AGL Energy Limited is a company in Australia belonging to the list of public companies. The firm primarily caters to consumers in the commercial and residential purposes of gas and electricity generation as well as retailing (Agl.com.au. 2018). This firm has managed to provide its services to its customers for a period of over 180 years. The company has always made sure that it cares about the community and the people that they serve. The firm uses a lot of renewable methods of production of electricity which makes it the best fit for this essay and analysis. The firm is one of the top investors also in the field of renewable energy. The firm also implements a lot of flexible business plans which can be used and applied according to the need and scale of the businesses. The firm in fact has formulated different plans at different rates so that conservation is performed both at the environmental and the business levels.
Corporate Social Responsibilities are a set of responsibilities followed by firms to cater to the environmental and social needs of the consumers and the community where they operate as a whole. These are additional measures and initiatives taken up by firms to hold a market rank or even maintain a holistic image and impression in the target market. It is also a process of self evaluation for the firms and also a process of maintaining a balance between methods of accruing more profitability along with sustainability (Schwartz 2017). The corporate social responsibilities encompass various aspects of outside of profit and revenue generation including environmental responsibilities, philanthropic responsibilities and ethical responsibilities.
The most recent and updated version of corporate social responsibility definition is based on the one proposed by Archie Caroll in 1996 which ranks the various corporate social responsibilities of a firm in the form of pyramid. This is represented with the help of the figure provided below.
Figure 1: Caroll’s Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility
Source: Carroll, Primo and Richter (2016)
According to this theory the first and the most crucial base of responsibilities for any firm should be to focus on profit and revenue generation maximization (Carroll, Primo and Richter 2016). The next base of responsibilities is formed by the laws, rules and regulations prevalent in the society that are to be followed by the firm for smooth functioning in a legal manner. The third set or base of responsibilities that a firm needs to fulfill consists of the ethical responsibilities which are very important in the context of corporate social responsibility (Brammer and Pavelin 2016). This is so because this set of responsibilities are usually dependent and left to the discretion of the firm. The last set of responsibilities lies in the area of philanthropy in the sense that these responsibilities are added and might not be fulfilled by firms but should be as they consist of extending help to the community through better education and recreational activities. It is a way in which the firm tries to cater to giving back to the community in which it operates and helps in raising the level of living standard and offers an improved quality of lifestyle to these people.
Being a firm that most importantly fulfils its corporate social responsibility and caters to a wide range of customer demands, the firm has a wide variety of stakeholders. The stakeholders of the firm essentially include the investors, the consumers, the government, and the non profit organisations that the firm is associate with, the local communities that the firm serves, the other firms operating in the energy industry, that is, the energy industry as a whole and the joint venturers and the suppliers. The interests of these stakeholders are very crucial and important as these relations depict the priorities of the firm in terms of the ethical and sustainable responsibilities.
AGL works closely with the government as the government is itself involved in regulating the amounts of energy production and making the same accessible for the target market and the consumers that the firm provides its services to. AGL regularly consults with the government on matters of the environment, prices and the reliability of the methods of production or generation. Meeting and policy submissions and the revision and implication of these policies are regularly coordinated between the firm and the government which in turn makes sure that the sustainability of both the business and the environment in which it operates is maintained.
AGL also tries and makes attempts rigorously to coordinate and get engaged with non-governmental organisations so that the firm is able to understand ; the motives and causes that these organisations are trying to work for and hence help them out in their own way to reach out to greater section of the community in which they function and operate. The AGL is currently associated with dealing with issues related to carbon emissions and climate change. The firm has set up a council under the name of Climate Change Council to cater to the areas and matter of concern of the general public. The firm helps the governments in setting policies and programs to reach out to the citizens and other firms operating in the same industry. Further, the firm also has set up a Customer Council that that caters to the social welfare and environmental conservation responsibilities by meeting every month. The sustainability reports published by the firm every year help in keeping a check on the amount of measures that have been effective and what more it can do to reach its corporate governance and sustainability objectives.
In the realm of poverty, the company operating in the renewable energy sector of Australia, generates huge amount of production and along with that a large number of jobs thus causing the total poverty index of Australia to reduce. The energy sector as per the reports published by the Climate Council of Australia suggests that this sector is annually responsible for creating of an average of 28,000 new jobs (Climatecouncil.org.au. 2018). Further, the impact of increased growth in this sector has expanded and spilled over on to many other sectors including the construction, operation and also the maintenance of renewable goods for the country. This has had its direct impact on poverty alleviation and caused substantial reduction in the levels of poverty all over Australia. This in turn has caused the factor of climate change to come under control. Being a very crucial contributor in the energy sector, the company has helped in increasing the number of jobs in the area of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia by a number of around 11,000 and 6,000 respectively (Climatecouncil.org.au. 2018). These two states are being projected to have an increase in the number of jobs by a maximum exceeding all other areas of Australia by the year 2030.
According to the Sustainability Reports published by the firm, the firm carries out an assessment called the “Fraud Risk Assessment” which helps the firm to analyse the risks related to corruption occurring within the firm or the industry and how it affects both the firm and the consumers and the community in which they operate as a whole. The percentage of the employees trained on the anti-corruption policies of the firm is also monitored and worked on by the firm. According to the report published by the firm around 878 employees were trained and provided extensive courses in the form of workshops and trainings about the repercussions and the policies of adherence to the anti-corruption rules of the firm in place. If any case or instance of corruption is reported or analysed, then the firm takes up initiatives and activities to reduce the same through internal measures and the Codes of Conduct of the firm in place.
Besides the above initiatives and activities monitored and evaluated by the firm, it is important to mention in this context that AGL is a member of the Global Compact and represents Australia and has also extended its support towards many social causes and activities related to the human rights realm of corporate social responsibility by voting for the same. AGL is one of the few corporate honchos whose votes were considered important in deciding of social rights and laws and the company has rightfully extended its support for all these issues (Business-humanrights.org. 2018).
All of the above mentioned facts sum up to provide evidence supporting the fact the firm has a very good and commendable record of supporting and expanding its help in the horizon of human rights and also evaluates and monitors exploitation or corruption through calculated and proven methods. Further the company has expanded its services and also used disruptive business models to continuously provide increased variety and quality of services to the customers and consumers all over the country. This has in turn provided its contribution enormously to the energy sector which has propelled the growth of the number of jobs in this sector and the other sectors associated with this sector. This whole scenario has imposed its effect on poverty and reduced it to a commendable level.
The Corporate Governance structure of AGL as a company is present in fragments in the corporate summary published by the company in the sustainability report (Agl2017.reportonline.com.au, 2018). The company consists of a total number of nine directors, out of whom eight are non-executive directors and one managing director and the Chief Executive Officer, Andy Vesey. The entire Board of Directors are chosen independently and all the decisions taken by the directors are in alliance and aligned to the major objectives and the strategies of the firm. They are also held responsible and accountable for adhering to the codes of conduct and the laws in place by the government. After a few changes incorporated in the structure in 2017, the board now consists of eight directors. The new Board of Directors has now adopted another strategy for smooth functioning of the corporate social responsibilities of the firm in the form of a skill matrix that lays down the requirements of skills and experiences for the directors present in the board in order for the firm to cater to the needs of the firm in a smooth and efficient manner.
Further, the firm has also set up new committees and additional boards in order to ensure that corporate governance is carried out by the firm in such a way that the resources of the firm including profits accrued are utilized and channelized in such a way that there are enough resources left for the future employees after catering to the needs of the present employees of the firm. Some of these committees and additional structures incorporated in the overall corporate structure of the firm include Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Committee, People & Performance Committee and Safety, Audit & Risk Management Committee and People & Performance Committee and Safety.
The firm strongly believes that the employees working under the firm constitute the most important part of the community in which they operate and so it is very important to first ensure their wellbeing and then the rest of the community through its services (Agl2017.reportonline.com.au. 2018). The firm follows the policy of inclusion and does away with all forms of discrimination for the employees working. Further the firm also encourages increased engagement and participation of the shareholders, investors and other stakeholders of the firm including the customers in improving its services and diversifying the variety of services it offers to the target market.
Through the various renewable energy services and customisation of schemes the firm tends to reduce the amount of pollution and has played a very important role in reducing the impact of energy production methods on the climate change in Australia. As mentioned earlier the firm has also contributed to decrease the levels of poverty through increased employment generation.
References
Agl.com.au. 2018. AGL Energy an Electricity Provider & Gas Supplier | AGL. [online] Available at: https://www.agl.com.au/ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2018].
Agl2017.reportonline.com.au. 2018. [online] Available at: https://agl2017.reportonline.com.au/sites/agl2017.reportonline.com.au/files/corporate_governance_statement_2017_0.pdf [Accessed 17 Jun. 2018].
Agl2017.reportonline.com.au. 2018. AGL | Sustainability Report 2017. [online] Available at: https://agl2017.reportonline.com.au/sustainabilityreport#1 [Accessed 17 Jun. 2018].
Brammer, S.J. and Pavelin, S., 2016. Corporate Reputation and Corporate Social Responsibility. A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility, 437.
Business-humanrights.org. 2018. Australia: Marriage equality ‘Yes’ vote wins; corporate supporters vocal, despite criticism | Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. [online] Available at: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/australia-marriage-equality-yes-vote-wins-corporate-supporters-vocal-despite-criticism [Accessed 17 Jun. 2018].
Carroll, R.J., Primo, D.M. and Richter, B.K., 2016. Using item response theory to improve measurement in strategic management research: An application to corporate social responsibility. Strategic Management Journal, 37(1), pp.66-85.
Climatecouncil.org.au. 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/9bbeec4336c0f87f7e04205516b3cfa7.pdf [Accessed 15 Jun. 2018].
Schwartz, M.S., 2017. Corporate social responsibility. Routledge.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download