Electronic Industry Code of Conduct - Research Paper Example

Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) Corporate Social Responsibility Effectiveness of Implementation Ability and Sustainability INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Introduction The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition abbreviated as EICC is a global association of leading electronic companies across the globe that works for the enhancement of efficiency and productivity and also in regards to the responsibility parameters of the electronic companies pertaining to society, environment and ethical conducts. This association requires the various companies that work under its banner to fulfill the outlined guidelines based on the parameters stated above. All the manufacturing and software companies together with the contracting companies that deal with the production of electronic equipments around the world are invited to gain the body’s membership ((EICC, “About Us”). Topic Area The general area of study that this research will mirror on is the code of conduct in EICC. The code of conduct of individuals employed in companies under the EICC umbrella came into form focusing mainly on three specific areas. First, the code worked in helping create a transparent and safer work atmosphere in the companies. The second area was enhancing the responsibility parameter of the people in regards to environment and safety with the third area being assisting in motivating the people to develop on their business skills and thereby enhance productivity. The firms that desire to adopt the code of conduct for EICC are required to first identify interest in the people and then raise commitment in them to follow such codes in their actions. Therefore, the training of staffs by management while keeping an eye on the changing guidelines in the EICC code of conduct also constitutes a core part of their actions (EICC, “EICC Code”). Statement to the Problem Among the other aspects of the code of conduct of EICC regards the sustaining and enhancing of health and safety paradigms of the workplace particularly the supply chain groups. Investigating the EICC social responsibility effectiveness would show the impact of EICC Codes of Conduct in sustainably meeting the objectives of the corporate social responsibility guidelines in regards to management body of the company and the supplier chain groups. There are some labour issues, unsafe condition of working environment in the electricity supply chains. The Electronic Code of Conduct issue does not work. This research will therefore investigate whether or not the EICC Codes of Conduct helps in maintaining sustainability as to the corporate responsibility in addressing social, economic and environmental issues. Research Objectives General objective The broad objective of this particular research is to investigate the factors and existing gap of EICC implement ability by each of five provisions to be sustainable CSR in the HDD industry supply chain. Specific objectives 1. To investigate whether the EICC Codes of Conduct helps in maintaining sustainability as to the corporate responsibility in addressing social, economic and environmental issues 2. To investigate how the EICC code of conduct would help the Western Digital Company in meeting the norms of CSR in an effective manner 3. To investigate the role of EICC codes of conduct in fulfilling the objectives of corporate social responsibility parameters Research hypothesis The research hypotheses for this particular study will be as follows: H1: Incorporation the EICC Codes of Conduct will significantly help the Western Digital Company and its supplier groups to meet the norms of corporate social responsibility in an effective manner. H2: A Relationship exists between the failure of CSR specialist of Western Digital Company’s branch operating in Asia to effectively percolate the EICC Codes of Conduct to the supply chain groups of the company and fulfilling the objectives of corporate social responsibility parameters. LITERATURE REVIEW Review of theoretical literature Various research works have been done in the area of corporate social responsibility with each paper addressing a vital issue in the various industries. A number of these works have been selected for review in order to further inform the research study problem and the reasons for the study. Sutantoputra (2009) discuses the social disclosure rating system for evaluating the CSR reports of firms, the theories and models found in stakeholder dialogue in the CSR within the pharmaceutical industry is outlined by Linda and Jenny(2008),and the incorporation of stakeholders approach in CSR in multinational corporations is discussed by Cheng and Jamila (2010). Based on a study by Seitanidi et al (2009) understanding the way CSR partnerships are implemented is vital in practice especially to organizations that implement CSR via partnerships. The case that evaluates and addresses the social environmental responsibility of Hp Company’s supply chain outlines the risks of CSR. The current status of CSR in the supply management realm forms the basis of the study by Lee and Kim (2009) while the importance of communicating CSR in an organization is discussed by Gregory ET all (2008). A focus on the Applied Material, Inc indicated how partnering with the supply chain can result to improvement of products energy efficiency. In contrasts to the other studies, Bondy (2008) in his study discussed the power paradox in Corporate Social Responsibility. Relevancy and Scope of the EICC Codes of Conduct for Corporate Social Responsibility FIAS (2007) observes that the EICC Codes of Conduct in regards to the sector of Corporate Social Responsibility operates along parameters like employment conditions of the people pertaining to compensation schemes and other employment policies relating to discrimination and employment of children. Along with focusing on enhancing the betterment of work conditions for the people the codes of conduct also laid stress on the meeting of environmental guidelines by the company. Herein the EICC Codes of Conduct tends to enhance the accountability of the management to fulfill the relevant guidelines by identifying the task holder groups. Training rendered to the people for the adequate fulfillment of the EICC Codes of Conduct needs to draw potential feedbacks from the respondents so as to firstly assess the interest of the people and thereby to take corrective actions on that behalf. The EICC Codes of Conduct also lay increased stress on the paradigm of business ethics such that it helps in enhancing the sense of business integrity among the organizational people. Thus EICC Codes of Conduct are found to encompass several organizational elements relating to employment and compensation schemes of internal people, work and health and safety standards, environmental standards of the company, management initiatives and finally areas of ethics and business integrity. The above parameters thus help in enhancing the dimensions of its relevancy and scope in regards to any manufacturing or technology oriented firm (FIAS, “Corporate Social Responsibility in China’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector”, 76-79). Issues, Challenges Gaps in Knowledge and Understanding of the EICC Codes of Conduct for Corporate Social Responsibility Resolve (2010) highlights in regards to the aforesaid situation that the EICC Codes of Conduct fail to be properly transmitted down the line to people working in the supplier organizations. It is found that the codes of conduct only tend to remain conversant between the management of the principal manufacturing organization and the principal supplying company thereby failing to percolate or pervade the supplying channel effectively. This leads to loss of transparency and knowledge in regards to the codes. Moreover it is also found that the principal supplier company in many cases fails to encourage its constituent members to follow the guidelines as framed in the EICC Codes of Conduct. This creates a conflict of information sharing between the constituent supply enterprises in an effective fashion. Again in the process of satisfying regulatory compliance as required by the codes of conduct the supplier groups reflected lack of resources to fulfill such (Resolve, “Tracing a Path Forward: A Study of the Challenges of the Supply Chain for Target Metals Used in Electronics”, 15-19). METHODOLOGY The Study Area In this particular research the study area will involve a selected company. The company selected is the Asia operations of the Western Digital Company (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and China). Western Digital is a California based company that works in the generation of products and services for those companies that work on the collection, management and employment of large amount of digital databases. Thailand is considered as the company’s largest manufacturing center employing around 30,000 people committed to render quality in products and services (Western Digital, “Welcome to Western Digital”). Western Digital a continuing member of EICC vehemently supports the Code of Conduct guidelines laid down by the body in regards to the monitoring the actions of its supply chain groups in fulfilling economic, social and environmental goals (Western Digital, “Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2011”, 19). Target population The target population or the cadre of informants will comprise of employees, managers, and suppliers of Western Digital Company. This population is found in different levels in supply chain ranging from the top management, HR/EHS, and the daily operators. Sampling procedure A small carefully selected sample of the population will be used to represent the entire population. The sampling methods that will be used are classified as either probability or non-probability. Probability sampling will enable the calculation of sampling error. Sample size Around 30 interviews would be taken on a group of 300 respondents randomly selected from the groups. The total of 30 interviews would be divided around 9 open ended questions that would help in illustrating the understanding of the respondents in a descriptive fashion. A total of 100 respondents would be chosen in each group who would render their views on 7 different close ended questions framed for each group. Survey tools The research will depend primarily on interviews and structured questionnaires. The 30 interview questions will be divided in such a way that 9 will be open ended and 21 framed close ended in nature. These questions would be asked on the group of 300 respondents that would be sub-divided into three groups of stake holders like employees, management and suppliers. Data analysis The sampling techniques used will help in reflecting the inferences drawn from the three sub-groups in terms of percentage and thereby be reproduced in the form of graphs and pie-charts. The analytical tool will comprise of tables of data relevance, graphs of the process flow, and impact stories from the in-depth interview, and feedback from the online questionnaires and emails. Data will be analyzed using SPSS. Research design The study approach will be a deductive approach through audit, observation, and attending of chain conference. Questionnaire interviews will be designed from the secondary literatures sources like articles, case studies, and books. A test pilot run of the questionnaires with WD in all employee levels will be done to check the understanding of the survey and eliminate bias. Self-completion diaries will be used to track changes and issues in stakeholder relationships with the project. Significance of the study Upon the completion of this research/survey, it will show the impact of EICC in sustainably meeting the objectives of the CSR guidelines in regards to management body of the company and the supply chain groups. The research will also add to the body of researches that have been conducted in this area. Limitations 1. Owing to the varying supply chain groups in different countries, the coordinator may not be motivated enough to get the fact interview results from the respondents leading to inaccuracy. 2. Confidentiality and degree of incorporation from the top management will pose a challenge. 3. Language barriers will be a threat to the study and thus the questionnaires will be translated into the local language for each country (Malaysia and Chinese) in order to reduce this threat. REFERENCES Bondy, K.(2008). The Paradox of Power in CSR: A Case Study on Implementation. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(1):307–323. Cheng, W., & Jamilah, A. (2010). Incorporating Stakeholder Approach In Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A Case Study At Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Penang. Social Responsibility Journal, 6(4): 593-610. Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM).(2009).Reset. Corporate Social Responsibility In The Global Electronics Supply Chain. Retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/nl/ EICC. (2011). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.eicc.info/about_us.shtml EICC. (2011). EICC Code. Retrieved from http://www.eicc.info/eicc_code.shtml EICC.(2011). Applied Materials Case Study: Partnering With The Supply Chain For Improved Energy Efficiency Of Products. Retrieved from www.eicc.info . EICC.(2011).Hewlett-Packard Case: Assessing and Addressing Social and Environmental Responsibility in HP’s Supply Chain. Retrieved from www.eicc.info Gregory, B., Laura, L., Francesco, L.,& Alessandra, Z. (2008). Communicating CSR: practices among Switzerland's top 300 companies. Corporate Communications, 13(2): 182-196. Lee, K.,& Kim, J. (2013). Current Status of CSR in the Realm of Supply Management: The Case Of The Korean Electronics Industry. Supply Chain Management, 14 (2): 138-148. Linda, O., & Jenny, F. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Models and Theories in Stakeholder Dialogue. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4): 745-758. Resolve. (2010). Tracing a Path Forward: A Study of the Challenges of the Supply Chain for Target Metals Used in Electronics. Retrieved fromhttp://eicc.info/documents/RESOLVEReport4.10.10.pdf Seitanidi, M.,& Andrew, C.(2009). Implementing CSR Through Partnerships: Understanding the Selection, Design and Institutionalization of Nonprofit-Business Partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, suppl. Supplement 85: 413-429. Sutantoputra, A. (2009). Social Disclosure Rating System For Assessing Firms' CSR Reports. Corporate Communications, 14 (1): 34-48. Western Digital.(2011). Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2011. Retrieved from http://wdc.com/wdproducts/library/company/globalcitizenship/CorporateSocialResponsibilityReport2011HR.pdf Western Digital.(2012) Welcome to Western Digital. 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