BIRKBECK UNIVERSITY

MODULE NAME; PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT 1
MODULE TUTOR; JOANNE WOODMAN
ASSIGNMENT 1

Discuss the way companies express their commitment to corporate social

responsibility, drawing on both academic literature and ‘real life’ examples.

Introduction
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has been a debate for over 30 years
with academics striving to come up with an acceptable definition of this concept.
Keith (1960) suggested that social responsibility was the decisions undertaken solely
for the purposes of the company’s economical or technical interests and gains.
Moir,2001 in her article stated how companies have contradictory expectations
regarding the nature of their responsibilities to the society. What some regard as
corporate social responsibility is viewed as building a company’s brand image or
enhancing activities that lead up to companies benefits.
Economist Milton Friedman argued that the company has one responsibility only
which is to maximize profits of its shareholders and owners and that any social
issues were not the concern of the company. (Friedman, 1970). This was a great
contrast to today’s understanding of corporate social responsibility of a company
which involves the achievement of the company’s ethical, legal, and philanthropic
responsibilities. The company therefore is expected to be an outstanding corporate
ethical citizen while obeying the law as well as making profits.
Corporate social responsibility creates a competitive advantage by raising brand
awareness and helping businesses create a trusting partnership with shareholders,
customers, and the company’s employees.
This essay will examine different methods in which companies express their
commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and critically analyse the long- or
short-term impacts in the society, using academic literature and case studies.

Social responsibility
Howard R. Bowen publishing of his book, “social responsibilities of the
Businessman” in 1953 marked the start of corporate social responsibility. Bowen
believed that the major corporations in the United States were a crucial foundation of
power and decision making and that the firm’s actions affected the lives of citizens in
various aspects. (Bowen,1953). The crucial question that Bowen posed and is still
raised to date was “what responsibilities to society may businessmen reasonably be
expected to assume?” (Bowen, 1953).
The foundation of our modern-day interpretation of corporate social responsibility is
greatly inspired by Carroll’s pyramid of CSR. Based on his four-part framework,
Caroll created a graphic demonstration of corporate social responsibility in the form
of a pyramid. Dr Wayne Visser stated that “Caroll’s CSR pyramid is probably the
most well-known model of CSR…” (Visser,2006). Originally, Caroll’s four- part
description of CSR stated that Corporate Social Responsibility encompasses the
economic, ethical, philanthropic, and legal expectations that the society has of
organizations at any given point in time.

(Carroll,1991)

Carroll suggested that the corporates had to fulfil responsibility at four different levels
mainly the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic.
Economic responsibility- this as the lowest on the pyramid represented the first level
of responsibility, that businesses need to make profits in order to sustain itself and its
employees’ long term and be able to benefit the society with Corporate Social
Responsibility.
Legal responsibility- Businesses are obligated to obey the law and this is the most
important responsibility. Abiding by employment laws, health and safety regulation
measures and tax regulations as some of the illustrations of the legal responsibilities
a company should adhere to.
Ethical responsibility- The ethical responsibility is defined as doing what is morally
right. A business should conduct its activities ethically. Although unlike the first two
responsibilities, a business is not obligated to be ethical, they still act ethically to
build a strong brand name
Philanthropic responsibility- This is the top level of the pyramid. Businesses face a
lot of negative criticisms for their carbon footprint, pollution and using natural
resources among others. They therefore counter these by taking care of the
environment. Philanthropic responsibility holds a business’s values to give back in
high regards in the society (Carroll,1991)
According to Carroll (1991), “a responsible business is one which qualifies all the
levels of responsibilities before taking up philanthropy. A business cannot sustain
without fulfilling all the other responsibilities”.

Socially responsible business

Most companies nowadays focus their corporate responsibility towards improving
their environmental impact through reducing their carbon footprints. One example of
a company focusing their Corporate Social Responsibility on the environment is
Unilever, the biggest deodorant manufacturer in United Kingdom and one of the
largest consumer goods companies in the world. Unilever in the past has been under
a lot of scrutiny over its philanthropic work being termed as attempts to cover up the
company’s negligence and life-threatening risks to people and the environment. This
was evidenced in the Kodaikanal mercury thermometer factory in India after it was
relocated from New York due to the health and environmental hazards inflicted by
the factory which did not abide by US legislation laws (Ejolt,2018). The factory was
claimed to be run on second-hand equipment’s, poor safety and waste management
that compromised the health of its workers by exposing them to mercury poisoning.
The poisoning further caused the soil, forests and groundwater pollution, with
Unilever disposing the glass waste contaminated with mercury on land fields around
the factory. (Ejolt,2018).
Due to these accusations, Unilever purposed to improve its corporate social
responsibility by engaging in several partnerships that aim at improving the society
and environment. (Unilever,2012)
In 2014, Unilever started compressing their deodorant cans and reducing their
carbon footprint of each spray by 25% per can. The company has successfully
achieved this by using almost half the amount of propellant gas and 25% less
aluminium while maintaining the quality of the product. In addition to this impact on
the environment, Unilever can cut their costs as well. Unilever in 2012 announced
the launch of the Unilever Foundation which partnered with five other major NGO’s
namely (PSI, UNICEF, Save the children, Oxfam and World Food Programme) to
enhance the “quality of life by providing hygiene, sanitation, access to clean drinking
water, basic nutrition and improving self-esteem” (Unilever,2012)
Since the creation of the Unilever Foundation in 2012, Unilever has not had anymore
accusations of negligence cases. The introduction of the foundation was vital for the
advancement of the brand name of the company. By collaborating with global
NGO’s, the company created a worldwide statement of commitment to improve the
company and the world at large. Unilever’s approach to express their commitment to
corporate social responsibility by addressing previous accusations such as the
mercury incident in India is a step forward for the company to amend wrongdoings
through new projects collaborations that continually aim at improving the
environment.

Another example is Microsoft which has one of the best reputations as a corporate
socially responsible company winning multiple awards and achievements for its
behaviour. Microsoft operates a lot of initiatives such as 4Afrika which mainly aims
on helping and empowering African youth and entrepreneurs improve their skills and
opportunities. So far, the initiative has brought over 500,000 small and medium
enterprises online, with over 800,000 people gaining skills and start up business
entrepreneurs getting help with business expansion. Apart from strong initiatives by
Microsoft, the company also incorporates environmental responsibility with 44% of
the electricity used in their offices coming from wind, solar and hydropower.
(Rakesh&Ramesh, 2014)

Companies’ commitment to CSR

Businesses express their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility through
their willingness to adapt to the changing society. Today, more than ever, the society
is looking to the business community to help address many of the complex issues
facing the world. A commitment to doing the right thing is no guarantee of success in
the society. History and experience have shown that balancing the business and
corporate social responsibility success requires commitment. Years of experience
and research is applied by businesses when creating effective social initiatives that
will help build a better world and enhance their bottom objective. Companies that
choose philanthropic Corporate Social Responsibility involves choosing a cause that
considers a significance part for the company, establishing the kind of donation to
make and identifying a suitable beneficiary for the contribution. Some companies
express their philanthropic CSR by providing cash donations through emergency
support for victims of natural disasters. They can donate products such as medicine
to fight cancer. ( Philip D.N 2012)
For a company to successfully commit to Corporate Social Responsibility, they must
clarify the companies’ values and mission. The question “Why? has to be clarified
before implementing any CSR initiatives to ensure that the initiatives supported are
aligned to the companies’ purpose and values. An example of a company with
integrated CSR is Johnson & Johnson whose commitment to the society is outlined
in the companies’ logo that:

“We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world
community as well. We must help people be healthier by supporting better access
and care in more places around the world. We must be good citizens — support
good works and charities, better health and education, and bear our fair share of
taxes. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use,
protecting the environment and natural resources.” (Turscanyi & Sisaye, 2013)

Companies should identify their strengths and build around them by determining
what the top strengths are so that the company can identify potential CSR initiatives
that align with their strengths. At this point the company can collect feedback from
employees as this will help the company confirm its beliefs and identify new
strengths if any.

Conclusion
This essay has summarised the different ways in which companies express their
Corporate Social Responsibility commitments. There is still a decline in awareness
however in many companies’ approach to expressing their commitment to CSR.
When issues arise in the society, the media becomes aware, and the issue is fixed.
The question arises that when will companies start changing the business conduct
because it is the right thing to do? And not what the society demands of them.
Companies’ willingness to think of long-term resolutions will ensure the success of
corporate social responsibility. Companies need to be hands-on and realise that the
search of Corporate Social Responsibility can profit a firm in diverse ways, such as
an improved reputation and brand name (Brammer & Pavelin, 2006), improved risk
management (Godfrey, 2005) and additional motivated employees (Wood, 2010).

REFERENCES

1. Bowen, H. R. (1953). Social responsibilities of the businessman. New

York: Harper& Row.

2. Carroll, A.B., (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward

the moral management of organizational stakeholders. [Online] Available at
Business horizons, 34(4), pp.39-48. [Accessed; 25th November 2021]
 3. Ejolt (2018). “Unilever Refused Responsibility for Kodaikanal Mercury
Poisoning, IndiaE.J.Atlas.” Environmental Justice Atlas, 2018,
ejatlas.org/conflict/hindustan-unilever-thermometer-factory-kodaikanal-tamil-
nadu-india.

4. Dr Rakesh Kumar& Ramesh Kumar. (2014) Sustainable growth renewable

resources and pollution’, [Online] Available at Journal of Economic Dynamics
and Control “Corporate Social Responsibility -A case study of Microsoft
Corporation” pp. 37-51 [Accessed 29th November 2021]

5. Moir, L. (2001), "What do we mean by corporate social

responsibility?", Corporate Governance, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 16-22.

6. M. Friedman,(1970) "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase its

Profits," {Online} New York Times, September 13, 1970, pp. 122-126.
[Accessed 29th November 2021]

7. Turcsanyi, J. and Sisaye, S., 2013. Corporate social responsibility and its link
to financial performance: Application to Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical
company. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable
Development.

8. UKEssays. November 2018. Unilever's Corporate Social Responsibility.

[online]. Available from:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/unilevers-corporate-social-
responsibility.php?vref=1 [Accessed 30 November 2021].

9. Visser, W., 2006. Revisiting Carroll’s CSR pyramid. Corporate citizenship in

developing countries, pp.29-56.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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%29%20in%20Unilever%20encompasses%20a,local%20communities%20and
%20many%20others%20in%20wider%20society.
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Unilever n.d.“Our History.” Unilever Global Company Website. nd..

https://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/our-history/. Accessed November 20,
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