Corporate Social Responsibility

From Suppliers Manual

With more and more emphasis on the environment and green procurement, businesses are now increasingly likely to show Corporate Social Responsibility when trying to win a contract.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the idea that businesses have a responsibility to society, its’ stakeholders and the environment in which they operate, and is often associated with the phrase “enlightened self-interest” (Tench and Yeomans, 2009). Businesses are now growingly concerned about the environment because of issues in the media, such as global warming and workers being paid very little, so they try to enhance their corporate images by improving how they work and decrease their effects on the environment.

Specifically, we see CSR as the voluntary actions that businesses can take, over and above compliance with minimum legal requirements, to address both its own competitive interests and the interests of the wider society. http://www.csr.gov.uk

The Peaches model (1987) suggests there are three levels of impact; the first is the basic level which is when a company just does the minimum level of responsibility such as paying taxes and observing the law. The second is the organisational level which is when a business acts in the spirit of the law and minimises negative impacts such as decreasing Carbon Dioxide emissions. The final level is the Societal level which is when business go further by taking responsibility for the environment and helping to remove or alleviate some of society’s problems.

According to Kotler and Lee (2005) there are six social initiatives in which businesses may choose to focus their CSR models. These are;

1) Cause Promotions: this is when a business raises awareness of a cause by doing things such as raising funds or contributing corporate resources. An example of this would be Body Shop promoting a ban on testing of cosmetics on animals.

2) Cause-Related Marketing: this is when an organisation commits to giving a percentage of their profits to a cause based on a specific product sale. GHD did this when they sold pink hair straighteners and for every pair they sold they contributed a certain percentage to a Breast Cancer charity.

3) Corporate Social Marketing: this is when a company supports a behaviour change in society to try and make the public do something differently. For example Ariel washing detergent tries to make the public turn down the temperature when washing their laundry to reduce their carbon footprint.

4) Corporate Philanthropy: this is when a business makes a contribution to charity, mostly in the form of cash grants.

5) Community Volunteering: this is when an organisation encourages employees and stakeholders to volunteer for a certain cause by supporting them by giving paid time off.

6) Socially Responsible Business Practices: this is when a corporation adopts a way of working so that the environment is protected and there is community well-being. Muller Vitality yoghurt drinks take this approach as all their packaging is made from recyclable material.

Tench, R and Yeomans, L. (2009) Exploring Public Relations. Second ed. Pearson Education Limited.

Kotler, P and Lee, N. (2005) Corporate Social Responsibility- Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. John Wiley and Sons Inc.