Running head: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 1

Written Assignment Week 7

Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable 5-Year Strategic Plan

BUS 5116 Operations Management

Term 5, 2018-2019

University of the People

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Corporate Social Responsibility: 5-Year Strategic Plan

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the self-regulating business model

that helps a company be socially accountable and responsible not only to itself and its

stakeholders but also to the public (Chen, 2019). The business practices nowadays have evolved

to become holistic not only focused on providing good quality products and services, it now

includes doing business ethically and give back to the community (Petersen, 2018). This concept

gained prominence amidst the increased interest on social issues such as poor customer service,

unfair employee treatment, workers’ health and safety, climate change, and rapid environmental

degradation (Crowther & Aras, 2008).

Ethics, Corporate Behavior, and CSR

Ethics are defined set of rules, standards, and norms in the conduct of business which are

generally socially and culturally acceptable based on universal rules, prescribing the concept of

good or evil, right or wrong (Crowther & Aras, 2008). On the other hand, Corporate Behavior

involves legal rules, ethical codes of conduct, and social responsibility which reflects in its

business decisions and strategic planning (Crowther & Aras, 2008). As a whole, a socially

responsible corporation takes into consideration the corporate behavior and stakeholders

expectations while observing ethical standards acceptable by society (Crowther & Aras, 2008).

Cost of Ethics and CSR

These ethical standards and CSR often raise issues among stakeholders and typically

involve the company’s profitability and long-term sustainability. For instance, in the food

industry, there have been campaigns on banning the use of single-use plastics. Though this

environmental-friendly strategy promotes a positive social impact, it likewise increases the

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company’s operational costs. It is therefore imperative that a balanced strategic plan is created to

maintain growth while adhering to the company’s mission, vision, and CSR policies.

Strategic Plan

A strategic plan is a blueprint that describes your company’s current position, plans, and

steps on how to achieve your goals. This commonly requires the use of analytic tools such as

SWOT Analysis and the 4P’s of Marketing. The strategic planning process starts with: (1)

Strategic vision; (2) Strategic planning objectives; and (3) Implementation plan while

considering the operations, marketing, and financial plans of the business. (Crowther & Aras,

2008).

Process of Creating a 5-year Strategic Plan. The creation of a 5-year strategic plan will

include the following steps (Krach, 2016):

1. Assessing the market, competitor, and customer trends using the 4Ps of marketing.

2. Conducting a complete SWOT analysis of the business.

3. Defining the company mission, vision, goals, and core values.

4. Defining the department-level objectives.

5. Drilling down the objectives, strategies, and operational activities and tactics.

6. Determining staffing, budget, funding requirements, and future financial projections.

Setting Priorities of the Strategic Plan. The strategic plan requires the setting of strategies as

follows (Rampton, 2018):

1. Determine what the critical, important, and desirable priorities are.

2. Define the bottom-up and top-down communication approach.

3. Getting the team involved in the process.

4. Develop values and culture while encouraging innovation.

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Actions to Convince Stakeholders. Presenting research-based data to the investors showing all

the cost-saving and competitive advantages of becoming sustainable and eco-friendly would be

the best way to convince them that this is the best option. Sustainable businesses can cut down

energy and waste costs which can give a positive impact on the company’s finances (LaMarco,

2019). Becoming environmentally-friendly is also a competitive advantage as there is an increase

in the demand for eco-friendly products and eco-friendly companies are preferred by customers

(LaMarco, 2019). Most importantly, sustainability reduces the negative impact on the

environment (LaMarco, 2019).

Key Performance Goals. Organization-wide goals and measures must be formulated to convert

the strategic objectives into specific performance targets. These goals must be SMART: specific,

measurable, attainable, assigned to a responsible person, and time-specific (DeRuchie, 2017). In

the case study, the investors expect to obtain a level of profitability higher than 15% per year.

This can be achieved by increased sales of higher quality products and reduction of wastes,

manufacturing and other costs by using sustainable products. A group of responsible people will

be tasked to ensure that the company is on-track and the goals and objectives are followed.

Lastly, these goals are reviewed regularly and updates are done whenever necessary.

In conclusion, the complexity of Corporate Social Responsibility and its oftentimes

conflict with the company’s financial growth objectives makes it difficult for some to follow.

However, increasing environmental and societal issues makes it a very crucial part of every

company’s business strategies. Through the implementation of simple to full-scale sustainability

programs, a company can make a positive impact on the society, adding it to their competitive

advantage apart from the financial benefits it entails.

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References

Chen, J. (2019, February 11). Corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp

Crowther, D. & Aras, G. (2008). Corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/515707/mod_page/content/9/BUS5116Crowther_

Aras%20CorpSocResp.pdf

DeRuchie, D. (2017, January 17). Connecting KPIs to goals and objectives. Retrieved from

https://medium.com/happy-cog/connecting-kpis-to-goals-and-objectives-a51746d2ff41

Krach, K. (2016, September 2016). 5 key components of a powerful strategic plan. Retrieved

from https://medium.com/@KeithKrach/5-key-components-of-a-powerful-strategic-plan-

4fbb6f15eae3

LaMarco, N. (2019, February 6). What are the benefits of going green for a business? Retrieved

from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-going-green-business-3225.html

Petersen, L. (2018, November 9). Examples of social responsibility strategies. Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-social-responsibility-strategies-10633.html

Rampton, J. (2018, June 8). Set these 5 strategic priorities now to end 2018 with a bang.

Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/314635