Evaluating ways in which carphone warehouse fufill is ethical and social obligatory - Essay Example

Methodology Carphone Warehouse is a large company that's been operating for years, so it is impossible to review its CSR policy in true detail. Nonetheless, a brief overview is illustrative. First, I will summarise and analyse Carphone Warehouse's stated CSR policy. Second, I will examine if past transgressions have occurred, and if so, at what level. Third, I will analyse the way that those events might impugn CPW's CSR policy and determine where the blame is to be put. CSR Policy Carphone Warehouse has an impressive and well thought-out CSR policy (Carphone Warehouse, 2011).

It began with an overview to bring in five areas of their business: “At the Carphone Warehouse we have spent the past 12 months devising a clear CR strategy which focuses on five key areas - Customers, Employees, Community, Charity and Environment” (Carphone Warehouse, 2011). They include their investors, customers, employees and communities as stakeholders. Carphone Warehouse supports several charities, as does TalkTalk. It supports Barnardo's and Get Connected, and TalkTalk has its own partner charity, Treehouse (Carphone Warehouse, 2011). . It also has its own Foundation that it uses to support initiatives floated by employees, and supports Namibia Trek, Helping with Homelessness and others.

But the CSR policy is far from simply a charity policy. They have a battery directive to return waste batteries under the 2009 Waste Batteries and Accumulator Regulations, and have a goal to reduce their carbon footprint by 12% by 2012 (Carphone Warehouse, 2011). In addition, they have introduced a 0%-to-landfill policy. Their environmental policy goes beyond merely complying with the law, showing a commitment to “legal plus”, though they do prominently display their compliance with the law as if it were laudatory.

They also funded a study to determine health risks from cell phones. While they had a vested interest in the outcome of this study, they could have avoided funding it at all. The study found that there is no connection between cell phone use and cancer, which matches with other evidence on the topic. They also offer an independent fact sheet, not produced by the company. CPW also has an impressive diversity policy, using totaljobs.com and jobability.com to provide jobs to disabled people and using ethnic magazines to promote to ethnic minorities (Carphone Warehouse, 2011).

They have a self-esteem system of both monetary bonuses and intangibles like parties, and have the Pulse survey to monitor their employees. They have invested into training initiatives for laptops. The sign of a good CSR policy is that it goes beyond charity and legal compliance and shows attention to the company's impacts and stakeholders. CPW's meets this bar. Ethical Lapses However, CPW has been associated