Features of Corporate Social Responsibility - Coursework Example

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (Student Name) (Course Number) (University) (Date) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 2 Features of Corporate Social Responsibility 4 Overview of Microsoft Corporation 6 CSR Techniques in place 8 Advantages of using CSR 10 Disadvantages of CSR 11 Recommendations 12 Conclusion 12 References 13 Introduction One of the fiercest challenges in the recent times is the integration of sustainability in business operations. With reference to the definition by World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainability refers to the concept of taking care of the needs of the contemporary generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Unless the international standard for protection of the environment, and legal standards are well taken, care of, the definition above remains a statement. For sustainable development to be realized, the role played by businesses is of key significance. The exemplary performance of a business depends on the health and well-being of the ecosystems as well as the societies in which they operate (Mares, 2008, p. 102). At the heart of the relationship between businesses and the society is the aspect of corporate social responsibility. Responsibility in the manner in which corporations conduct businesses within a society is important in determining the filure or success of the given enterprise. In many instances, corporations cannot be separated from the society and hence the need for a harmonious co-existence. Corporate Social Responsibility, therefore, can be defined as the initiative taken by corporations to ensure that their effects on both the society and environment are well taken care of (Lee and Kotler, 2013, p. 1-2). The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility also involves the participation of businesses in activities that can be considered as empowering the communities in which they operate. An important issue of concern in the business world today is the relationship between good businesses and responsible businesses. Business opinion polls have it that business that have the welfare of the society at heart flourish more than those that are less concern with the society because of the good public image and societal acceptance levels. There is the growing concern currently of the impacts of the private sector on the employees, stakeholders, business partners, competitors, consumers, governments, .the environment as well as the local communities. Some of the decisions made by private businesses have profound effects on the communities, and firms are increasingly realizing that they can contribute to their own wealth by contributing to the societal health. The expectation of many societies in which businesses operate is the need to show responsibility in the manner in which actions are carried out. It is the responsibility of a business to ensure satisfaction of the needs of the societies and communities in which they operate through job creation and better environmental performance which are at the core of CSR. There is also the need that the consumers of products from any given corporation are satisfied with the nature of production of the goods and their affordability. Hence, CSR play a vital role in the success of any given enterprise. Manager who realize that businesses cannot perform well in failing societies in terms of both governance and environmental control can lay down strategies to ensure societal acceptance of the corporation. With globalization in place today, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has been greatly advocated for in many parts of the world. The engagement of companies in the activities within the communities can helped in building good rapports with the local communities and having good public image and increased public confidence and acceptance of the companies, resulting in an intangible capital (Gossling, 2011, p. 45). Another area where CSR is important in businesses is the increased communal awareness of the organization that leads to the promotion of the company brand. This way, wealth creation for the corporation is made easier. Features of Corporate Social Responsibility The aspects of corporate social responsibility are many and varied. Among the most important features, however, are the legal, economic, environmental and the societal or ethical considerations. The legal considerations involve the issuance of permission by the society for an enterprise to operate within the community with the mandate that it follows the set rules and regulations. It also involves compliance to the set government standards and legal frameworks within the given community (Mullerat and Brennan, 2011, p. 461). Another important feature of CSR is the environmental considerations. It is important that any business operations are compliant with the set environmental standards, both international and local. The role of businesses is important in reducing the challenges of global warming with companies getting involved in cleaner production practises. Many corporations are currently realizing the role of environmental sustainability in business development and beginning to practise environmental friendly activities such as the reduction of waste generation and the use of cleaner energy such as wind energy and biogas. Other are involved in reduced extraction of raw materials from the environment through recycling and reusing materials. Ethical considerations in businesses refer to the ability of the corporation to adhere to the unwritten rules and regulations in a community. These include such societal laws such as the norms, taboos, expectations and the standards that the enterprises operating within a community are expected to adhere to. It also includes the need of an enterprise to practise equity and justice as well as the protection of the rights of employees, stakeholders and the society at large. The economic aspect, on the other hand, involves the empowerment of the society through creation of employment opportunities for the locals, finding new opportunities for investments, creation of investment opportunities for .investors and shareholders, creation of new products and services and technological improvements. The aim of this paper is to analyse the techniques of Corporate Social Responsibility in Microsoft Corporation and propose recommendations for better use of CSR in the company. Overview of Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational company that deal with the manufacturing, development, licensing, supporting and the sale of computer software, personal computers, consumer electronics and services (Hildebrand, 2007, p. 2). Some of the widely known software programs from .the Company include Internet Explorer, Microsoft Windows Operating Systems, and Microsoft Office Suite and Edge web browsers. With its headquarters situated in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Corporations is the world’s biggest software producing company in terms of revenue and also one of the invaluable companies in the world. The company has branches in different parts of the world such as China, Denmark, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden, India, Finland, the United Kingdom and other part of the United States. The company was founded in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Who were childhood friends, with the main aim of development and the sale of BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800. In the mid-1980s, the company had made remarkable improvements and dominated the personal computers operating systems market with MS-DOS followed by Windows Operating Systems. By 1986, Microsoft Corporation had already established itself in the market with three billionaires and a large number of millionaires out of its employee population following its first public offering and increase in share prices. Today the company has created a competitive advantage and market niches in the Office Software Suite market with the latest being Microsoft Office and the IBM PC-Operating Systems markets. Apart from the manufacture and sale of computers and computer softwares, the company is also involved in the production of an array of other softwares for servers. It is also involved in areas such as internet search with Bing, video game industry with Xbox one consoles and Xbox 360, the digital market services via MSN and the mobile phone market through Windows phone Operating Systems. The company also entered the personal computer production market for the first time in 2012 following the launch of tablet computers known as Microsoft Surface. The company also offers cloud based solutions enabling customers to be satisfied over the internet through sharing computer resources located in central data centres. Among the clod based computer services that are offered by the company include; Microsoft Azure, Bing, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM online, One Drive and Skype among others. The cloud revenue is earned through the usage, subscription as well, as advertisements of the cloud services offered by the company. The company also offers consultation and product solution support services to its customers as well as training and certification of both system developers and integrators. Microsoft Corporation is one of the companies in the world with a big interest in service to the public hence the incorporation of Corporate Social Responsibility in its management practises. As an important way of showing its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, the company prepares a CSR report annually to show the initiatives that the company has taken in a fiscal year to fulfil the requirements of the communities in which they operate and the globe at large. In 2014, Microsoft Corporation was among the internationally renowned companies with the best CSR practises alongside Google and the Walt Disney companies. The mission of Corporate Social Responsibility in Microsoft Corporation is meeting the needs of the communities globally and fulfilling its mandate to the public. The company has a regulatory and Public Policy Committee with the mandate of supervising the policies and programs with certain legal, regulatory and compliance matters, business risks, public policy and other public issues that are directly related to the performance of the company. CSR Techniques in place As one of the invaluable companies of the world, Microsoft Corporation has put in place measures to ensure that Corporate Social Responsibility is at the core of its operations in its branches all over the world. One of the CSR techniques used by the company to fulfil societal needs is stakeholder engagement. Microsoft Corporation has its ears on the ground and is thus able to acquire basic information regarding the performance of the company from stakeholders and improve the management practises. Stakeholder engagement is done through employee dialogues with the relevant stakeholders or via the Citizenship and Public Affairs team. The company also works in clooosely with the World Economic Forum, Business for Social Responsibility and the Clinton Global Initiative, all of which advocate for corporate responsibility and societal concerns. Another CSR technique employed by Microsoft Corporation in its management practises is service to the communities. The company, through the Citizenship and Affairs team, develops plans that can be used in meeting special societal problems all over the world. One of the ways through which the company offers services to the local communities is through youth empowerment. Through the Microsoft Youth Spark Initiative, the company is able to empower the youths all over the world by offering trainings that help them in maximizing their potential, thus influencing the future of communities. The initiative comes from the company’s recognition of the current youth unemployment rate in the world. Youth empowerment is done using specially packaged programs such as Office 365 for EDU, Skype in the classroom, Computer Science Education and the Imagine Cup. Microsoft Corporation also comes in to help communities through Humanitarian assistance and Disaster Response. The organization provides technological resources and solutions, hence assisting governments and humanitarian organizations in preparing for or responding to disasters when they occur. In cases where the disaster situations being dealt with are unique, the company helps governments and humanitarian organizations in choosing and deploying the correct technology to curb the situation. For instance, the corporation provided assistance to solve some of the major disasters in the world such as flooding in Colorado and the Balkans and typhoons and a major earthquake in the Philippines in FY14. The other technique used by the company in implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility is employee wellness and occupational health and safety. One of the important considerations in CSR is the effects a corporation has on its employees. The company, therefore, has devised ways of ensuring that job satisfaction and employee well -being is one of its core values. The Microsoft CARES for employees program, for instance, provides the employees with services such as counselling and child care. To ensure employee safety in the work place, the corporation uses occupational health and safety program to ensure safety health practises in conducting the company operations. Also, the corporation shows commitment to environmental sustainability as a technique of ensuring the effectiveness of CSR in the activities of the organization. The company has environmental experts in all its departments including an environmental strategy team. One of the environmental strategies in place is carbon neutrality hence reduced emissions. This is done through increasing the efficiency of operations within the company and increased purchase of renewable energy such as wind power and solar. The introduction of approaches that save on energy in the new data centers such as outside are cooling are also strategies in place that reduce energy use hence conservation. The corporation is also involved in office reuse of materials, recycling and composting as a way of reducing waste generation (Microsoft Citizenship Report, 2014, p. 48-57). As an ethical consideration of CSR, Microsoft Corporation ensures the respect for human rights in all areas of its operations. In helping people and individuals in realizing their full potential, the company ensures the integration of human rights in its mission. In 2013 for instance, the company opened the Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Centre with the sole responsibility of ensuring the identification of business risks and opportunities associated with human rights and finding ways of integrating the two across the company. Through the centre, the company is able to share experiences and lesson learnt with professionals in academia, industry and other fields. The other CSR technique employed by Microsoft Corporation in its managerial activities is commitment to ethical and business operation standards across all the countries in which it operates. The company complies with both the legal and ethical standards through the Microsoft Standards of Business Conduct. The standards, which are set by the board of directors, apply to all the employees of the company including the company directors and executives. For instance, one of the requirements under the Microsoft Standards of Business Conduct is that all employees undergo and complete an annual training on the legal and ethical standards (Microsoft Citizenship Report, 2014, p. 10-14). Advantages of using CSR One of the advantages of using CSR in an organization is the increased public acceptance of the company. A company that employs CSR in its managerial practises commonly develops a good reputation and public image. (Fernando, 2009, p. 8-11). By engaging in communal activities through initiatives such as Youth Spark and humanitarian assistance, for example, Microsoft Corporation has developed good public reputation enabling it to outdo its competitors in information technology. Another advantage of the use of CSR by companies is the increased market competitiveness. With the new era of information technology, consumers are able to make informed choices on the products they purchase based on the prices as well as their environmental effects. This way, companies that practise CSR are better placed in dominating the market. According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, for instance, businesses that have flourished in the past are likely to fail due to lack of responsibility in conducting their operations. The other advantage of using CSR in businesses is the reduced adverse environmental impacts hence leading to environmental sustainability and reduced vulnerability of the society to environmental health hazards. The environmental initiative s taken by corporations in attempts to conserve the environment such as reduced waste generation and waste minimization practises help in ensuring the health of the communities in which they operate hence ensuring the success of the enterprises. Disadvantages of CSR As much as corporate social responsibility is an important consideration for businesses and holds many advantages for corporations, there are also limitations to its application in some cases. One major disadvantage of the approach is that it only favours large corporations that have the capacity to be involved in CSR reporting such as Microsoft, Google and Walt Disney. Small enterprises that cannot afford capital to invest in the needs of the society are disadvantaged by this approach, finding it difficult to incorporate it in management practises (Hopkins, 2009, p. 90). Corporate social responsibility also impacts negatively on the profits of companies. This is because some of the revenue earned is directed to community activities through initiatives such as humanitarian response and youth empowerment instead of being channelled to organizational developmental issues. Some companies are currently pushing for regulation in the application of CSR in management practises because of a lost competitive edge, making smaller companies to overcome them in the market. Recommendations Although Microsoft Corporation is involved in a lot of community and humanitarian practises, it does not engage in the empowerment of all members of the society but only the youth since the company believes that influencing the youth is a big step towards influencing the future of the society. However, other members of the society also have unique needs that require unique attention. Making the company’s community service programs to embrace the needs of all populations in a society can further help in promoting the brand. Waste minimization and energy efficiency are not also the only environmental practise that the company can engage in in ensuring environmental sustainability. It is recommended that for better CSR implementation by the company, it can be involved in environmental practises such as tree planting. The company can also participate in environmental forums such as World Environment Day to set an example for the other corporations. Conclusion The above discussion clearly shows how the implementation of CSR in corporations can contribute effectively to proper management of organizations. It is, however, important for companies to also focus on their economic values during implementation of CSR and hence the need for the development of a balance between the two. Companies should also ensure, and be involved in very active communication with the stakeholders to ensure that both threats and opportunities in business are properly responded to. References Fernando, A. C. (2009). Business Ethics: An Indian Perspective. Person Education, p. 8-11. Gossling, T. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and business performance theories and evidence about organizational responsibility, p. 45. Hildebrand, C. B. (2007). Windows Media: The Role of Microsoft in Current Multimedia, p. 2. Hopkins, M. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and international development is business the solution? London, Earth scan, p. 90. Lee, N., & Kotler, P. (2013). Corporate social responsibility doing the most good for your company and your cause. Hoboken, p. 1-2. Microsoft Citizenship Report, (2014) p. 1-65. Mareș, R. (2008). The dynamics of corporate social responsibilities. Boston, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 102. Mullerat, R., & Brennan, D. (2011). Corporate social responsibility: the corporate governance of the 21st century. Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International, p. 461. Read More