Business and Corporate Social Responsibility Research Paper

Bussines and Corporate Social Responsibility

1.0 Introduction:
Corporate Social Responsibility means the way in which business firms integrate environmental, economic and social concerns into their culture, values, strategy, decision making and operations in an accountable and transparent manner and, therefore, leading to better creation of wealth, an improved society and better practices in the business organization.

Activists, the media and governments all over the world have become adept by holding their organizations or enterprises to account for the social impacts of their actions. It is in this response that the use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged to be one of the inescapable top priorities for various business leaders or managers all over the globe. However, the fact remains that many current approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility are quite disconnected from the initial strategy of various companies or firms using it. In order for business enterprises to contribute significantly towards their key competencies, then they should treat Corporate Social Responsibility as something that is central and vital towards their business strategy. The aim of this research paper is, therefore, to explain the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in business organizations and ascertain how various organizations apply it to achieve various objectives of their business firms (Banerjee, 2007, p.90-150).

1.1 Research Objectives:
The research paper addresses four specific research objectives among them the roles played by business education in the development of key Corporate Social Responsibility skills, the impact of customer perception on loyalty basing on Corporate Social Responsibility, how corporate social responsibility is capable of enhancing corporate reputation and some of the main strategic decisions which are faced by various business organizations in their strive to improve or enhance their performance of Corporate Social Responsibility. These research objectives are, therefore, clearly analyzed through addressing the following research questions.
1.2 Research Questions:

1. What are some of the roles played by business educations towards the development of principal or key CSR?
2. What impact does customer perceptions have on loyalty which are based on CSR?
3. How can CSR enhance the reputation of various business enterprises?
4. What are some of the strategic decisions that are faced by business enterprises when trying to enhance or improve their performance of CSR?

2.0 Literature Review:
(2.1) Roles played by business educations towards the development of radical or key CSR:
According to CEEMAN, an International management development association, social competencies are building for students in various business schools all over the world. These business schools offer relevant educational concepts with an aim of building the trainees’ or students social competences. This is done through covering the principal methods and approaches which are used in enhancing the trainees’ social, corporate responsibility levels in the course of their professional training as future business managers or leaders.
Through the exploration of various issues, which are related, to academic activities of business organizations and through the teaching of various socially significant business disciplines, this ensures that these students who will become business leaders or managers are not only equipped with knowledge on improving their managerial culture but also enhances their understanding on the crucial role played by CSR in business enterprises. Goldeye (2011, p. 1) concludes that the social aspect is one of the leading professional competence of any business manager or leader since it is through it that a leader’s activities can be assessed through the effectiveness of such a leader’s interaction with staff, owners, the state and business partners.
(2.2) Customer perceptions on loyalty based on CSR:
According to Crespo, H, et al (2005, p.1), customer loyalty and valuation of various business services is profoundly influenced by Corporate Social Responsibility. It was ascertained that Corporate Social Responsibility had a lot of influence on the customers’ behavior. This was done through the identification of the various dimensions of social responsibility from the point of view of consumers and the weight of each of the dimension in the global construct of social responsibility. It is not, however, easy for consumers or customers to memorize and acquire information regarding a company’s social responsibility.
Luo, X and Bhattacharya, C (2006, p. 1-10) argued that it was ascertained that for instance, in the mobile telephone services sector, their existed an extraordinarily strong relationship between the consumers or the clients who consumed the services and the firm due to the inseparability, intangibility, perishability and heterogeneity compared to other tangible products and, therefore, the user, not only approaches the purchase in a different manner but also establishes a stronger and direct cordial relationship with the service providers. It was from this study that it was confirmed that the multidimensional nature of CSR had an immense influence on the perception of users or customers. There was, therefore, a direct existence of relation between the perception of customers and in service valuation and social responsibility.
(2.3) How CSR enhances the reputation of various business enterprises:
According to the article by the Harvard Law School on Financial Regulation and Corporate governance, it was ascertained that activities, which were related, to Corporate Social Responsibility had a greater potential in the creation of various forms of value which were distinct to the customers. It was through the perception of customers towards this value that can mediate the relationship between a company’s CSR activities and its subsequent performance in finance. It is also through this article that it can be established that CSR increases a business firms’ profitability due to increased loyalty of the clients, lower risks in reputation during crisis and willingness of paying the premium prices (Chandler, 2010, p.48-50).
The adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility by business organizations is beneficial because it leads to improved financial performance by the company, increased customer loyalty and sales, reduced regulatory oversight, workforce diversity, decreased liability, access to capital and product safety, more ability in attraction and retention of employees by the company, lower operational costs, greater quality and productivity and enhanced brand reputation and brand image among others (Joyner and Pyane,2002, p. 297-311).
(2.4) Strategic decisions that are faced by business enterprises when trying to enhance or improve their performance of CSR:
Various business enterprises have been faced with an uphill task in making decisions of whether they should adopt and implement the use of Corporate Social Responsibility in their enterprise. However, majority of the business firms have fully supported the adoption and use of Corporate Social Responsibility because of the various benefits that arise as a result of its application. Business firms who have failed to adopt and apply the use of CSR within their midst have attributed this failure to lack of funds toes enable the use of various strategies and poor management or leadership styles of the business managers or leaders.

3.0 Research Methodology:
Research methods refer to particular strategies, which are used, by researches in the collection of evidence that is vital for building and eventual testing of the theories. There exist various research methods that can be used by the researcher in the collection of data and information regarding Corporate Social Responsibility. For instance, we have got experiments which are commonly used in exploratory research. The use of experiments as a method of data collection is expensive also time consuming and therefore it cannot be effectively be as method of data collection in Corporate Social Responsibility. In order to find the empirical relationship that exists between the various parameters in a research, the use of observation as a research method is deemed to be appropriate though it is also expensive and time consuming. The use of existing data can also be used as a method of data collection though its accuracy will depend on the experience of the researcher using it.
Surveys are the best research methods that can be used in the exploratory or empirical research in business studies and in Corporate Social Responsibility. In order to obtain research results, some specific group of people, like for instance business leaders or managers tasked with the responsibility of adopting CSR in an organization can be interviewed or given questionnaires. The use of questionnaires was, therefore, highly recommended in ensuring that the objectives of this research study were achieved because they have also been deemed to be appropriate in other previous works. Questionnaires were distributed to various business managers and leaders responsible for CSR and were requested to fill in the appropriate information.
In order to achieve the various objectives of this research paper, a suitable research method was…