Contributions of PSU Graduate Business Alumni - Essay Example

Companies from major industries like oil and gas, IT firms, hotel management, and automotive suppliers, of them have incorporated a hint of CSR and ethical behavior in their strategies.

Almost every other company strives to formulate policies for corporate social responsibility. In the annual statements or social responsibility reports, companies often mention the strategies that they implement for maintaining social responsibility. Recently, a new idea that has emerged for demonstrating social responsibility is ‘Going Green. Some of the companies which have adopted this strategy of ‘Going Green’ are:
- American Seating,
- Bodman LLP,
- Contractors Building Supply,
- Duro-Last Roofing, Inc.,
- Dynamic Systems Inc. (Cadabas, 2010).

Apart from these companies, recently a well-known company British Petroleum (BP) has also changed its strategy and converted to an environmentally friendly brand image. It has changed its name from ‘British Petroleum’ to ‘Beyond Petroleum’ and to communicate its vision it has changed its brand image and has included a hint of green in it. Recently, the incident oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raised serious questions about the Social Responsibility of BP. Despite that, BP managed to overcome its image and put all the required actions into practice immediately.

To determine the performance of the companies in making this world a better place to live in, the first and foremost concern that arises is of ethical behavior of the companies. Ethical behavior supports the company in making a better image in the eyes of its stakeholders. A company that ruthlessly utilizes resources or endangers the environment or species to generate the maximum amount of revenue faces a lot of criticism and disapproval from pressure groups. Therefore, to furnish their brand image, nowadays companies are thriving harder to make reputable positions in the eyes of their stakeholders and especially customers. The more a company is ethical, the more it will receive appreciation from its stakeholder.

Recently, Forbes released a list of the most ethical companies in the world. In that list, the top 10 most ethical companies are:
- Accenture (Ireland).
- Adobe Systems (US).
- AECOM Technology Corp (US).
- Aflac Inc. (US).
- Alcoa (US).
- Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (US).
- American Express (US).
- Applied Material Inc. (US).
- Aramark (US).
- Arthur J. Gallagher Corp (Smith, 2012).

According to Forbes (2012), nowadays more and more companies are realizing the fact that ethics is so important for businesses and they are integrating ethical standards into the culture of their company. Even to attract more candidates from the pool labor market, the companies must possess adequate brand image otherwise candidates will get reluctant in working for that particular company.