Competitive Advantage And Corporate Social Responsibility Management Essay

Competitive Advantage And Corporate Social Responsibility Management Essay The idea of stakeholder approach to strategic management suggests that managers must formulate and implement processes which satisfy all and only those groups who have a stake in the business. The main task in the process is to manage and integrate the relationships and interests of shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, communities and other groups in a way that ensures the long-term success of the firm. Stakeholder approach suggests that we repaint our picture of the firm. For good or ill, there are myriad groups who have a stake in the success of the firm. Many traditional views of strategy have ignored some stakeholders, marginalized others and consistently traded-off the interests of others against favoured stakeholder groups. Such an approach may well be appropriate in relatively stable environments. However, changing world the limitations of traditional approaches to strategic management become increasingly apparent. The interests of key stakeholders must be integrated into the very purpose of the firm, and stakeholder relationships must be managed in a coherent and strategic fashion  [1]  . 2. Porter, M. E., Kramer, M. R., (2006). Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. (2006, December) (Harvard Business Review), 84(12), p. 76-92. Although businesses have become increasingly aware of stakeholder pressure to demonstrate a commitment to their corporate social responsibilities (CSR), this does not necessarily mean the adoption of an integrated and strategic approach to CSR. Rather, as Michael Porter (Harvard Business School, Boston) and Mark Kramer (John F Kennedy School of Government, Massachusetts) have recently argued in the Harvard Business Review (December 2006), current approaches to CSR are fragmented and disconnected from business goals. This has resulted in disparate and reactive initiatives designed to mollify vocal stakeholders or deflect attention from questionable business practices, and these have justifiably been criticised as feel good marketing campaigns which have failed to generate bottom line benefits. Porter and Kramer suggest a new approach to CSR which both (i) acknowledges the interdependence of companies and the broader community, and (ii) enables companies to develop a tailored, rather than generic, CSR strategy. In this way, companies will make the most significant social impact and reap the greatest business benefits. This note provides a summary of Porter and Kramers article, giving particular attention to the practical issues of creating a tailored corporate social agenda. 2.1 Background Companies which have responded to their CSR have usually done so for one, or a combination, of the following four reasons/principles moral obligation, sustainability, compliance or reputation. Moral obligation refers to the compulsion for companies to be good citizens and do the right thing. The sustainability argument emphasises the need for companies to have regard to the natural environment from which resources are drawn. The compliance or licence to operate argument reflects a pragmatic response to agendas set by Government regulators, and the reputation impetus is all about creating a positive impression on consumers, staff and shareholders. Porter and Kramer identify the individual deficiencies of each of these principles as a sufficient justification for CSR (e.g. they argue that the sustainability school of thought raises questions about balancing long term objectives against short term costs, but offers no framework for resolution). Fundamentally however, Porter and Kramer argue that there is an inherent weakness in all four school of thought, namely they focus on the tension between business and society, rather than their interdependence. Further each strategy creates a generic rationale that is not tied to the strategy and operations of any specific company or the places in which it operates. Porter and Kramer argue that the deficiencies in approach to CSR have resulted in unco-ordinated and non-strategic activities that neither make any meaningful social impact nor strengthen the firms long-term competitiveness. Having set the scene, Porter and Kramer suggest a new approach to CSR to achieve these outcomes. 2.2 A new approach Porter and Kramers new approach has two key elements. Firstly, they suggest that a CSR strategy should be predicated on an acceptance of the interdependence of business and society, i.e. successful corporations need a healthy society and a healthy society needs successful companies. Porter and Kramer suggest that the points of intersection between companies and society are both inside-out linkages (i.e. internal activities which affect the external environment such as hiring practices, emissions and waste control) and outside-in linkages (i.e. social conditions which affect a companys capacity to conduct business, e.g. rules and regulations, local education and health supports). This platform of understanding implies that both business decisions and social policy have shared values, and lifts CSR from a nice to do (which is reminiscent of the moral obligation argument or philanthropic approach to CSR) to the have to do (which, although not acknowledged by Porter and Kramer, is an ext ension of the sustainability argument). Secondly, and this is the real benefit of Porter and Kramers thesis, they argue that each company should create a tailored (rather than a generic) corporate social agenda, and provide a practical tool to chart that agenda i.e. to identify those areas of social context with the greatest strategic value. 2.3 The practice of developing a new CSR strategy Porter and Kramers practical tool to developing a new CSR strategy encompasses the following steps: Choosing which social issues to address. The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether the cause is worthy, but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value that is, a meaningful benefit for society that is also meaningful to the business. Porter and Kramer argue that companies should sort social issues into three categories (i) generic social issues which affect all companies; (ii) value chain social impacts which have a direct affect on the companys ordinary course of business; and (iii) social dimensions of competitive context which significantly affect the underlying drivers of a companys competitiveness in a specific location. Once the social issues have been categorised they should be ranked, i.e. prioritised, for action Creating a corporate social agenda. The selected social issues should be identified in an explicit and affirmative corporate social agenda. This agenda will reflect an approach to CSR which is both  responsive  to stakeholder concerns and anticipated risks, andstrategic  (i.e. integrates inside-out and outside-in linkages) Organising for CSR. The corporate social agenda should be integrated into affirmative business practices, i.e. to ensure that operating management is engaged in processes that identify and prioritise social issues based on their salience to business operations and their importance to the companys competitive context. Further, Porter and Kramer suggest that measurement of outcomes is critical to the agenda, and that value chain and competitive context investments in CSR need to be incorporated into the performance managers with PL responsibility. In particular Porter and Kramer argue for the measurement of the CSR initiatives in terms of social impact (although omit to discuss what those measures might be). Conclusion Porter and Kramer offer a new approach to CSR which focuses on identifying the shared values between a particular company and its social context, and developing a tailored and strategic response. Using Porter and Kramers tool to map social opportunities, and practical steps to identify, develop and organise for CSR, companies now have a new CSR framework to enhance business and social outcomes. If companies are able to successfully use this model (and Porter and Kramers article provides numerous case studies to that effect) then the benefits will be reaped in terms of both a competitive advantage and social enhancement. 3.An Empirical Analysis of the Strategic Use of Corporate Social Responsibility by Donald S. Siegel and Donald F. Vitaliano In a recent insightful survey of CSR, The Economist (2005, 8) identified four varieties of CSR based on whether this activity raised or lowered profits and raised or lowered social welfare. This paper constitutes the first empirical test of recent theories of strategic CSR. Specifically, we focus on the importance of the type of product or service sold by a firm as a determinant of managements decision to invest in CSR. This decision could represent a signaling device regarding the quality of the firms output. Consistent with these theories of strategic CSR, we find that firms selling durable experience goods or credence services are much more likely than comparable firms to be socially responsible. Ceteris paribus, our results imply that a firmselling financial services (a credence service) is more likely to opt for CSR by about 23 percentage points (compared to firms selling search goods). Similarly, a firm producing durable experience goods, such as automobiles or software, is mor e likely (than a firm selling search goods) to be socially responsible by about 15 percentage points. Firms selling experience services or nondurable experience goods, by contrast, are no more likely to adopt CSR than a firm whose product is a search good. While additional research is needed to pin down the diverse reasons why firms adopt a CSR stance, the evidence presented here supports a view that it is consistent with strategic theories of CSR and rational, profit-seeking management decision making. Others may view the same evidence as proof that CSR is a fraud or smokescreen to disguise the same behavior, which they abhor. Regardless of interpretation, we hope that this exploratory paper stimulates additional empirical research on the strategic use of CSR. Several caveats should be mentioned. The first is that our empirical analysis is based on a single cross section of data. It would be useful to test theories of strategic CSR using panel data, which would enable us to better control for unobserved firm heterogeneity and changes in CSR behavior and its determinants over time. A second concern is the possibility that our econometric analysis is subject to omitted variables bias; in contrast to ordinary least squares estimation, the estimated Co-efficients in a probit model would be inconsistent even if the omitted variables are uncorrelated with the included regressors (see Greene, 2000, p. 828). It is impossible to assess the importance of this effect on our estimates of the impact of good type on the propensity of firms to engage in CSR. It is also difficult to classify a company cleanly into selling search, experience, or credence goods and service. Although we eliminated conglomerate firms from our sample and relied on the firms primary products or services for our industry classification, we recognize that many firms are diversified, which introduces a certain amount of measurement error in our empirical analysis. In an ideal world, the division or perhaps, the plant or establishment would serve as the unit of analysis, rather than the firm.

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Many animals depend on different environments such as lakes, oceans or the forest in order to survive. However due to human intervention such as pollution of the ocean, or heavy deforestation, many animals are at the risk of extinction. One such example is known as the Gundlach Hawk which due to deforestation is currently on the endangered species list. Due to it being on the list, conservation attempts are being made in order to keep the animal alive and save it from extinction. To begin with, The Gundlach hawk was discovered and is only located on the island of Cuba. Before heavy human intervention, the Gundlach hawk was located commonly throughout Cuba however in present day, the Gundlach hawk can only be found in five isolated locations. Two of the larger populations current live in the eastern half of Cuba while the three smaller populations are distributed along the western half. Also the Gundlach hawk also is no very restricted to any particular habitat which allows them to live in forests, swamps or wooded coasts. However since it is a very secretive creature, it makes it v...

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Throughout history the human race has sought forms of entertainment. Whether it be in the form of a simple game, a grandiose tournament or a simple play production, we have always sought to entertain ourselves. In recent years as the film industry has continued to grow and evolve a new genre has emerged the mainstream popular culture. One big idea changed the course of a genre and an entire Industry. That would be comic book movies. The first moderately successful Marvel film was X-Men, this was the first time that the superhero genre made a successful transition from the comic book to the silver screen. It was a movie that was enjoyable not only just for fans but for non-fans of the comics as well. X-Men was released in 2000, the budget for the film was $75 million, which is incredibly lowed compared to the average movie budget which is between $120-200 million these days. The Box office total for the film was $296,339,527, which back in 2000 would have been a rather respectable box office take. Something to keep in mind about this movie is that the computer generated special effects that are so common in movies today, were rather under developed, which would lend to the smaller budget as well as the more practical effects that are featured in the movie. This is also why the film feels rather bland when one goes back and watches it now, there was a lot of walking and talking in this film, not much action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_movies Prior to the X-Men movies though there had been three other Marvel movies that had been released, however all three could be deemed failures. The three films were the 1989 The Punisher, which was actually released directly... ... the Guardians of the Galaxy in August, and the Avengers 2 in 2015, followed by Ant-Man. Marvel has also made a deal with Netflix to create four shows based off their characters to be released in 2015, starting with Daredevil, which is a major slap in the face to 20th century Fox who previously owned the rights and I love it. The awesome part is that these shows will take place in the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, then the four characters are going to come together into a mini series called the defenders which is comparable to the avengers. This just goes to show how this idea of the shared universe has spread beyond just the cinema now, but to television as well, and not only just television but online movie streaming. These shows will never actually be released on television, but purely on Netflix. Which will be a massive boost for Netflix and for marvel.

Poem “Frankie and Johnnie” Essay

The speaker of the poem â€Å"Frankie and Johnnie† is telling the story of two people that were in a relationship, where Johnnie was cheating on Frankie, and then Frankie kills Johnnie. The poem starts out telling the readert he backstory of Frankie and Johnnie. The speaker says that â€Å"Frankie and Johnnie were lovers†¦They swore to be true to each other/ As true as the sky above;† (ll.1,3-4)Then it goes on to say that Frankie bought Johnnie a lot of nice, expensive things and gave him a lot, if not all, of her money for presumably no particular reason. After that, Frankie goes away to Memphis for some reason and when she comes back, she learns that Johnnie has been cheating on her this whole time. â€Å"[Frankie] Gave her money to Johnnie, /he spent it on those parlour whores;† (ll. 23-24). Then Frankie goes down to a bar and asks the bartender if Johnnie had been there. The bartender says he had and he had been with a girl name Nellie Bly. â€Å"She said â€Å"Oh, Mr. Bar-tender, / has my loving Johnnie been here? / He is my man and he’s done me wrong.†/†¦But I saw Johnnie an hour ago/with a girl named Nellie Bly;† (ll.28-30, 33-34). Frankie then goes to the pawn shop and bought a gun. â€Å"Frankie went to the hock-shop, /Bought her a big forty-four† (ll.36-37). She finds Johnnie at a local brothel with Nellie Bly and goes upstairs and shoots him. â€Å"Frankie went down to the hook-shop,/ †¦there she saw her Johnnie / loving up Nellie Bly/†¦Roota-toot-toot, three times she shoot† (ll.41, 43-44, 63) Frankie then goes on to tell everyone to bring a hearse and she would bury Johnnie, and then to call the police and lock her up for murder. â€Å"Bring out your rubber-tyred hack, / I’ll take my man to the graveyard, / but I won’t bring him back; /†¦ Bring round a hundred policemen, / bring ‘em round to-day, / and lock me in that jail-house† (ll.77-79, 86-88). But before the police come she goes and tries to apologize to Mrs. Halcome but she won’t accept it. Then Frankie goes to look at Johnnie in his casket and wishes she could trade places. â€Å"Looked down at his face, / Said, â€Å"Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, /I’d like to take his place;† (ll.107-109). Finally, Frankie goes to jail and then gets hanged for killing Johnnie. â€Å"The Sheriff took Frankie to the gallows, / Hung her until she died, / they hung her for killing Johnnie,† (ll. 121-123) There are a few cases of figurative language in this poem. â€Å"Lovers† (l. 1), â€Å"swore† (l. 2), â€Å"true† (l. 2), â€Å"gave† (l.8) are all positive words that make you believe that they have a good, healthy relationship. But words like â€Å"wrong† (l. 5), â€Å"shot† (l.39), â€Å"hurts† (l. 74), â€Å"hack† (l. 77), â€Å"hearses† (l. 81), â€Å"graveyard† (l.83), and â€Å"coffin† (l. 106) are all negative words that lead you to the conclusion of Johnnie’s death. The theme of the poem is that there are always consequences for mistakes that you make. Both Johnnie’s and Frankie’s punishment was death for what they had done. Even though most consequences aren’t this harsh, the author exaggerates this so he could prove his point. This poem is tied to the real world because this poem is based on a true story of a woman named Frankie Baker, who was a prostitute, and how she killed Allen Britt, who was her pimp. Over the years, the story has had its discrepancies and a lot of the facts have changed, but the overall message is the same.

Compare and Contrast the Philippines and Indonesia

Airah Mary Michaela Diaz (Task: Indonesia) Maegan Martinez (Task: Philippines) South Asia | Philippines| Indonesia| Type of Government| -known as the Republic of the Philippines. Is a sovereign state in SEA. -it is called republic or democratic form of government, where the power is in the hands of the people. -it has three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. | -Republic of Indonesia – official name of the country means â€Å"Island of the Indies†-Head of government – President| Political History| -Discovery of katipunan (Aug. 19,1892)-Dr. Jose Rizal was killed by the Spaniards in bagong bayan or luneta park (December 30, 1898)-Philippine Independence (June 12, 1898)-death of President of Ramon Magsaysay (March 17, 1957)-The assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino (August 21, 1983)-Proclamation of Martial Law by President Marcos on September 21, 1972| -October 1908- the first nationalist movement was formed, Budi Utomo-September 10, 1912- first nationalist mass movement was formed – Sarekat Islam-by December 1912 Sarekat Islam had 93,000 members-The repression of the nationalist movement led to many arrests, including Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, who was imprisoned for olitical activities on December 29, 1929| Questions: 1. ) In what aspect does the government of Asian countries differ from one another? The government of Asian countries differ from one another by the laws, each government have different laws that people must obey and respect. Another one is the kind of government, there are many kinds of government in Asia like democratic, communist, federal republic and many more. They have their own government to follow. And in Asian countries, they have a leader who can make their country much better. 2. ) As a student, what concrete actions do you do to prove that you are pro government? As a student, I will obey and respect the laws of the government. I will simply apply the rules and regulations of our government and I will prevent myself from violating the rules. To be a role model to other students like throwing the trash to its proper dance. 3. How are they similar? They are similar on their type of government. 4. ) Disadvantages and advantages of the political system on the countries implementing it. The advantages of the political system are that it makes the country in o rder. It also makes the country to develop and also to organize the things in their place. The disadvantages are that sometimes the leaders cheat the country. They sometimes get money in the fund of their country; it affects the country’s progress. References: – Collier’s Encyclopedia #18 p. 685-694 – Lexicon universal encyclopedia – The new book of knowledge, volume I p. 218 – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/HistoryinIndonesia

Morality the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

For example, throughout the novel â€Å"Huckleberry Finn â€Å", Mark Twain depicts society as a structure that has become little more than a collection of degraded rules and precepts that defy logic. This faulty logic manifests itself early, when the new judge in town allows Pap to keep custody of Huck. â€Å"The law backs that Judge Thatcher up and helps him to keep me out o’ my property.† The judge privileges Pap’s â€Å"rights† to his son over Huck’s welfare. Clearly, this decision comments on a system that puts a white man’s rights to his â€Å"property†Ã¢â‚¬â€œhis slaves–over the welfare and freedom of a black man. Whereas a reader in the 1880s might have overlooked the moral absurdity of giving a man custody of another man, however, the mirroring of this situation in the granting of rights to the immoral Pap over the lovable Huck forces the reader to think more closely about the meaning of slavery. In implicitly comparing the plight of slaves to the plight of Huck at the hands of Pap, Twain demonstrates how impossible it is for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how â€Å"civilized† that society believes and proclaims itself to be. In addition, childhood has been described by the author, as an important factor in the theme of moral education: only a child is open-minded enough to undergo the kind of development that Huck does.† It was a close place. I took†¦up [the letter I’d written to Miss Watson], and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I know it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: â€Å" All right then, I’ll go to hell†Ã¢â‚¬â€œEm dash intended here? and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming†¦Ã¢â‚¬ It, describes the moral climax of the novel. Jim has been sold by the Duke and Dauphin, and is being held by the Phelpses spending his  return to his rightful owner. Thinking that being at home in St. Petersburg, even if it means Jim will still be a slave and Huck will be a captive of the Widow, would be better than being in his current state of peril far from home, Huck composes a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where Jim is. When Huck thinks of his friendship with Jim, however, and realizes that Jim will be sold down the river anyway, he decides to tear up the letter. The logical consequences of his action, rather than the lessons society has taught him, drive Huck. Huck decides that going to â€Å"hell,† if it means following his gut and not society’s hypocritical and cruel principles, is a better option than going to everyone else’s heaven. This is Huck’s true break with the world around him. At this point he decides to help Jim escape slavery once and for all, and he realizes that he, Huck, will not be re-entering the civilized world: he has moved beyond it morally. Since Huck and Tom are young, their age lends a sense of play to their actions, which excuses them in certain ways and also heightens the profundity of the novel’s commentary on slavery and society. Huck and Tom know better than the adults around them, but they lack the guidance that a proper family and community should have offered them. Furthermore, Huck and Tom encounter individuals who seem good (Sally Phelps, for example), but Twain takes care to show us that person as a prejudiced slave-owner. â€Å"Preacher be hanged, he’s a fraud and a liar†. The shakiness of the justice systems that Huck encounters lies at the heart of society’s problems: terrible acts go unpunished, yet frivolous crimes, such as drunkenly shouting insults, lead to executions Sherburn’s speech to the mob that has come to lynch him accurately summarizes the view of society given in this book: rather than maintaining collective welfare, society is marked by cowardice, a lack of logic, and profound selfishness.

Paraphrase the paper that i will upload Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paraphrase the paper that i will upload - Essay Example of knowledge on the world, enhance their social responsibility sense in addition to learning about the pragmatic and analytical skills required for the up and coming events they will encounter in the course of their lives. College teaches one to respect in diversity; something that cannot be learned by studying books, also called experiential learning.Being surrounded by individuals from various countries results in new perspectives and issues,and assists widen the various types of experiences shared.In addition;it also welcomes stereotypes to rethink issues associated with race,ethnicity and politics. College assists in obtaining wider knowledge of the broader world.It is only in college where courses associated with society,history and science are taken;lesons that according to Aydrey Osler are prerequisites for an individual to discover new interests or acquire fresh insights.Thus,for instance,studying social sciences provides individuals with a say in shaping their future,assists inunderstanding finance,plays a part in the health and wellness ,assisting in making society safer,improving the quality of education for future generations in addition to helping students in understanding democracy better. Students should be taught knowledge about democracy and democratic institutions and provided opportunities to practice democracy† (Osler 74). Attending college assists in development of a sense of social responsibility. . â€Å"Contributing to a larger community involves recognizing and acting upon one’s responsibility for the general welfare of others in the larger community within and beyond the college campus† (Reason, Ryder, Kee 18).For instance, participating in college campaigns teaches team spirit, leadership and dedication. Thus, we require more socially responsible people in the current world capable of thinking about the community as well as other people’s welfare. People seem to think of society as an agency whose core function is resolution