Social Responsibility of Business

Initiatives in Corporate Social Responsibility: Changing the Business Landscape in the UK

There are range of activities that are carried out by the business in respect of its CSR initiative. For example, Equinix, a medium size company in UK, has complied with higher standards of ethical conduct and it does not tolerate bribery in any form. It is committed towards reducing its impact on environment. The company has also achieved its goal of 100% clean and renewable energy for its data centre (Schwartz, 2017). It has also come up with healthy and sustainable offices, building green data centres and reducing the carbon emission. Another example, Nisa small retail company in UK, which helps retailers in by distributing quality and competitive food. The company has partnered with stores collect and recycle the waste. Its vehicle also run on bio-diesel to reduce pollution (Zentes, Morschett and Schramm-Klein, 2017). It has employed open culture for all its stakeholders whether it is employees, customers, suppliers etc. These steps are taken by the companies because of the increasing awareness among the stakeholders about the environmental impact. So, by meeting the concerns of the stakeholder and the society through its various activities it will help the companies in building a positive public image which will consequently help in increasing its profits. Another example is Fourex, money exchange company, initially it has started charity in UK and supported various institutes like Alzheimer's Research UK, Blue cross, London transport museum, British Heart foundation etc (Fourex world money exchange. 2020). Another example is Crunch, which is a small enterprise in UK (Crunch for Good. 2020). It has partnered with two charities Starr trust and The sussex cancer fund with the purpose of provide more comfortable facilities and it has also tried to reduce its impact on environment. Get Assignment Examples? Talk to our Experts!

Investigating Carroll's Corporate Social Responsibility Model: A Practical Multi-Faceted Approach

To understand it clearly, different models of social responsibility is applied with different situation. Carroll's model of corporate social responsibility can be used here. This model has four components which complement each other (Uhlig, Mainardes and Nossa, 2020). First component is Philanthropic, in this, it becomes the responsibility of the company to give back to the society. This responsibility is very important. For instance, Nisa retail company, created a charity known as 'Making A Difference Locally', in partnership with its suppliers. This enables and helps independent retailers to donate money to their local communities for charity or for a good cause. Second component is Ethical, it refers to the responsibility of the company to act morally and ethically. It includes ethical treatment of employees, workers and suppliers. In case of Nisa company, it has imposed policies that ensures its employees treated ethically. It has implemented whistle blowing policy to encourage free and open culture. Also, it has established effective communication system which is very essential for raising concerns over any breaches or failures (Ojo and Rosati, 2016). Third is legal, it is related to the all laws and regulations that is required to be complied with. It includes employment law, competition law, health and safety laws with respect to the nature of the business. For example, in Equinix, the most thing for the company is to maintain the privacy and security of the information. It has met with the requirements of European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for more secured and privacy of data (Moon and Knudsen, 2018). It has also established a separate privacy office. In case of Nisa company, it has abided by the rule of Modern Slavery Act which includes human trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation etc. Fourth is economic, it is the foremost responsibility of any company to survive which includes attaining profits. In this, Nisa and Equinix, both the companies are continuously working on this responsibility to increase their profits which helps in ensuring the growth of the companies.

Another model that can be used is Stakeholder theory and Corporate social responsibility. This theory lists out the individuals and groups that will be affected by the actions of the company. This theory states that all those whose lives are affected by the business operation directly or indirectly has the right to participate in its operation (Ronnegard and Smith, 2018). For example, in case of a factory, when it produces industrial waste, a responsibility is directly attached to the factory owner or the relevant authority to dispose off the waste. But according to this theory, all those living around the community because of which lives of the people might be affected are the stakeholders of the company and they can raise their voice and contribute to the business decisions (Lyra and et.al, 2017).

Strategy for Engaging Stakeholders at Equinix: Juggling Business and Social Responsibility

Stakeholders mostly includes shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, government entities, local businesses etc. After analysing the stakeholders, the purpose of the company is to maximize its profits in terms of welfare of the humans. In this theory, transparency is an important factor in promoting stakeholder ethics. So, if this model is linked to Equinix company, it can be said that it's core component in sustainability strategy is engagement. It has established multi-dimensional communicational channel with approximately 10000 service provider customers. The company engage with its employees through a survey platform or management relationships and it includes performance reviews, internal meetings and activities etc. it also engages with its customers with the help of its customer experience team which measures the customer's experience throughout their journey with the company. It has provided several channels to its customers to provide feedback (Nikolova and Arsić, 2017). Also, the company maintains a good relation with government regulatory bodies. Equinix has worked with number of groups such as UK Government and Climate change Agreements, European Union Emission Trading Schemes and others. But the core objective of Stakeholder model is to gain profit in terms of human welfare but the actual reason behind companies putting emphasis on its CSR activities is that it wants to gain public attention, increase its visibility and brand image. All this will help the company in increasing its overall revenue and profitability. Want to get Assignment help? Talk Our Expert Now!

Examining the Relationship between Sustainability and Ethics

Ethics is a discipline which deals with what is good and what is bad with moral duties and obligation. Sustainability refers to meeting with the needs and demands of presents without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their needs. Ethical and sustainability goes hand in hand which means taking into account effectiveness along with moral values and goals. It mainly focusses on social, environmental, economic and technical issues. The corporate social responsibility differ with respect to the size and business of the organization.

Small companies are those which companies where number of employees are in the range of 10 to 49. Nisa is a very good example of small company. The company has launched new environmentally friendly vehicles in 2011, with increased efficiency which will help in decreasing the fuel consumption and it also helps in minimizing carbon emission. Its vehicles also runs on bio-diesels. He company has also launched Waste packaging scheme in 2010 which reduces the cost of the retailer's annual waste charges and also helps in protecting the environment. The company has complied with all the legal and ethical requirement like Food Standards Agency and Organic Food Federation. After evaluating the Nisa, it becomes clear that company has not taken any new initiative towards the sustainable development in past 10 years. It is running on the same standards and policies and nothing new approach has been established. So, it is recommended that Nisa should come up with new and innovative ideas in areas such development of surroundings, engaging with the stakeholders, implementing the charity events or partnering with other organization.

Medium companies are those companies where the number of employees are within the range of 50 to 249 employees. An example of medium company is Equinix. The company has defined its goals in respect to its best in class ESG practices. It has put stress on responsible energy usage, high standards of safety and committed towards protecting against the external threats like climate change, data security etc. In 2015, it set a long term goal of using 100% renewable energy and since then it has made immense progress. Equinix has also deployed strategies which will help in reducing carbon footprint and making efforts to reduce the local air pollution. It is developing programs for promoting sustainability within its offices. Some of its office is made with green building certification. The company is using 92% renewable energy. Equinix employees have completed the training courses on anti bribery and corruption. It has also taken care of data privacy and security by adopting policies proposed by Internet Infrastructure Coalition board, European Data Centre Association board etc. After evaluating the ethical and sustainability of the Equinix company, it is very clear that the company has continuously made efforts to attain efficiency in terms of renewable energy, carbon footprint, meeting with needs of the society, engaging stakeholders in its managerial decision making that will impact the surrounding community (Feng and Kreuze, 2017). Other than this, it is recommended that company should focus more on charity and donations on special occasions and can also conduct events for some cause or for the well being of the society.

Another example of a small scale company is Abbott Risk Consulting Ltd, as the name suggests it is the risk consulting company in UK. Abbott, identifies the needs to support the community within the organization. The company is committee towards supporting various charity functions. It also carries out rallies for creating awareness for the social cause and also it some times conduct races to collect money for charity or donation. The company also donated defibrillator to long Eaton RFC when it identified the need to improve health and safety and it was all done for the betterment of the community. The company provided sponsorship to junior and youth football teams. Thus, after evaluating the Abbott Risk Consulting Ltd, it can be said that company is going good on its charity and donation platform but it has neglecting the other CSR activities. It is recommended that company should take initiative in terms of reducing air pollution and using eco-friendly equipments in its premises which will not impact the health of its employees. Also, it should tie up with different communities to carry out some activities for the well being of the society and environment as a whole.

CONCLUSION

At last, it can be summarized that integrating corporate social responsibility in a company is very important. The changing surrounding environment and the negative impact that company has over the environment has increased the requirement for incorporating corporate social responsibility. The initiatives taken by the companies such as charity, donation, increasing use of renewable source of energy, engaging stakeholders in decision making etc. But the overall objective of companies for doing these activities is not always the betterment of the society but sometimes it is done to create a positive and influential public image which helps in gaining trust of its stakeholders which results in increasing revenue of the organization and consequently the profitability. The major objective of every organization is increasing its profitability and to achieve this, organizations can take any way which can be direct or indirect.

For More - Social Media's Effect on the World Economy

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