As per Horrigan (2010) corporate social responsibility cannot be defined properly because of the controversies associated and linked with the topic. All the definitions of corporate social responsibility suggest that it is the obligation to the businesses that they have to return some part of their profit to the society in return of the resources they are using. It is the aspect of business that includes the practices in order to fulfil the business responsibility towards the society. This essay focuses on analysing the corporate social responsibility practices of the company and its relevance for the business (Beske, Land & Seuring, 2014). It is important to understand the concept of corporate social responsibility in businesses because it not only benefits the society but also helps in making and enhancing the image of the firm in the market. This essay discusses about the theories that link between corporate social responsibility and sustainability and its implication on the company called Toyota. Some of the theories are stakeholder’s theory and triple bottom line theory.
Corporate social responsibility has many names. Some of the names of corporate social responsibility are corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, corporate accountability etc. Corporate social responsibility is integrating in the business practices of most of the companies these days and his is moving towards the aspect of responsible competitiveness or corporate sustainability (Clapp & Rowlands, 2014). As far as the concept of sustainability is concerned, it has been analysed that it is the conceit that is derived from the term sustainable development. It is the development that is based on meeting the needs and requirements of the present generation without making any compromise with the requirements of the future generations. Corporate social responsibility is the concept that is very much linked with sustainability. Corporate social responsibility helps the companies to achieve their sustainable targets in order to growth socially, economically and environmentally (Garriga & Melé, 2004).
The above figure suggests that when sustainability integrates with the company it benefits the society as well as the shareholders of the firm. Some of the sustainable practices that can be practiced by the companies are innovation in products and processes, reduction in waste and emissions, health and safety at the workplace etc. This results in employee satisfaction, environmental protection and also includes stakeholder’s engagement (O’riordan & Fairbrass, 2008). Firms also get benefitted out of these practices such as enhancement in the image of the company and improved utilisation of the resource. Some of the theories of corporate social responsibility are utilitarian theory, managerial theory and relational theory etc. The theories that include sustainability in them are triple bottom line and stakeholder’s approach. Triple bottom line is the theory that assumes that organisation is moral community and thus it has some social responsibilities. This theory also deals with sustainability and every organisation should weigh their actions and activities on the basis of three types of sustainability such as economic, social and environmental sustainability (Levy & Kaplan, 2008). As far as stakeholder’s approach is considered, it has been analysed that it is theory that there are three elements of this approach such as the stakeholders that includes employees, customers, shareholders etc., the second element is interaction between the stakeholders and the company and the last element deals with formation of strategies for managing the win-win situation between all the stakeholders and the company.
Toyota is one of the car manufacturing companies that are well known for its corporate social responsibility initiatives. It is the company whose initiatives of corporate social responsibility can be studied in order to understand the implementation of corporate social responsibility theories on the company’s strategies (We & Choi, 2008). This company has launched corporate social responsibility initiatives and programs in the company in the year 2011. The global vision of the company is like a tree in which the values of the company acts like a tree and the base of the business activities of the firm is trunk of the tree. The positioning of the company that is “always better cars” and “enriching lives of the communities” the other positioning statement are like the fruits of the trees. Toyota deals with many stakeholders and fulfils their disparate interests and demands. Following are some of the most important stakeholders of the company:
Employees: employees are one of the most important stakeholders for Toyota. The major aim of this group is to have development in their career, job security and better workplace environment. The company focuses on fulfilling their responsibility towards employees by implementing some of the career development programs. The company has on the job development programs and several other programs for the employees in order to enhance their career.
Customers: Toyota is the company that also succeed in serving the customers with their products and services. This is because the company makes innovation in their products frequently.
Investors: investors and shareholders are the most important stakeholders of the company that have their interest in earning profit (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). Toyota addresses these considerations and makes the strategies that are in benefits of the stakeholders.
Environment: it is the major concern of the organisation like Toyota to be sustainable in the corporate social responsibility strategies. The company reports these interests through the Toyota environmental activities grant program. This program results in donating automobiles and funds for environmental conservation by the company. Toyota has supported many environmental protection activities.
Communities: communities are also one of the major stakeholders of the company and their interest’s lies in society’s development. Toyota is the company that has launched many programs like education programs for literacy of the people (Kolk, 2008). Another safety intuitive is known as GoSafety initiative that provides and educates the people for safe driving purpose. Thus, this suggests that the corporate social responsibility activities of the company are satisfying the communities as well. Toyota is a very appropriate epitome of a perfect company that use corporate social responsibility policies to accomplish the needs of stakeholders. The company has an inclusive corporate social responsibility approach that reports all of its stakeholder groups. Even after facing so much of global recession challenges and product recalls, Toyota has taken the required steps to ensure that the organization is on moving in the correct path in upholding its fruitful efforts to fulfil stakeholders for high corporate social responsibility performance.
The above discussion suggests that the theory of stakeholder’s approach can be implemented here. As per the theory, the company used to fulfil the interests of all types of stakeholders of the company and Toyota is doing the same with grace (We & Choi, 2008). There are many activities of corporate social responsibility in which the company is engaged. These activities are directly linked with sustainability in terms of economy, society and environment. The company’s 2.14% of the staff is disabled and this shows the company’s interest in providing employment to the disabled people and helping the society (Moir, 2001). In addition to it, in terms of environment, the company focused on recycling the products and the waste that has been released by the company’s manufacturing activities. As far as the supply chain of the company is considered, it has been analysed that the company is allocating the resources very effectively. All these activities suggest that the triple bottom line theory can also be implemented in this company.
This is clear evidence that corporate social responsibility and sustainability are the aspects that are very much interlinked with each other. The study of Toyota and its corporate social responsibility practices suggests that companies have to integrate the process of corporate social responsibility and the sustainability aspect together so that it can fulfil its responsibilities towards the society, stakeholders and the environment (Secchi, 2007). Considering all the factors of economy, society and environment makes the corporate social responsibility activities of the company sustainable in nature.
The essay concludes that corporate social responsibility is the obligation to the businesses that they have to return some part of their profit to the society in return of the resources they are using. It is the concept that is associated with sustainability and sustainable development. As far as the concept of sustainability is concerned, it has been analysed that it is the conceit that is derived from the term sustainable development. It is the development that is based on meeting the needs and requirements of the present generation without making any compromise with the requirements of the future generations. There are various theories that support the integration such as triple bottom line theory and stakeholder’s approach. Toyota is the company that practices all such activities of CSR that help the company to fulfil their responsibility towards the society and environment.
References:
Beske, P., Land, A., & Seuring, S. (2014). Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, 131-143.
Clapp, J., & Rowlands, I. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. The Essential Guide to Global Environmental Governance. Routledge: London, 42-44.
Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. R. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of business ethics, 53(1), 51-71.
Horrigan, B. (2010). Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century: Debates, models and practices across government, law and business. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kolk, A. (2008). Sustainability, accountability and corporate governance: exploring multinationals’ reporting practices. Business Strategy and the Environment, 17(1), 1-15.
Levy, D., & Kaplan, R. (2008). CSR and theories of global governance: strategic contestation in global issue arenas. The Oxford handbook of CSR, 432-451.
Moir, L. (2001). What do we mean by corporate social responsibility?. Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society, 1(2), 16-22.
O’riordan, L., & Fairbrass, J. (2008). Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Models and theories in stakeholder dialogue. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 745-758.
Secchi, D. (2007). Utilitarian, managerial and relational theories of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 9(4), 347-373.
We, O. G., & Choi, B. H. (2008). A Study on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reinforcement in China; Focusing on Chinese Automobile Industry. International Area Review, 11(2), 33-54.
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