Corporate Social Responsibility In Reputed Companies

BMW

Discuss about the corporate social responsibilities that organisations undertake to build a goodwill and reputation in a society. 

The assignment highlights the corporate social responsibilities that organisations undertake to build a goodwill and reputation in a society. As stated by Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim (2014) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a practice undertaken by the managers of organisations to earn respect in the society and contribute to its development. The corporate activities are the efforts made by the managers for the welfare of the society and the environment. The assignment sheds light on such actions that are undertaken by reputed organisations for the welfare of society and the environment. Five such examples have been provided that directs the attention of the social work undertaken by reputed organisations.

1^st Example

One of the most famous car manufacturing companies, BMW is located in Germany. The company is known to have manufactured some of the most attractive models of cars across the world. BMW was set up in 1916 and as per records of the previous year, it is said to be one of the top car manufacturers in the world. The car manufactured by the companies is used in televisions and movies that in some ways play as a promotional factor. The company contributes heavily in improving the social status of its business place (Bmwgroup.com 2018). Normally cars are the main reasons for the excess air pollution in the environment. BMW ensures that precautions are taken for maintaining a sustainable environment.

The pride of BMW is the contribution it makes towards the society. The company is socially active among all other car companies in the industry. Thus, the reputation of the company is high due to the contributions it makes to the society and for the protection of the environment. The aim of BMW is to help 1 million people by the end of 202. This help can be done by creating awareness among the people about the importance of sustainability. Thus, the company provides education campaigns such as “The Schools for the Environmental Education Development Project”. Samuelson and Anderson (2014) observed that such an action could help in raising the awareness of sustainability among the people of the society. The success of BMW in the market is aligned with the success it has in the CSR activity that it carries out.

2^nd Example

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is one of the most reputed IT companies in America. The company was established in 1911 and currently have spread across 170 countries all over the world. IBM is known to manufacture computer parts an provide training courses to people seeking to enhance technical knowledge. It also renowned to innovate items that are used popularly in everyday life. Items such as ATM, hard drive, magnetic disk cards are some of the innovations of IBM (Ibm.com 2018). The CSR activity of the company involves the economic development of a region along with the conservation of natural environment.

IBM

According to Clapp and Rowlands (2014), the managers of IBM believe that corporate citizenship should be given to the people. The employees of IBM volunteer in various social causes such as improving the environment, developing the economy, providing education and ensuring that the health of the people is maintained. The managers undertake actions to meet the objectives related to social responsibility for its development and the spread of technical awareness among the people. It has been seen that the initiative that was undertaken by IBM had caused a huge success rate (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo 2017). The initiative Celebration of Service is an annual initiative that is undertaken by IBM has provided over 3,00,000 hours of service. The company even provides volunteering opportunities to retired people through placements.

3^rd Example

Levi Strauss is an Amercian clothing company that specialises in manufacturing jeans. The company was founded in 1853 and since then have been a global sensation among people. It is said that the Levi Strauss had defined the style statement for many young teenagers over the years. However, the company did suffer loss at some point in time but currently, it is among one of the companies that have tasted success in the international market. The rate of increase in revenue and net profit has enabled the company to continue its CSR activities for the development of the society (Levistrauss.com 2018). Levi Strauss focuses on reducing the negative impact of an environment by protecting the natural resources.

The aim of Levi Strauss is to reduce the degradation of the environment. They aim to conserve the natural resources such as water so that people can be benefited. The focus of the company is to improve the conditions of the people residing in the urban areas. As stated by Carroll (2015) the company contributes heavily to the protection of human rights and environmental causes. Similar to BMW, Levi Strauss runs campaigns that acknowledge the need for the conservation of natural resources. The company ensures that the employees are taken care of in a proper manner. Levi Strauss believes that the work-life balance is important for proper production. Hence, initiatives such as The Worker Well Being Initiative are being undertaken by the company in order to ensure satisfaction of the employees. Apart from this, the company have also contributed to the use of less water for the manufacturing of their products. This has helped Levi Strauss save up to 1 billion litres of water for future consumption. The managers aim to improve the initiative within 2020.

Levi Strauss

4^th Example

Starbucks is the most famous coffee chain company in America. The company was set up in Seattle in the year 1971. Currently, Starbucks operates in over 23,768 locations across various countries in the world. One of the biggest advantages of the company is that it takes care of the employees as well as the customers. The company focuses on maintaining certain ethical code that helps in undertaking the social responsibilities. Starbucks focuses on social as well as the environmental development of a region (Starbucks.com 2018). This is one of the reasons behind the global success of the company as the CSR activities help it to maintain its reputation.

Starbucks has remained ethical as well as social while conducting its business. The company aims to create products that can help in proving to be beneficial for both the customers as well as the environment. This can be done by setting guidelines that help in maintaining the quality of the products served without causing any harm to the environmental factors. According to Korschun and Swain (2014), campaign programmes such as C.A.F.E have helped Starbucks to be aligned with the guidelines. The social and environmental responsibility of the company is also stated in this guideline. At the same time, Starbucks have also entered into a partnership with Ethos. In this partnership, the company have contributed to promoting fresh water in their manufacturing process. One of the biggest positives of Starbucks is that the company focuses on the improvement of the community rather than the organisation.   

5^th Example

Dell is an American multinational IT company that manufactures, sells and repairs laptops and personal computers. It is hugely popular among people all over the world and is one of the most trusted companies that customers prefer while purchasing such equipment (Dell.com 2018). The company was formed in 1984 in Texas. Currently, the company is the destination for 101,800 employees. The CSR activity of Dell involves providing facilities for education and technology. The CSR activity is directed mainly towards the development of society in a more technical manner. Hence, the focus of the company remains on the rural as well as the urban development of a society.

According to Suliman, Al-Khatib and Thomas (2016), the focus of the managers of Dell is to ensure that people remain updated with the changing times. Most countries in the world do not have the privilege to use technology and are regarded as backward cultural people. Dell aims to provide education on technology to these people so that they can have a future in the competing market. Dell supports about 4615 charitable organisations. The technology and educational facilities are provided to 11 countries in both the rural as well as the urban communities. They also act as mentors to college students for the development of society and eradication of any problems. Even during the time of natural calamities, Dell provides outright support for making the lives of the people better. This provides Dell with an upper hand in the competitive market.  

Conclusion

Hence, it can be said that CSR is important for every business organisation to succeed in the market. Without a proper CSR strategy, organisations cannot gain the goodwill of the people. The donations and the campaigns set up by various organisations help it to maintain its reputation in the market. The companies that have been mentioned focuses on the development of the society rather than the development of the company. Thus, this is the main reason behind the increase in reputation in the market. This also leads to gaining a competitive advantage.

References

Bmwgroup.com. 2018. Cite a Website – Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.bmwgroup.com/en.html [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Carroll, A. B. 2015. Corporate social responsibility. Organizational dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.

Cheng, B., Ioannou, I., and Serafeim, G. 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to finance. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), pp.1-23.

Clapp, J., and Rowlands, I. H. 2014. Corporate social responsibility. The Essential Guide to Global Environmental Governance. Routledge: London, pp.42-44.

Dell.com. 2018. Dell India Official Site | Dell India. [online] Available at: https://www1.ap.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=in&l=en&s=&s=gen&~ck=cr [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Ibm.com. (2018). IBM – United States. [online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/us-en/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Korschun, D., and Swain, S. D. 2014. Corporate social responsibility, customer orientation, and the job performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), pp.20-37.

Levistrauss.com 2018. Levi Strauss – Levi Strauss & Co. [online] Available at: https://www.levistrauss.com/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Lins, K.V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2017. Social capital, trust, and firm performance: The value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of Finance, 72(4), pp.1785-1824.

Samuelson, P.A. and Anderson, H.C., 2014. corporate social responsibility. Morality and the Market (Routledge Revivals): Consumer Pressure for Corporate Accountability, p.43.

Starbucks.com 2018. Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.com/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

Suliman, A. M., Al-Khatib, H. T., and Thomas, S. E. 2016. Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Performance: Reflecting on the Past and Investing in the Future, p.15.