New Balance Focus to Develop an Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

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Introduction

Based on the information obtained by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (BCCC) regarding the position of New Balance on corporate social responsibility, the company is in pretty good shape. However, it has strategic hiccups that if dealt with, can give the company an even bigger advantage over its competitors in the shoe business. Corporate social responsibility is a huge concern in the modern business world. It has the potential of bringing down a business if not properly handled. This is the reason why New Balance as a company has the compulsion to streamline its social responsibility tactics. In this report, the areas of focus in the development of an integrated Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy will be discussed based on the data obtained from the case study.

The Areas of Focus

The three major areas that New Balance needs to focus on in developing a comprehensive corporate social responsibility strategy that is integral to the business are:-

The clarification of what responsible leadership (RL) or corporate social responsibility means.
The crafting of a workable or functional process for coming up with corporate social responsibility goals that are intimately connected to the day-to-day operations of the business.
The enhancement of communication within New Balance as a company and between New Balance and the outside world.

The Clarification of What Responsible Leadership (RL) or Corporate Social Responsibility Means

By all the names that this crucial attribute is known, corporate social responsibility seems to be a remotely understood concern within New Balance. This is ironic given the enormously good deeds that the company is engaged in as far as interactions with the community are concerned. As indicated by the findings of the assessors, the company treats its employees with the utmost respect with benefits and reasonable salaries. The communities that live in areas where the company has established businesses are taken care of in terms of charitable contributions from the company as well as being given the chance to be part of its volunteer program. There are also the employment opportunities that are given to the locals and the reduced environmental pollution from its plants. All these acts are in line with sound corporate social responsibility traditions but this is not made clear to all the employees of the company. The way to go is to ensure that the concept of corporate social responsibility is defined comprehensively to make it clear that the company takes the concept seriously and that all employees must make it a reality. All the elements of the corporate social responsibility policy that New Balance comes up with should be explained to the stakeholders so that everyone understands what a certain act means to not only the company but also the outside community. Thus the deliberate setting of targets to meet certain objectives becomes easy instead of accomplishing tasks accidentally. For example, it becomes easy for the management to say that at a certain period, the company will sponsor a walk in support of a local hospital as a way of improving the living conditions of the people and not a way of marketing the products of New Balance. It is possible that in the process the image of the company improves but the major objective of the company is not marketing.

The Crafting Of a Workable or Functional Process for Coming up With Corporate Social Responsibility Goals That Are Intimately Connected To The Day To Day Operations Of The Business

New Image lacks a process through which goals for corporate social responsibility can be set. Thus such gals do not exist apart from the general understanding that the company gets a good standing. Since the process to establish these goals is missing, it simply means that these goals are not set, and thus no connection between corporate social responsibility and the core strategic plan of the company. Coming up with a clear process will avail the platform on which the aims of the responsible leadership plan will be set. The basis for all these will be ensuring that the business not only remains afloat but also maintains a competitive edge over its peers such as Nike in the sports shoe business. But why is the process for establishing clear goals for responsible leadership missing? The answer to this question is in the findings of the assessors regarding the operations of New Balance. There is a clear leadership problem in the area of corporate social responsibility. The point of weakness is the top in that the high-ranking officials of the company have not come forward to give the much-needed direction as far as dealing with corporate social responsibility is concerned. The leadership will play a key role in the creation of this process and later on the goals which will then be integrated into the core operational guidelines of the company.

Enhancement of Communication within New Balance as a Company and Between New Balance and the Outside World.

It is true that if someone does something good and no one knows about it, it may not make much difference. Its good effects will not inspire anyone in that no one has witnessed the good act. New Balance is engaged in numerous commendable activities that are not properly communicated both within and without the company (Veleva, p. 14). Communicating these good acts within the company will have the effect of showing the employees how seriously the company takes such good acts. Communicating the same outside the company has the possibility of inspiring other industry players to copy and therefore enhance the way companies interact with people who live near the business locations of these companies.

There is also the crucial element of communication that runs from one employee to another that makes any endeavor successful and this includes the creation of the missing process for making corporate social responsibility goals as identified elsewhere in this report.

Conclusion

As explained in the body of this report, New Balance has a strong base in the area of corporate social responsibility. The only problem is that all that is being done that is considered part and parcel of corporate social responsibility is not structured given the absence of a corporate social responsibility strategy. The absence of a process to come up with goals for corporate social responsibility and linking these goals to company policy and the lack of a clear explanation or definition of responsible leadership or corporate social responsibility are some of the bottlenecks that New Balance is facing. There is also the big issue of poor communication within and without the Company. This means that the company is not able to adequately inform its employees and its customers as well as the rest of the society about its actions (Veleva, p. 13). Thus the good deeds that New Balance does go unreported and with this goes the chance to inspire not only its customers but also other companies in the industry. These there are the major areas of focus that New Balance needs to deal with in its bid to come up with a sound corporate social responsibility strategy that is part of its business.

Works Cited

Veleva, Vesela.New Balance: Developing an Integrated CSR Strategy. Ontario: Ivey Management Services Publishing.2010.Print.

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