Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Reflection - Plymouth University - Case Study Example

Social Responsibility and Company Reflection Contents Introduction: 2 Corporate Social Responsibility and their aims: 2 Performance of Plymouth University: 3 The main body: 4 General Reflect of Print Copy Scan (PCS) from Plymouth Better Together Report: 4 Print Copy Scan (PCS) Extracts of Plymouth Better Together Annual CSR Performance 2010/11: 4 Other Information: 6 Was there social value in what the Print Copy Scan was doing? 6 Did The Print Copy Scan Care about this? 6 Was this Core or Secondary to Print Copy Scan Business? 7 Conclusion 8 Own feelings on the exercise and about the social responsibility: 8 References: 11 Introduction: In current competitive trends, the world is moving towards the 5th generation. Companies are adopting many non-financial measures to achieve maximum social value in society. Corporate social responsibility also plays a big role in increasing the reputation of growing companies. Corporate Social Responsibility and their aims: What is corporate social responsibility? Corporate social responsibility simply means how a company or an organization manages its business processes to produce a positive impact on overall society. It is an internal function, which is controlled by the organization wherein the company takes responsibility for its corporate actions and ensures a positive impact on the social environment and society in general thus impacting that of the stakeholders of the company. It is the responsibility of the company to meet with all the legal and social requirements structured by the program for the positive developments in the environment. Failure to behave responsibly in their business practices can have negative effects on the stakeholders of the company, which then reflects on the company itself. Thus the main aim of the corporate social responsibility is to satisfy the stakeholders of any company. The Plymouth Better Together program is an endeavor undertaken by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce to involve the local business community in contributing towards a safer and healthier social and economic environment. They provide opportunities to companies to sign-up at their platform and pledge their support to a wide range of social issues and then report back on these issues. The report provided by the various companies chartered under Plymouth better together serves as a testimony to the success of the program as well as gives the program a chance to improve itself. The charter of pledges as designed in the program encourages the owners of the business to conduct different activities to meet with the objectives of good corporate governance and social responsibility. It also gives a chance for businesses to enhance their performances by taking part in and offering various social programs. This essay reviews the various objectives of this charter of pledges introduced by the Plymouth Better Together program and how its charter holders, Plymouth University and Plymouth’s local business Print Copy Scan (PCS), apply it. The essay also examines the positive results of this program as seen on the report of Print Copy Scan, (PCS). The essay also aims to draws conclusions on the effectiveness of the program. Performance of Plymouth University: Plymouth University is one the universities in the United Kingdom is dedicated to the cause of social responsibility as outlined by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and has pledged its support for the Plymouth Better Together Program. The University has taken many material steps to meet with all the necessary requirements of good corporate social responsibility. Some factors related to their university’s performance are mentioned below: Energy and water policy: The Plymouth University has shown an efficient performance in the sector of energy and water over the last five years. According to reports, the energy and water consumption of the University over the last five years have been proven to be most efficient and economical and focused to decrease carbon emissions. Statics of the university showed that, the carbon emission is reduced by approximately 15%-20% over the last period. As well as Adverse Environmental effects The main body: General Reflect of Print Copy Scan (PCS) from Plymouth Better Together Report: Print Copy Scan (PCS) is a family business and based in Plymouth. PCS offers a wide range of products and business solutions related to prints, copy and scan including servicing and repairing of printers, scanners and copier machines. For the satisfaction of customers, PCS has designed various repair packages to suit individual customers. PCS has taken their pledge to corporate social responsibility seriously and took many actions to achieve their objective. A summary of the performance against the pledges are mentioned below: Print Copy Scan (PCS) Extracts of Plymouth Better Together Annual CSR Performance 2010/11: We will see how PCS achieved the goals set by the “Healthy 13” pledge in 2010/11. The company offered an open platform for employees facing work related challenges, both physical and emotional. PCS arranged sessions to solve the personal issues of employees that were affecting their work. These sessions were conducted in relaxed social environments like local restaurants to help the employees relax and feel at ease to discuss their problems. PCS also achieved the “Healthy 15” (Improve work-life balance by allowing flexible working) pledge. For this purpose PCS introduced a flexible time system for their employees. This system gave the employees a reprieve from their standard working hours and a chance for them to do more focused quality work at their convenience, which definitely reflected on PCS overall revenue. The company also focused on reducing their staff and customer car usage in the period of 2010/11. They introduced a new technology, which allowed the employees to remotely access the customer’s equipment to identify the faults and rectify the errors. This resulted in a 50% reduction to the fuel expenditure of the company. On the other side the company also incurred the monetary value of 20,000 British pounds. The company also contributed 10,000 British pounds in grant to help organizations reduce the level of carbon emissions. PCS also took approximately three mounts in 2010/11 to implement this new technology. PCS also achieved the pledge “Wealthy 20” by reducing energy consumptions within its corporate settings. For this purpose, PCS encouraged all their employees to turn off their computers and unnecessary lights when they are not in use. This measure was implemented by six staff members as assigned by PCS and, added great value to the company and environment. The company has also achieved seven wealth pledges thus showing responsible corporate social behavior towards the environment. For example, PCS developed the practice of recycling paper and cartridges to protect the environment from pollution damage and decrease the carbon footprints that contribute to the threat of global warming. The company has also ensured that all their equipments are up-to-date and environment friendly. PCS practiced the use of an environmental calculator to protect the environment from any damage. In keeping with good corporate social responsibility the company has also achieved the pledge of “Healthy 20” by sharing the technology of the environmental calculator with their business partners to reduce the damages in more efficient manner. PCS donated towards a cancer charity to meet with the objective of “Safe and stronger 7”. The company also donated free photocopying and helped print poster for charities. PCS also achieved the objective of “offer free professional expertise to a voluntary organization” in 2010/11. For this purpose, the company assigned one employee to visit local schools to provide advice and expertise to students about business and entrepreneurship. They also funded training courses to train the staff to be up-to-date with new technologies. Other Information: Was there social value in what the Print Copy Scan was doing? These measures taken by PCS have added greatly to the social environment, the health of the society and affected an increase in individual performance thus creating better career options. This increased value created in society by the company also reflects on the overall value of PCS itself in society. The company was awarded the “Green Dealer of the year” for 2010, which is an indication that the efforts are recognized, by the Stakeholders of the company. A company’s contribution towards the health of the society or its Stakeholders, increases its sustainability. A company acquires sustainability by acknowledging and contributing to the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generation. PCS has done this by reducing the use of energy to save the energy resources for next generations. They also contributed to the welfare of the society by sending their representatives to local schools. Thus the company gained more social value in the eyes of society. Did The Print Copy Scan Care about this? Not really. PCS was already a champion of the causes as listed by the pledges in the Plymouth Better Together Program. The company has always focused on satisfying their customers in an efficient manner. PCS was already adhering to the pledges even before they registered as a charter under the program. The company had been involved in environment friendly practices for a very long time. In response to the questionnaire on Corporate Social responsibility, the company stated that the charter of pledges did not worry them that they would have to make too many changes in their organizational setup as the company was already complying with most of the objectives of charter of pledges with regards to its commitment towards lowering energy consumption and recycling. The management of the company undertook these measures as their contribution towards responsible social behavior even prior to them becoming Charter holders. Was this Core or Secondary to Print Copy Scan Business? Print Copy Scan treated this as a secondary activity. The core business activity of the company is to provide the services of copiers, printers, MFPs and document solutions to businesses. The Management stated that, sometimes the objectives as stated by the program may not be favorable for them and in that situation they would treat them as secondary activity depending on the circumstances. For example, PCS still uses continues the use of some old cars to reduce their overall cost and there is a strong possibility that these cars can emit high carbon emissions and cause harm to environment also due to their high fuel consumptions. In these cases the objectives take on a secondary nature. However PCS tries their best to focus on the core objectives of corporate social responsibility and aims to get their business to stand at the top of the crowd. Conclusion Own feelings on the exercise and about the social responsibility: In the light of my research on this topic corporate social responsibility is more of social awareness. Corporate social responsibility is the way of serving the community more efficiently. It may not be the necessary or core activity of a business but it is important for businesses to serve the community through their practices. Good corporate social responsibility contributes to the reputation of any business and can increase their profits and company value. The objective of the charter of pledges by Plymouth is to prove beneficial for both the stakeholders and the environment. Their focus is on four necessary objectives for a Healthy, Wealthy, Wise, Safe and Strong society. My research also proves that ethical, social and environmental behavior has significance in the achievement of primary financial objectives such as maximization of shareholders wealth. These non-financial factors that affect companies as mentioned in the charter of pledges are: Necessary facilities for employees: Corporate social responsibility focuses on the measures those can increase the welfare of the potential employees and related people. These include safe working conditions, good social facilities and provision of housing and basic necessities. Welfare of the community: Corporate social responsibility focus is to increase the welfare of the local community and society as a whole. It is the responsibility of all businesses to exhibit good corporate social behavior to benefit their stakeholders. They have the responsibility to ensure that their actions have an impact on the environment and the quality of life of their stakeholders. Organizational growth: Corporate social responsibility has a main role in the growth of an organization. This brings more power, value and larger market share. As seen above PCS is increasing its worth in the market and in the minds of the people by fulfilling the objectives of the pledge “free professional expertise to a voluntary organization”. Survival of the organization: Corporate social responsibility also helps in the survival of the organization. The main reason is the focus on the use of resources efficiently. For example, charter of pledges limits the companies to reduce their energy and water use. This factor directly helps to minimize the extra costs of the company and prepares them to face unfavorable situations if any in the future. In addition, as mentioned earlier corporate social responsibility simply involves the effective management of a business in order to produce a positive impact on overall society. It increases the chances of new developments while contributing to a peaceful social environment. Therefore in conclusion we can see that if a company or business tries to meet with the objectives of good corporate social responsibility then it can gain maximum personal benefit and also be able to serve the community as whole. I consider that this exercise has been an interesting evaluation into social responsibility and the way that this can be achieved. I feel that this was a very beneficial exercise for me personally as well as for students in general. I feel that this kind of exercise would allow the student to participate in and better understand how business and social responsibility works in reality. This allows students to improve and expand their future skills such as teamwork and communication, as well as the necessary academic skills, for example note taking, summarizing and report writing. In addition, the unusual approach and involvement that this exercise provides helps to involve students in their own learning and help them to develop enthusiasm, both for the subject itself and for learning in general. I thought that the way in which PCS performed under the Plymouth Better Together Program was interesting and I could see how the program would be useful for encouraging businesses to be more socially responsible. References: (2008). ACCA study text: paper P3: business analysis. London, BPP Learning Media. (2008). ACCA, 2008/09. Paper P3, Business analysis (BA). Wokingham, Kaplan Publishing. Plymouth better together. (2010/11). Plymouth better together Report. Available: http://www.plymouthbettertogether.org.uk/. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012 Print Copy Scan. (2010/11). Print Copy Scan (PCS). Available: http://www.printcopyscan.co.uk/. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012. Plymouth better together. (2010/11). How Plymouth better together works. Available: http://www.plymouthbettertogether.org.uk/content/content.asp?ida=1&idas=13. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012. Plymouth University. (2010/11). Social responsibility of Plymouth University. Available: http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012. MAY, S., CHENEY, G., & ROPER, J. (2007). The debate over corporate social responsibility. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Read More