Corporate Social Responsibility In Sri Lanka: A Comprehensive Analysis

Definition and Overview

Part One

1. Choose a concept/model in strategic management. You can choose the concept from the ones discussed in the course or you can choose another one. Examples of concepts are: core competencies, generic strategies, mergers and acquisitions, alliances, CSR, blue ocean strategy, etc.

2. Critically examine the concept: define the concept; identify when it was first discussed and what the arguments were for its creation; discuss how the concept then evolved by identifying the arguments for and against it over time and by noting any adaptations.

3. Explain how the concept fits today with other concepts of strategic management, and discuss how/if the concept is relevant or not to today’s business challenges.you must demonstrate you can research and develop a deep understanding of a concept by identifying, examining and challenging different views of it. You should reference a minimum of 10 academic sources: academic books and/or articles from academic journals that are peer-reviewed. This excludes textbooks, articles from business magazines and ‘popular’ books you may find in airport bookstores, but you can use these as additional supporting references if needed.
All sources should be correctly referenced using the Harvard system, as for any professional academic document.

4. Present a real life case study of the concept that you chose in Part One ‘in action’. You can use your own organisation or an organisation of your choice – we recommend you use an organisation you are personally familiar with as it will be easier for you to ‘see inside’ the organisation This should be like a mini-case study where you will present the situation of the organisation you choose, the issues faced, and how the concept was or is being used to solve the issues and raise the general performance of the organisation.

you must show you can integrate theory and practice. You do this by giving examples of the theory in action, and by evaluating the approach taken and how effective it was in delivering the desired results. By reflecting on events, you may even challenge the theory itself – From the events you describe, is the theory valid? How can it be improved?

How will you evaluate the impact that your chosen strategic concept has on the organization; how do you measure ‘success’? (The article uses the terms ‘fruitful’, ‘performance’, ‘growth’, and fit with ‘environment’. How will you measure success of the implementation of the strategic concept?) Article Uploaded.

How will you evaluate the impact of your chosen strategic concept on ‘stakeholder commitment’?

Origin and Arguments for its Creation

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has assumed immense importance in recent years. CSR nowadays is deemed as a prescription which governments and businesses make use of while dealing with various social concerns. The purpose of this report is to portray how organizations in Sri Lanka comprehend the role of business in society in keeping with their business perspectives. Given the context in Sri Lanka, an analysis of existing perceptions of the social role of business offers important insights into its contribution towards establishing sustainability and development. Social responsibility refers to the commitment of the firm beyond profit making goals and objectives and pursues long-term goals that are beneficial for the society by and large. The following analysis delves in an exhaustive analysis of a Sri Lankan prominent firm which maintains ethical behavior, sustainable development and philanthropic ideals and ideas. The myths of CSR encompasses over voluntary reporting which improves performance, management systems that change corporate behavior. It is imperative that the business follows ethical standards while operating in its respective domain. The detailed analysis aims to provide an understanding of the nature and avenues of practices of CSR in Sri Lanka. To be precise, it explores varied social engagements and other related activities undertaken by the organization to fulfill the desired goals and objectives. The CSR promotes a vision of business accountability to various stakeholders associated in the business besides investors and shareholders. Various theories have been propagated about corporate social responsibility and how the organization approaches the concept to solve the issues and concerns to raise the general performance of the entity.

With the aim of having a better understanding of CSR plans in Sri Lanka, various researches have been taken up to describe existing activities, approaches, and others. At the outset, there are various ideas of corporate social responsibility. While some experts have general ideas about what CSR is others illustrate the same as an act of transparency, good governance, and business ethics while conducting business responsibly and profitably. The areas of engagement included the likes of, employment practice, business conduct, community involvement and reporting and monitoring performance (Alvarez, 2015). Various experts construed CSR as a medium of well-being to the society while others were perceived this something not beneficial to the society but to the businesses only. Sri Lanka boasts of a rich legacy of corporate philanthropy. Most business organizations believe that CSR was driven by conventions. They recognized CSR as a significant practice that had been restructured to suit the modern needs. On the other hand, traditional corporations based in Sri Lanka are guided by formal policies with some degree of flexibility to suit the needs of the organization. The image-building achieved through CSR accentuates an organization’s ability or competence to attract new customers and increase market share concerning players or competitors in the market (Madsen and Rodgers, 2015). Building a better relationship with the community wherein the firm operates augments the chances of managing situations that emanate from community issues. As a matter of fact, studies validate that, resources based on socially responsible entities exert great motivation, loyalty, and commitment which ultimately contributes to the growth and productivity of the organization (Azmat and Zutshi, 2012). There are varieties of CSR engagements that deserve special mention. The host of activities includes, safety awareness, education, business drives to reduce unemployment, livelihood, medical assistance to name a few. The rationale of this paper is to investigate the impact of this strategic move as a tool of success for the organization and also reflects over the need for improvement while implementing CSR activities by the management of the firm.

The origin of the corporate social responsibility dates back to 60 years. Morrell Herald wrote about corporate social responsibility in the book the social responsibilities of business between the years 1900-1966 (cebcglobal.org, 2015).

According to Caroll (2008), the history of social responsibility goes back to the 19^th century. The author took back the readers to the time of industrial revolution and called the term social responsibility rather. The corporate culture and the functions of a corporate world have not been settled until then. Many critics argued that the actual intervention of corporate social responsibility started in the year 1950. However, Caroll differed with the idea because during the era of 1800, the employer were more concerned with the employees and were finding out ways to make them more productive for the organization.

The factory system that was implemented in Great Britain could be regarded as a good a sign to start the practice of corporate social responsibility. Many arguments were put forward regarding the employment of women and children in the factories. Many reformers feel that the employment of women and children in the factories gave rise to various social problems, like poverty, females a child labor, unrest among labors and rise of slums. As said by Caroll (2008), Wren was able to see the positive side of the problems as it gave it rise to business acumen, humanitarianism, and philanthropy. Due to the social problems that have cropped up in the factories, the society was able to see the need for the protection of the employees from the labor problems and take steps that will help in implementing certain actions that would be considered both business and social (Dhaliwal et al. 2012). Some of the areas which experienced improvement the provision of hospitals and clinics, lunch-rooms, recreational facilities, bathrooms and profit sharing that will help in the improvement of the conditions of the employees working for the company.

The idea of corporate social responsibility gradually moved on to discuss the cases of corporate philanthropy. It has been said that the managers and the employers were more generous during the olden times. While discussing about the legal questions on corporate philanthropy, Wren talked about two cases that related to corporate philanthropy.

The first case occurred in the year, 1883, when the organization, West Cork Railroad Company took steps to compensate on their employees who had to lose their job due to the dissolution of the corporation. However, Lord Justice Byron did not support the action of compensation as according to him, charity is not about business and the money of the company should only be used for the business purposes (Hahn, 2013).

In another case that involved Steinway, the court permitted a piano manufacturer to use the land adjoining the workplace to be used for to build a church, school and library for the employees. The court permitted the usage of the land, as it will help in the enhancement of the employee relations.

Thus, it could be seen that in the both the cases the organization or the individual has a similar motive of improving the positions of the employees but the judgment for the cases were different (Hiller, 2013). Hence, it is quite clear that earlier, the people who supported philanthropy had to fight a lot to make the society understand the meaning of philanthropy and the positive effect of philanthropy on the society.

Many skeptical businesspersons claim that business is all about making profit and not for the welfare of the society (Hahn, 2013). On other hand, there are various shareholders who take part in the business of an organization. The organization use the money of the company for the works related to corporate social responsibility (Calabrese et al. 2013). Thus, it can be considered as a theft. As the company is using the money of the shareholders, hence, it the organization is not allowed to use the money of an external source.

Many feel that the primary work for the organization is to develop the products as per the customers’ need of the product (Hiller, 2013). The managers should decide what is good for the organization rather than the managers deciding the functions that will help in the betterment of the society. The mangers are not expertise in the areas of handling social issues. Hence, they may not know the exact details of the social problems of the society. If they are concentrating on the betterment of the society, they would not be able to devote the required amount of time for the work for which they have been hired in the organization.

The company should compensate many at times, the pollution, created by the industrial activity of the organizations. The pollution at times affects the living being and the nature (Calabrese et al. 2013). The company has no right to pollute the environment for their business purposes. Hence, the corporate social responsibility will be helpful for the organizations to look after the damage of the society that they might have made in the society.

Corporate social responsibility helps in building the public relations (Dhaliwal et al. 2012). Once the organization will look after the betterment of the society, the organization will get highlighted in the society and hence it will help the organization to gain recognition in the external market. The stakeholders will also be impressed if they see that their partners are looking after the social problems, they will get interested in the partnerships with the company.

The evolution of the corporate social responsibility can be explained in the following manner:

Figure 1: Evolution of corporate social responsibility

(Source: Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014)

In the older days, people engaged in philanthropy, tried to improve the conditions of the employee, and tried to solve in small social problems that were related to the employees of the organization and aim towards social betterment (Moon, 2014). Gradually, the organization became globalised and took part in the international level. Form the narrow focus of the philanthropy, the organization became globalised business players and gained the position of citizenship. The citizenship then help the company to gain from the corporate social relationship as the organization thought for the betterment of the organization. Corporate social responsibility helped the organization in cause marketing and the organization could use the corporate social responsibility in the form of business strategy rather than a step just for the improvement of the society (Korschun, Bhattacharya and Swain, 2014). The organization realized that the corporate social responsibility is not only for cost cutting, it can also helped in incurring the profit from the market. The final phase of corporate social responsibility is helping in the sustainability of the business (Lund-Thomsen and Lindgreen, 2014). The organization can implement corporate social responsibility in the strategic management that will help the organization to face the challenges and finally reach in a mutually beneficial solution (Boulouta and Pitelis, 2014). Thus, the organization will not only profit from the business in the market but will act as the responsible citizen of the society that works for the betterment of the society. The responsibility taken up by the organization will help in the future growth of the organization.

The concept of corporate social responsibility has been adapted in the following theories

• Stakeholder theory

The best part of Stakeholders theory is that, it first thinks about prevention and not cures (Brammer, Jackson and Matten, 2012). Rather than damaging the society and then take actions to save the society. The actions that will affect the society negatively will be evaluated. Those actions will be stopped even before it is implemented by the organization. Hence, financially, the organization will be benefitted as they will not have to spend the extra amount of money for the cure and make use of the money directly for the society. It will also help the organization not to tarnish the name in the society. The organization can concentrate on the welfare of the society rather than thinking of other factors.

• Triple bottom line theory

The triple bottom line theory takes into consideration three types of sustainability:

• Economics sustainability
• Environmental sustainability
• Social sustainability

The organizations follow the corporate social responsibility so that they are able to sustain themselves economically (Gimenez, Sierra and Rodon, 2012). The organizations should be able to get recognized in the external market with the help of their business. The corporate social responsibility will help in sustaining themselves as the people will come to know about the works of the organization and will help the organization to grow. Finally, the environmental sustainability will help the organization maintain a healthy operation for their business and help the society as a whole.

To understand the relevancy of corporate social responsibility in the present world, a study was carried out to find if the people of the society feel that there is a need of corporate social responsibility. Sri Lankans was hugely affected by the war between government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). To bring peace in the nation, Norway extended help as the facilitator of peace in the year, 2001 and there and the signed of the ceasefire agreement in the year 2002 (International-alert.org, 2016). However, things did not shape up the entire peace agreement broke down in the year 2003. When the people were asked about the functions corporate social responsibility, the Sri Lankans did not have a clear idea about the concepts of corporate social responsibility. Some of them felt that the companies should think about the social cause while carrying out their business. However, they are not able to trust the ability of those companies as they felt at the companies are there to exploit the consumers and damage the cultural values of the society. During that time, it was found that the organizations indulged in some kinds of charitable giving but there was no proper strategy or policy that of corporate social responsibility for those organization (Kim, Park and Wier, 2012). They wanted to help the in the betterment of the nation but themselves not are how to proceed for it.

An organization’s reputation and longevity requires more than financial prosperity. Various business scandals and M&A or Merger and Acquisition issues are a real threat to a corporation’s long-term sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is more than a management philosophy; it also plays a significant role in M&A strategy. Various experts have tried to establish a relationship between CSR and Merger and Acquisition. However, the comparison of corporate social responsibility to that of M&A has been welcomed by other countries in the world. The factual reality is, corporations which experience governance issues have been found to be more likely to engage in M&A activity. The following instance will elucidate the given proposition. One of the examples is the cooperation of the private firms in Brazil (Mendis, 2016). The private forms like Shell Do Brasil, which is a oil company and RedeGlobo which is a media company came together to help the country to restore Christ the Redeemer, the statue in Brazil in the year 2010. The contribution by the two organizations to fulfill their corporate social responsibility can be compared with another strategic concept like merging and acquisitions (Rajapakse and Manamperi, 2015). The two organizations helped each other as well as the people of Brazil to help restore the statue. The partnerships help the organizations fulfill their corporate social responsibility as well as helped them in managing the extra finances for the corporate social responsibility. Thus, both the organizations will be benefitted, as it will help the organization to keep up their name in their market. The statue is one of the public interests in Brazil and helping in restoring the statue will help in gaining a good name among the public.

On the other hand, there are cases when the private firms have used corporate social responsibility in the wrong manner (Navi, 2012). One of the private firms has distributed contaminated milk to the underdeveloped sections of the society and that too for a lesser amount of price. When the people fell ill after having the contaminated milk, they distributed medicines that were developed in their pharmaceutical section, again at a lesser price. Hence, it can be seen that competition in the market has reached its peak and to stay ahead in the race of corporate social responsibility, the organizations are gradually forgetting the basic business ethics.

The origin of BOS or Blue ocean strategy is value creation. A blue ocean is created when the firm realizes the significance of innovation which would create value both for the company and consumers. Blue oceans states innovation may be made in a product, service and solution which eventually create value in the market (Alvarez, 2015). Value innovation is a strategic framework which entails over two pronged step where a firm establishes various factors while creating new innovative products and solutions with an objective of positioning in an uncontested market place. The strategic approach that organizations initiate to accomplish sustainable growth of profit and revenue are based on the way managers think since of how they do business. While the high growth firms do not exert sharp focus on surpassing their rival, rather they aim to make the competition irrelevant by implementation of fundamentals of value innovation. The BOS and CSR approaches are somewhat similar because both delve in value creation for the firm and the business community, overall. In either of the cases, once the client commitments are established, firms should find ways of product improvement through incremental innovation (Wang et al. 2016).

CSR and Porters’ five forces are interrelated. CSR becomes more relevant as economies stabilize and grow. Thus the greatest attention of CSR is reflected in developed nations. Globalization is one such factor which aims to increase the wealth and power of multinational corporations. Moreover, cultural differences contribute to complexity of CSR since the expectations of acceptable behavior vary on a regional basis. CSR will assume to become more prominent which is likely to be an essential cog in the wheel of strategic management (Kinderman, 2015). The five forces and CSR would continue to develop towards a greater social responsibility on the part of the organizations. Though CSR and five forces may vary on an industrial basis, yet both creates influence over the profitability as they affect the prices capital investments along with helping in making strategic decisions as utilized by managers to settle on industry’s competitive structure.

To know more about the relevancy of corporate social responsibility, authors, Bandara Rajapakse and Lahiru Manamperi talked about the Sri Lankan companies in the article, ‘The Title How Do Sri Lankan Companies Perceive Corporate Social Responsibility? An Empirical Study of the Motivations Underlying CSR Projects and Reporting By Sri Lankan Companies’. The authors carried out a survey to study twenty companies who are being involved with the corporate social responsibility. The companies revealed that they have various reasons for adhering to corporate social responsibility and make separate reports of corporate social responsibility work (Rajapakse and Manamperi, 2015). Some of the reasons are:

The pressure from the stakeholders to know about the companies works related to corporate social responsibility. The stakeholders are would like to know the information regarding the expenditure of the company due to corporate social responsibility activities and how it helped the company as a whole

Some companies feel publishing the report will help enhancing the business of the organization

Some companies feel that publishing the report and letting the people about the activities of the company in gaining benefits from the public relations.

Some companies publish the reports as the government has asked for reports regarding the corporate social responsibility of the organization.

Many companies fail to understand whether corporate social responsibility is burden for them or a blessing. However, in the modern world, almost every company as well as the stakeholders has understood that corporate social responsibility is one of the most important factors that will help in sustainable development of the organization (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012). In fact, the stakeholders are urging the companies to mention the corporate social responsibility activities in their annual report for the public to know. They feel the urge to help the society and the community and carry out their works ethically (Kim, Park and Wier, 2012). However, nowadays, with every social cause scandals come complimentary with the actions taken by the company for the development of the society. However, it is expected that the organization will carry out their corporate social responsibility without compromising their actions towards the society.

Issues faced in CSR implementation

Expolanka Holdings Plc is a popular name in Sri Lanka which is engaged in various CSR activities and committed to resolving environmental issues like reducing carbon emission and neutrality. While operating, the firm has encountered hindrances of varying degrees which created issues in the implementation of corporate social responsibility measures by the firm. The main concerns faced by Expolanka Holdings Plc are elucidated below (Dissanayake et al. 2016).

Religious considerations: Many Sri Lankans have inherent religious beliefs which have its effect in their professional parlance too. This factor is apparent across different sectors in Sri Lanka where daily business operations are conducted as per religious observance. Approximately eighty percent of the population is Buddhist. As per the philosophy, there is a concept named Karma, which means one reaps what he sows. In the activities undertaken by Expolanka Holdings Plc religious clerics caused impediments and exerted influence in relief activities. Thus the firm was bound to consider the religious sentiments in the course of performing its operations (Abeydeera et al. 2016).

The disparity between rich and poor: In Sri Lanka, there is a wide space between the rich and poor. This factor also influences the CSR activities. The various activities of Expolanka Holdings Plc are guided by this principle. These interventions are often ad hoc and individual to companies. They are not carried out with focused objectives of poverty reduction. Though the entity delved in environmental issues, yet they had to get involved in some community services not restricting to environmental relief or so (Kinderman, 2015).

Victims’ expectations: Sri Lanka had been marred by natural disasters of varying degrees. The victims of droughts, floods expected the relevant authorities to assist them in the hour of crisis. However, the nature of support extended was not adequate, to say the least. Thus Expolanka Holdings Plc had to alter their primary CSR activity and engage in rehabilitation projects for the victims of natural disasters. Most of the organizations practiced the act of giving doles and donations earlier. Little did they know that the victims were not interested in handouts but deserve self-respect (Tschopp and Huefner, 2015).

Influence of disasters: The normal perspective is that disaster mitigation is the responsibility of various aid agencies and public sector. As a matter of fact, the nation had experienced floods and landslides of immense magnitude. The impact of such disasters forced Expolanka Holdings Plc and other entities to take up the initiative of disaster rehabilitation in Sri Lanka. They came up with novel ideas of de-salination of plants to manage the crisis (Idowu, 2016).

Government’s role: In the region, the Ministry of Social service calls the shots as far as disaster management is concerned. The National Disaster Management Centre has the authorization to attend to all the disaster-related concerns and issues. When these authorities got into a huddle of how to negate the crisis they did not have any clear idea whatsoever. They acknowledged the fact that private sector’s role is essential in dealing with the issue (Fernando, 2016). Thus the Disaster Management department issued a circular which impelled all the private sector entities to concentrate in the area of reconstruction and relief than performing their genre of activities. The government department proposed a Bill in the Parliament which incorporated the private sector in relief and mitigation services. The plan envisages appointing various committees at the district followed by national level where private entities would be called upon to participate. Although the government invited participation from the private industry, many entities were reluctant to participate in the same scheme. On the other hand, there was a growing discontent that those entities that are within the purview of government would receive a grant from the government (Hettiarachchi and Gunawardana, 2012). Hence, this suspicious attitude towards the government posed a hindrance to implementing government’s initiatives. Expolanka Holdings Plc found it hard to adjust to the governmental way of thinking. They were used to private sector way of thinking, and the introduction of government approach in such scheme of things made things intricate for the organization. The organization discovered that there was no such organized structure necessary to implement the project. Moreover, the red tape paraphernalia of government created more issues in CSR activities. They were made to undertake relief works which were totally against what their core competencies are. It is worthwhile to mention that few private companies did maintain good liaison with the government which made it easier for them to operate in state’s scheme of things (Berkman and Galpoththage, 2016).

NGO Association: Expolanka Holdings Plc was reluctant to partner with NGOs not to distrust them but to work independently. Since the company caters to environmental needs, carbon emissions to be precise, NGO involvement in this regard is uncalled for. Expolanka Holdings Plc is much comfortable with a unilateral approach. It is clear that the company wishes to perform its projects without any institutional linkages. Aligning with NGO functioning style made it hard for the said organization to discharge duties and responsibilities in best possible manner (Chen and Johnson, 2015).

The role of Chamber of Commerce and Associations: This is one such predicament which the company found wanting in. At the outset, it is important to mention the inception and role of Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka. The Chamber was established in 1839 which encompasses over every sphere of economic and business activities. The association’s initiatives were more of profit making than philanthropic activities. Such impression rubs over the companies and bodies. Engagement in disaster-related activities seemed to take a backseat and business promotional doings assumed immense importance over others. This is totally in contrast to corporate social responsibility aspects which are followed by the entities (Betz, 2015).

Corporate Social Responsibility is not only about conforming to environmental standards but also augment the firm in growth and development. CSR is not about altruism. The managers of Expolanka Holdings Plc have adopted the CSR which is above legal requirements that are willingly accepted to achieve sustainable development (Westermann-Behaylo et al. 2015). The corporation has realized that they need to incorporate social, economic and environmental impacts of their operations which in turn would benefit all stakeholders. The framework below illustrates the effectiveness of CSR in the case of Expolanka Holdings Plc.

Stage	Degree of effectiveness	Detailed explanation
Defensive	Denial of practices, responsibilities or outcome.	Evidence of some degree of CSR was found in Expolanka Holdings Plc Sri Lanka.
Compliance	Adaptation of policy-based compliance method as a means of doing business.	Owing to limited resources, CSR implementation was defensive and reactive which is based on the minimizing probability of harm to the business and inclined toward philanthropic activities rather than strategic initiatives (Needles et al. 2016).
Managerial	Implant societal concepts in core management process.	CSR, in this case, is deemed as business as usual and embedded within organizational parameters namely, diversity management, human capital development, etc.
Strategic	Integration of social issues into core business strategies.	CSR is deemed as a value proposition for Expolanka Holdings Plc. The management level responsibility ensured strategic nature of CSR and focused on attaining shared value (M. Shamil et al. 2014).
Civil	Promote broad industry participation concerning corporate responsibility.	The company has made progress in CSR through a collaborative approach with various stakeholders that cultivate joint innovation and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility within the edifice of the organization (Berkman and Galpoththage, 2016).

As stated earlier, corporate social responsibility refers to a demonstration of the firm’s values beyond the organizational parlance. It is a collective and individual initiative of improving the cultural, physical and social environment in which the entity operates. The firm envisions a community of conscientious and competent employees who would practice social responsibility and inspire others to do the same (Wang et al. 2016). The company has been clinical in performing goodwill initiatives under the healthcare category. The CSR Department of Expolanka Holdings Plc conducted several benevolent activities throughout the year with a focus on the environment, community development, and disaster relief, to name a few. The efficacy of the organization is reflected in carrying out series of health camps in places namely, Kaduwala, Gampaha which served over three hundred elderly individuals (Osella et al. 2015). The group invested towards sustainability which demonstrates the focus of the company towards integration of sustainability and environmental concern to the business operations. Expolanka Holdings Plc aims to be a leader in developing enduring sustainability in the communities it operates in.

Conclusion

The analysis above delves in a detailed discussion of corporate strategic management as an essential part of strategic management. Various analogies have been made between CSR and Merger and Acquisitions which expounds the contribution of both as an effective tool of Strategic Management. The report duly discusses key theories of CSR and how it may be related to the given organization namely, Expolanka Holdings Plc. The company has realized that providing information to various parties across the business domain on corporate social responsibility is a good proposition which creates interest amongst relevant parties. However, in the quest of realizing organizational goals, the firm had encountered several issues which caused impediments in operation. Expolanka Holdings Plc had successfully negated the shortcomings while successfully positioning itself in the business domain.

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