4 ebooks2000.blogspot.com www.studyinteractive.org Introduction to the paper eb o s ok 2 0 00 .b s log p o t.c o m www.studyinteractive.org ebooks2000.blogspot.com 5 IN T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E P A P E R AIM OF THE PAPER The aim of...
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...Journal of Business Ethics (2009) 88:351–366 DOI 10.1007/s10551-008-9968-9 Ó Springer 2008 Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Ratings by Spanish Listed Firms Carmelo Reverte ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether a number of firm and industry characteristics, as well as media exposure, are potential determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices by Spanish listed firms. Empirical studies have shown that CSR disclosure activism varies across companies, industries, and time (Gray et al., Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 8(2), 47–77, 1995; Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 28(3/4), 327–356, 2001; Hackston and Milne, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 9(1), 77–108, 1996; Cormier and Magnan, Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting 1(2), 171–195, 2003; Cormier et al., European Accounting Review 14(1), 3–39, 2005), which is usually justified by reference to several theoretical constructs, such as the legitimacy, stakeholder, and agency theories. Our findings evidence that firms with higher CSR ratings present a statistically significant larger size and a higher media exposure, and belong to more environmentally sensitive industries, as compared to firms with lower CSR ratings. However, neither profitability nor leverage seem to explain differences in CSR disclosure practices between Spanish listed firms. The most influential variable for explaining firms’ variation...
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...Do you agree with Milton Friedman’s (1970) claim that: “the only responsibility of business is to increase its profits”? Today we live in a world were companies are major actors and influence society on many levels. This is why ethics were brought into the business world. Ethical enterprises follow certain values and moral beliefs and were created with the supposed intention of using that influence in a positive way and protect what surrounds them, whether it is the people who work for the company, the rest of society, the environment etc. Ethics helps companies distinguish what’s wrong or right in a certain situation and act upon it. It bases itself on the idea that a corporation is somewhat responsible for how it affects others, hence the term ‘corporate responsibility’. (Banerjee, 2007) But with time and experience it seems that ethics, although created for a noble purpose, can and are actually used by companies for purposes other than just helping others. The economist Milton Friedman believed that all this social work is the state’s responsibility and a political matter, and that it can induce losses in profit for a company, going against the essence and purpose of a business. He argues we might be better off without it. (1970) This rather negative portrayal of something that was created to do good, although quite realistic, can be discussed and hopefully re-arranged so there is hope that a company can be both socially responsible and profitable. According to Bakan (2004)...
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