Social Responsibility Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Responsibility Practices - Essay Example Socially Responsible Business Practices 5 4.1 Designing Facilities 5 4.2 Developing Process Improvements 6 4.3 Discontinuing Product Offerings 6 4.4 Selecting Suppliers 6 4.5 Choosing manufacturing and packaging materials 6 4.6 Providing full disclosure 6 4.7 Employee Welfare Programs 6 4.8 Measuring, tracking and Reporting 6 4.9 Children’s Marketing 6 4.10 Access for the disabled 7 4.11 Privacy for Customer Information 7 4.12 Plant, outsourcing, retail location decision 7 5. Conclusion 7 6. References 8 1. Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a field of study has created a niche for itself among the academia, corporate, the government and other agencies. Starting at the beginning of the twenty first century, there has been a growing interest in Socially Responsible Investment. There is always a conflict of interest between business and society. From an ethical standpoint, CSR helps create an ideal society due to the actions of companies. However, the economic view is that profit should be maximized. As Leonard and McAdam point out, CSR includes issues such as human rights, workplace, unfair trade practices, ecology, consumers, community involvement and social development among others; and it has a bearing on organizational aspects like manufacturing, marketing, packaging, pricing, and distribution (27-29). CSR has evolved gradually from a ‘compulsory’ attitude to an ‘instructional’ one to a ‘suggestion’ one. This implies a process towards a complex and nuanced framework to define the concept and implement the practice of CSR. 2. Concept of CSR The World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defines CSR as â€Å"the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life† (as qtd in Centidamar and Husoy 164). The best CSR initiatives are taken volun tarily on behalf of companies. Encouragement rather than punishment is a better alternative. The stakeholders in CSR should include customers, employees, suppliers, local neighbourhood etc. A softer relationship rather than a formal one should be the basis for collaboration with various stakeholders. Further, CSR brings together various organizations i.e. makes a network among them or builds communication channels between them (Centidamar and Husoy 165). As long as companies can benefit economically, they will implement CSR. Environmentally sound technology is the perfect example for this trend. Increased investments in technology will finally result in increased profits. Not only can innovations improve the corporate image, but also reduce the costs involved (165). Quality is part and parcel of CSR. The lower the company’s ethics, the lesser will be the success of Total Quality Management (TQM). Moreover, the brand image of a corporation is affected if it ignores quality. 3. Importance of CSR The following is a description of some of the merits and the criticism of CSR which together explain the significance attached to this growing field. 3.1 Limiting Litigations Every company has to cross swords with the law of the land at some point of time. Litigations arise when there is an aggrieved party who does not have faith in the company finding a solution that is fair to him/her. CSR is an attitude and a way of doing business. Implementing CSR can