Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example

Corporate Social Responsibility Table of Contents Introduction 3 Research 3 Research Strategy 3 Data Collection Methods 4 Insights into qualitativeresearch in discipline 5 Research 2 6 Research Strategy 6 Data Collection Methods 7 Insights into qualitative research in discipline 8 Conclusion 8 Reference List 10 Introduction The first research paper titled ‘Collaborative corporate social responsibility’ is aimed at analyzing the coming together of two public relations agencies based in America to participate within the UN Global Impact. This program from the United Nations brings together about 4000 organizations which are members to this association and is spread over about 100 countries for the purpose of addressing some of the most critical issues that has plagued the world. More specifically, the paper is aimed at the course of events that are responsible for driving these senior officials to take part in the global compact and become members to the dominant coalition. The second research paper titled ‘Corporate social responsibility brand leadership: a multiple case study’ has been directed towards using existing research and studies that provide frameworks for the analysis of CSR as a tool for brand leadership strategy. The existing literature is supported by a qualitative study of five UK based firms that have a significant market share, successful brand strategies and a very active CSR. The paper is organized in two parts where each part is dedicated to one research paper. The analysis is organized as presenting the research strategy, methods, findings, assumptions, and overall quality of the research paper. The analysis also makes suggestions for improvement after the analysis. The main argument of this research paper is to critically analyze the two research papers based on qualitative studies and suggest drawbacks that could be improvised for a more comprehensive study. Research 1 Research Strategy The paper uses Grunig’s situational theory of publics for the purpose of analysis of cases presented within the paper (Byrd, 2009). The framework within the theory helps in creating a single case study with three different aspects of analysis. The research is conducted by way of exhaustive interviews conducted with the senior counselors of each of the two American companies that are under analysis. The primary document analysis is focused completely on the communication of the progress reports presented to the global compact unit on a semiannual basis by each participating member. The secondary analysis is conducted by way of materials and documents produced by the agencies which also include speeches, articles and presentations for the purpose of business publication. Research question The key research question is to find out the dynamics that were responsible for company realization that such coalition was for the benefit of the organization. The second research question is obstacles that were faced by these agencies according to the individuals that dominate the coalition members. The third research question was to identify the extent to which the 10 principles of the coalition integrated within the agency’s work. Research Findings The research questions have been responsible for finding that each one of the company analyzed have been able to completely integrate the compact principles into their company’s internal functions and the use of such a global compact is going to be important in counseling their clients. The research also revealed that their agencies shall become more involved with issues like diversity and ethics and confrontations of such matters. Underlying Assumptions The research assumes that interview responses received from the research were sufficient ad comprehensive views serving the purpose of research in entirety. The research also assumes that the facts presented by two firms are an appropriate representation of all the other firms who have come under the coalition. Data Collection Methods The data was a multiple collection by 3 methods; the first was a detailed interview of one official from each of the two companies. The second method was primary data analysis which was entirely based on the COP report presented to the UN global compact bi-annually. The third analysis was by way of secondary research where agency specific presentation, speech and articles were analyzed for the purpose of identification of data relevant to answer the research questions. Strengths and Weaknesses The strength in this research methodology was that it was a three pronged comprehensive and exhaustive approach towards qualitative studies. The primary data was reliable source whole the use of secondary data of the company could provide much of the in-depth reflection into the synergies and problems & issues faced by the company in adoption of the coalition under the UN global compact. The weakness was sample restriction to two companies and use of only one representative from each company. Alternatives The use of multiple cases study approach has been restricted to a small sample. Also primary data was restricted to COP reports only. There was a need for more sample representative and greater primary data sourcing. The alternative approach towards such analysis could be use of an unstructured interview along with a study of published literature on the subject that would provide a more comprehensive view of the issue at hand (Merriam, 2009). Structured interview would have more specific and objective answers that would facilitate identification of other issues that can be left out within the structured approach. Classification and formation of groups according to answers relevant to the 3 research questions could have been done later when the answers were analyzed. Such an analysis would have presented more ideas and data for analysis. Use of published journals could provide greater accessibility to data for influence measures, obstacles and integration involvement for more number of companies (Boaije, 2010). Insights into qualitative research in discipline Use of qualitative research within this paper has been properly justified for the purpose of answering the research questions in perspective. The insights of the dynamics that can be held responsible for the involvement of the company into global compact are facts and cannot be classified in numbers. Each company can have a different set of dynamics and analysis of two companies brings together a common set of dynamics that can be stated to be responsible for bringing them into the UN global compact. The use of quantitative data would have been essential if the number of companies were greater than two. In such a scenario, there would have been a need to quantify and classify data as per objective questionnaire. However, a research that is directed towards identification of constraints and level of integration could not possible be ascertained from figures. Qualitative research within this paper has been restricted to only 2 companies and this is not a significant or justified representation of the research agenda. Another point of ambiguity arises with the interviews being conducted in a semi structured pattern. The restriction of interviews to options of answers for objectivity and simplification allows little room for presentation of personal views and ideas that might be helpful in adding on to the research. Hence we see that the existing qualitative research is strong while also hinting at the scope for improvement for the research. Research 2 Research Strategy The paper uses the existing research studies and tries to extend upon it to fill up a gap in theory. The three researches are based on a framework for brand leadership, CSR design and implementation framework and a capabilities view to brand leadership and with the use of such existing literature, the paper tries to fill the gap in brand building and brand leadership through CSR (Lindgreen et. al., 2011). Research question The key research question that the paper tries to address is the components that are necessary to develop the CSR brand while the second question tries to seek the answer to the kind of capabilities that are required for the implementation of a CSR related branding strategy. Such an analysis is conducted by way of a qualitative and exploratory study of existing literature. Research Findings Research questions can be held responsible for devising path for answering the issues pertaining to CSR related branding strategy. Through a literature and case study approach for five firms, the paper finds intuitive and planned CSR strategies for brand leadership. It was identified that a variety of capabilities are desired for each developmental stage while implementing CSR related brand leadership strategy. Underlying Assumptions The main assumption that forms the base for this research is the idea that CSR does share a positive relation with branding of a company and it somehow impacts the company’s brand value. However, the research does not find any direct strategic link between the CSR and branding activities Data Collection Methods The research is first of a kind which is why it was found difficult to get a theoretical base for conducting a quantitative study (Eisenhardt, 1989). The qualitative analysis takes help of 3 existing research papers to analyze the theory behind brand leadership and CSR implementation framework. With the help of such research, the paper adopted a multiple case study approach which used 5 firms based in UK that had significant dedication towards CSR along with successful brand marketing strategies and significant market coverage. The companies were taken as case studies and interviews were conducted with company CEO’s brand managers and marketing heads in order to supplement research of these companies through secondary data analysis. The research also takes a post hoc assessment of branding strategies adopted by chosen companies Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of research methodology lies in the comprehensiveness of approach in qualitative analysis where both primary and secondary source of data are used to bring forth the views presented for the analysis of research questions. The weakness in the research methodology lies in improper and unjustified selection of companies as samples for case study. The companies have been chosen by experts does not provide much reliable information for the basis of choice. Additionally, the term significant market share is quite loosely help for determining company strength. Alternatives An alternative approach to supplement the research could be making a choice of listed companies who are leaders in their respective industries. Also, the research is restricted to UK companies alone. The research would have a better representation with choice of companies located in different countries (Fick, 2009). Findings presented within the paper tend to be a reflection of the UK markets alone. Insights into qualitative research in discipline The case studies developed by way of qualitative study were based on the brand development framework by Aaker and Joachimsthaler’s (2000) framework. The goodness of fit within each of the categories of the framework was assessed. Next, the cases were analyzed similarly against the Maon, Lindgreen and Swaen, (2009) framework for CSR implementation and development followed by the capabilities view analysis based on Beverland, Napoli and Lindgreen’s, (2007) research. The study lays high focus of the development of strategy using CSR as a brand leadership tool within the context of UK alone. This restricts the scope for analyzing the CSR on branding strategy in other nations different in economic, social and political climate from UK. The use of open ended questions and following an unstructured interview format guided by the brand development framework provided great detail and added hug value into the research. The interview so conducted provided a lot of information which would have otherwise been lost if one followed a structured pattern. However, use of an unstructured format also comes with the drawback of being loose and time taking. It can also potentially miss out of certain key topics that needs research wavering into undesired areas. Such unstructured data might present a lot of classification and groups for study making analysis difficult. Unstructured interviews are highly influenced personal biases of the interviewee which again might be responsible for misrepresented data. Conclusion The research papers analyzed within this study have completely two different approaches that are found exhaustive by their own means. However, it was found that in the field of qualitative analysis, the lack of quantitative data exposes the studies to a number of ambiguities arising out of lack of reliability of information which is not supported by facts and figures. In this context, the first research shall present a better picture of the analysis of the research was supported by more number of firms under analysis supplemented by an unstructured interview format allowing scope for higher analysis. The second paper was highly concentrated within one country which can make the results prejudiced on account of country’s business and political conditions that might influence it. Additionally, choice of companies needs proper justification and reliable background for selection. Hence we observe the need for more information in qualitative studies. Reference List Aaker, D. A. and Joachimsthaler, E., 2000. The lure of global branding. Harvard Business Review, 77(6), pp. 137-44. Beverland, M. B., Napoli, J. and Lindgreen, A., 2007. Industrial global brand leadership: a capabilities view. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(8), pp. 1084-93. Boaije, H., 2010. Analysis in Qualitative Research. London: SAGE. Byrd, S. L., 2009. Collaborative corporate social responsibility A case study examination of the international public relations agency involvement in the United Nations Global Compact. An International Journal, 14(3), pp. 303-319. Eisenhardt, K. M., 1989. Building theories from case study research. The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), pp. 532-550. Fick, U., 2009. An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: SAGE. Lindgreen, A., Xu, Y., Maon, F. and Wilcock, J., 2011. Corporate social responsibility brand leadership: a multiple case study. European Journal of Marketing, 46(7/8), pp. 965-993. Maon, F., Lindgreen, A. and Swaen, V., 2009. Designing and implementing corporate social responsibility: an integrative framework grounded in theory and practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(1), pp. 71-89. Merriam, S. B., 2009. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. London: John Wiley & Sons. Read More