Social Responsibility JJT Task 1 Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Chris Dennison

Introduction In today’s global economy of socially conscious shoppers, it is not enough to simply create and sell a high quality good or service. A recent study shows that corporate social responsibility is critical to establishing and maintaining a positive reputation as evident by the more than 90 percent of polled shoppers that would switch to a brand that demonstrates support for a good cause if competing products were of similar price and quality. Additionally, the same amount of consumers was more likely to establish a deeper trust and loyalty to a socially responsible organization in comparison to one that doesn’t show these things. Most importantly, businesses that are not socially responsible are at severe risk of alienating their customer base, thereby impacting their longevity and profitability. Consumers hold the power as they have shown and will continue to boycott corporations that are found to engage in irresponsible practices. With this in mind, it is no longer a question of if a corporation should consider integrating social responsibility aspects to their operations, but rather a question of to what extent leadership wishes to go and how they will develop and communicate this in terms of having a meaningful impact on local community and the environment. In the past, a corporation’s primary responsibility was to turn a profit. The concepts of being socially responsible demand that company leadership look beyond the bottom line and demonstrate responsibility to the environment, local communities and global population. There are five aspects of social responsibility that should be integrated into the corporate decision making process and daily operations. These aspects are environmental, social, economic, stakeholders and voluntariness. The environmental