INTRODUCTION:
Tata Power is envisioning ambitious expansion plans. The company has in its core values that the holistic growth of the company is possible only through the aggregate satisfaction of the whole community which represent the stakeholders. So owing to this philosophy, the firm has to provide highly enhanced CSR activities to the beneficiaries. This need has aggravated more on account of the expansion plans. Now there are two alternate plans for meeting this need. So this has to be streamlined by careful and rational deliberations. PESTCL ANALYSIS: Political: * The issue of the land acquisition would have a big political implication, as at the site of operations. Different political parties play politics, by assembling people against the land acquisition and pose a roadblock. This is proved by the present simmering issue of POSCO in Odisha. | Economic: * The CSR issues if gather speed, would help elevate the economic condition of the displaced families, at the same time earning the government added revenues in the form of tax, form the company operations. | Social: * The people when benefited by the CSR of TPC, would have a big social impact on the TPC’s future initiatives, as now a social connect is there between the industry and local people. | Cultural: * The CSR activity portrays the vibrant, sensitive and responsible culture of Tata in particular and affects the value, attitudes of the employees in particular and the overall work culture as a whole | Legal: * By law TPC, has to sustain the displaced families and add value to the society and the losers of land by means of CSR. |

SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS * Serve as a report cardIt acts as a measure of the goals met and also of the value added to the company, by achievement of social activities, serving both the company and the shareholders. * Help to increase the focus It will enable TPC to prioritize the Stakeholders, so deliver a high power high interest stakeholder more Complete and superior satisfaction. * Better employee performanceIndependent employees, managed by independent managers will surely enhance performance. | WEAKNESS * Additional costs.Costs due to additional salaries, infrastructure, and organizational setup * Capability to drive through genuine changesThis will be due to the relatively junior position the new CSR department * Difficulty of system in keeping the employees passionate The model being a volunteer dependent one, this can be a sure weakness | OPPORTUNITIES * Easy tapping of opportunitiesBetter acquisitions, of land would help TPC better tap the thriving prospects of this industry * Rapid expansion opportunitiesHighly streamlined and peaceful operations, owing to strong local support drives future rapid expansion plans | THREATS * Departmental silosThis new department, as is a responsibility of few selected individuals, has the chance of becoming isolated in its social activities, so creating silo, instead of a cross departmental matter. * Failure of projectsLack of adequate leadership would lead the project to fail |

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Major issues faced by col. Prakash Tewari are: * Whether to go for separate CSR department or continue with the existing set up. * How to maintain a balance between shareholders’ interest and other stakeholders. * How to address the issue of CSR from a business angle * What would be the composition and the deliverables of the newly formed CSR department be * Can the CSR activities undertaken by the NGO’s and the PBO’s be the possible alternatives of the CSR departments * If a separate CSR entity is created, how to monitor and assess the costs

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM:
TPC is running its CSR activity through the volunteering initiatives of the employees in various projects undertaken in each thrust area. This model worked for TPC’s current CSR requirements. However since the company is about to rapidly expand, the CSR activity would increase in tandem. The different areas of land acquisition vary largely in terms of income levels, standard of living, the state of development and the level of aspirations among the villagers. So it is very difficult to cater effective to all these areas through a single unified and embedded program. So there is a glaring necessity of initiating an exclusive department dedicated to the CSR.
The challenge of managing multiple shareholder interests is again a huge issue. This is due to the huge diversity in CSR activities. It has to recognize the differences in interest and formulate a strategy to mediate them properly. They will also have to deeply and objectively understand the needs of their key stakeholders and accordingly deliver. This will help to increase the TATA CSR‘s effectiveness and decrease resources used on low prioritized stakeholders.
Surveys will have to be conducted to key in on the key expectations of the villagers staying near to the suggested and established operation areas. This will help reduce or eliminate the revolts against any potential expansion plans of the company.
CSR is not an afterthought or an infrastructure, but an intangible activity in which the employees are invested. Only a part of the whole employees are engaged in this. So a larger representation from diverse backgrounds helps the company give them a personal touch to the activity, with the localised employees better understanding the actual needs of the people.
The task ahead would be highly daunting. So the right mix of talent, attitude, strategy and implementation, only would help TPC to sail through the highly troubled and challenging waters of turning the new and planned land acquisitions into profitable enterprises.
ALTERNATE SOLUTIONS: 1. Creating a separate CSR department: TPC can capitalize on the culture of CSR (already developed due to the employee volunteer efforts), by selecting some home grown employees to fill in the new department. Key executive positions should be a mixture of internal employees already familiar with the culture of TPC and the outside leadership with background in CSR. The primary responsibility would be to define TPC’s CSR goals and spread awareness, have requisite knowledge of sustainability and disseminate that knowledge to draft the CSR policy, respond to the issues, measure performance, ensure transparency, and communicate with the stakeholders. 2. Annual CSR report : The CSR department should produce an annual report, providing a complete portfolio of CSR efforts in one place 3. Prioritize Stakeholders: Stakeholders for the company include employees, stockholders, foreign governments, domestic and foreign customers etc. So TPC must recognize the difference of interests and formulate a strategy to mediate them properly. It also should seek to prioritize the stockholders of the company, listing the people and organizations that are affected the most by the operation by the company. 4. Understanding stakeholders : They must strive to deeply understand their key stakeholders, communicate effectively with them and engage them in new project initiatives vital to the growth of the company 5. Conduct surveys: Internal and external surveys can be conducted. Internal surveys can cover topics such as strategic planning, potential managerial conflicts, and employee growth. External survey will help it to gauge the key expectations of villagers who live near the plants and areas of operations. It will help to decrease any revolt against any potential expansion plans of Tata. By this they will better understand and win over both their internal and external stakeholders 6. Public private model: The new model can have a three way partnership between TPC, govt organization, and NGO’s, always following the triple bottom line approach, that it already has. It needs to partner with NGO’s and other voluntary organizations involved in ground level work, experts in social dynamics. 7. The CSR policy should focus on a) identification of social felt needs that need intervention b) methodology for talent identification in the community, c) financial implications d) community feedback analysis, e) result mapping f) future projection g) interdepartmental synergy

RECOMMENDATIONS:

* Retain employee volunteer structure * Create sustainable council with NGO partnership * Tata power can sort social issue into categories- for each of its business units and primary locations and then rank them in terms of potential impact. These rankings will provide a base line for the CSR council to review which projects will have the greatest ROI * TPC should be attuned to evolving social concerns of the stakeholder and mitigating existing or anticipated adverse effects from business activities * Tata power must specify clear and measurable goals and track results over time * It should have a more proactive and tailored internal process * Multi prospective approach- inside looking out and outside looking in * Better understanding of the key societal issues they are best suited to handle and their impact on the value chain activity * Engage operating management in processes that identify and prioritize social issues based in their salience to business operations and their importance to the company’s competitive context * It must shift from fragmented, defensive posture to and integrated, affirmative approach- which is emphasised in substance and not image