Customers are the end users of a company’s goods and services (1). They are possibly the largest stakeholder group that can be greatly affected by corporate social irresponsibility. They depend on businesses to meet their expectations, and businesses depend on them to bring them revenue. When customers place a value on a company’s goods and services, they trust that the business will give them what they are paying for. If the company does not perform to customers’ expectations, they will place a reputation on the company, and possibly spread that reputation amongst other customers of that same company. An example of how a customer can be affected by corporate social irresponsibility is the Odwalla Inc. e. coli outbreak. In 1996, there were many bottles of apple juice infected with bacteria that was manufactured by Odwalla Inc. (2). Nearly sixty-six individuals were infected with the bacteria and there was one death of a sixteen month old girl (2). Odwalla wanted to be known individually for being a natural juice manufacturer, but since this unfortunate incident they have begun to pasteurize their apple juice similar to most other companies in their market (2). The families that were affected are most likely boycotting the Odwalla Inc. products, along with their friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Even the customers that were not directly involved with the e. coli poisoning will think twice before purchasing apple juice from Odwalla. Although Odwalla agreed to pay for the surviving victims’ medical bills (2), some will suffer kidney damage for the rest of their lives. Another example of how social irresponsibility can affect customers is by being taken advantage of through a company’s technological know-how. One of our group members brought their computer to a Compaq store to get fixed. She didn’t know anything about computers then, and was not exactly sure what was wrong with it. The Compaq computer technician looked at it, and wrote a report on what needed to be fixed, however the report contained huge technical words that she didn’t understand! After taking the same report to another computer store, the technician had told her that those terms don’t even exist! She was misled by Compaq into paying for “fake technical problems” that don’t exist. It is very easy for technological companies to cheat customers out of their money because most people are not t...
... middle of paper ...
...the customer. With this in mind, if there is a problem or a defect with a product, often times the customer will first complain to the retailer from which they bought it from, and the retailer would have to deal with arranging a new product to be sent from the manufacturer. Therefore, retailers could realize sales returns, a bad reputation, and overall customer dissatisfaction all at the expense of a socially irresponsible company that supplied them with faulty merchandise. An example of this would be the Source Perrier case in 1990 (6). Perrier bottles of water were found to be contaminated with benzene, a chemical that causes cancer in animals (6). At first, Perrier did not own up to this incident and claimed that the “contamination resulted from an isolated incident” (6). Soonafter, more contaminated bottles were found overseas, which forced Perrier to recall the bottles of water all around the world (6). Wholesalers, retailers, and distributors of Source Perrier water was greatly affected by this. Sales dropped tremendously. Until this incident, Perrier was the leading imported water company, so retailers had huge amounts of stock that was recalled which were a waste of costs.
Jack grow up at a farm that had a lot of cow’s. Everyday he had to milk the cows. He was more of the calm and nice type he really didn’t like talking to that many people at school . He always got good grades until Joseph came into his life. When Joseph came he would get in trouble in school sometimes. One of Jack's teachers told him that he needs to stop hanging out with Joseph. Jack’s response was no because he is my brother. A couple of weeks after that Joseph got into a fight with an 8th grader but Jack is in 6th grade. Jack decided to stick up for his brother and jump in and the both beat the 8th grader up. After that they go called to the principal office and she was very disappointed. Both of them ended up getting suspended and there parents were very disappointed. After those actions that took place Jack decided to be back to his old self.
In most cases, profits and social welfare are at odds. In such a case, business executives being answerable to shareholders are likely to focus on the profit-making aspect of the business rather than going against the interest of their shareholders by promoting social welfare at the expense of profits. In addition, research shows that companies actively involved in Corporate Social Responsibility efforts are more likely to be targeted by activists (Kress, 2011). In fact, it has been established that many companies initiate corporate social welfare projects when they stand to gain from those projects. For example, automakers resulted to creating fuel-efficient vehicles when they became profitable; similarly, energy conservation became an important CSR activity when the cost of energy became very costly. As such, the companies are benefiting their society as they follow their own
Times have changed drastically for businesses since the Internet and social media have become part of our everyday lives. It’s now easier than ever for the individual to gather data and follow organizations to ensure they are performing legally, morally, and ethically. Stakeholders believe that organizations have a social obligation to operate their business in an ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible way. The term for this idea is Corporate Citizenship. Corporate Citizenship is “the extent to which businesses are socially responsible for meeting legal, ethical and economic responsibilities placed on them by shareholders. The aim is for businesses to create higher standards of living and quality of life in the communities in which they operate, while still preserving profitability for stakeholders” (Investopedia.com, 2013). Stakeholders are expecting organizations to conduct business in a way that meets legal, ethical, economic, and philanthropic expectations that go beyond commercial relationships. Many organizations are including corporate responsibilities in their corporate mission statements and goals. They want stakeholders to see that they practice ethical behavior and are committed to their local communities in order to maintain a positive corporate image. According to CNN Money “Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had $469.2 billion in revenue last year and has reclaimed the top ranking in the Fortune 500 ranking of the largest U.S. companies by revenue”( Hathaway, 2013). Wal-Mart has over 10,800 stores and is a company that can have a tremendous impact upon the environment and their current employees and future employees. Largely due to its size and resultant influence, Wal-Mart is receiving constant pressure t...
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is about how companies manage their business processes to produce a positive impact on society. Companies introduce new products in markets, usually after testing concludes that the product is safe for use or consumption. It is nearly impossible for a company to truly know all of the potential risks a brand new product may have, even after thorough testing. However, once a company receives reports that its product may be causing harm to consumers, it is their responsibility to conduct more research and tests to rule-out any possible truth in the reports. This is what a socially responsible company would do, one who is preoccupied not only with their bottom-line, but one that is also worried about its customers.
“Not waiting!” I said, giggling to myself as I rushed to the door that lead to the high school hallway. I opened the door and fled inside, Delany managed to catch up to me. Coach Elder was way ahead of us, heading towards the middle school.
In recent years, companies are becoming socially responsible and now stakeholders almost expect a company to have CSR policies. Therefore, in twentieth century, corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important development in public life (Barnett, ND).Corporate social responsibility is defined as “the ways in which an organisation exceeds the minimum obligations to stakeholders specified through regulation and corporate governance” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). Stakeholders can be defined as “those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organisation depends” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). There are many purposes for this essay, the first purpose is to descried the key principles of corporate social responsibility and explain their importance for stakeholders. Secondly, is to show how far this company follows those principles in order to be accountable to at least three of its stakeholders. In this essay, three stakeholders, environment, customers and employees will be evaluated respectively and the key principles of the stakeholders will be examined.
This Coca Cola malfunction incident demonstrates that if attention is not paid to the ethical operation or the company it could challenge and threaten a company’s short and long term performance. This could have long lasting affects on the companies operations and requires strategic decisions to restore company’s image in the eyes of the customers. Gaining the trust of customers takes long time but it is broken with one small incident.
For example, just last year P&G issued product recalls affecting Iams and Eukanuba pet foods brands “after its own inspections found the potential for salmonella contamination in a separate lot” (Barney, 2013, para. 2). The recalls happened nearly after The Food and Drug Administration’s onsite inspection found cases of Salmonella in the company’s Natura pet food products. Since the pet food industry was one of P&G’s sluggish divisions due to weak sales, the company has now divested it; thereby, reduce costs and boost financial numbers. Although no reports were made regarding illnesses, or worst, even death, the recall was enough to cause a decline in company sales; furthermore, the possibility of raising consumer doubt toward P&G’s other product brands. Several additional recalls were made in previous years pertaining to defective child-resistant packaging, mismatched expiration dates, and other forms of bacteria found in healthcare products, (Procter & Gamble, 2014, para. 1). These types of expenditures disrupt financial performance, as product recalls involve replacing products that are faulty, and increase the chances of a lawsuit if fatal suffering were to
An organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drives them to look out for the different interests of society. Most business corporations undertake responsibility for the impact of their organizational pursuits and various activities on their customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment. With the high volume of general competition between different companies and organizations in varied fields, CSR has become a morally imperative commitment, more than one enforced by the law. Most organizations in the modern world willingly try to improve the general well-being of not only their employees, but also their families and the society as a whole.
Marketing sells products and services due to peoples’ vulnerabilities. And by defining vulnerabilities, do we look at the population as a whole or weed out those that are vulnerable due to personal actions versus environmental or can we or should we even distinguish between the two? I believe, companies should have a social responsibility to the public but that notation is based on morals and morals are differ from person to person. 4. How much of a factor should personal responsibility play into the relationship between the buyer (you) and the company (them)?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a very familiar term in today’s world. Most of the successful companies try to be ethical and socially responsible toward their stakeholders. Because becoming ethical and socially responsible gains a lot in terms of profit or capturing more market share (Aras and Crowther,2009). This socially responsible approach is paved by the CSR activities of the companies which has a great contribution to their corporate strategy of winning the customers’ mind. In this assignment, the pros and corn of CSR activities of a particular organization a...
This is where a firm is more about making money, than it shows concern for the people affected buy their actions and decisions. Whither an employee, the manufacture, or the people in the community they serve. Walmart is a vivid example of this very thing. It is also an example of a firm with a large economic wealth and a low CSR reputation. Even though Walmart operates over 11,000 retail units under 65 banners in 28 countries and employ 2.2 million associates around the world –1.3 million in the United States lone. (Our Locations,
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.
It seems obvious that large corporations have a tendency to ignore the negative effects of their actions in favor of profit. This example, although sensationalized, still says to me that with power comes responsibility. It affirmed my belief that a corporation’s goal cannot be just to provide profit to shareholders, but there must also be an element of social responsibility.
Corporations that place an importance on corporate social responsibility usually have an easier experience when dealing with politicians and government regulators. In compare, businesses that present an irresponsible disregard for social responsibility tend to find themselves fending off various reviews and probes, often brought on at the assertion of public service organizations. The more positive the public insight is that a corporation takes social responsibility seriously; the less likely it is that innovative groups will launch public campaigns and claim government inquiries against it.