Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology

Report entitled

A Study on theCorporate Social ResponsibilitySubmitted byName : Smritha.L PRN: 9030241034Name : Soniya Susan Abraham PRN: 9030241035Name : Anu Garg PRN: 9030241005Name : Pooja Dutta PRN: 9030241021Name :

Shubham Puranik

PRN:9030241033Name: Vikram Kumar PRN: 9030241041 Stream: ITBMBatch : 2009 – 11Subject/Code:Semester : 1

SemesterDate: 10/08/2009

For Office Use only

Marks out of:Name of the Faculty

: Mrs. Sharmili Ganguly

Corporate social responsibility

Definition of corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is not a new concept in India. However, what is new is theshift in focus from making profits to meeting societal challenges.Giving a universal definition of corporate social responsibility is bit difficult as there is nocommon definition as such. However, there are few common threads that connect all the perspectives of CSR with each other; the dedication to serve the society being most important of them. Most ideal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been given by world business council for Sustained Development which says,“Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethicallyand contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce andtheir families as well as of the local community and society at large”.Thus, the meaning of CSR is twofold. On one hand, it exhibits the ethical behavior that anorganization exhibits towards its internal and external stakeholders (customers as well asemployees). On the other hand, it denotes the responsibility of an organization towards theenvironment and society in which it operates. (Naukrihub [online], august 2009).CSR is also referred to as:• ‘corporate’ or ‘business responsibility’• ‘corporate’ or ‘business citizenship’• ‘community relations’• ‘social responsibility’.

History of CSR

“The phrase Corporate Social Responsibility was coined in 1953 with the publication of Bowen's Social Responsibility of Businessmen” (Corporate watch report, 2006). The evolutionof CSR is as old as trade and business for any of corporation. Industrialization and impact of business on the society led to completely new vision. By 80’s and 90’s academic CSR was takeninto discussion. The first company to implement CSR was Shell in 1998. (Corporate watchreport, 2006) With well informed and educated general people it has become threat to thecorporate and CSR is the solution to it.

1990 was CSR as a standard industry with companies like Price Warterhouse Copper andKPMG. CSR evolved beyond code of conduct and reporting it started taking initiative in NGO’s,multistakeholder, ethical trading. (Corporate watch report, 2006).

Benefits of corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility offers manifold benefits both internally and externally to thecompanies involved in various projects.Externally, it creates a positive image amongst the people for its company and earns a specialrespect amongst its peers. It creates short term employment opportunities by taking various projects like construction of parks, schools, etc. Working with keeping in view the interests of local community bring a wide range of business benefits. For example, for many businesses,local customers are an important source of sales. By improving the reputation, one may find iteasier to recruit employees and retain them. Businesses have a wider impact on the environmentalso. Plantation and cultivation activities taken up by Intel India are a step towards the same.Recycling used products also acts as a step towards minimizing wastes.Internally, it cultivates a sense of loyalty and trust amongst the employees in the organizationalethics. It improves operational efficiency of the company and is often accompanied by increasesin quality and productivity. More importantly, it serves as a soothing diversion from the routineworkplace practices and gives a feeling of satisfaction and a meaning to their lives. Employeesfeel more motivated and thus, are more productive. Apart from this, CSR helps ensure that theorganization comply with regulatory requirements. . (Naukrihub [online], august 2009)

CSR importance and its relevance today

The amount of information available to customer about the company, product, brand globallythrough easy accessible and available mode of information; internet, communication, customer wants to buy product from trusted brand, employee want to work for the company who respectthem, NGO’s want to work with company who work with the same vision for the benefit of the people. As said by Peter Duker “The 21st century will be the century of the social sector organization. The more economy, money, and information become global, the more communitywill matter.” (Corporate watch report, 2006).According to strategic corporate social responsibility by William B. Werther, David Chandler there is three trends which are going to have importance in future are

Increasing Affluence

: Customer from elite level can afford to buy and pay more for premium brand but the poor customer might not be willing to pay so much for brand, instead they would prefer to spend their money on business which can take their business to much better level.

Changing social expectation

: Its natural that customer expect more from the company whose product they buy but with recent controversy and scandal of company has reduced the trust andconfidence in the regulatory body and organization which manage the corporate.