Corporate Strategy, Outsourcing and Core Business Focusing

Corporate Governance Corporate Governance is the relationship between the shareholders, directors, and management of a company, as defined by the corporate character, bylaws, formal policies and rule laws. The corporate governance system was designed to help oversee the decisions and best interest of the shareholders. The system should works accordingly: The shareholders elect directors, who in turn hire management to make the daily executive decisions on the owner’s behalf. The company’s board of director’s position is to oversee management and ensure that the shareholders interest is being served. Corporate governance focus is with promoting enterprise, to improve efficiency, and to address disputes of interest which can force upon burdens on the business.

349). Whereas, Ho (2012) notes the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines corporate governance as “a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders, and other stakeholders, as well as the structure through which…the means of attaining corporate objectives and monitoring performance are determined” (p. 464). Corporate governance requires the participation from the board of directors, management, and even shareholders. They are responsible for defining the rules and regulations for decision-making and enforcing those rules (p. 2). Corporate governance is the combination of control functions that work unified in order to control the relations among all of those invested in the company; shareholders, management, and employees (p. 2).

Since it is a rising issue in worldwide businesses nowadays, the concept of social responsibility (sometimes called corporate social responsibility, abbreviated as CSR, or corporate citizenship, triple-bottom line, social enterprise, and corporate governance, etc.) should be defined precisely. Griffin & Pustay (2013, p. 121) suggested that CSR is “a set of obligations an organization undertakes to protect and enhance the society in which it functions.” In other words, CSR is perceived as a social role that an organization is expected to play or an evaluation standard on how well a company manages their economic, social, and environmental influences. Hence, companies are facing rising demands to exercise their social responsibility toward their stakeholders such as employees, consume... ... middle of paper ... ...heorising the interconnectivity between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate identity.Journal of Management and Sustainability, 3(1), 74-94. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1437977553?accountid=63189 Shubiri, F. N. A. L.

& Kathawala, Y. (2000), The effects of global outsourcing strategies on participants‟ attitudes and organizational effectiveness, International journal of manpower, Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 112-128. Yang, D-H., Kim, S., Nam, C., Min Y-W. (2007), Developing a decision model for business process outsourcing, Computers & Operations Research, Issue 34, p. 3769- 3778.

This can be manifested in an ability to attract and retain customers and employees, achieve strategic alliances, gain the support of financial markets and generate a sense of direction and purpose. Corporate identity is a strategic issue. Corporate identity differs from traditional brand marketing since it is concerned with all of an organization’s stakeholders and the multi-faceted way in which an organization communicates.” (Ballmer, Bernstein, Riel et al. 1997) Thus, this statement highlights the multidisciplinary nature of the area and its difference from brand management. Another interesting research that recent academicians have developed is that corporate identity refers to an organization’s unique characteristics which are rooted in the behaviour of the internal stakeholders i.e., the members of the organization.

This can be manifested in an ability to attract and retain customers and employees, achieve strategic alliances, gain the support of financial markets and generate a sense of direction and purpose. Corporate identity is a strategic issue. Corporate identity differs from traditional brand marketing since it is concerned with all of an organization’s stakeholders and the multi-faceted way in which an organization communicates.” (Ballmer, Bernstein, Riel et al. 1997) Thus, this statement highlights the multidisciplinary nature of the area and its difference from brand management. Another interesting research that recent academicians have developed is that corporate identity refers to an organization’s unique characteristics which are rooted in the behaviour of the internal stakeholders i.e., the members of the organization.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become very important in that it become a strategic issue that spans across various departments of a firm. It affects the overall global business process as well. Many organization have revisited and redefined their core values to add corporate social responsibility. The below infographic depicts some of the key areas that HR can impact w.r.to the organization`s CSR efforts and triple bottom line. The y-axis of the chart represents meeting the needs of the stake holders and x-axis represents the actions that HR can contribute and influence the success of a sustainable business.

The four components of CSR are financial, legal, ethical, and philanthropic (Barnett). These areas of CSR ought to exist within every company’s infrastructure; however, the organization’s primary focus is usually on performance and profit not on social conscientiousness. Financial being the first component of CSR is often the major factor in a company’s consideration of ethical standards. The main goal of any business is to keep its costs low and to earn a profit. Financial responsibilities in regards to CSR means that society expects that a corporation will produce needed goods and services that are desired by customers and sell those goods and services at a reasonable price while still earning a profit.

Organizational Knowledge Management Theory and Application Management theories help managers succeed in advancing the company goals. Knowledge management is one of the theories. Knowledge management is the management of corporate knowledge and intellectual assets; furthermore, knowledge management adds value to an organization by enabling an enterprise to act more intelligently (Gupta et al., 2002). Koenig, (2012), defines knowledge management theory as a “discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets”. He goes on to say, “these assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers" (Koenig, 2012, para 4).

MM contribution to corporate entrepreneurship and the importance of middle managers Middle managers are crucial in the corporate entrepreneurial process. According to Ren & Guo (2011), middle managers are great contributors to CE, due to their positions in the organizational structure in which they can influence a corporate strategy in two ways. First, they influence corporate strategy through strategy implementation. This behaviour is mainly top-down, although initiated by top management; the actual outcomes are highly influenced by middle managers decisions (Ren & Guo, 2011; Bower & Gilbert, 2007). Second, middle managers influence corporate strategy through strategy formation.