Abstract
The report will provide information about different approaches of Micro, SME and corporate business in CSR as well discuss the different types of strategies that companies use to operate in ethical and sustainable ways. The report will talk about sustainability in business which is essential for managing values and creation of a positive image in the industry and areas of business. The sustainability concept involves alternative communities and consideration of issues that affecting environmental and social conditions. The report has carried out that, the CSR activities and ethical practices of the organisation are having positive impact business.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Different approaches to micro, SME and corporate business
- Micro:
- SME:
- Corporate business:
- Types of strategies to operate the business in ethical and sustainable ways
- Sustainable business strategies
- Ethical business strategies
- How companies implement CSR
- Coca Cola strategy
- Adnams strategy
- Conclusion
- References
Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to internal business strategy or policy of the organization that considers the global rules and regulations that used for maintaining balance with environmental and social activities. The organizations are using CSR activities for encouraging and betterment of society. The small and multinational organizations are taking initiatives for the well-being of communities and stakeholders to improve the image in the target market. The report will provide information about different approaches of Micro, SME and corporate business in CSR as well discuss the different types of strategies that companies use to operate in ethical and sustainable ways. Moreover, the report will examine how the companies are implementing CSR and compare the approaches of Coca-Cola and Adnams.
Different approaches to micro, SME and corporate business
There are different types of methods have been used for managing CSR activities within micro, SME and large organization across the world. The management of organization defines and implements appropriate approaches for maintaining CSR policies and functions to encourage the organizational image and gain the competitive advantage. Following are the different organizational approaches that used for managing the CSR functions:
Micro:
The micro level organizations like restaurants are using needs-based model for CSR motives and applying to their business. The CSR functions of Micro-level organizations are having a significant impact on diversity in their locality and critical needs of communities. The Micro-level organizations are focusing on the needs of individual stakeholder and developing the practices accordingly to satisfy their needs. The consideration of diversity in the business of micro-level organization involves the conceptual and methodological approach to make the employee responsible towards the environmental and social issues (Li, and Zheng, 2018). This kind of approach to the organization is supporting to maintain the positive relationship with stakeholders and increase the possibilities of growing the business in particular areas. However, the primary focus of micro-level organization for CSR is to increase the volunteerism of employees, but there is need of community involvement for maintaining the sustainable business practices (Jones and et al., 2018). The micro organization is not having general public interest in CSR approaches and focusing on internal functions to manage the stakeholders. Moreover, the micro-organisation like food restaurants are having involvement of local ethics, values, alignment with individual differences and look to implement the social mechanisms for managing the business. In order to develop the strategy for CSR micro organizations are involving the staff members.
SME:
The approaches of Small and Medium Sized enterprises involve internal and external characteristics that are favourable for promoting and implementing the CSR related practices. The SME organization like the hotel is developing the strategy by analyzing the economic functions and values. The approach of hotel organization for managing business practices related to CSR is influenced by the behavioural principles, financial and human resources capabilities and organizational characteristics (Maon and Swaen, 2015). The major concern of SME organization for CSR development and planning involve quality management practices to meet the satisfaction level of customers and improve the ethical practices. The CSR approach of hotel organization complies with stakeholder needs and for that these organizations collecting the feedback in real time. The social responsibilities of the small and medium-size enterprise become a key factor for managing their operations, maintenance and long-term survival. The initiatives of small and medium-size enterprise consider the Total Quality Management into CSR activity (Hadjimanolis, 2017). The quality culture of SME is essential for managing the CSR functions that focus on needs and objectives of stakeholders. The Approach of CSR in SME is flexible and having integration of social and environmental concerns. The hotel organization is analyzing social and cultural environment for developing the CSR initiatives which have the direct impact on the business.
Corporate business:
The large organization like BMW is considering CSR approaches based on environmental and social betterment. BMW is one of the most socially responsible companies in the industry. The organization has sated high standards for CSR activities to help the one million people by 2020. The approach of a large organization for CSR is helping to raise awareness about social and environmental issues to maintain the balance with changing climate conditions (Helmig and et al., 2016). The proper business model is used for aligning with social issues and develops a big campaign for Environmental Education Development Project which is one of the significant CSR activities across the globe. Apart from that, large corporate business like Starbucks Coffee also has CSR activities for maintaining the positive brand image in the industry as well as global level. The approach of Starbucks Coffee includes guideline for quality, social and economic responsibility (Harness and et al., 2018). The use of ethical and lawful actions for CSR is supporting initiatives of Starbucks to gain the competitive advantage. These corporate business organizations are looking to engage the stakeholders by developing creative functions for social and environmental business issues. For smart partnering is helping to increase the values in capabilities to address the major challenges.
Types of strategies to operate the business in ethical and sustainable ways
Sustainable business strategies
Sustainability in business is essential for managing values and creation of the positive image in the industry and areas of business. The sustainability concept involves alternative communities and consideration of issues that affecting environmental and social conditions. To maintain the sustainability in business, the organizations are implementing different strategies. Following are the key strategies that used by the corporate organization to improve the sustainability of business:
Environmental betterment:
The large organizations like Wal-Mart, Etihad Airways and Microsoft are implementing a strategy of environmental betterment that has a significant impact on the public agenda and creating awareness in the modern society. These organizations are supporting social communities for improvement in the environmental conditions by proper waste management, plantation of trees and optimum utilization of natural resources. These initiatives are helping these organizations to increase the sustainability of the business functions and improve harmony in society. This strategy of the large organization is positively impacting on their operation and brand value with economic sustainability. To protect the environment, these organizations are using less transportation to minimize the level of pollution (Spence, 2016). The use of Just-In-Time supply chain model is also helping these organizations to protect the environment and fuel which supporting to increase the sustainability. In addition to this, the initiatives for water management, green practices and low energy consumption in hospitality organization is supporting to increase the sustainability in the market as well contribute in the international CSR functions. In order to increase the customer loyalty, the involvement of staff members and assure the regulatory framework the environmental strategy is helpful and aid organization to gain competitive advantage (Hutjens and et al., 2015).
Funds for education:
The sustainable business strategies of the organization involve the offering of funds and other resources for improvement in the education level on poor communities and areas that not capable of maintaining the required standards. The leading organizations like P&G, Tesco and Marriott hotel are offering funds for developing infrastructure and distribution of resources for education by conducting the survey in the particular areas. These policies of the organization are helping to encourage the sustainability of business that create the positive image in target areas (Wickert and et al., 2016). The definition of sustainable business is broad and not creates the equal opportunities for the organization to recognize the social responsibilities to maintain the competitive advantage. The strategy of offering funds for education for society is encouraging the market image of organizations.
Ethical business strategies
The ethical practices in business are essential for encouraging good operation and transactions for achieving goals and objectives that support to expand the business and maintain the sustainability in the industry (Wickert and de Bakker, 2015). Following are the major strategies that used the organization for ethical business:
Social development and caring:
According to this strategy, the organizations are taking actions for the social, cultural and economic development of communities. The ethical practices for social development are involving analysis of public relations and offering of potential benefits to people regarding products and services (Singh, 2018). For example, leading organization like Tesco is using optimum price strategy for selling the products. According to this strategy, the management has determined lower prices of products and services to exploit the business opportunities and retain the customers for the more extended period. However, the profit margin of Tesco is low as the company is concern about social development but the ethical approach to managing the business is helping to gain the competitive advantage over other retail organizations. The fairness in prices and distribution of resources is showing caring aspect of organization for managing the business in ethical ways (Crane and Matten, 2016). This strategy is part of CSR activities of the organization which also supported to engage the stakeholders and maintain strong bonding with them.
Lead with morals:
The ethical practices of the organization to maintain and expand business operation consider the strategy of leading with moral values. The strong moral values and foundation of business are helpful for developing quality culture and positive image that connect with the social and cultural fundamental of communities. For example, McDonald's is considering the moral values of customers and stakeholders in developing their menu and offering the food products (Clark and et al., 2015). This kind of approach is helping the organization to develop an ethical image and increase the loyalty in the target market. Moreover, the company is considering moral values of staff for developing a healthy working environment which increases productivity and performance of the company.
How companies implement CSR
Coca Cola strategy
Coca-Cola is leading beverages organization in the world that offers a wide range of soft drinks. The profit margin of the organization is high and top management using it for developing and implementing CSR functions that have the positive impact on the brand value of the company. For the implantation of CSR functions and initiatives, the top management of the organization is considering the Milton Friedman theory. According to this theory, the company is taken actions for stakeholder engagement and acknowledging their needs and objectives to manage the CSR planning and implementation. However, the organization has the further obligation towards society and environmental betterment, but management does not want to lose the economic growth (Faria and et al., 2017). For that, the Coca-Cola management is earning the profit with sales of products and services and investing in the short term CSR activities. The implementation of CSR functions of Coca-Cola includes the monetary benefits and compliance with the government rules and regulations. Moreover, Coca-Cola does not promote the social interest in CSR implementation but have the concern over ethical practices to expand the business. The main objectives of Coca-Cola through the implementation of CSR is to increase the sustainability in business which expressed through actions like consumer health, packaging and recycling of waste and water stewardship (Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana and Bansal, 2016).
Adnams strategy
The strategy of Adnams for implementing CSR is based on environmental issues. Recently, the organization has won the title of best CSR Company that awarded by Orange. The CSR approach of Adnams is focusing on the involvement of local communities and government authorities for supporting the local high schools, charities for cleaning the cities and management of natural resources to improve the environmental conditions. The organization is not much concern about profit and using the CSR for commercial benefits. The objectives of Adnams are to placing good emphasis on strong and fair community relation and betterment of environment that creating climate issues (About Adnams CSR, 2018). The major similarity of Adnams with Coca-Cola is packaging and recycling of products and services, but the company is not taking initiatives for CSR to gain the commercial benefits. The implementation strategy of Adnams is clear in terms of public relationship and compliance with the culture of local communities to achieve the goals of more professional manners (McMurrian and Matulich, 2016). Additionally, Adnams is developing and implementing CSR plan for long-term to contribute to the betterment of climate and set the high standards for CSR in industry.
Conclusion
From the study, it has been carried out that the CSR activities and ethical practices of the organization are having positive impact business. The report has discussed approaches that used by SME, Micro and Corporate organization and identified strategies like environmental and funds for education to increase the sustainability and ethical approaches. Furthermore, the report has analyzed and compared the CSR implementation of Coca-Cola and Adnams.
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