Corporate social responsibilities are forms of regulatory strategies developed by corporate bodies to safeguard their interest in competitive markets. This helps organisations to regulate their operations internally without requiring external organisations to ensure that they adhere to rules and regulations set by authorities.
For instance, organisations have the mandate of ensuring that shareholders’ needs and expectations are safeguarded in all their operations.
Corporate social responsibility is also known as corporate citizenship because an organisation has to carry out its operation and follow processes similar to those followed by human beings in foreign countries (Werther and Chandler 2010, p. 56). Organisations have to consider customers, employees, communities around them, the environment and stakeholders in decisions they make regarding organisational operations.
Globalisation is the term used to describe growing relationships among people, culture and economic activities worldwide. This has been promoted by development and advancement of global communication networks which have helped people to interact freely. Global transportation networks have been improved, hence making people to tour the whole world in search of business opportunities.
These economic factors have played key roles in globalisation since people have started businesses in different parts of the world in the recent past. Globalisation has helped in enhancing economic activities in different parts of the globe, and this has been achieved through removal of trade barriers by nations in the world.
This has promoted distribution of finished goods and technology throughout the world hence advancing the principles of comparative advantage among players in international markets (Mullerat and Brennan 2010, p. 67).
Organisations have to merge principles of globalisation and corporate social responsibilities whenever they are carrying out business operations around the world. This means that as organisations go international to carry out their business activities they should consider all aspects of corporate social responsibilities.
For instance, organisations should extend their services across international borders bearing in mind that laws have to be obeyed. This will avoid situations where organisations are involved in legal battles with foreign nations.
Operations personnel in any organisation that is taking part in international business should make sure that they plan on how to venture into nations after acquiring permission from their authorities. This means that organisation managers should ensure that rules in target countries are adhered to and all taxes are paid before taking their goods or services into the market.
Although nations should make sure that they remove barriers that discourage foreign investors from venturing into their markets, organisations should take it as their responsibility to find out all requirements that are set by such nations for foreigners intending to do business in their territories (Hopkins 2003, p.34).
By doing this, the company plays one of its corporate social responsibilities where organizations are expected to obey laws hence paying taxes to governments. It is in the law for every citizen to pay taxes to the government hence corporate organisations should ensure that they comply with taxation laws for all countries.
Operations personnel in organisations should ensure that they adapt environmental friendly operations for their organisations. This means that as they produce goods or services for global market, environment should be considered in order to enhance sustainability.
For example, they should adapt the use of renewable sources of power such as wind and solar energy in order to conserve the environment. In addition, organisations should ensure that they keep the environment clean in all countries where they sell their products. This should be achieved by observing rules set by different nations regarding conservation of the environment.
For instance, they should be able to adjust their packaging materials in accordance with environmental regulations set by different countries. This means that they should consider using materials that are less costly and friendly to the environment (Brejning 2012, p.54).
In addition, they should ensure that as they cross international borders selling their products, they educate people on the importance of conserving the environment. Organisations should ensure that they use environmental friendly methods when transporting their goods to international markets.
This can be achieved by making use of electrical trains to ferry goods to the markets in countries where they operate. This helps in reduction of carbon emission to the environment which leads to global warming hence adversely affecting climate. Corporate organisations have responsibilities of making sure the environment is protected. They should not neglect these responsibilities as they engage in global business activities.
International business should give organisations opportunities to provide quality products to global customers. Therefore, operations personnel in organisations should make sure that they develop products that meet global customers’ requirements. This is vital for the organisation because customers from different parts of the world make their buying decisions based on experiences with certain products.
Quality products and services lead to customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty hence market stability for the organisation. For instance, Coca-Cola Company has operations in many countries of the world, and they have been able to maintain their quality hence making it impossible for competitors to beat them in the market (Boeger 2008, p. 98).
This means that global customers may become loyal to certain products due to quality hence enabling the company to remain reaping from global markets.
In fact, putting customer needs first is extremely crucial for organisations that are considering going global since they have to capture a large market share in order to survive. Some organisations fail to achieve their goals by going global without proper planning on how to ensure that their corporate social responsibilities be aimed at maximizing profits.
Operations personnel in organisations involved in international business should ensure that they empower employees in order to achieve organisational goals. It is vital for organisations to respect workers and create friendly working environments for them in order to succeed in global markets.
Employees are faces of organisations hence they should be handled in a humane manner to ensure that they focus on achievements of organisational goals. For example, Barclays bank has operations in several countries, in the world, and they recruit local people to work in branches located in various countries.
This is important because the community benefits from the venture of the bank in their country’s financial market. Corporate social responsibilities include aligning organisations operations with activities aimed at promoting the wellbeing of communities (Aras and Crowther 2010, p. 67).
Therefore, recruiting people from communities where the organisation is located in target global markets uplift lives of people since they get employment. Employment helps people to get money to fund their up keep hence making their lives better. In addition, organisations should consider taking part in community development projects, in nations where they run their businesses.
This is vital as it helps in creating awareness of organisations’ existence and their products to local people hence increasing their market share. When organisations help in funding community based projects, they interact with local people and this gives them opportunities to market their products to among members of the community.
References
Aras, G & Crowther, D 2010. A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility. Gower Publishing, Ltd, Michigan.
Boeger, N 2008. Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility. Edward Elgar Publishing, New York.
Brejning, J 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility and the Welfare State: The Historical and Contemporary Role of Csr in the Mixed Economy of Welfare. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., New York.
Hopkins, M 2003.The Planetary Bargain: Corporate Social Responsibility Matters. Earthscan, Sydney.
Mullerat, R & Brennan, D 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility: The Corporate Governance of the 21st Century. Kluwer Law International, London.
Werther, W & Chandler, D 2010. Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment. SAGE, London.