The Gap (Gap Inc.), an international retailer company - Essay Example

by Gap Inc 3 September The Gap (Gap Inc an international retailer company that sells clothing, accessories and personal care products, has a vast experience dealing with various corporate social responsibility initiatives. We believe that a successful business of the globalized future world is the one that is an active member of local communities, as well as a contributor into preservation and protection of our planet’s natural treasures. Therefore, on the basis of our extensive experience, we would like to provide the Local Network with certain recommendations that may help other companies and organizations to achieve better compliance with the following important principles of the Global Compact: Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights (UN Global Compact 2011). Principle 2: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility (UN Global Compact 2011). We believe our experience designing and implementing numerous CSR programs can be considered reliable, because Gap Inc. owns more than 3,100 stores worldwide and employs more than 150,000 people from all over the world, all of which are actively engaged in the Gap’s efforts to support human rights and environmental protection (Wright 2007). Having tries many approaches to supporting human rights and protecting the environment, we have come up with several strategies that help us to be a sustainable and responsible company, whose operations benefit all of the stakeholders. Lessons Learnt Gap Inc. has been continuously devoting much time and attention to promoting human rights protection programs. In particular, we are promoting diversity in every sphere of our operations. “Diversity is the rich variety reflected in our work environment and marketplace – including ethnicity, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, faith, culture and global experiences” (Celebrating diversity 2011). We developed a Human Rights Policy for Gap Inc in 2010 that supports the principles of human rights contained within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the UN Global Compact; the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; and the fundamental labor principles that protect workers’ rights, which are defined in the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (Gap Inc. Human Rights Policy 2010). Nevertheless, we have had some negative experience. Workers of our supplier factory made claims of labor abuses and offensive attitudes from the side of their management (Smith, Ansett, and Erez 2011). For that reason we had to invest millions of dollars into making sure that employees of our supply chain were treated with respect and dignity (Amazeen, Michelle 2011). As for protecting the natural environment of our planet, we are members of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) (Environment 2011). As the members of BICEP we take a great care of design and development policies, strategies and procedures related to protecting our world in terms of working with clean energy and approaching the climate change challenges (Environment – Public Policy 2011) At the same time, we have watched the negative experience of one of our suppliers, the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. In 2009 this company was reported to pour unused and toxic materials into local rivers (Smith, Ansett, and Erez 2011). This shows that the organization does not give much care to the environmental constraints facing the global society. Recommendations On the basis of both positive and negative lessons learnt from past experience, Gap Inc. would like to draw the attention of the Local Networks to the outlined below recommendations. We believe the presented here measures will significantly improve positions of companies both financially, though increased customer loyalty, and socially, through improved corporate image and identity. Develop a standardized set of guidelines for business and organizations to follow in order to align own strategies and procedures with the Global Compact principles. This should involve: outlining major objectives the companies should achieve in terms of human rights and environmental protection; providing suggestions on how such objectives can be achieved on practice; providing assistance in form of associations, organizations or individual contact persons whom the companies may contact to receive clarifications, assistance and support. Design and implement measures and procedures for monitoring and controlling the processes of companies’ fulfilling the Global Compact principles. Organize local and county level support for businesses willing to improve their CSR performance. Educate all the stakeholders on the importance of protecting human rights and caring for the environment, and spread major companies’ CSR initiatives to encourage such programs of the suppliers. If possible, raise the need to protect human rights and the environment to the country’ legislative level. Business Implications We clearly understand that it will involve much of resources for businesses to implement these recommendations on practice. Furthermore, this process may even involve significant changes in business operations, as well as HR management practices in particular. In order to become totally compliant with the Global Compact principles some business might even require restructuring or strategy changes. However, the benefits are equally great – a socially responsible company has a much greater core value for governments and societies with which the company cooperates (Souto 2009). Therefore, though much resources and efforts might need to be invested at the beginning, the business will benefit from improved performance, customer loyalty and respect, in the long run. Benefits to Stakeholders Suppliers of larger organizations will get assistance in developing and implementing own plans aimed at achieving stronger compliance with Global Compact principles. Human rights of the employees will be more protecting, thus ensuring people work in more friendly and comfortable environments. In addition, such employees will feel more secure and protected in their jobs. Protecting the environment and promoting environmental protection activities, companies will contribute to sustainable growth of local communities. Risks These days many companies operate internationally. For that reason it is important for them to make sure local laws and regulations of each country are met in the process of achieving compliance with the Global Compact. Otherwise it may happen that, for instance, in an effort to implement some environment protection strategy the company simply violates some of the local laws. Another risk is that, in attempt to improve human rights protection, a company may face an increased number of complaints, demands, or even lawsuits from employees attempting to widen the scope of their rights. Conclusion Having already undergone through a number of challenges related to implementation of better CSR policies, the Gap believes its past experience can become a good ground for other companies’ developing and implementing improved and aimed at sustainable development CSR initiatives. We consider the presented above recommendations to be a good start for building a solid strategy and plan that will help companies in their strive for becoming more people- and environmental-friendly. References Amazeen, M. 2011. Gap (Red): Social Responsibility Campaign or Window Dressing?. Journal of Business Ethics 99(2): 167-82. Celebrating diversity. 2011. Gap Inc. http://www.gapinc.com/content/csr/html/Goals/employees/celebrating_diversity.html Accessed September 2, 2011. Environment. 2011. Gap Inc. http://www.gapinc.com/content/csr/html/Goals/environment.html Accessed September 2, 2011. Environment – Public Policy. 2011. Gap Inc. http://www.gapinc.com/content/csr/html/Goals/environment/our_program_in_action/public_policy.html Accessed September 2, 2011. Human Rights Policy. 2010. Gap Inc. http://www.gapinc.com/content/dam/csr/documents/HumanRightsPolicy_FINAL.pdf Accessed September 2, 2011. Smith, N., S.Ansett, and L. Erez. 2011.What's at Stake? Stakeholder Engagement Strategy as the Key to Sustainable Growth.. INSEAD Working Papers Collection 2 (2011): 2-35. Souto, B. 2009. Crisis and Corporate Social Responsibility: Threat or Opportunity? International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research 2 (1): 36-50. UN Global Compact. 2011. The Ten Principles.  http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html Accessed September 2, 2011. Wright, P. 2007. Corporate Social Responsibility at Gap: An Interview with Eva Sage-Gavin. Human Resource Planning 30(1): 45-48. Read More