Category: Social Responsibility

The varying initiatives used by the banking sector in advancing employee-focused corporate social responsibility is explored in the article through a research study conducted in New Zealand and Australia alongside other European based banks. Different banks are analyzed on the basis of their present stated corporate social responsibility that has been focused on employees. In addition, some o the policies used by the very banks based on reports obtained from the annual financial records, corporate social responsibility reports as well as information gathered from the web. These reports are then critically compared with up to date academic literature in addition to internationally recognized standards of regulation.

This detailed research method is aimed at obtaining a more balanced and justified report finding. According to the inferences deduced from the research study, the European bank are generally perceived and assumed to be more thorough and superb in their banking and reporting practices as far as employee-focused corporate social responsibility is concerned. Nonetheless, the Northern Hemisphere banks are also found to be less versatile in certain areas of corporate social responsibility that are focused on employees especially after the findings obtained from New Zealand/Australian banks were concluded. Finally, the research article recaps with the possible limitations of the study conducted and the other research areas which should be conducted in future.

The performance of employees and their general commitment to the well being of a organisation is paramount (Backhuas, et al., 2002). The research study conducted on the European banks focusing on the importance of social corporate responsibility on employees can be used to make business decisions in all levels of management. For instance, the research study is relevant in the sense that it is an eye opener to the management in regard to how employees behave with respect to corporate social responsibility. In addition, the commitment of employees in organizations in relation to corporate social responsibility is very important if any positive growth is to be realized. Organizations which optimize on the potential of employees in their different areas of skills, competence and talent are more likely to reap huge benefits alongside meeting the needs of consumers in the dynamic market (Bentley, 2006).

Moreover, there is a close link between organizational commitment and the general social corporate responsibility (CSR). Through well coordinated CSR, employees and above all, the target market will be able to build long terms relationship. This will in turn create a healthy ground for customer loyalty towards consuming products and services from a particular organisation.

The third most important link is that between organizational commitment and performance. The research study is also relevant to researchers in all business enterprises (Horrigan, 2010).

One significant attribute of employee-focused CSR is that organizations can boost the performance of their employees by engaging then in social exercises. One way through which this can be achieved is through involving the employees in the process of identification of the community needs as well as charting the way forward on how to meet the very needs (Idowu & Filho, 2009). Further, organizations ought to involve the welfare and overall well being of employees in the course of discharging corporate duties. Consumers complete the channel of production and as a result, their needs should also be met. The success of the benefits derived from employee-focused can only be met if the respective organizations comply with the government requirements.

All these initiatives works positively towards affecting the commitment of employees in organizations and at the same time boosting the performance of an organisation. Policies that are related to employees can also be designed with the help of the findings obtained from this research study. Well defined policies that favor rather than hamper the working morale of employees are necessary. Moreover, if employees feel that certain organizational policies are unfavorable and punitive to them, they will lose both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to deliver their services. The level of loyalty will also be affected significantly leading to a lower degree of commitment to the organisation.

The employee-focused CSR research study is also an important point of reference for research studies that may be carried on the subject in future. The main motivating factor that led the researchers to conduct this study is the need to identify why some banks are more successful and profitable than others in the financial market and why customers will be drifted closer to certain organizations than others. From the findings obtained in the research, it is concluded that when the needs of employees and indeed those of consumers are given priority, an organisation will by no doubt be in the right path towards success.

One of the strongest points in the article is that the subject matter is indeed appropriate and applicable to the issue under discussion. The topic “A Research Note: Employee-focused corporate social responsibility reporting in the banking industry” (Raubenheimer, 2008) has been intensively and extensively researched based on the empirical study of European banks and their initiatives towards employee-focussed corporate social responsibility. The research study has also been backed up with pertinent citations form a variety of sources. Besides, each of the sub domains of the topic has been vividly discussed and as a result, it is quite easy for the reader to follow through.

The organisation of the research method used is also brilliant bearing in mind that the researchers began by collecting secondary data, expounded on their source of data as well as the method used to collect the data. For instance, secondary data was obtained from recent academic literature, reputable websites as well as regulatory bodies such as Charted Institute of Personnel and Development which is based in UK. In addition, the researchers made use of illustrations in form of diagrams. While reading through the content of the article, the reader is left with a feeling of being talked to and not talked down (Crane, 2008).

Another important strength of the article is the relevance of the content matter in relation to purpose of the research. The European/International banks are being compared with their counterparts in New Zealand and Australia. Indeed, the research methodology, results and inferences all abide by the initial purpose of the research.

The researchers also made some background study on the field of employee-focussed corporate social responsibility before embarking in the process of collecting basic data. Such a procedure is indeed necessary for a quality research process whereby background information is used to shed light on the type and nature of data required.

The tallying system used to rank performance indicators in terms of the scores obtained is a useful analytical point in the research. The table is comprehensive and the reader can glance over the key indicators easily. For instance, the research study found out that for banks which have their CSR reporting kept well, diversity is an important ingredient since its number of comprehensive scores was 8. The international reporting standards used as part of data sources for the research is welcome since such standards are have been reviewed objectively and recommended for use (Rettab, et al., 2009).

However, the article presents on major weakness in terms of the methodology used to gather research evidence. The main limitation of the article is that the researchers made use of secondary data in analysing the corporate social responsibility reporting of these banks. The study would have been profound and self supportive if primary data gathered directly from the target audience were incorporated in the research analysis (Hond et al., 2007).

In addition, the researchers analysed a very limited number of banks. The New Zealand/Australian banks that were researched on included the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), ASB, BNZ and Westpac. The European/international banks that were subjected to research were The Co-operative Bank of England, HSBC Bank of England, Deutsche Bank of Germany, Barclays Bank of England and Danske Bank of Denmark (Raubenheimer, 2008. This was a relatively narrow array of institutions to analyze. In order to reduce the possible error margin, the researchers should have included wider pool of banks, with more variety in terms of geographical location. For instance, most of the banks analysed in Europe mainly came from England.

Another evident weakness in the research is that the banks that the researchers studied banks that are superior in the financial market and ignored the upcoming banks.

The assumption that sources of data used may have been adequate might be wrong. A critical look at corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports will often reveal that institutions may only keep and provide certain data that they think are relevant to them (Mallin, 2009).. Moreover, the use of websites may also prove to be unreliable owing to the extensive use of such sites in advertising. Consequently, some information obtained from websites can be skewed and lack objectivity.

This research study could have been made better by first of all gathering primary data to be used for analysis (Banerjee, 2007). Secondary data should be used sparingly since tan independent and customised study is necessary in order to draw comparative conclusions with previous findings.

After data collection, better analysis tool should be used. For example, the use of SPSS to analyse raw data. Thereafter, the data should be transformed into variables that can be understood. Using the structural equation technique, the data is then analysed and the right hypothesis is drawn. The structural equation assists in the process of identifying variables which are then used to develop the theory into practice. Although this method may be complicated and requires specialised skills, the outcome of any research study is expected to have a negligible error margin (Keinert, 2008).

Finally, it is imperative to note that in spite of the observed weaknesses in the research study carried out on the New Zealand/Australia and European/international banks, the finding were valid. According to other research studies carried out on the influence of employees on social corporate responsibility, it has been found that employee-focussed CSR has a positive effect on the performance of organisations (Albinger &Freeman, 2000). In addition, the research study was keen to include international banks in Europe thereby strengthening the overall outcome.

However, future research on the subject should attempt to explore an in-depth relationship between CSR and human resource issues and establish how the two components can be integrated for optimum organizational performance (Brammer, Millington & Rayton, 2007).

References

Albinger HS, Freeman SJ (2000). “Corporate social performance and attractiveness as an employer to different job seeking population”. J.Bus. Ethics: 28-243-253.

Backhuas, et al. (2002). “Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employer attractiveness”. Bus. Soc., 41:292-318.

Banerjee, B.S. (2007). “Corporate social responsibility: the good, the bad and the ugly”, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing limited.

Bentley, E.G. (2006). “CSR and staff retention in New Zealand Companies: a literature review”. Working Paper Series, Department of Management and International Business, Messy University, New Zealand.

Brammer, S.; Millington, A. and Rayton, B. (2007). “The contribution of corporation social responsibility to organizational commitment”. Int. J. Hum. Res. Manag. 18 (10):1701-1719.

Crane, A. (2008). “The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility”, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mallin, A.C. (2009). “Corporate social responsibility: a case study approach”, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing limited.

Hond, et al. (2007). Managing corporate social responsibility in action: talking, doing and measuring Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited

Horrigan, B. (2010). “Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century”, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing limited.

Idowu, O.S. and Filho, L.W. (2009). “Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility”, Berlin: Springer.

Keinert, C. (2008). “Corporate social responsibility as an international strategy”, Heidelberg: Physica.

Raubenheimer, K. (2008). “A Research Note: Employee-focused corporate social responsibility reporting in the banking industry”, New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 33(3): 91-104.

Rettab, et al. (2009). “A study of management perceptions of impact of corporate social responsibility on organizational performance in emerging economic: a case of Dubai”. J. Bus. Ethics, 89:317-390.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility is an essential aspect in the business world. It is an obligation for a business organization to pursue long term goals that are good for the society. It can also be termed as the continuing commitment by business firms to behave in an ethical manner and contribute to economic development while at the same time enhancing the quality of life of the employees and their families.

The business firm should also enhance the lives of the local community and the entire society around which it operates (Kotler, 2005). This piece of work looks at an individual, Karl Mark, evaluating him with respect to corporate social responsibility and its effects on his career.

Discussion

Abiding by corporate social responsibility practices is not only beneficial to a business organization but also to individuals who participate in it. An individual’s perception and view about the idea of corporate social responsibility influences ones life greatly in terms of career progression and the behavior of the general public towards the individual.

This therefore dictates that it is advisable to support the idea of corporate social responsibility for the sake of one’s prosperity as well as that of the society at large despite the cost that could be involved.

Karl Marx was an active economic activist and socialist who was involved with many activities during his lifetime. It is evident that Karl Marx would totally support the idea of corporate social responsibility.

This is because of his nature and how he perceived life in general. He cared more about the communities and would therefore support any effort aimed at supporting the society in any way. He was against capitalism and supported collective gain among the society members (Marx, not dated).

In his career, Karl Mark was able to succeed due to the support he gave to the society in regard to advocating for developmental projects aimed at helping members of the society in an effort to uplift their living standards. Karl Mark’s economic and socialist work gained considerable support from people due to the fact that the benefits associated with the activities were clear (Marx, Easton and Guddat, 1997).

Business organizations should operate bearing in mind that the society is a crucial element that contributes towards their success. Without the support of the people who surround a business organization, it is difficult for it to succeed in its undertakings. This is because it requires a symbiotic relationship to be established between a business enterprise and the society around it.

This is so as both need each other for success. A business organization may need the society as buyers as well suppliers. They could also be a source of workforce in various positions for example marketers bearing in mind that they are in a better position to reach as many clients as possible.

The business should therefore go an extra mile in providing services to the society as a way of fulfilling corporate social responsibility. This could be through undertaking of some developmental projects that aim at enhancing the lives of the people.

Throughout his entire life, Karl Marx attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the society and its nature in an effort to ensure that their rights are fulfilled. He for example supported aspects like education and enlightenment of the people so that they would be in a position to fight for their rights and social justice.

Provision of educative programs by business enterprises to the community is a form of corporate social responsibility and plays a great role in ensuring that members of the society are well equipped with some knowledge and skills which in turn allows them to live a better and sustainable life for instance through securing employment opportunities (Eastman, 1959).

There are various benefits associated with corporate social responsibility. For example, it avoids excessive regulation, it is ethical and improves an individual’s and firm’s public image, enhances the social environment and more so, some socially responsible actions are profitable. It is also a good way of correcting social problems that might have been caused by various activities.

In cases of a business, it provides a competitive advantage, attracts and retains employees through motivation and attracts investors. It therefore follows that business enterprises should always foster corporate social responsibility.

Although Karl Mark received a lot of objections from the authorities such as the governments, he tried his best to enhance the lives of the society and for this reason his name and work will live to be remembered over the years. This is more so because of his contribution towards the understanding of society (Foot, 2004).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is evident that corporate social responsibility is critical to economic development due to the fact that it empowers societies.

Abiding by corporate social responsibility practices is not only beneficial to a business organization but also to individuals who participate in it. An individual’s perception and view about the idea of corporate social responsibility influences his or her career and how the general public reacts towards him or her.

Reference List

Eastman, M. (1959). Capital, the Communist Manifesto and Other Writings. New York: Modern Library.

Foot, P. (2004). Karl Marx: the Best Hated Man, Socialist review. Web.

Kotler, P. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Marx, K. (n d). Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Web.

Marx K, Easton, D.L and Guddat H.K. (1997). Writings of the Young Marx on Philosophy and Society. New York: Hackett Publishing.

Executive Summary

To worthy causes, it is important that as a member of the society, the business entities should give their support which mainly includes donating money and devoted time. The corporate social responsibility emerged in the United State and Europe as corporation became more powerful and then the communities started reacting to their excess power.

Even thought the corporate social responsibility has been in existence since the 1990s, its application has increased in the 2000s with many nations developing legal basis for it. Many of these laws assert that the reason for using the CSR policy has two major reasons; to optimize the work of private sector in the societal welfare and to decrease the possible social gap between the local community and the “company community”.

The state has urged companies to become a source of welfare not simply for their employees but also for the whole community in general. For this company, the corporate social responsibility is normally stretched beyond money donations and volunteering of time for what it’s worth. This policy has become a way in through which the company basically operates.

The company seeks to be the best member of the society by operating responsibly to the employees, the community in general. The operations of the Company are environment friendly and supportive of the sustainable environment. This is the reason the firm invests in the welfare of the organisation through grants, fundraising, community service, scholarships and awards. The firm has made CSR an integral part of this business plan, action plans and goals.

Introduction

There are essentially three levels of social responsibility that this company pursues. The first level is just institutional and this is done in accordance to the company’s general responsibility as a business entity to the society. This includes paying tax and observing the minimum wage requirement.

The second is organisational level where this company takes responsibility for its activities and operations and the impact to the society like wastes and energy emissions. The third level and the one that is addressed in this report is the ‘individual’ responsibility and this is finds its basis in the fact that there is administrative discretion and managers act as social actors and they make the decisions on how the business would give back to the society.

Case Study I: Australian Red Cross

History

The vision of the organisation is to improve the lives of the most susceptible individuals in Australia and across the world by mobilisation of the humanitarian support.

The Australian Red Cross was established as a branch of the British Red Cross in 1914. The organisation was formed as an initiative of Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson. She was the wife of the governor general and she convened a meeting exactly nine days after the First World War had begun and this was on 13^th august 1914 (Suter, 2010, p. 1).

She was previously been a member of the British red cross in Fyfe, Scotland and by virtue of this, she definitely aware of the crucial role the organisation had played in Britain in the previous years (Oppenheimer, 2008, p. 45). At the same time she invited the wives of all the governors to create a local committee in every capital which readily accepted and this way, the Australian Red cross was born (Suter, 2010, p. 1).

The First World War

The major task that the initial Australian Red Cross was charged with was to offer first aid care to the wounded troops. The services offered included distribution simple necessities like soaps for bathing and washing, special food stuffs for the victims, other toiletries and other help needed by the sick as well.

In very few weeks after the formations this organisation, it got help very fast and it was already set to distribute items like clothing. The victims were therefore provided with shirts, socks and cardigans since many had lost their properties. Because they also sustained injuries, the Red Cross enabled provision of medication and medical equipment.

In few months the Australian red cross expanded its services and begun shipping items like hospital facilities, food stuffs and mosquito nets. It started providing voluntary Aid Detachments where the volunteer took care of the sick and injured people in hospital on transportation on trains and the convalescent homes (Suter, 2010, p. 1).

In 1915, this branch of Red Cross started the transportation service which later became one of the main activities of the organisation. These services enabled driving of soldiers who were injured and brought to the hospital ships back to their homes and to convalescent facilities.

In a very short time, up to 1916, the services had enough vehicles serving battle fields of France, east Africa and Italy. This experience of the First World War made the organisation realise that transport was the main activity (Suter, 2010, p. 2). This included ambulance rounds and trips to collect materials and return patients home.

In 1945, the Red Cross had a very efficient transport department performing at its peak as a result of its efficiency and the number of victims of the war, this department experienced the highest need ever. The volunteering drivers drove 1000s of injured servicemen and prisoners of war to hospitals, homes, and convalescence facilities.

The roads were seen having many buses and vans in airports, railways and other terminuses picking soldiers (Suter, 2010, p. 2). The Red Cross supplied these personal except professionals like nurses and doctors. The Red Cross undertook to care for enormous activities during the Second World War period, consequently, its volunteers actively worked alongside medical practitioners to execute this assistance.

In the post war time, the Australian Red Cross became actively involved in offering emergency services and developmental relief help to many nations in the region (Suter, 2010, p. 3). Many parts of the world were in great disparity and the Red Cross took the initiative of fulfilling the humanitarian responsibility whenever it could. However the main focus was to provide help to regions overseas. These areas included the Asia pacific region and Africa.

One main department of the Australian Red Cross was the blood service which was established in 1929 to provide blood testing and transfusion services. Today it is the best blood service on the planet. Currently, the national office if the organisation is located in Melbourne and its chief executive officer has society-wide responsibility.

Each major city has state and territory officers responsible for recruiting and provision of services. These services include blood services, first aid, health and safety issues, tracing and refugee services and disaster and community service (Suter, 2010, p. 3). The organisation is also an active member of the international Red Cross operating in 186 nations.

The achievement of this organisation were to provide services to the world war victims and in the recent times, it has been very active in responding to the disaster like tsunami, accidents, the Indonesian earthquake and other program in the community supporting vulnerable people and giving them a chance to improve their lives (Suter, 2010, p. 4). The Red Cross also has programs across the world dealing in the issues related to HIV/AIDS pandemic, provision of clean water and sanitation.

The mission of the organisation has been to be the leader in provisions of humanitarian services in Australia, improving lives of susceptible persons via service delivery and to promote the humanitarian regulations and values. The size of the organisation is very large as it operates worldwide. It has over 1 million volunteers and 6,000 members serving in many countries across the world.

The structure of the organisation is simple and decentralized leadership style. There are overseas programs representing the organisation in international affairs and nine department of operation. Internationally, is managed at three levels; the council which comprises of 53 voting members with major positions of president and vice president (Australian Red Cross, 2009, para. 1).

There are also positions chairpersons of every divisional advisory board in the management team. Other important posts are the audit and risk management committee.

To ensure equal representation, there is the position of a youth member. There is the chairperson of the blood service as this is a major department of Red Cross. Finally there are six special councillors, state and territory representatives (Australian Red Cross, 2009, para. 1). The committee receives organisational reports and financial statements. They also have the powers to vote for or appoint board members. They have the responsibility of selecting auditors and to amending the royal charter and rules.

At the second level, the board comprises of 16 members headed by the president. The members include a youth member, blood services chairperson, divisional advisory board chairpersons and the risk management committee. The third level is the Chief Executive Officer who is delegated to the daily affairs by the board (Australian Red Cross, 2009, para. 1).

This is the manger of the services of the organization through departmental managers like chief financial officer director fundraising and marketing, chief operations officer. All the council members volunteers their skills, sacrifice their time and energy for humanitarian benefit.

The organisation recruits international workers are paid when on abroad mission. This is achieved through technical phone interviews where the applicant discusses their qualification, skills and experience. The Red Cross also conducts behaviour assessments and then successful candidates are hired and further trained on the relevant skills and policies of the organisation at the international Mobilisation for Action (IMPACT) (Australian Red Cross, 2009, para. 1).

Our company can support the Red Cross by allocating the $ 200,000 to the humanitarian kitty especially to support medical, health and safety services. This is because in the recent past, the cases of disasters have increased and medical response is needed where the Red Cross team is required to respond promptly (Australian Red Cross, 2009, para. 1).

Case Study II

History

In 1947, Dr. Bob Pierce reported that he had come across a situation that totally changed his life when he was on mission to China. Pierce had encountered a battered and abandoned child called White Jade this child was temporarily in the customer of her teacher, World Vision International, (2009, para. 2).

He gave five dollars, the only money he had at that moment to the teacher and promised he would send the same amount every month until when the child would fully recover. This encounter inspired him to establish an organisation that would take care of the needs of children ad they seemed to be uncared for by other humanitarian organisations across the world Vision International, (2009, para. 2).

This way, the Vision was born. In 1953, the child sponsorship program was initiated. The objective of this program was to respond to the needs (shelter, food, clothing, education, emotional support and love) of thousands of children who became victims of the Korean War. Currently, the organisation is operational in 90 developing nations across the world (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369).

By the year 1957, the organisation had found enough grounds to get it rolling and therefore it opened its first office in a small space in downtown Toronto. Currently the organisation has big national headquarters in Mississauga and has become one of the major and busiest office in the partnership (Gibbs & Grey, 2006, p. 141).

Size, work and achievement

The organisation relies on support from individuals, government agencies, and corporate partners who are companies like ours (Rondinelli, 2006, p. 45). The world vision address the plight of the poor children, those marginalized for other reasons and seeks to develop developmental programs that are sustainable in community work (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369).

The organisation has over 607,319 donors across the globe supporting it and some companies give out money to the organisation s part of their corporate social responsibility work. World vision also has partnerships with over 390 projects worldwide and this is what has given the organisation enough resources to be able to offer help to millions of children and impoverished around the world each every year.

Currently, over 454,309 children benefit from projects run by the organisation across the world. The organisation has focused on fostering change in developing nations and responding to emergency conditions in these regions. The organization strives to change unjust policies, and structure via foreign policy and establishing projects that empower the poor people (Garth, 2007, p. 5).

Its partnerships with the governmental agencies and other humanitarian projects across the world have made world vision become a leader in overseas development and as a result the organisation is able to address the vulnerable children (Tim & Claire, 2003, p. 294). The organisation provides help for child poverty eradication, offer health and nutritional help, assistance during armed conflict and HIV/AIDS intervention (Garth, 2007, p. 5).

Organisational culture is that the organisation is a Christian based relief and development body and a major humanitarian worker. it engages in activities like, provision of children sponsorship programs (Gibbs & Grey, 2006, p. 141), promoting Christian values, enhancing community awareness to justice, campaign for sensitivity to the needs of others, provision of emergency relief and working in collaboration with churches and governments to promote the general welfare of children especially the orphans (Tim & Claire, 2003, p. 294).

The World Vision International now headquartered in Monrovia California and it has a staff of 40,000 employee across the globe and 48 national officers across the world and operating in 100 countries. Most of the funding is from the private individual, foundations and corporations (Rondinelli, 2006, p. 65). The government also gives its support.

Organizational Structure

The world vision is a legal entity and it has a simple international organizational structure to enable it run its operations properly. The national offices include the members and partners of world vision. On the international arena, the organisation is managed by the World vision council (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369).

The council has the responsibility of designing the structure of membership, finding and entering into partnership. The council also has representatives in every national office in the countries that it operates in. The council meets after every three years to develop policies and recommend them to the board, design strategies and evaluate whether the strategic goals were met (Tim & Claire, 2003, p. 294).

The board has 25 members and they are only from 19 countries where the organisation has operations. The board meets twice a year. The board has power to elect and fire officers and employees. It’s also the responsibility of the board to appoint members to national committees and make resource disburdenment. To exercise responsible management and accountability the board hires independent auditors and amend and repeal bylaws.

The Australian national management is a very good representation of corporate governance. It is managed by a board of 14 non-executive directors who regularly reviews the organizational mission, values, resources ethical standards and the financial position so as to ensure accurate auditing and legal, statutory and moral law compliance. The board has a number of subcommittee that helps to evaluate the business environment, threats and opportunities so as to protect the assets and oversee corporate governance processes.

Marketing and promotion

The strategy used is mainly promoting the organization on the television. Watching TVC has been very effective in pulling heart strings. The managers say how else they can get the attention of people when they are not aware that there is a pathetic nation suffering. The out of sight out of mind blocks people who can assist from thinking about charity.

The organization bombards the audience with the images depicting disparity in the developing nations to help them gain sympathy. Even though marketer complain that this negative images build disparity, world vision states that there is no actual ‘want’ that it wishes to fill and therefore the TVC creates a discontent.

Comparison and Contrast of Both Organisations

Comparison

The humanitarian work in Australia is very effective and the NGOs are very actively involved and this has greatly increased the impact to these organisation to the community and reach of the aid. Major players include Australian Red Cross and the World Vision among others (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369). These two organisations have been very active for a very long time in the country especially delivering aid to overseas projects.

Both organisation are recognised by the Australian government as the most valuable NGOs in the country they have a very good partnership with the government and this has helped them to be efficient in their delivery of assist around the country. These two organisations alone account for up to 7 percent of the aid programs in the country (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369).

These organisations are able to bring particular strength to the society and the Australian projects. The organisations mobilise public support and voluntary contribution to the support (Oppenheimer, 2008, p. 45).

These organisations have very strong connections and wider network with the community and this is what makes them efficient in penetrating and taking help to the needy people in the developing countries. They are able to offer aid and other type of services to even areas that the government-to-government connection or aid cannot be attained because of various reasons.

These organizations have a lot of experience and expertise in address the needs of people in disparity times especially during emergencies where there needs to be fast and flexible responses.

Both world vision and Red Cross contribute to the kit that the Australian government needs to progress its projects abroad or overseas. They do this in collaboration with the aid agency of the government of Australia and education.au (Oppenheimer, 2008, p. 48)

The world vision and the Red Cross have been very active in provision of quick response and generous support to the communities in need following humanitarian crises at national and international levels (Johnson & Stoskopf, 2010, p. 369). The organisations have been effective in supporting international responses to places like pacific islands, Indonesia, Africa, Asia and Iraq.

Contrast

Australian Red Cross focused on emergency response to the victims of accidents, natural disasters and war (Oppenheimer, 2008, p. 45). The organisation has hence been seen to be active in activities like distribution of health facilities and water. For instance when the Cyclone Yasi hit Australian in the northern Queensland, about 150,000 fled their homes to seek safety elsewhere.

The Red Cross responded to provide first and safety services, food stuff and water among other things. Since then the organisation has sought to up its effort to provide for the needs of those in desperate situation and has included major activities like evacuation and recovery as main projects it ventures in. The word vision does not actively engage on provision of first aids services and evacuation activities.

By virtue of this, the Australian Red Cross has been actively providing emergency preparedness services to help people in preparation for emergencies focusing on the most vulnerable communities like the elderly and people with disabilities (Oppenheimer, 2008, p. 48). They also seek to strengthen people’s resilience when faced with emotional and financial problems.

Red Cross responds to emergencies and offer personal support to the victims to survive after the disaster or problem they experienced. This helps in coping between with the long term impact of the disasters. World vision supports children to cope when they are orphaned contrary to the emergency respond to unexpected disasters.

The world vision operates mainly with projects to target its clients. The relief projects could be short terms while project like rehabilitating people can last longer even up to 15 years. The main goal for the program is to empower the community and help the people to become self-reliant via a number of activities that could include health benefits, leadership development and trainings in small businesses.

Besides relief and long-term projects, world vision is also involvement in emergency responsible. Initially the organisation only focused on helping children and meeting their long-term needs like education but it has since revised its policies and now offers emergency services.

When tsunami hit Japan, the organisation was among the first ones to respond to the disaster and provided relief services. It was also very actively involved in the Haitian earthquake as well as that of Chile. It distributed emergency materials to Miyagi and also provides clean water, blankets, food and temporary shelters.

The main goal of world vision has still remained to focus on children especially those orphaned by HIV/AIDS and offer them basic needs, education and social support. This has enabled the organisation to be very strong in empowering the society.

Conclusion

Generally, the change in economical output and productivity of businesses can be influenced by corporate citizenship. The government polices and the public policies have an impact on the way CSR is implemented and the distribution of resources.

The implementation can be decreased when the government gain more trust from the public or when the economy greatly improves and when the public demands the government should take more responsibility on the social welfare on the community. As already implied companies are not island and need to develop good relationship with the community as corporate citizens as well. It has a second benefit of improving the company’s reputation besides the feeling of satisfaction for doing the right thing.

Recommendations

We recommend that the $200,000 be allocated to health activities. This is a good place to exercise corporate responsibility (Aaronson & Reeves, 2002, p. 67). Humanitarian activities are not about competition but collective responsibilities and consequently, organisation that are pursuing these goals need to work together in partnership.

It is recommended that the organisations that support provision of water and sanitation as well as hygiene projects. Access to clean water is very critical for the community’s basic health and it can actually reduce the mortality rates of children in Australia.

Considering that accidents happen unexpectedly and cause serious damage and mayhem, there needs to be better and enhanced international and regional coordination of the Australian humanitarian projects. The health systems are usually the most affected in such events.

The Australian policy provides that health should be given the highest priority especially infectious diseases among children. World vision seeks to prevent this as the Red Cross supplied medical equipment and material to be used.

Reference List

Aaronson, S & Reeves, J., 2002, Corporate Responsibility in the Global Village: The Role of Public Policy. National Policy Association, Washington, DC.

Australian Red Cross, 2009, Organization Structure. Web.

Garth, L., 2007, How is the Neighbours’ Health?, World Vision, Australia. Web.

Gibbs, E.A & Grey, P. G. 2006, Five Foundations Of Human Development: Is Our Material Driven Life A Threat, Authorhouse, Bloomington P. 141.

Johnson, J.A., & Stoskopf, C.H., 2010, Comparative Health Systems: Global Perspectives, Jones & Bartlett Learning: Sudbury, MA.

Oppenheimer, M., 2008. Volunteering: Why We Can’t Survive Without It, UNSW Press: Sydney.

Rondinelli, D. 2006. ‘Globalization Of Sustainable Development? Principles And Practices In Transnational Corporations,’ Paper Presented At MESD 2006 International Research Colloquium In The Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

Suter, K. 2010. Australian Red Cross Society, Global Direction.

Tim, K & Claire, M., 2003. ‘Empowering the People? World Vision and ‘Transformatory Development’ In Northern Tanzania,’ Review Of African Political Economy, 39 (96): 293-304.

World Vision International, 2009. History. Web.

Strategic corporate social responsibility compliance is an internal policy of most companies. The research focuses on compliance with strategic corporate social responsibility. The research includes study on the stakeholders. Strategic compulsory strategic corporate social responsibility improves the company’s public image among the various stakeholders.

Christian Bacher (2) theorized the implementation of strategic corporate responsibility is an important part of the employees’ or officers’ work itineraries. During this writer’s stay in Goldman’s, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers, it is the employees’ or officers’ compulsory duty to comply with the company’s corporate social responsibility policies.

The employees and officers of the company ensure that the company’s products and services comply with ethical standards. Ethical standards include giving the clients quality products manufactured without violating environmental laws. Likewise, strategic corporate social responsibility dictates the employees and officers of all companies must prioritize the public interest in all their decision-making activities.

Consequently, the officers and employees must ensure that all its business activities translates to the enhancement, uplifting, growth, improvement, development, and promotion of the interest of the employees, clients, stockholders, community, owners, suppliers, and other affected parties. The corporate officers must ensure the company’s compliance with all pertinent laws of the land, especially the labor laws.

For example, the companies must not charge loan interest rates that overshoot the limit set by the law on interest charges. The responsibility includes contributing financially to the stakeholders’ growth and development, including sponsoring community welfare projects.

In addition, three programs or initiatives offered by various companies fall outside corporate social responsibility. First, the Unocol Corporation and its president have been charged in court for the violation of established corporate social responsibility doctrines. The company and its officers were charged in court for implementing human rights violations in the workplace (Banerjee 63).

Second, many companies engage in graft and corruption practices to corner a larger chunk of the market segment. Some sales representatives irresponsibly offer bribe money or commissions to the current and prospective clients’ purchasing and other officers in exchange for winning the purchase orders (Hancock 126).

Lastly, Enron violated its strategic corporate social responsibility duties when it violated the provisions of the United States generally accepted accounting standards; the company fraudulently presented financial statement figures that were fraudulently higher than the actual financial statement amounts (Sims 153).

Based on the above discussion, strategic corporate social responsibility should be a compulsory internal policy of companies. The corporate social responsibility includes self-regulation.

The employees’ and officers’ workplace responsibilities include compulsory compliance with their company’s corporate social responsibility policies. Compliance enhances the company’s image among the community, employees, suppliers, and other affected parties. Indeed, compulsory strategic corporate social responsibility improves the company’s public image.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of self-regulation incorporated into organizations which functions as an instrument by which the corporation examines and ensures its active conformity with the provisions of the law, ethical norms, and global practices (Séguin and Parent, 2010). The main role of social initiatives is to uphold responsibility and promote a positive impact through its conduct towards the environment, customers, staff, the immediate community, and all members of the public domain.

In addition, CSR actively promotes the community’s growth and development and eradicates norms that harm the public, irrespective of legality. Although there is no single universally accepted definition of CSR, it can be summarized as the intentional inclusion of public interest into corporate or organizational decision-making processes, and the honoring of the three corporate pillars: people, planet, profit.

CSR ensures that a corporation goes beyond its legal requirements so as to handle staff with dignity, operate with integrity and ethics, respect human rights, sustain the environment for future generations, create strong positive relations with the surrounding communities, being responsible in the community, and a good ‘corporate citizen’ (Inoue, Kent, and Lee, 2011).

For a long time, stakeholders have recognized the potential of sports venues and sporting activities to form a platform for undertaking CSR activities. This has resulted into most corporations engaging in some form of CSR activity in sporting events. However, companies have recently shifted their focus driven by profit motivations, and are beginning to move away from CSR related activities to focus more on increasing their profit margins through such undertakings (Inoue et al, 2011).

Although both sponsorship and corporate social responsibility offer sources of funds, resources, and in-kind services to organizations, they differ in the nature of what they expect in exchange. Indeed, some scholars have suggested that marketing and corporate philanthropy sit at opposite ends of a donation continuum.

While CSR involves noble donations that are made based on personal values and not on personal gain, corporate decisions to sponsor sport properties are normally driven by business objectives although they may include intention to generate public goodwill regarding the organization and hence lead either to publicity of the whole company or of some of its products (Séguin and Parent, 2010).

However, one thing is clear: both CSR and sponsorships help a company in its marketing initiatives. In fact, sponsorships can wholly be regarded as a marketing initiative.

Corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important to organizations, governments, and service providers as they strive to meet the challenges of social and economic problems while altering welfare environments and this can be attributed to a number of factors, economic, social, cultural, legal and technological and so on.

However, according to Séguin and Parent (2010), progress in this area is often hampered by the fact that the field is under researched even as corporations face new demands to improve their accountability, transparency, integrity, and ethical behavior while observing the interests of its staff and that of the general public.

Indeed, a study by Ludwig and Karabetsos (1999) reported that few researchers have focused on how corporations and organizations can create an equilibrium between corporate social responsibility and marketing or sponsorship roles. The objective of this study is to identify the primary factors that influence a corporation’s involvement in CSR, and make recommendations on how a balance between marketing and corporate social responsibility can be achieved

Methodology

A mixed-methods approach was employed to analyze the motivation and level of involvement of corporations in CSR. A case study of teams participating in the NBA league in the United States was conducted to investigate the use of CSR in a major sporting event.

Analysis looked at individual corporations’ contributions, sponsorship activities and the motivation for engaging in these activities. Both quantitative and qualitative measures were helpful in examining the research objective and drawing conclusions. The research incorporates the following:

• Data gathered from IRS Form 990, 990-PF, and 990-EZ
• Statistical F-tests
• Related polls and surveys
• Additional information from articles and other studies

This research study examines sports foundations in the three major leagues across three quantitative measures: revenues, grants distributed, and net assets. Analyzing annual revenue gives incite into a foundation’s potential for generating income through contributions, gifts, or from charging fees for services.

Grants distributed indicate the organization’s current involvement in CSR and net assets indicate their ability to support activities in the future. Assessing these three variables is essential in understanding a sports’ foundations level of CSR and its ability to engage in CSR in the future.

The qualitative statistical methods used include One-Way ANOVA F-tests and Chi-Square/Contingency Table tests. These tests will determine the statistical significance of the relationships between CSR and different variable factors (including marketing and CSR roles). The ANOVA-test reveals if there is a significant difference between the level of contributions, profitability, and levels of CSR activities.

Qualitative analysis focuses on the NBA and its recent spike in CSR activities. Conclusions are drawn from polls and surveys conducted by ESPN, and analysis of articles on the topic. Organizations normally fill Form 990, 990-PF, or 990-EZ with the IRS. The form details information on the corporation’s mission, programs, and finances. The goal of the qualitative methods is to determine the extent of CSR in the NBA, their impact on the league and players, and the factors that influence a franchise’s CSR decisions.

Results and Discussion

This study used a mixed-methods approach to develop an understanding of the involvement of professional sports franchises in CSR. The underlying research question looked to identify the extent to which sports franchises engage in CSR and factors that influence this involvement. Quantitatively, this study proved that the league a corporation is involved in does impact its CSR activities.

ANOVA tests showed that performance impacts the level of CSR. In the NBA, there is a relationship between winning and charitable grants distributed. Teams with a winning season attract a larger level of sponsors and donations from corporations than losing teams. Qualitatively, a case study of the NBA revealed that player perception and league image is a motivating factor in determining the league’s level of CSR. Hence, CSR activities impacted positively on player performance on the pitch.

The question on the factors that influence corporations to engage in CSR was observed as an intervening, or confounding variable, as it featured strongly in both the ANOVA and quantitative analyses.

Corporations that invested more in CSR activities experienced a steady increase in profitability and product awareness. Surveys conducted showed that persons who supported a particular team were more likely to purchase products from the sponsors. When faced with two options of purchasing two similar products, a person was more likely to purchase the sponsor’s product.

Hence, it was concluded that marketing and profitability were major factors in corporations’ engagement in CSR activities. However, it was postulated that corporations’ engagement in sports is purely from a corporate social responsibility perspective and that the numerous benefits come automatically in virtue of the corporations’ CSR activities. Further research should be undertaken on this topic.

Future of CSR in Professional Sports

Several theories have been put forward to explain why corporations engage in sporting activities. Some of these theories point to a corporation’s objective of increasing its involvement with the local community, to increase general public awareness of the company, to enhance the corporation’s image, to alter or influence public perception of the company, to block competition, to increase sales and/or market share, to increase product awareness, and to reach a target market (Mullin, Hardy, and Sutton, 2000).

Either way, corporations need to establishing a perfect balance between CSR and marketing so that both the company and the public can benefit the corporation’s involvement in the event, rather than the current situation where corporations are the predominant winners in many sporting activities(Mullin et al., 2000). This balance can be achieved through the following strategies.

Responsibility

Corporations can create a balance between marketing and CSR by engaging in responsible advertising and in the dissemination of information. While the sponsors are accorded the rights to air advertisement of their products and engage in product awareness campaigns during sports events, corporations must refrain from running programs or commercials that may harm participants, the audience, and viewers in any way.

This observation mainly applies to corporations that produce alcoholic products such as Heineken and Anheuser-Busch (Polonsky and Speed, 2001). Corporations should run responsible drinking programs at their own will and not just due to coercion or pressure. Similar policies should be adopted by tobacco manufacturers. This would create a balance between marketing and CSR.

Life, Health, and Safety of all

While signing sponsorship agreements, corporations should bear that every party within the particular sporting scene is important towards the successful staging of the event, be it the spectators, participants, or persons watching at home. Consequently, the corporations’ sponsorship package must include programs aimed at enhancing the lives, health, and safety of all parties involves whenever they can (Walker & Kent, 2009).

The activities could include programs to prohibit any doping practices; preventing accidents (or improving safety); providing medical care to the participants; workers and people involved in the organization of the games; prohibition of exploitation of Child Labour and forced Labour; and realization of buildings, equipment, and facilities in compliance with national and international laws and ILO Conventions (Polonsky and Speed, 2001).

Environment Sustainability

Sponsors must understand the effect of sports activities on nature as well as the flexibility of the natural area being used to withstand the various activities being undertaken during the sporting activities. Consequently, they must guarantee the highest level of safeguard of the territory and pursue the objectives of environmental improvement, taking into account the principles of sustainable development (Mullin et al., 2000).

Environmental sustainability is spelt out in many policies pertaining to particular sports, for instance, in the Olympic Games, the Olympic Movement Agenda 21 focuses on the reinforcement of environmental education of youth during the games. Environmental sustainability is a very important subject and each sponsor must strive to play a role in enhancing environmental protection and conservation.

Integrity and transparency

Integrity, transparency, and participation should be viewed not as constraints, but rather as conditions of efficacy and efficiency, because they enhance the credibility and authority of the complex action of “governance” on which the success of the sports events hinges (Walker & Kent, 2009). The corporation must embrace integrity and transparency in all of its activities in relation to the sponsorship deal.

Conclusion

A recent shift in CSR activities has seen activities transform their corporate goodwill to a profit-motivated venture while sponsoring sporting activities. This shift has seen companies pay less attention to societal needs but engage in aggressive marketing techniques in total disregard to the well-being of the rest of the society.

Consequently, there is an urgent need for companies to realign their sponsorship activities so that a balance is created between marketing and CSR. Elements such as responsibility, taking the matter of all stakeholders at heart, environmental sustainability, and integrity and transparency can significantly help in bringing back the balance between CSR and sponsorship of sporting activities among corporations.

References

Inoue, Y., Kent, A., and Lee, S. (2011). CSR and the Bottom Line: Analyzing the Link between CSR and Financial Performance for Professional Teams. Journal of Sport Management. In press, uncorrected proof. .

Ludwig, S. and Karabetsos, J.D. (1999). Objectives and evaluation processes utilized by sponsors of the 1996 Olympic Games. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 8(1), 11–19.

Mullin, B., Hardy, S. and Sutton, W. (2000). Sport Marketing (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinesics

Polonsky, M.J. and Speed, R. (2001). Linking sponsorship and cause related marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 35(11/12), 1361–1385

Séguin, B., and Parent, M. M. (2010). Corporate support: a corporate social responsibility alternative to traditional event sponsorship. Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, 7(3/4), 522-30.

Walker, M., & Kent, A. (2009). Do fans care? Assessing the influence of corporate social responsibility on consumer attitudes in the sport industry. Journal of Sport Management, 23, 717-742.

The Executive Summary

This paper covers issues on the organization’s roles in delivering its services in social responsibilities to its immediate environment. This shows how the organization has set out strategic plans in ensuring all social responsibilities are carried out in the right order. Furthermore, this paper shows also the organization’s background and how the organization has developed over years to its present level. This paper will also show how the organization has implemented its corporate social responsibility strategies or plans.

This will also include the shortcomings that have been experienced in implementing corporate social responsibility. The paper will also provide recommendations that will ultimately lead to improvements in future. Finally, the paper has a conclusion that gives the findings of the whole work covered.

Company Background

The University of Dubai was established in the year 1997 seven by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The main aim of establishing the institution was to fill up gaps in human resources in the whole country’s workforce. This was in line with the country’s human resource development programs that targeted both private and public sectors.

The university has two main campuses that are known even though there are some new developments in terms of campuses. Concerning academic issues, the University of Dubai has a few main schools or colleges that offer various courses. The schools include the College of Information Technology that is abbreviated CIT and offers extensive programs in Information systems and Computing.

Secondly the college of Masters of Business Administration, abbreviated MBA, aims at enhancing critical thinking while increasing both written and oral communication for business leaders who need successful careers in organizations around the country and all over the world.

This program also helps in building appreciation for diverse cultural outlook. Finally, the College of Business Administration that offers various major business degree programs, including business economics, supply chains and logistics management, accounting, finance, entrepreneurship management, and human resources management. The institution has scholarship programs that target each governmental authority or department.

The mode of qualification depends on whether the beneficiary is a Dubai national. The scholarships cover all tuition fees for the beneficiaries. On the other hand, the university receives its support and authority from the chamber of commerce of the Dubai government. The authority is including the board of directors is appointed by the Ruler’s Court of Dubai, while the board of trustees is channeled from the chamber of commerce.

Implementation of the Corporate Social Responsibility of the University of Dubai

Corporate social responsibility programs are very essential to any organization that wants to have an outstanding image in the environment it is situated, the responsibilities are far more of the organization’s responsibility than it is the community’s or society’s needs and requirements that leads to creations a safe and friendly environment.

In ensuring the implementation of corporate social responsibilities, the University of Dubai partners and does dialogue with the communities around it through activities such as voluntary programs to the good of the society.

This program is meant to help the community in protecting and putting value to the environment around them. The university partners also with the Center for Responsible Management. This helps in having active participation in environmental projects that are aimed at improving the environment around Dubai and the country at large.

Furthermore, basing on the university’s principles, it implements corporate social responsibility program through the incorporation of the values of global social responsibility into its academic activities. This is meant to be in line with the international initiatives like the United Nations Global Compact. In this way, the implementation program does not only benefit the immediate environment, but it goes as far as to students’ home towns.

This move ensures that the society as a whole has people who are well versed with corporate social responsibility implementation programs. In addition to that, the incorporation of this value into the curriculum makes the practical part of implementing the program easier as students set out corporate social responsibility programs at various times in the future.

In implementing the corporate social responsibility program, the university has set out ways of creating educational frameworks, processes, materials and environments that ultimately enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership. This means that the university aims at making every individual in the university responsible and aware of his/her environment and its requirement.

This move improves and makes Corporate Social Responsibility implementation process easier. Therefore, the program is implemented by people who are so much equipped with the required information that is much needed for a successful implementation program.

Furthermore, the university does the implementation program by engaging in research that aims at advancing understanding of the dynamics, roles, and impact that corporations have in creating a sustainable social and environmental value. This makes many stakeholders who may in one way or another, be involved in social and environmental issues.

This move makes corporate social responsibility implementation everyone’s role. Therefore, many people are directly or indirectly involved in the daily protection of the environment. Furthermore, the research helps the stakeholders to gather important information on how to successfully launch CSR implementation programs. Through the same research works, the university has made CSR implementation easy and interesting.

The university extends its implantation strategies through the facilitation of dialogue and debates among various stakeholders, including educators, government, civil society organization, consumers and the media. This debate touches on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability programs, among many others.

Civil society organizations and the media help a lot more in spreading the awareness programs and thus make the implementation of the corporate social responsibility program easy and acceptable to the society at large. Some of these associated parties, like the government helps in facilitating the implementation process and also creates rules and laws governing the whole idea.

Civil society organizations extend their services in bringing critical ideas in debate sessions. The ideas may include the how to deal with the challenges involved in some implantation stages and the alternatives that may ensure the goals and targets of implementation strategies are met. In all this dialogue and debate, the university has made the implementation everyone’s responsibility including the central government.

From research, we get to know how the university helps to carry out corporate social responsibility programs well; there is a good curriculum change that aims at helping faculty members in covering case studies that deal extensively with corporate social responsibility, environment and ethics.

This effort ensures that corporate social responsibility implementation process is continuous and grows better every time as experience builds up. The university also ensures that all the materials required as extra resources are availed for the purpose of carrying out the implementation program.

In addition to the efforts carried by the University of Dubai in implementing the corporate social responsibility, research shows that expatriate knowledge is sought through the invitation of guest speakers who are experts in handling corporate social responsibilities. This effort equips students with the required knowledge that propels them to implement the Corporate Social Responsibility in efficient ways without much assistance (University of Dubai 5).

From research studies, we get to know that the university has many environmental programs that it actively engages its students as one way of ensuring the implementation process goes on well without any hindrances as awareness gets underway through similar programs. Some of these programs include visits to wildlife parks, clean up the world, and the program your tree in Dubai. The programs aim at increasing the forest cover or replace trees that have already been cut.

This is achieved through the awareness program that enhances the need for protection through planting of more trees and recycling of some materials to reduce cutting down of trees. They also target making people aware of the importance of wildlife and how to conserve or protect the environment that holds them. The clean up the world program helps to sensitize everyone to take responsibility of ensuring the whole environment around them is very clean.

The visits that are made by members of various clubs, mostly the environmental club to the wildlife, help them to know about the endangered species. This enables members to know and create ways of overcoming the challenges involved in protecting endangered species and the whole issue of corporate social responsibility (University of Dubai 8).

Analysis and Recommendation of the University of Dubai for Improvement

Concerning the university’s values and the principles, the university should emphasize more on the values of global social responsibility so as to make the stakeholders aware of the global moves and roles in developing corporate social responsibilities. This effort will help the concerned parties to improve in both sensitizing and implementing the programs that foster growth internationally.

In this way, the university will always aim at meeting the required standards for implementing the corporate social responsibility well and successfully despite the challenges. In addition, good methods that will enable the creation of good and reliable leadership within the educational framework will ultimately help the individuals become more aware of the social and corporate responsibilities and implement them to the later without fear.

Furthermore, when more research is carried out more information is availed to involved parties that make it easy for them to carry out the implementation process well. Through the same research, studies reveal that most skills are taught on how to engage different stakeholders in the programs.

Better ways will be devised on how to deal with serious problems or challenges before and after the implementation process. Furthermore, when people access information more frequently and easily through the research, they become more reliable and responsible for how to execute the implementation process easily. Therefore, the whole research process leads to more improvements if it is used in the right way and with the right aims.

On the other hand, the university should aim at making partnerships with international corporations so that they get exposed to the challenges that this corporation face in handling the implantation process on corporate social responsibilities. This effort will increase also the technical know-how of the university in delivering information concerning the corporate social responsibility programs abroad. In addition, a partnership with international corporations avails various effects approaches on board as the various institutions do exist in different environments set up. Thus the university will at the end have a universal way of approaching the corporate social responsibility implementation programs in the future.

When more debates or dialogues are held frequently, students and the university as a whole, gets channeled and links up their views and experiences to and from other stakeholders in the field through the media. Also to ensure that the communities are more involved dialogues and debates between the social organizations because many of these groups are found within the larger society.

Thus many individuals in the society will get almost fast hand information and in the end the university will have improved on how to engage the society in environmental processes and responsibilities.

In addition, for teaching, research and learning to improve, long term strategies have to be put in place. These long term strategies should be aimed at making the teaching process more targets oriented and this move will ensure good service delivery that is in line with the universities values and principles.

More resources should be channeled in research work that are aimed at improving the environmental status of the immediate surroundings of the university to reach that global standardization level in terms of implementing the corporate social responsibility programs well. On the other hand, learning should be made more practical and interesting by having more field trips to the sites that need the university’s intervention, this move helps the concerned parties to visualize more on the real factors that have to be considered.

Another thing that should be more emphasized is the invitation of guest speakers more frequently; this will help in the exchange of ideas as the invited guest speakers will be mostly people who are experts in the field of concern. All these efforts are meant improve the university’s way of implementing and handling challenges of implanting the corporate social responsibility.

The other thing is that, the university should channel more funds in support of the environmental activities that the students are engaged in. This support should be through the clubs like the wildlife and the environmental clubs. Through these clubs, the university should put more emphasis on the value of conserving the environment and protecting the endangered species through awareness programs.

The awareness programs should be put in place through the partnership with organizations and civil society groups that easily associates themselves with members of the community more frequently. This move makes relaying of information between concerned parties. This at the end improves ultimately the way of communicating both ideas and processes required for every engagement in the society.

For effective learning that meets international standards, the university has to put in place internationally acclaimed frameworks that aims at improving the environment, while raising the educational standards. This will foster the realization of more effective ways of implementing strategies concerning learning and most importantly the corporate social responsibility.

The same efforts may be realized through implementation of innovative programs and processes that help in improving learning and which also focus more of meeting the standards of putting in place the requirements of global corporate social responsibility strategies. This efforts and strategies help the university in finding global partners who may be more conversant on how to deal with challenges that are associated with implementing the corporate social responsibility.

In doing so the university gains a global image that will help it stand out as a good place where many people will want to get involved with. This idea, therefore, makes it easier for the university to penetrate easily with its environmental programs to the hearts of its followers both locally and world over.

Through instructional research, the university should target at finding more ways that are interesting and easy to follow in realization and instilling of sustainability values that will h4elp individuals realize more on the needs and importance of corporate citizenship around.

This effort will help build more rounded individuals who are more responsible and focused in ensuring that corporate issues are dealt with in the rightful way. In this way, the university will have made the environmental issues or matters everyone’s burden and responsibility. Thus the university will have created both an interesting learning environment as well as facilitating the acts of concern among associated parties or partners.

Through more partnerships with the immediate communities around it, the university will have easy time engaging the individuals in most of its programs like the engage program and many others. This make the community feel part of every undertakings tat the university gets its hands on.

These efforts help in creating awareness programs in the community more easily and frequently. When more information is channeled in the right way to the individuals in the community, the whole community move in the same direction the university tends to go.

This improves the relationship between the institution and the community, which sits in the immediate environmental setup. This partnership also makes functions like tree planting more successful and enjoyable as every member of the community will feel part of the whole system or process. The tree-planting program should be made a regular issue to incorporate many individuals in the exercise.

Further still, for the university to ensure that the capabilities of the students are developed and shaped to generate sustainable values that will foster the realization of a sustainable global economy, more emphasis should be put on the global partnership with major corporations that seem suitable in handling the same matters well.

This way, students will begin seeing things in reality and thus helps their understanding. This global cooperation avails so much information to the students through exchange programs that may be associated with the main program.

The association with global partners helps the students more in meeting international thinking and problem-solving. In this way, efforts are made by the concerned parties in the learning area to help understand more on the needs and requirements of one working globally, thus the general standards are raised to new levels that suit global corporations’ demands.

Incorporation of the global values of social responsibility in the curriculum should be done in a way that signifies the importance of the global social responsibilities to the society as a whole so that the students may focus on beginning their responsibilities socially right from where they live towards the whole environment with an aim of reaching the global environment.

These important steps make the institution work on global levels and in doing so it raises every standard of doing things around the university and which makes thrive to be a global institution in the near future. Being a global institution, the university will be able to meet and deal with global environmental issues more conveniently. This capability makes the University of Dubai a world-class institution that meets and values global social responsibilities.

On the other hand, the awareness programs have to be more focused and should be carried out every time when more needs arises than being held only on during the first weeks of every semester, this will make sure that the program runs through out and doing so helps to create more time require to channel information on the six principles that in the end this puts more emphasis on the same principles as enough time will be there to assure this. Small posters should be created so as to be distributed to the students at different levels.

This brings the information and principles closer to the targeted individual students, this move also makes it possible for the students to file some copies of their own and reviewing them from time to time. When the students understand the principles to this level, there is smooth running of daily activities.

On the other hand, other than just case studies that faculty members cover in other courses; the university should make it more practical so that information may be both form textbooks and field works that are taken during or within the course time stipulation. These efforts and provisions make sure that students get equipped with enough knowledge about; the general ethics in the various course categories, more knowledge concerning corporate social responsibilities are availed throughout the course and it is done so in more details.

Also of much concern is the information about the environment should be availed through the same way and this guarantees much more improved outcomes in terms of environmental conservation and the general corporate responsibility relating to the environment.

Finally, for the university to acquire more ways in which it can devise innovative methods of delivering lectures, the university should highly focus on organizing workshops where many issues concerning how to better the teaching methods and also embracing the technological advancements to foster the growth or imp[rove the educational material delivery in the university curriculum. This way the university will gain improvements to meet its targets of being a world-class university.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the university should aim at creating more dialogues and debates with related or concerned parties for this opens up more links and also serves as a means by which more information is channeled and availed to the concerned parties. The implementation process should be adopted when more information has been gathered about the whole process and the challenges associated with it.

In addition, the implementation process becomes more successful when all stakeholders, including the Partners are put to task. Some of the faculties that do not have the right ways of covering the classes or information about the corporate social responsibility and the general environmental issues, should be more considered when changes arises for improving lecture delivery.

Works Cited

University of Dubai. Sharing Information on Progress (SIP). Dubai: University of Dubai. 2010.

The key elements of a pluralistic society are decentralization and diversity of power. The American Society consists of people from different races, nationalities and cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

This means that the culture of the American society is a collection of different cultures and this brings about Diversity not just in the people but also when it comes to power. Different positions of leadership are held by people from different ethnicities. The power system is heavily decentralized every locality having its own subsystem of leadership. American society may be correctly termed as a pluralistic society.

The textbook says that when power gets out of balance, other forces are brought to bear so that balance is restored. Some of these forces include the power of the government. State policies and regulations are very powerful when enacted on any business entity. Every business organization must adhere to the set rules and regulations as pertains its operations.

In the event that it runs against them or outside the given dimensions, action is taken against the management authority. Another source of power balance in an organization comes from the shareholders. This may be exercised on the management directly by the shareholders or owners or the Board of Directors which represent the owners in many organizations.

When something goes wrong in the business operation the Board of Directors steps in to demand an explanation from the managers and in worst cases they can fire the one responsible for the mishap. The third source of force is the stakeholders in general.

For instance if a corporate body is operating in a manner that is likely to affect the balance of the ecosystems, then the stakeholders such as the community around the organizational premises stand up against the firm and if the organizational management does not take action, legal action can be taken against it.

A commercial bank as a corporation wields power immensely on the different spheres in which its impact as an organization is felt. First as a business its economic value comes first, it contributes to the economic growth by creating employment, paying taxes, funding projects and businesses via credit financing and others.

Second it is faced with the social responsibility of contributing to the societal wellbeing of the community in its environs and the stake holders in general. This is achieved by being actively involved in community empowerment programs, environmental conservation and giving its owners a return on their investments.

The other sphere is legal sphere. Being an independent entity, it is also a legal entity and therefore business should be operated in respect to the law. It is also entitled to legal rights, it can sue and be sued and this means that its operations and business activities, policies and practices should be carried out as guided by the laws of the land.

The final dimension is concerned with ethicality of the corporation in its day to day operations. All business practices should conform to the norms of the society and it should reflect the culture of the people. When all these are done the corporate body has successfully exercised its power in the spheres associated with its business.

Ecological damage sustainability is a common term in the field of environmental studies than it is in the business world. However, in the recent times conservation activists have come out and enlightened the word on the need to conserve our environment for our own tomorrow and for the generations to come; conducting business with this idea in mind results to adoption of sustainable business solutions such as waste recycling and enactment of environmental friendly policies.

When the management is actively involved in the ecological sustainability process, they set the context for their organizations and this becomes the business culture. The managers should cultivate the habit of carrying out business sustainably in them, by learning it and living it.

Ecological sustainability should be looked at as one of the managerial responsibilities. The employees are likely to follow what the leaders are doing and value that which their managers stand for.

The managers are in a positin to decide what is to be done and how it should be done. This gives them the power to encourage practices that save the resources for the future generations of human and non-human species.

Corporate Social Responsibility is founded on strong in-built self regulating policies. A company or Organization has an internal self-drive that ensures that the particular organization is compliant to the rules of the land and that its operations meet the expectations in terms of societal norms and ethicality.

Corporate Social Responsibility assumes accountability for the company’s actions by being in the frontline when it comes to positively impacting on the employees, the environment, stakeholders and the community at large. It sets a framework against which the organization’s impacts on economic, environmental and social aspects are measured.

Corporate citizenship is a measure of a Company’s responsibility in meeting the ethical, economic and legal expectations of its stakeholders. It is the degree to which an organization is expected to meet these responsibilities.

Corporate social responsiveness provides an insight into how an organization responds to the societal demands. It defines how an organization acts in relation to what the stakeholders and the larger society require of them.

Corporate social performance looks into the output or the outcomes of the organization’s actions in response to the societal expectations.

These ideas are closely related. Their main goal is to keep the society satisfied with the firm’s actions and hence get the support of the society. They only differ in the way they are implemented.

Stakeholders come into the business view with their own demands and expectations, some of which can affect the business positively and others negatively. Some groups of stakeholders have the potential to cooperate and others a potential to threat. The first group is in support of the firm and the second are against the firm.

They are viewed differently by different managers. On one side the stakeholders are viewed as a group to be managed for the benefit of the firm and its owners and on the other hand as a group to whom the firm has certain responsibilities equally important to those of owners.

Stakeholders are equally important to a firm as are the owners; however some stakeholders are not legitimate but what is most important is the legitimacy of their expectations. The firm, to a certain degree owes some accountability to stakeholders depending on their demands as they may cause the collapse of a business if their demands are not met.

Stakeholder management is a complex process. It is time consuming and it might be pretty difficult to determine the legitimacy of stakeholders. In addition, focusing on stakeholders’ issues too much may affect the original business goal and purpose.

Church groups consist of individuals with a common interest who come together and act as one. This gives them the power to exert pressure and wield influence on the stockholders. Small investors need to unionize and with the power of numbers and in a spirit of oneness, they can impact substantial influence.

In any voting system the choice of leadership is in the hands of the voters. The same case applies when business owners are changing their representatives in their business. Shareholder democracy comes into play during such elections. The power of the majority is what is applied here since the individuals with the majority votes win.

Shareholders who have voting rights by registration are the ones who cast their votes and this number is considered to represent all the shareholders. It works in most cases but the challenge is how to avoid instances of a single voter voting more than once. The voice of the shareholder is implemented by shareholder democracy; it is through this that the shareholders chose who they want to represent them in the firm.

As we all know shareholder democracy is applied in the process of voting representatives in the Board of Directors, which represents the owners of the business in the setting where ownership and control are distinguished. The shareholders are the owners and so they should be given a chance to make their choice. This strategy may be full of politics but in the long run it works in the best interest of the majority.

Topic: Credit Scores

Key points

1. The business value proposition- affecting and affected by stakeholders. The issue of credit scores is a latest development inmarketplace and already has targeted stakeholders. The success of credit scores is to be passed to these stakeholders. However, the response by stakeholders is going to affect the success of the project far and large.
2. Entrepreneurship in action. Entrepreneurship is all about putting resources and mind in an area that there are minimal investments. Companies such as Fair Isaac Co and Experian PLC have gone ahead to invest in some areas that are mentioned contrary to the expectations of competitors. The daring nature of these companies shows that there are lots of entrepreneurial skills at play.
3. Ethics and social responsibility. In this article, there are serious ethical concerns that emerge. For instance, the privacy of participants’ information is questionable especially id their data is to be used in developing an analysis. It is also critical to mention that companies take social responsibilities upon themselves to protect and improve the well being of others.

Analysis

Credit scores are recentdevelopments in the market. Making behavioral predictions by just asking people to take some scores is adding value to a number of sectors. For example, the Medication Adherence Score is the latest innovation to be brought to the world by Fair Isaac, and aims to gauge likelihood of a person taking prescribed medications.

In this case, it can be seen that this innovation is meant to add value to the company’s name. It implies that the targeted stakeholders are to affect the outcome of the test. However, the company has a sole intention of testing its works on the persons, and therefore they become important stakeholders.

Credit scores simply display innovation at work and use of entrepreneurial minds. The rivals and partners to Fair Isaac’s innovation agree that the credit score innovation is one of a kind, and which shows that there are great minds at play. Additionally, the proliferation of these scores just shows that there is widening of trade and exploration of new areas of investment.

The idea is to look at areas that have not been exploited, and knowing that it would generate enough interest on the areas; companies are putting their resources and minds on them. The idea itself is unique since it focuses on the historical information of people. The credit scores build on the basis that people have information; for example, the discretionary spending and pay index use the information on how people pay their bills. The latter is apparently entrepreneurship in action and should be highly encouraged.

Ethical concerns are critical in running businesses. In essence, total disregard of the dynamics of people and failure to obtain a go ahead in the use of people’s information is illegal and totally unethical. The invention of credit scores has been used to invade privacies of people, especially in accessing important medical data of a person.

On the same note, it has become important for companies to be responsible to people when it comes to use of their information. Social responsibility in this regard means respecting the dynamics of people and using of the information for only the purposes intended. On this particular invention of credit scores, there are some social responsibilities that are lacking.

To recap it all, it is imperative to emphasize that for businesses, innovationswill be considered to be important only if stakeholders are put into consideration. In a business idea such as development of credit scores, what comes out clearly is the business mind and entrepreneurial skills that are involved in achieving desired goals and objectives.

Introduction

It is a very sad moment for the citizens of the world when the companies only focuses their efforts on profit making without even caring for the people and environment around where they operate. It is a mere fact to every sensible mankind that the main objective of entering in to business is profit making. Consequently, this does not give the corporate world moral authority to use all means available to them to maximise their profits at the expense of failing to adopt social responsibility programs.

Even though the corporate sector may argue that it is the work of the government to ensure safety for their citizen by taking care of all environmental and social issues which may arise in the course of business undertaking by the corporate sector since they pay taxes to the government. This will not be a moral approach because various companies should be responsibly accountable for the consequences of their business activities which they undertake on daily basis.

Thus this call for all companies to put in place all possible programs of social responsibility and if this programs are implemented effectively then corporate sector will be in good terms with the various stakeholders and thus gain their good will which may be of great boost to their success.

In this case we are going to address various practices which the corporate world can implement to promote their social responsibility (Wood, 2001, p.699). We will are look at some examples of the companies and see what they are doing so far and the consequences which they might have faced or caused due to their failure to incorporate social responsibility programs in their management.

Some social responsibility practices

The social responsibilities entail the acts of companies to embrace the stipulations of law, standards which are ethical and global norms in their day to day activities. This implies that the companies should always be in a position to assume and take responsibility in case something wrong happens in the course of their service delivery.

The companies may need to compensate various stakeholders who may include the employees of the company, the local community, consumers of their services and the members of the public at large not forgetting the environment. Social responsibilities will not only be limited to what the companies should do in case of uncertainties in their service delivery but also include what the companies should attempt and do in order to better the lives of humanity at large (Windsor,2006, p. 95).

To attain this better life for every mankind the socially responsible companies should actively involve themselves with charitable programs. The companies can involve themselves with offering scholarships to the needy as a way of giving back to the society and also offering equal employment opportunities to all persons without any discrimination of any form.

The corporate sector should always put the interests of the public first in their key decision making and not just thinking of making big money without attaching value to the concerns of their customers and general public at large. Always the corporate sector should bear in mind that they stand to gain a lot if they stop practicing management system which is focussed on immediate and temporary profits (Handy,2002, p. 71).

This is because sustainability is of critical importance to the continuity of any given company and thus when planning for the activities of the business, the future generation should be taken in to consideration such that they are not affected in meeting their needs.

Companies in oil industry

The issues of social responsibilities have been of serious consequences most especially in companies operating in energy sector and specifically in United States of America.

This is because despite the global efforts to reduce the carbon emission which has brought adverse impacts on climate change and global warming the energy industry in United States of America has been so reluctant in implementing safer energy sources. This is very evident in the way the top five energy companies have contacted themselves in trying to address the challenge of going green in terms of energy sources.

Even some of the chief executive offers of these companies have been quoted showing a lot of pessimism on the global dream of going and instead saying that the world will for a very long time rely on hydro carbons in order to get or acquire energy. Some of these giant energy companies include the Shell, BP, Exxon, Conoco Phillips and the Chevron (Kotler,2005, p. 63).

Despite the fact that these companies have continued to enjoy abnormal profits they have shown very little concern on shifting to green energy. This is very evident since even after making huge profits due to global hikes in oil prices they have only invested insignificant amounts of this profits in other alternative sources of energy such solar energy and wind energy.

It is also a known fact that the energy industry companies have continued to neglect the implementation of social responsibility programs, and instead they have continued to suppress the interests of majority by working with corrupt politicians.

These oil companies have used all means to ensure that their interests are protected in the legislature in such a way that even if they pose great risk to the public they have very little to be accountable for. It is said these companies usually fund so heavily to the federal election so that they can get favours from the government of the day and also they at the same time corrupt some law makers to champion for their interests in the congress.

It is also said that despite the fact that this oil companies have continued to make huge profits at the expense of all other sectors of economy they have also continued to enjoy subsidies and incentives (Edwards,2006,p. 67). This fact has forced president Obama to propose taxation to these companies but the proposal is currently being fought by the companies who are arguing that taxing energy sector is like discouraging the growth of domestic industries at large.

At the moment we are experiencing a severe consequence with BP Oil Company as a resort of gulf oil spill. This has occurred due to practice of very dangerous methods of oil exploitations and most probably the insensitivity of companies such as BP towards the humanity, aquatic life and the environment at large.

This is a clear evidence that all what this company cares for is big money but not clean environment because it has not been involved in the clean up exercise effectively and tourists in various beaches are complaining about the waters and the safety of such environments not to mention how adversely lives of fishermen and aquatic animals have been affected. If the BP Company had taken the public interest in their decision making may be this could not have happened because they could have used safer methods to extract oil (Cochran, 2005, p. 767).

Consequently, such big loses as a result of pressure to compensate the affected people could not have occurred and the image of the company could have continued to be good but now even the shares have reduced price in the stock market due to that occurrence of oil spill and may be the company may undergo receivership.

Companies in banking sector

In the banking industry there has been some great hope and sincerity in implementing the social responsibility programs. This is evident with some banks such as the JP Morgan, Bank of America, City Group and the Chase bank companies.

These banks have implemented policies which restrict them from lending money to those projects which are destructive to the environment in accordance with the interest of environmentalists. The banks have implemented environmental policies which are very effective in order to reduce emission of green house gases despite the fact that this action will reduce their opportunities of making more profits (Handy,2002,p. 83).

Conclusion

It is evident from the above that the need to implement social responsibility initiatives is inevitable for each individual company for the sake of well being of mankind at large. Also it is seen that the benefits of implementing the social responsibilities programs are enormous in long run in terms of good will for the company from the public.

The costs of failure to consider the interests of the other stakeholders in corporate decision making are very severe in event of a disaster. Here we have illustrated the social responsibilities by using real and existing companies.

Bibliography

Cochran, P. (2005). The Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance Model. Academy of Management Review, Vol.10, p. 767

Edwards, T. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility in Multinational Companies. Journal of Management, p. 67

Handy, C. (2002). What is a Business For? Harvard Business Review.

Kotler, P. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility. New York. Barnes & Noble.

Windsor, D. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility: Three Key Approaches. Journal of Management Studies, pp. 93-114

Wood, D. (2001). Corporate Social Responsibility Revisited. Academy of Management Review. Vol. 4, pp. 691-718

The article titled “Corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section” by Murphy and Schlegelmilch starts out with the history of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

It has been known for some time but has only recently received the needed attention. The concept very much reflects the views and values of society and looks at the greater context of all corporate institutions and practices. CSR was developing in the United States in 80s and 90s but was also, previously known to be one of the ethical topics in Europe.

The details consider the environment and how corporations or organizations act in keeping the balance between the two. It is interesting that the United States was ahead, comparing to Europe, and ethics and morality in business were becoming predominant. Corporate social irresponsibility looks at everything from environmental pollution, to conditions that are made available for employees and the consumers.

It is divided into three categories where one is related to the threat management, in relation to morality and norms. The second one is about the responsibility regarding morality. And third deals with the affected people, especially those who are indirectly influenced (Murphy and Schlegelmilch 1808).

The recent changes have become a major goal of the society in establishing morally correct conditions for all parties involved. The present and future consideration is the condition of businesses towards ethics, in order to set the proper course of action.

Marketing techniques must be aligned with reasonable behavior and outlook, so that the best qualities are supported and those that need improvement are fixed. An important part of the process is to look at the strategy and how it can be implemented into the changes taking place. Some of the problems in implementation are analyzed as well. Because it is such a significant part of the matter, there is no specific plan of action that is concrete and clearly outlined.

The society and morals are always fluctuating and so, it would be difficult to adjust to what is needed and demanded by the population. An in-depth look is taken at the specific methods and mediums where social responsibility will be applied. Publicity through advertisements is an important part of the process and thus, will have to deal with alignment to proper intentions and responsibility (Murphy and Schlegelmilch 1810).

Perspectives are mentioned, so that it is known what to expect and how to deal with the new policies. The study that will be produced, will explore the market and how people relate to corporate responsibility and actions taken. A specific analysis “of two types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cause-related marketing (CRM) and cause sponsorship (CS)” is presented (Murphy and Schlegelmilch 1811).

This is where the interconnection with marketers and consumers is developing. The decisions that will be taken now have to be adjusted to the theoretical issues and perspectives revolving around environment, as the modern day policies are getting stricter and enforcement more organized.

The evidence will be presented to show people’s preferences and set the general direction of the decisions of corporations. CSR has become a trend which resonates with the social ethics and morality in pursuing a strategy that is both effective for corporations and responsive to the business and natural environment. The connection between stakeholders, corporations and market are tightened for a better management of resources and interests (Murphy and Schlegelmilch 1811).

Works Cited

Murphy, Patrick and Bodo Schlegelmilch. “Corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section”. Journal of Business Research 66 (2013): 1807-1813. Print.