Corporate social responsibility is defined as corporate self-regulation employed in business environment (Urip 2010, p. 45). This is done to ensure that companies and businesses comply with the required ethical standards, laws and other norms and regulations internationally.
It entails the voluntary activities that a company engages in to enhance a sound and sustainable business environment and development of the immediate communities. According to Asongu (2007, p. 67), CSR begins with the onset of a company. This scholar explains that companies should not only have the business principle of making profit, but needs to consider other factors that are part of CSR.
First, companies should be concerned with the quality of the items sold and consumed by their customers. They should also mind the welfare of the working staff to ensure them healthy and a good working environment. The scholar also argues that the operations of the company should be characterized by a high level of integrity, observing all the laws pertaining the company’s culture.
Companies are coming up at a high rate both locally and internationally. Countries have now realized the importance of integrating corporate social responsibilities in the business environments. Judgments on the performance of a given company in most nations are viewed from a CSR angle.
In Russia CSR is viewed as a kind of behavior regarding compliance with rules governing profit making in companies. Although CSR in Russia is considered hyper from the charity work of the individual companies, CSR policy is not very clear in Russia. In fact, researches show that evaluations on Russian’s CSR are contradictory and immature.
CSR in Russia companies can be regarded as being poor due to the lack of knowledge and poor outcome. This picture brings out the Russia businesses as being irresponsible. Recently a group of companies with a desire of CSR has emerged in Russia. These companies have realized the importance of CSR, which is now considered crucial in corporate governance.
Some businesses are always legal in some parts of the world, but considered illegal in other parts of the country. One such product is small arms. Most countries around the world, especially in the developing nations have illegalized sale of arms to the civilians. However, the government has licensed small arms in the hands of the civilians (Urip 2010, p. 16).
The government is encouraged to allow trade of this product because of its benefits to the users. It is believed that in this society, this helps enhance security. When one owns a gun, he or she is in a position to defend himself and herself. With a small arm in the society in the hands of the civilians, the rate of crime is reduced because the criminal knows that the target can fight back.
This eliminates cases where some individuals have guns through illegal means, which encourages them to act criminally. They act criminally because they know that they are advantaged having the weapons while other society members do not. According to Manoj (2012, p. 65), with guns liberalized in the society, it brings the perception that there is security all over. The security will be enhanced through deterrent approach.
For those nations that have illegalized sale of firearms to the civilians, they have good reasons to support their arguments. The United States of America is one of the countries that have legalized sale of licensed guns to the civilians. However, there has been a rise the rate of homicide in the country.
According to Keinert (2008, p. 115), parents would kill their entire family using their licensed guns. According to this scholar, letting guns into the hands of the civilians allows them opportunity to use it at any moment they get emotional. This can be worse in the developing nations. These are the reasons why some countries have illegalized trade in arms.
In cases where the laws of the country allows in trade of guns, there is need to come up with strong measures to curb incidents of abuse of the weapon. Firms that trade in this industry have the responsibility to ensure that their products are used responsibly. It is at this point that corporate social responsibility comes very important. When in this industry, the players will need to ensure that they protect their consumers.
Other members of the family or friends who may get access to the product should protect the consumers from harm. The consumers should also be advised to avoid temptation of using the gun illegally. This is because use of the gun illegally would lead to imprisonment of the consumer, despite the damage it causes the victims.
Firms in this industry have the responsibility to develop campaigns that would ensure the use of this product responsibly among its customers. Taking this as corporate social responsibility in the society will reduce cases of homicide or other incidents related to misuse of the arms. The campaigns should be organized at different stages (Kline 2010, p. 87).
When purchasing the gun, the customer should be advised on the importance of maintaining discipline when using the product. All the consequences of the misuse of the product should be categorically stated even if the consumer is aware of them. This will encourage the use of the weapon responsibly. The second face of this campaign should be targeted at the public.
The firms should come up with campaigns that would reach out for every other member of the society who could have access to the weapons in the hands of the civilians. The campaign may be directed to the public using organized groups who would visit schools and other public places where the campaigners can talk to the public directly.
This can be done with the help of employees of these firms. Another approach can be to organize television commercials. These firms can pay for the commercials and run adverts that would create awareness among the society members of the importance to behave responsibly while with the gun. This will make the society believe that they have a responsibility to use the product in a responsible manner.
Corporate social responsibility is gaining popularity in the contemporary world. Firms have come to realize the importance to give back to the society. It is coming clear to the corporate bodies that they have a role to play within the society in which they operate. It is clear that they have to maintain a positive image and relationship with the society.
This will enable them create an environment where the society will view them as part of the entire community. This enhances their success ability within the market. This explains the rising popularity of corporate social responsibility.
List of References
Asongu, J 2007, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in Practice, Green-view Publishers, Lawrenceville.
Keinert, C 2008, Corporate Social Responsibility as an International Strategy, Springer, Heidelberg.
Kline, J 2010, Ethics for International Business: Decision-Making in a Global Political Economy, Routledge, New York.
Manoj, K 2012, Corporate social responsibility: Contemporary issues in India, Adhyayan Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.
Urip, S 2010, CSR Strategies: Corporate Social Responsibility for a Competitive Edge in Emerging Markets, John Wiley and Sons, New York.