Critical Evaluation of an Organizations Corporate Social Responsibility - Assignment Example

Critical Evaluation of an Organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility The business organizations of the current decade are discovering newer and better ways of achieving success and advancements. With the advent of modern equipments, methods, and procedures of working, there are various ethical and moral considerations that the organizations are required to undertake. This paper will be discussing the concept of those ethical issues and will elaborate upon the implementation of such strategies. Corporate Social Responsibility The businesses, in the modern days, are undertaking rigorous considerations for the ethical norms known as Corporate Social Responsibility. The concept of corporate social responsibility, also known as corporate citizenship, corporate conscience, or sustainable responsible business, pertains to the ethics of self-regulation of the businesses incorporated into a business model. The policies of the CSR work in the form of an integral, self-governing machinery through which a business organization is able to keep track of and guarantee and active conformity in accordance with the ethical standards, law, and international norms. The concept of CSR is defined as an array of the corporate or business practices which are founded on transparency and ethical norms that which make a positive contribution to the external and internal stakeholders’ sustainable development in the interest and benefits of the environment and corporate society (Mette, 2006). The basic purpose of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, is to accept the accountability for the actions performed by the organization and help at encouraging a positive influence through the company’s activities on the customers, environment, communities, employees, consumers and other stakeholders and the public. Many national and international organizations utilize the strategies of benchmarking in order to enter into competition with their rival companies in the same industry with respect to the formulation, implementation and effectiveness of the corporate social responsibilities policies. Unilever Amongst many international and national companies, Unilever is one of the most successful business organizations in the line of consumer products worldwide. It is a British–Dutch multinational company which provides consumer goods. Its product lines include an extensive range of products in beverages, foods, personal care products, and cleaning agents. In terms of revenues, Unilever is the third-largest company providing the consumer goods in the entire world, followed by Proctor and Gamble and Nestlé, and it is ranked as the world's largest maker of ice cream (Unilever, 2012). The process of consumer research performs a crucial role in the processes of the company. The far-reaching access of the company’s business operations and activities allow it to gain a closer look at the local consumers and understanding their various priorities and needs. The mission of the company, Unilever, is to fulfill all the needs of its people everywhere. It claims to do so by anticipating the objectives and intentions of its customers and consumers, and responds to them in a manner which is most competitive and creative in the industry. Unilever facilitates its buyers with the most sophisticated brands of services and products which are assured to raise the quality and standards of life. The organization has got its roots deep into the markets and cultures in every country or region where it possesses its functions. It has attained an unparalleled inheritance for the building blocks of its prospective growth in future. The long-term success of the company lies in its beliefs, norms, and the commitment to its highest standards of productivity and performance. All these factors work effectively and collectively to build a sustainable community and provide the best quality products and services. Unilever believes that, the organization can only be successful when it formulates and executes such a corporate behavior towards its employees which is highest in standards. Its basic belief observes that serving and working for the employees, consumers and societies is its fundamental purpose of existence and path towards success. In this way, Unilever earns a profitable and sustainable growth for its business activities and a long-term creation of value with respect to its employees and shareholders. CSR Implications at Unilever Being a huge multinational company that obtained its beginning more than hundred years back, Unilever has managed to adjust itself to the changing times and has prospered in a successful manner. Just like many other MNCs, the organization has been persistent in giving increasing consideration and attention to the challenging issues linked to the corporate social responsibility in the modern world. In the beliefs of the company, the CSR issues often take its form through the research and development of the product and careful studies to change the behaviour of the consumers. The CSR at Unilever entails a wide range of communications and interactions with the society and its stakeholders. For the company, the concept of corporate social responsibility means ‘managing the multiplicity of relationships everyday with the customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, local communities, governments, and the other public in this diverse society’ (Unilever, 2000). The organization’s standards of the socially responsible behaviour are an integral segment of the operating traditions of the company. This corporate behaviour is implicit in its business practices and is also listed on the company’s Code of Business Principles. Unilever’s CSR approach considers seven particular groups of stakeholders: 1. Employees 2. Shareholders 3. Suppliers 4. Consumers 5. Business partners and Trade customers 6. Local communities, governments and the societies with which the business is conducted, and 7. Academics and researchers Unilever has formed the CSR projects and implemented them in all the countries where it has its operations and functional activities. Some of the instances of CSR implications of the company are given below: After conducting the audit in 2003, the Unilever Brazil discovered that the there is a huge risk of the presence of child labour in the production supply chain of tomatoes as the company’s one of the major raw materials. After contracting a child labour specialist and conducting a survey, the management found out the reason for the children working in that part of the country. Later, the company made policies for the problem of child labour and further expanded them to provide the health and safety coverage to the workers (Carissa, 2008). Unilever embarks upon the continuous improvement of its performance through both international and national guidelines of business operations through the ISO Standards and the Environmental Rating Performance (PROPER). The company has launched the Cleaner Planet Plan and Small and Mighty in order to maintain and sustain a healthy environment. This plan connects to the improvement of all the manufacturing processes related to laundry and aims upon altering and making the consumer behaviour better related to the brands such as Persil. Through these programme, they have aimed upon saving more than 70 million litres of water and declining production of Carbon dioxide thus, creating a positive impacts on the climate and the surrounding communities (Jane, 2009). The company’s commitment to the environment includes various programmes which are established at reducing greenhouse gasses. They include Cross Docking Project, Logistics Joint Initiative, Capability and resource Building, and the works related to sustainable packaging and reducing waste (Unilever, 2010). Unilever also attempts to enhance the livelihoods of the people living in its surrounding societies and communities. Through its initiation of Lifebuoy Flood Relief Efforts, and partnering with the UNICEF and UN World Food Programme, the company has been taking new initiatives for the development of the society. Furthermore, as a part of its corporate social responsibility code, the company successfully works with its international retail customers, which include Tesco, Metro, Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Through its network of Customers Insights and Innovation Centre, the company works closely with the retailers and decide for good branding and safe packaging strategies. Criticism of Unilever’s CSR The CSR policy formulations and execution is the responsibility of all the business organizations that claims to possess a responsible corporate environment. Therefore, we assume that it is the foremost need and the matter of highest priority for the organizations is to embark upon such practices which guarantee maximum satisfaction and benefits to the company’s stakeholders. That results into the fact that creating CSR policies and undertaking development projects and initiatives for the society are no favors of organizations since it sustains itself and generates revenues from the very society that it is bound to serve. The environmental and societal development plans that the Unilever undertakes are mostly associated to its corporate success in the long term. Unilever adopts a Creating Shared Value, or CSV, approach towards incorporating and integrating the CSR strategies directly into its business operations. It is a socially responsible organization and carries a holistic approach of its operations and business activities in association with its stakeholders. The basic belief of the organization and its management lies in the fact that, in order to enter an effective competition and remain at winning position, it is essential for a business to have sustainable resources, a healthy and educated workforce, and an adept government. Thus, Unilever charts and implements all its CSR plans to gain a competitive position in the consumer market. Though, it is a good step to take initiatives for the betterment of society and environment, however, on a critical side of argument, the company adopts the entire program to gain a large market share and successful business amongst the community of buyers. However, on a positive side, the organization has implemented CSR in a sophisticated manner. Unilever has depicted growing concerns on developing the society in terms of awareness and education. By developing supplier networks, the company has developed better supplier relations and granted them good terms of dealings. Besides this, the ethical principles and laws of incorporating and maintaining a business are being adhered to by the organization. The company has been successful in gaining the advantage of available natural resources by creating its network in agrarian economies such as Brazil, India and China. It has implemented its sustainable agricultural programs for tea farmers in order to boost their incomes and plan for their development. Other Green Logistics project, Water recycling plans and the implementation of the sustainable projects prove that the company has attempted to gain a good market share by planning its corporate social responsibility codes. The provision of educational facilities and ‘Care for Children’ program has granted the organization a good positioning amongst the consumer segments in China and other developing countries. Unilever has made its values and standards clear by depicting exclusive standards of productivity and performance in order to establish a firm footing in the ethical context. The major positive contribution, and ultimately a positive business-driving factor, is the good quality of its food commodities. Unilever claims to provide ‘nutrition’ by reducing the salt levels, and improving the health and well-being of the consumers. The Nutrition Enhancement Program initiated by the brand is well depicted in its advertisements as well. The company has initiated the Blue Band brand under the Fight against Child Hunger program, for which it has partnered with the United Nations World Food Program. These associations and partnerships have also granted a beneficial position to the company in its potential customer segment. Growing Popularity of CSR It is generally said that most of the companies usually adopt the corporate social responsibility policies when they turn to the markets of developing countries as their highly prioritized consumer markets. The CSR, in this case, proves to develop informed supplier network, consumer base, and a strong manufacturing network for the business organizations. CSR, on a basic level, tends to address the societal barring with the help of market-based incentives. The concept of CSR has been increasingly gaining attention and interest of the people in the corporate world these days. The days of doing conventional style of business have passed when the firms would narrowly and blindly pursue the profit generation motive without showing any concern for the wide spectrum of the stakeholders which constitutes the major segment of the business. The lack of sustainability is not considered right any more (David Waldman, 2006). CSR has gained growing popularity amongst the corporate world for the reason that, it is one of the significant yardsticks to measure the intangibles in an organization. With the organizations’ focus on the non-financial performance, CSR proves to be an important tool in assessing its employees’ morale, customer satisfaction, and supplier’s relations and provides more credible and less vague outcomes (The Economist, 2005). According to many business experts and executives around the world, the companies are compelled to pay more attention to the corporate social responsibility concepts for the reason that they need to focus largely on their stakeholders, government pressures and have to pay greater consideration to the increasing occurrence of corporate scandals. The basic motives behind following the ethical guidelines and integrity-driven code of conduct is that the companies need to gain back the public trust which might have declined in the forms of financial crises, quality worsening, or other shortcomings in the past. Then, there are many big companies which are increasingly formulating and implementing CSR concepts as a guarantee to avoid or pacify the anti-globalization and other external accountability and government groups. Besides this, there are many companies, such as Unilever and Tesco, which are opting for the CSR implementations for the purpose of gaining intangible benefits including better market and product positioning, a good brand image, and to gain the upper hand over the competitors in the industry. The CSR responsibility is managed effectively at all levels in the organizations. Some large-scale companies have also hired specialists and CR officials as high-level full-time executives. They are responsible for maintaining and issuing the company’s detailed reports regarding CSR policy implementations every year. In some organizations, the practices of CSR and ethical guidelines are just considered as marketing or public relations function. They practice all the ‘necessary’ ethical and fair functions without giving them the name CSR. While there are many such companies, which engage in the socially responsible activities, such as environmental protection and fair trade, but promote them as being the ‘CSR’ practices instead of treating them as usual business functions. Conclusion CSR has been the subject of significance since past many years in the corporate world. When the companies make themselves operational in the markets of the developing countries, they need to implement the CSR features in their corporate activities. CSR strategies develop informed suppliers, consumers and other related corporate networks. It is one of the major non-financial indicators of the organization’s performance. Unilever has been one of the most active participants of the corporate social responsibility policies. It has initiated various community sustainable plans to develop and maintain its markets. The company has positioned itself amongst its loyal consumers by serving the society and creating environment protection policies. Organizations need the CSR policies and ethical guidelines to establish firm footing in the competitive markets and to avoid any external pressure from the accountability departments and government. REFERENCES Carissa Dizon, 2008, Assessment of Unilever Brasil’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programs in Goiás, Brazil, Web, Retrieved on April 10, 2012 David Waldman, 2006, Corporate Social Responsibility: What it really is, Why it’s so important, and How it should be managed, Web, Retrieved on April 10, 2012 Jane Ahlering, 2009, Unilever's Approach to Dirty Laundry, Web, Retrieved on April 10, 2012 Mette Morsing, 2006, Corporate social responsibility communication: stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies, Business Ethics: A European Review, Volume 15 Number 4. The Economist, 2005, The importance of corporate responsibility. The Economist. Print, pp. 4 Unilever, 2000, Unilever’s approach to corporate social responsibility, Web, Retrieved on April 10, 2012 Unilever, 2010, Reduce Environmental Impact, Sustainability Report 2010. Print, pp. 16 Unilever, 2012, Introduction to Unilever, Web, Retrieved on April 10, 2012 Read More