Describe and compare corporate social responsibility and organizational social responsiveness.

Describe and compare corporate social responsibility and organizational social responsiveness.

Corporate social responsiveness directs to interaction with and management of business institutions and their agents’ environments, for example, volunteering in activities of helping people in the refugee camps and the homeless like giving them food and shelter (Swanson, n.d, 152). In contrast, corporate social responsibility is tones the principles of commitment that a company has to the community. It is a self-adjusting business form that aids the company in being socially responsible to itself, the society, and its stakeholders. For example, a business should consider the overall welfare of the community when setting up a business, in case there are pollutions they should address how it should be controlled or rather how to compensate the affected members of the society also avoidance of running illegal businesses such as drug trafficking is a social responsibility.

The main aim of social responsiveness is to achieve to contribute to the welfare of other people and improvement of the community and the environment by handling the critical social challenges in various ways as conservation campaigns (Swanson, n.d. 153). In contrast, social responsibility is to be accountable for the improvement of the environment and society by avoiding any harmful actions to others, and the environment, for example, treatment of the industrial discharges to prevent water pollution will enhance the aquatic and individual’s health welfare.

However social responsiveness and social responsibility are also interrelated, for instance, when a business engages in activities such as volunteering in a conservation campaign as an act of social responsiveness also serves as a social responsibility because the business is also preserving the welfare of the society (Swanson, n.d. 154). Also, both concepts aim at advancing the advancement of the community’s and environment’s quality. Social responsiveness thus happens as a result of Extent social responsibility.

1. To which corporate social responsibility is more widely adopted and practiced by business than organizational social responsiveness.

Recently many organizations have adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) because of diverse factors. Despite the company’s expectations on the production of reliable products, reasonable charges with just profit margins, and fair wage payment, there will also be a concern of environmental conservation and addressing social concerns (Nguyen, Benemann, and Kelly, 2018). Many corporations operate on prosocial strives and distribute the information to the community and their customers where they run business. When CSR is managed in good faith is beneficial to both the corporation and the stakeholders. For instance, for stakeholders who are lowly prioritized and have no voice in the community example, the environment, and members of the society living near manufacturing entities and corporate sites, CSR is of significant benefit to them.

Many business stakeholders are aware that profit is not the only positive impact of the business operation instead protecting the environment, ethical giving that stakeholders could influence the management of corporations inclusive of schools and clinics establishment in the neighborhoods and enriching influential philanthropies in the society where the companies operate from (Nguyen, Benemann and Kelly, 2018)  Non-governmental agents, the state, citizens and political committee in the United States assert social and legal pressures on businesses to advance their environmental practices. For instance, in 2015, the states of California enacted laws referred to as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.

The act’s requirements are reports on the employee’s working conditions of the supplier’s employees by the firm. Disclosure is the only requirement of the law. On the aspect of transparency is an act of holding the US and other multinational corporations responsible for what happens before their merchandise arrives in shiny packages in stores. The legislators of this act realized that there more likelihood of consumer stakeholders bringing pressure to bear on entities discovered to use slave labor on their chains of supply thus by forcing disclosure changes can be brought about because corporations would prefer mending their relationships stakeholders of the supply chain to risking massive alienation of customers. As this kind of pressure increases on corporations worldwide, stakeholder groups continuously become more powerful and less isolated.

Most corporations embrace the TBL (triple bottom line) concept in the aspect of their social well-being. It incorporates the element of externalities of the company’s operations, which must be taken into account in TBL. They are referred to as the planet and the people, which implies the social and environmental effects of running a business. It appreciates that external stakeholders take into account that it’s a corporate responsibility to go beyond earning money. In a case where the company’s creation of wealth causes damage to the environment or causes illnesses to the people, then the society demands the revision of the corporation’s methods or leave the society—succeeding on operating in a socially responsible way the corporations are subjected to claiming credits. Many corporations have reinvested their profits and efforts in forms that can ultimately contribute to the development of an economic system that is sustainable.

CSR has been used as a tool of publicity as many entities try to appear suitable via different socially and environmentally friendly initiatives without creating systematic alterations that will have a long-term positive impact. However, this act is mostly labeled as greenwashing, referring to a selfish motive of the corporation, which might not be the case. An example is a coca-cola company, which outlines that engagement of their many stakeholders in long-lasting dialogue creates an essential input that influences their making of decisions and also continuously helps in advancement towards achieving their 2020 sustainability goals. They are interested in strengthening the fabric of the community where they live and work from so that they can prosper together. In this perspective, the coca Cola Company’s take cannot be referred to as greenwashing but rather a corporate social responsibility.

Question 2.

1. Outline of the shared value and stakeholder perspectives of corporate sustainability.

The creation of shared values in sustainability’s context is a form of integrating stakeholders in company management. Businesses apply a certain information strategy to inform the outcomes of sustainable activities. Corporate shared values refer to a business way of thinking that facilitates the competitive position of a company and, simultaneously, improves the conditions of the society in which they operate (López and Monfort, 2017). Companies incorporate corporate social responsibility in their corporate identification to advance their association with their stakeholders, which is a sustainability value.

Thus from this view, it is an opportunity and responsibility for the companies to reduce adverse effects directly and advantage the community when they incorporate social and environmental issues in their operation strategy (López and Monfort, 2017). Therefore this implies that, in consideration of the stakeholders’ expectations, companies are likely to be ethical, profitable, and legal for them to be at an improved level to enhance the community and form shared values to the stakeholders. If a company incorporates sustainable values in its CSR implementation, they increase the differentiation, competitiveness, and reputation.

Communication is also an essential factor in the strategies of a company and a bridge between the entity and the stakeholders. The involvement of stakeholders in the company through collaboration improves the company’s reputation and credibility. The integration of the company’s values through communication contributes to the advanced differentiation of the firms. Definition and creation of clear messages using various platforms and channels to define sustainable activities make the companies perceived as ethical and responsible (López and Monfort, 2017). Therefore in this perspective, communication achieves a new dimension aimed at overcoming the mistrusts that arise from corporate information exclusively associated with reinforcing pictures, thus leading to the stakeholders perceiving them negatively.

1. A brief overview of coca-cola and its approach to sustainability.

The main goal of coca-cola business operations is to provide happiness moments and refreshment to their customers through products and to lead to a positive social change. The company acknowledges its awareness of society’s sustainability and global environmental need, and it is an essential aspect of the company’s long-term growth plans (Mokhov and Ryabukhin, 2018, 69). They are of the view that if they do away with mutual efforts to form shared values, then sustainable ideas will be out of reach, yet they are so vital in their ability to grow a business. They target for growth by coordinating with bottling partners all over the nations to run business operations that are founded in the community and the activities that contribute to society.

1. Critical analysis of the Coca-cola approach to sustainability vis a vis shared values and stakeholder perspectives of corporate sustainability.

Coca-cola engages different stakeholders in long term discussions to provide a significant input that influences their decision-making and continuously aids in improving and making progress towards achieving 202o sustainable goals. They are committed to continually engage stakeholders as a considerable component of their business and sustainability methods, yearly reports processing, and all their activities worldwide (Mokhov and Ryabukhin, 2018, 70). They aim to strengthen their tie with the communities so that they can prosper together. Commitment to stakeholder involvement as the significant element of a business and sustainability strategies seems to concentrate the business on the requirement to carry out a clear, transparent, and honest reporting.

For instance, 20% of the earth’s population consumes products from coca-cola companies each day, and this implies a significant portion of the population globally belongs to the stakeholder group of the company. In estimation, the company takes up more than 3litres of water to produce one liter of coke, implying that millions of liters removed from the earth each day by this company, which can endanger water supply for the employees and stakeholder’s neighbors.

Question.3.

1. Outline the sustainable development goals ( SDGs}

All the United States’ members adopted sDGs in 2015 as a universal call to solve poverty, to safeguard the earth, and to ensure that all human beings enjoy prosperity and peace by 2030 (Morton, Pencheon, and Squires, 2017, 8). They were 17 of them;

1. No poverty in all its forms everywhere.
2. End hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all ages.
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
8. Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
9. Industry innovation and infrastructure.
10. Reduced inequalities.
11. Sustainable cities and communities.
12. Responsible consumption and production
13. Climate action
14. Life below water
15. Life on land
16. Peace and justice strong institutions
17. Partnership for the goals.
18. Discussion of the debates about the role that companies should adopt towards the SDGs.

Five propositions are presented for companies to adopt in their engagement with the SDGs. They are indivisible, and the advancement of the goals needs movement on them all. First prioritization which implies that prioritization of SDGs needs to be based on the sectors where the companies have the most significant SDG impact and are found in the transparent and robust evaluation and inclusive consultation (Bergeijk and Hoeven, 2019) Second is integration; SDG involvement should build on corporate sustainability strategies in existence as a baseline to identify gaps in SDGs impact areas that the firm can address.

Third is Ambitious action; it postulates that companies should target higher in aspects of scale and degree of conforming to achieve the ambition of SDGs. In a company, ambition can also be presented by embracing thorny issues and handling root causes (Bergeijk and Hoeven, 2019). Human rights and gender equality is the fourth perspective. It is of the point that enhancing the advancement of women’s rights, communities, and employees around the universe should be the key and core aim of companies’ SDG involvement. Lastly, reporting and accountability, firms should be transparent about the things they want to accomplish and their plan to get there while involving the SDGs.

1. Analysis of one company’s actions to address SDGs.

In addressing SDGs, a company can adopt the SDG compact to act as a guide, which involves five steps. First, the company should understand the SDGs; they are helped in familiarizing themselves with the goal. Secondly is the definition of priorities based on an assessment of their positive and negative recent and potential effects on the SDGs across their value chains to capture the essential business opportunities presented by SDGs and cut down risk (Bergeijk and Hoeven, 2019). Another critical action a company should take is setting goals that are crucial to the success of a business and enhancing the fostering of shared priorities and excellent performance across the firm. Alignment of a company’s goals and SDGs demonstrates a commitment to sustainable development.

The other vital steps are integrating sustainability into the main business and governance, and encapsulating sustainable development aims across all operations within the company is essential in accomplishing the set goals (Bergeijk and Hoeven, 2019). Lastly, communicating and reporting, companies are encouraged to build the SDGs in their process of reporting and interacting with the stakeholders because they enhance reporting of information on sustainable development performance by use of a shared set of priorities and common indicators.

References.

López, B., and Monfort, A., 2017. Creating Shared Value in the Context of Sustainability: The Communication Strategy of MNCs. Corporate Governance and Strategic Decision Making.

MBergeijk, P., and Hoeven, R., 2019. Sustainable Development Goals And Income Inequality. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Mokhov, V. and Ryabukhin, M., 2018. Sustainable development program «COCA-COLA HBC RUSSIA». Investment and innovation management journal, (4), pp.68-72.

Morton, S., Pencheon, D. and Squires, N., 2017. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and their implementation. British Medical Bulletin, pp.1-10

Nguyen, M., Bensemann, J. and Kelly, S., 2018. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Vietnam: a conceptual framework. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 3(1).

Swanson, D., n.d. Corporate Social Responsiveness. SAGE Brief Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility, pp.152-154.