Did the 2012 London Olympics Set New Standards for CSR - Assignment Example

?Did the London Olympics and Paralympics set new standards for CSR? Introduction World sports events, in a superficial approach, are like a social and cultural get together of world countries which boost spirits and promote sports in a form of healthy competition. However, events like Olympics and Paralympics not only serve the above objective, but also represent a higher perspective. “More than ever, sport is a universal language and play the role of catalyst in today’s society as a means of improving the quality of life and well being. The Olympic movement is more than a sport” (Babiak and Wolfe 2006, p.216). Olympics has a colossal history of antiquity, that dates back to ancient times. It had evolved for the betterment of mankind. The recent summer Olympics and Paralympics were held at London in 2012. Instead of throwing light upon the overview of this event, we widen our gaze and look into the political, economical and social features associated with it, thus leading to application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during the Olympics. The breadth of our study is not going to cease here, as it will broaden and culminate with a deeper understanding of CSR involved in London 2012 Olympics. In this content, let us analyze, whether or not, 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics paved a way to set new standards for CSR and to up to what extent. What is CSR? CSR is a corporate social responsibility in a three dimensional way, consisting of social, economic and environmental elements. There is no universal definition for CSR, as it depends upon various factors that vary from country to country. It can be defined as the ethical business practice, which is in conformity with law and also, with the needs of people and environment. Social responsibility in business has been considered since the beginning of business concepts. CSR is always associated with the word sustainability, but both are different. “Sustainability is part of a good CSR plan, however, when you strive to be sustainable, it is not only in the environmental sense of word, but in a much more holistic way” (Pilarinos 2012). CSR is an inevitable priority for long standing as well as emerging business organizations as they have to take care of crucial “Three Ps” namely people, profits and planet. It also becomes part of an organization’s marketing strategy. “93% of consumers globally expect firms to display. CSR is going beyond the minimum standards required by law to operate responsibly by changing the business practices and lending support to address social and environmental issues.” (Mermod and Idowu 2013, p.3-4). But where does sports events like Olympics connects with CSR. In order to conduct massive events like Olympics, a private sponsor becomes an indispensable need. Here corporations come to play getting into the lime light, thus they can build local partnerships and create brand awareness. Sports and CSR Sports have power to unite the world and it can instill optimism, promoting healthy lifestyle and a sense of feeling contented. CSR plans are used by companies to sell their brand value. Almost every company could have CSR plans, as part of their strategies in its external environment. (Paetzold 2010). Sports and business corporations when working as a single unit can provide a strong impetus for positive changes in economic, social and environmental areas. CSR and sports organizations can work hand in hand, complementing each other. Business organizations have found that they can promote their product and services by exposing those things as well as the organizations’ logos through advertising boards, pamphlets and importantly by organizing events associated with sports. (Stoldt, Dittmore and Branvold 2011). CSR and London Olympics The remarkable thing to note in London Olympics is their commitment to being environmental friendly. This was achieved with the cooperation of corporations. “The most recent London Olympic games in 2012 was the first Olympic games to measure its carbon footprint over the entire project term, the first games to commit to a Zero waste to landfill target” (UNEP 2012). In London 2012 Olympics, throughout construction and completion, they strictly followed the principles of zero waste and zero carbon, and thereby achieved sustainability in every areas like water usage, protection of wild life and appreciation of culture and heritage. Now we arrive to the question. Did the 2012 London Olympics set new standards for CSR? The answer is a big yes. Before describing the answer, there is a need to name the key sponsors of the games. The sponsors for London 2012 Olympics are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow chemicals, GE, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung and Visa. When the news of BP and Dow Chemicals coming on board as sponsors was announced, there were protests against them, claiming that they were trying to green wash their dubious reputations. “Campaigners claimed Dow has outstanding liabilities relating to the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India” (Gibson 2012). This shows that an organization with consistent and good reputation only can gain popularity with respect to CSR. However, Dow chemicals falsified this, by successfully sponsoring London Olympics and becoming a part of their legacy. Thus it becomes evident that, an organization with past controversies, can also do well, sponsoring a sports event and promoting health and well being. “Dow is no evil corporate monster, and has been doing some fine work in the sustainability space. But it does have a legacy problem still to deal with” (Crane and Matten 2012). Thus corporations should have to be eco-friendly in their CSR plan. Although as mentioned above, sustainability and CSR are different, both comes to unison, when sports and CSR comes to harmony. An example is the athlete’s village turning into housing for local residents after the Olympics. The construction corporation succeeded in maintaining sustainability, which becomes prime concern during sports events. This kind of socially responsible measures becomes standard in CSR. G4S is the world’s leading international security solutions group who did things like handling the deportations, run private prisons and immigration removal centers for London Olympics. “On October 2010 three G4S security guards killed Jimmy Mubenga while they were deporting him” (Lewis and Taylor 2012). Following the London 2012 G4S security fiasco, it looks as if security provision could again be a major issue at the 2016 Olympics, as one of the security companies bidding for the contracts in Brazil comes under fire for alleged labor violations. Thus respect for people and community becomes a major concern as a part of CSR strategy during games. Another aspect of the London Olympics is the promotion of health consciousness and also physical activities. Coca-Cola has a long standing history with Olympics, and it continued in the London Games as well. They promoted the Olympic legacy of participating in sports and exercise by organizing public involved sports related events, outside the Games. In the beginning, Coca-Cola faced criticism for being part of the Olympic legacy of promoting healthy life style, as their main flagship product of beverage drink is viewed as unhealthy in various circles. However, one cannot deny the active participation of Coca-Cola in achieving the goal of a sports event, which is to promote healthy lifestyle. ”Coca-Cola has a long history of supporting active lifestyles in the UK through Powerade's ‘Take to the Streets’ initiative, as it provides support to the arranging of events including the Great North Run.” (Coca Cola 2012). An organization should see that their policies that do not contradict with the corporate social responsibility or else it would become a mode of marketing stunt. Electronic waste disposal being a major environmental issue was intelligently tackled in the Games, thus setting a new standard of environmental friendly CSR. BT (British Telecom) was one of the Olympic participants, who succeeded in reusing and reselling the equipments used in the games. As one of the six sustainability partners, who worked with the London organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympics Games (LOCOG), BT helped in ensuring London 2012 being truly sustainable. Another company to mention here is BP, it worked effectively to offset carbon emissions from vehicles by rolling out bio-fuels made from sugar bagasse, thus controlling carbon dioxide emission. Thus London 2012 Olympics remains a Roadmap to Zero waste. McDonald’s launched echo friendly uniforms as part of its long sustainability strategy. McDonald’s also sourced all of its chicken served at the Olympics locally from within the U.K. Previously, they had planned to source from Brazil, however, facing oppositions and controversies, they changed their plan. Companies should help local business and people to flourish. Thus, care for local community also becomes a CSR standard. If a company indirectly runs sweat shops and sponsors in Olympics for sake of promotion and marketing, it will make them double faced. Business for profit and CSR for promotion, does not work well in a media and activism filled globalized world. Governments, activists and media will watch every move of sponsoring and participating companies. They will criticize, if the company’s core values does not complement to the CSR plan. CSR should be an integral part of company’s business practice or it would become just a sponsorship promotion. Corporate and social are two words of different worlds. Combining them under corporate social responsibility may be an easy one on paper but on the ground, it needs to be implemented in an unbiased, ethical and effective way. Policies should be framed in a way, such that eco-friendly companies and brands gets higher priority during promotions, indirectly discouraging companies with bad reputation. Since Olympics is a high profile event, opportunities are provided to companies to showcase their projects and brands to inspire behavior changes among consumers and communities. This opportunity should be used for an optimistic change. When an expensive event comes to a close, there should be not only the Olympic legacy to cherish upon, but also tangible benefits for the future generations to enjoy. CSR at Paralympics Paralympism is a symbol of equality, providing opportunities for disabled, thus promoting equality in respect for people and inspiration. Equality is also a social responsibility principle, which is being included in the core value of organizations’ CSR plan, particularly in the activity of providing equal employment opportunities to the disabled. The main sponsorship for London 2012 Paralympics games was made by Sainsbury. Sainsbury became the first, Paralympics-only sponsor, and that also made positive impacts in its internal functioning and also its relationship with the customers. “The sponsorship of the London 2012 Paralympics Games has also made Sainsbury’s reflect internally about their disabled employees and Customers” (Sainsbury’s, 2011). The one million kid challenge was the conspicuous thing of their campaign. They encouraged kids to participate in Paralympics sports like Goal ball, Blind Football and Sitting Volleyball. Parasport is a joint initiative between the British Paralympics Association and Deloitte, with the intention to inform about the opportunities to the disabled people and also to encourage them to participate in the disability sport in their local communities. Samsung continued to sponsor the London 2012 Olympic Games and they also indulge in Paralympics activities and promote their business with social responsibility. Atos which was the IT provider for London 2012 games came under the scanner for poor service for the disabled in their health care sector. If a company becomes a sponsor, supporting the cause of Olympics, they should carry on ethical practice in their on-going business and also in their future ventures. Organizations should feel inspired to give the best and create a positive lasting impact when the eyes of the world are watching. Conclusion CSR should not be a marketing stunt or green washing activity. Business as part of CSR should embody transparency and ethical behavior. A company with a bad face value can’t sell its brand value in the name of CSR. There should be no contradiction between the company core values and CSR plans. There could never be a standard, fixed philosophy for CSR plan, because they evolve. Business and society are interdependent, and so only if the businesses have concern for the society, the society will flourish. The bottom line is ethical and moral values should be part of the CSR standard for a better future. References Babiak, K. and Wolfe, R., 2006. “More than just a game? Corporate social responsibility and the Super bowl XL”, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Vol 15, pp. 214-222. Crane, A and Matten, D., 2012. Who will be the Business Ethics Winners and Losers at the London Olympics? [Online] Available from http://craneandmatten.blogspot.in/2012/04/who-will-be-business-ethics-winners- and.html(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Coca Cola., 2012. How is Coca-cola encouraging Active Healthy Lifestyles through Olympic Games Sponsorship. [Online] Available from http://www.coca cola.co.uk/faq/olympic-games/coca-cola-encouraging-active- healthy lifestyles-through-olympic-games-sponsorship.html(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Gibson, Owen., 2012. London Olympics: campaigners target ethical records of corporate sponsors. [Online] Available from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jun/29/london-olympics-campaigners- target-sponsors(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Lewis, P and Taylor, M., 2012. G4S security firm was warned of lethal risk to refused asylum seekers. [Online] Available from http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/feb/08/g4s-deportees-lethal-risk-warning- mubenga(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Mermod, AY and Idowu, SO., 2013. Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Business World Paetzold, K., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility: An International Marketing Approach. Diplomica Verlag. Pilarinos, S., 2012. London 2012: Walking the CSR. [Online] Available from http://urbantimes.co/magazine/2012/04/london-2012-walking-the-csr- talk/(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Sainsbury’s., 2012. London 2012 Paralympics Games. [Online] Available from http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/paralympics/paralympics.jsp?pageRef paralympics.page(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Stoldt, C., Dittmore, W and Branvold, SE., 2012. Sport Public Relations: Managing Stakeholder Communication. Human Kinetics UNEP., 2012. London 2012 Will Leave a Lasting Legacy for the UK and the Olympic Movement: UNEP Executive Director. [Online] Available from http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2691&ArticleID= 9239#sthash.O0qhgzWM.dpuf(Accessed on 11 December 2013) Read More