Introduction
The primary objective of most global companies other than the non-profit organizations is profit maximization. As such, nearly all the companies’ operations are geared towards making profits. Nevertheless, it is also important that companies and organizations incorporate ethics in their operations by taking care of the society they operate in through corporate social responsibility (Moon). This is something not considered by most global companies who care less about their society.
Most of them forget that it is the same society, which comprises of the consumers of their goods and services. In fact, it was noted that the companies that fail to incorporate social responsibility in their policies and operations face insuperable problems (Sun). Corporate social responsibility otherwise referred to as CSR, is therefore, the process through which companies get back to the society by behaving in an ethical manner and improving the quality of life in the society via economic development (Carroll 2).
In this case, companies integrate ethical and responsible practices into their organizational operations. This paper will be an exploration of the corporate social responsibility issue by looking at the benefits that come in hand, as well as, how companies can effectively implement CSR in their community.
Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility
A company that practices corporate social responsibility not only benefits the society but also gains several advantages from it. It is evident that once a company practices effective CSR, it will definitely gain competitive advantage over others that do not.
This is because it will have created a positive image in the society making people prefer it to others. As a result, the sales of the company will shoot up leading to high profits. For instance, when Starbucks Coffee Company in the United States released its CSR report in 2006, the sales of the company increased tremendously.
Corporate Social Responsibility also looks at the welfare of the employees. As such, companies that uphold CSR in their policies will not collide with its employees as their needs will have been considered. This will in turn ensure smooth running of the organizational operations because there will not be cases of riots, strikes or go-slows.
Corporate social responsibility ensures that employees and the employers have a mutual relationship. Thus, the company will benefit from this by having increased productivity, which in turn results to profit maximization.
One of the main themes of corporate social responsibility is environmental conservation (Noer, Ewait, and Weiss1). Therefore, a company that practices effective CSR will ensure that it takes good care of the environment. As such, the company will be following the regulations of National Environmental Boards hence free from cases of malpractices. This will save the company lots of money that could be spent on court cases and fines resulting from environmental degradation and pollution.
The implementation of CSR in a community
Given the benefits that come in hand with practicing corporate social responsibility, it is of significant importance that companies try as much as they can to implement it in the society. There different ways through which, companies could effectively implement CSR in a community. Below are some of the possible methods of effective implementation of CSR.
Environmental Conservation
As mentioned earlier in the paper, conservation of the environment is one of the main themes of corporate social responsibility. Therefore, companies can use it as one way of implementing CSR in a community. This can take two dimensions yet achieving the same objective. The companies could advocate for environment conservation by supporting and giving financial aid to organizations that deal with environmental conservation.
They could also recognize and appreciate such organizations by presenting them with awards. This will motivate the environmental conservation organizations, making them carry on with their activities of conserving the environment. In this case, the company will have participated indirectly to conserve the environment. At the same time, companies in the manufacturing industry who produce effluents to the environment should put control measures to ensure that what goes to the environment is safe.
For instance, they could treat their water effluents before releasing it to the water bodies so that it does not affect the life in the water environment. Companies could also incorporate filters in their smoke chimneys to filter the hazardous compounds before the smoke gets into the atmosphere. All this is done to ensure that the environment remains clean and safe for the survival of all living organisms.
Health Perspective
This is another way through which, companies can implement CSR in the community. Again, this is twofold because it can be achieved in two ways. First, the companies should make sure that the products they manufacture have no health effects. For instance, the food companies should minimize the number and quantity of additives they add on food commodities during processing. In doing this, companies will ensure that the society consumes healthy products hence remaining healthy as well.
Companies could also actively participate in health promotion campaigns. This could be through funding, organizing the campaigns or being physically involved. The latter is achieved by having the employees of the company participate in health campaigns organized in the community.
Charity
In each society, there is bound to be needy people who require support from others. Most of this support normally comes from people with stable income and organizations. Therefore, companies could use this as a way of implementing corporate social responsibility in their communities. For example, companies could allocate a given percentage of their sales revenue to donate to the needy people in the society. In this, the whole society will appraise the company for their work hence gain a good reputation.
The aforementioned ways are just but some of the ways through which, companies are able to implement CSR in a community. Other ways include, presentation of awards to their employees, giving the leaves and off duties, organizing leisure trips for them and participating in community fundraisings among other methods (Visser et al).
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it is clear that corporate social responsibility is one way through which companies can give back to the community. Through CSR, both the company and society will benefit (Matten and Moon 324). This is because companies that give back to the community they serve gain better reputation than those that do not.
As such, the people will prefer products from companies that practice effective CSR to those of companies that do not care about the community. The various ways through which companies can implement CSR in a community have also been mentioned, some of which include charity, health campaigns, and environmental conservation among others. Given, the benefits that come in hand with practicing CSR, it is important that all companies resort to effective implementation of CSR in their communities.
Works Cited
Carroll, Archie. “Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of Definitional Construct.” Business Society. 1999. Web.
Matten, Dirk., and Moon, Jeremy.” Corporate Social Responsibility.” Journal of Business Ethics 54.4 (2005): 323-337. Print.
Moon, Chris et al. Business Ethics. London: The Economist, 2001. Print.
Noer, Michael., Ewait, David., and Weiss, Tara. “Corporate Social Responsibility.” Forbes. 2008. Web.
Sun, William. How to Govern Corporations So They Serve the Public Good: A Theory of Corporate Governance Emergence. New York: Edwin Mellen, 2010. Print.
Visser, Wayne et al. The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility. New York: Wiley, 2007. Print.