Social responsibility as part of the Livity youth marketing agency - Essay Example

? Explain how you could demonstrate social responsibility as part of the Livity youth marketing agency By: August 2, of professor Corporate social responsibility has become an important trend in the work environment of the 21st century. Society expects corporations to get involved in the community and to act in a socially responsible manner. Customers support companies that are ethical in their dealings with internal and external stakeholders. Social responsibility can be defined as the principle that businesses should contribute to the welfare of society and not be solely devoted to maximizing profits (Investopedia, 2012). A company that believes in the value and importance of social responsibility is the Livity youth marketing agency. “Livity is a socially responsible youth communications agency that works directly with young people every day to produce co-created campaigns and content for brands, broadcasters, charities and local and central government that achieve client objectives” (Livity, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate ways to achieve social responsibility at Livity. The organization performs advertising campaigns to a diverse group of corporate clients including Google, BlackBerry, C4, Virgin Media and Big Lottery Fund. A way for the company to improve its social responsibility program is by donating the time of its employees to work on projects for nonprofit organizations. The company can set a quota of how many hours it will donate during a fiscal year. Nonprofit organizations interested in labor donations must file an application with the administration of Livity. The expertise of the team at Livity can help a lot of these organizations get noticed by the community. The operations of Livity currently use a lot of paper. Deforestation is a serious environmental problem that must be addressed by corporations worldwide. “The net loss of the world’s forests is estimated at 7.3 million hectares per year” (Facingthefuture). Some of the causes of deforestation are fires, industrial consumption and population growth. The United States, Europe and Japan consume approximately 22% of the paper worldwide. Livity can take a stance to act in a socially responsible manner if it changes its paper utilization policy. The company can formulate a long term plan with the ultimate goal being to transform the company into a paperless environment. The use of technological tools is essential for companies to switch from traditional paper usage to a paperless office. A way to train employees to learn how to work in a paperless environment is to expose employees to virtual teams. A virtual team convenes and operates with members linked together electronically via networked computers (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2003). A simple first step to apply social responsibility to paper usage is to purchase only recycled paper. Another option for the company is to substitute the use of pulp based paper with another material. A company in Australia called Papyrus Australia Ltd (PPY) invented a new form of paper called banana ply paper. Banana ply paper is a new form of paper made out of the trunks of banana trees. The trunks of banana trees are a renewable source. Livity can negotiate a partnership with Papyrus Australia to license the manufacturing process in order to produce banana ply paper to supply the yearly needs of Livity. An environmentally friendly and socially responsible action that Livity can take is to sponsor a recycling program in the community. The company can set up a recycling program with the scope of covering an area of 100 square miles around the corporate headquarters office. In the future the target is to increment the reach of the program to 500 and 1,000 miles from the corporate headquarters. Some of the materials that will be picked from the homes of the participants of the program are paper, plastic and aluminum. The people that recycle must separate each material into separate bags. The company will also perform recycling in-house. Containments will be placed around the facilities of the company to allow the employees to recycle different materials. The company in the long run plans to build a recycling processing plant to turn recycled material into raw materials to be used for production purposes. The world is currently facing an energy crisis. There is a heavy dependence of fossil fuels to create energy and gasoline. Livity can impose new policies to save energy and fuel. The employees of the company can participate in a car pool service that forces coworkers to commute together to work. Each car pooling group must contain between three to five members. Another way for the company to save gas is by replacing its old fleet of vehicles with a fleet of green cars. Two examples of automobiles that spend zero or limited fuel are the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt. The Leaf is an electric car, while the Volt can give mpg upwards of 200 miles per gallon under the right conditions. The energy consumption of the company can be lowered by replacing all the light bulbs within the infrastructure of the company with LED bulbs. Upgrading the computer and electrical systems of the company can also help reduce energy consumption. The company can take a direct approach to the energy crisis by investing in renewable energy technology. Five forms of renewable energy sources are solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal (Learnaboutenergy). Solar energy is one of the most practical and commercially available renewable energy sources. The sun is the most powerful star in our solar system. China has become very competitive in the solar panel industry. “According to some analysts, Chinese firms have locked up at least 70 percent of the worldwide market for solar modules” (Landers, 2011). Livity can make a monthly income from the solar panels by selling energy to the electrical companies if the production of the system exceeds the energy consumption of the company. Volunteering is another way for the company to positively contribute to the British community. Along with the program of donating the employees’ time to find solutions to non-profit organizations the company also sponsors an individual donating program. The program motivates employees to donate their time by offering financial rewards to the participants. Each hour donated can be turned into cash at a rate of ?4 an hour once the employee accumulates a minimum of 100 hours donated. The time spent performing volunteer work must be documented to ensure nobody cheats the system. A second reward offered to the employees is tickets into a contest for a prize at the end of the year. The top three prizes are a new car, a paid vacation for two to the Caribbean and a laptop. The employees earn a ticket for every 50 hours of volunteer work performed. The organizations can promote social responsibility within the content of its advertising material. The company must use its reach of the masses to communicate important information about the behavioral changes people must perform to protect the planet. Simple actions such as recycling can make a major difference. The company must also use its voice to transmit messages about controversial topics such as sex among teenagers, HIV, gay rights, protectionism and the war on drugs. The firm can promote ethical behavior among its employees by establishing a code of conduct. “A Code of Conduct is a written collection of the rules, principles, values and employee expectations, behavior and relationships that an organization considers significant and believes are fundamental to their successful operation” (Heathfield, 2012). A principle that can help enhance the social responsibility program of the firm is philanthropy. Philanthropy occurs when a company donates time, money, or resources to help out people in need. There is rampant poverty and malnutrition in a lot of regions across the world. There are over one billion children globally living in poverty. Livity can start a food donation program. The program allows the employees, customers and other stakeholders groups of the company to donate food items. The food collected at the end of the month is given to local churches, shelters and nonprofit organizations for them to distribute the items among the poor. The use of social responsibility by Livity is a strategy that can benefit the company in the short, medium and long term. The company has to improve its CRS program because doing so will increase the customer retention rate of the organization. The customers in Great Britain and worldwide support companies that act in a socially responsible manner. Livity must change its corporate image to become more involved in the community. The CRS program of the firm must emphasize different aspects of socially responsibility to have a balanced and effective program that reaches the maximum amount of people. One of the most promising ideas in the report is the idea of forming a partnership with Papyrus Australia Ltd. The company can increase its involvement by investing in the company to gain power and control over the decision making. An investment in Papyrus Australia Ltd can help decrease poverty and unemployment in Africa due to the fact that the African continent holds 54% of the world’s banana supply. Corporate social responsibility has become a critical success factor for organizations operating in today’s competitive global environment. Livity can enhance its operations and increase its customer base by improving its corporate social responsibility program. The executive manage team at Livity must get involved to ensure the plan is implemented across the entire organization. List of References Facingthefuture.org. Deforestation Fast Facts and Quick Actions. < http://www.facingthefuture.org/ServiceLearning/FastFactsQuickActions/Deforestation/tabid/182/Default.aspx> [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Heathfield, S. (2012). Code of Conduct. [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Investopedia.com (2012). Social Responsibility. [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Landers, J. (2011). China’s Road to Solar Panel Manufacturing Dominance. EnergyTrend. [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Learnaboutenergy.org. Types of Renewable Energy. [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Livity.co.uk (2012). About. [Accessed 1 August 2012]. Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J. and Osborn, R. 2003. Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More