The Concept of CSR and Innovation-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp

Question: Critically anayse the Corporate Social Responsibility. Answer: Introduction: Strategic management refers to the management of the organization as well as its activities with the help of some effective strategies. In other words, the strategic management is the process of strategically handling the organizational business activities for achieving the desired business objectives. Every organization has its own strategies for running its business in the competitive market of the its own. Along with this, the sustainability of the organization is also determined by the proper implementation of the firms strategies. The areas involved in the strategic management are the analysis of the internal and external strengths and weakness of the firm, formulation of the action plan, execution of the action plan and the evaluation of the action plan (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2012). Therefore, the strategic management of the firm is considered to be the most important part of the business as it ensures the successful business activities of the firm in the market. However, there are different concepts of the strategic management, which are found to be implemented by various organization in all over the world. The most popular concepts of strategic management are core competencies, generic strategies, mergers and acquisitions, alliances, CSR, blue ocean strategy and many others (Kumar and Reinartz 2012). However, the following discourses discusses one of the concepts which is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Critical Analysis of CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the popular and effective concepts of the strategic management. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is also known as the corporate citizenship, sustainability management and in few others name. The CSR is referred to the initiatives taken by the firm for the social and environmental betterment. It is found that any corporation or the business organization operates its business within the social and environmental context. On the other hand, to certain extent the environmental and social aspect are influenced by the corporate activities of the organization. Therefore, it comes under the responsibilities of the firm to perform its duty on the part of the social and environmental context n (Sharma and Kiran 2013).On a different note, it must be noted that the CSR initiatives indicates the firms activities on the social context for the wellbeing of the society. From the 1960s the concept of the corporate social responsibilities started attracting attention of the business firm for providing benefits to the society by the organizational business activities (Guthey and Morsing 2014). The CSR is considered to be one of the strategic management concepts because the CSR is one of the strategies that helps the organization to maintain its sustainability in the competitive market for a longer time. Before the conceptualization of the CSR, it is found that that the organizations were impacting on the environment as well as on the society by the business and corporate activities of them (Prasad and Holzinger, 2013). After the realization of the same by the firms, the acceptance and the implementation of the CSR was the response to the growing concerns on the ethical issues in the business regarding the activities of the firm and its impact on the society and environment. On the other hand, the corporate social responsibility is found to be involved in the economical, legal and philanthropic activities by the firm in terms of doing betterment to the society and the environment (Kitzmueller and Shimshack 2012). Argumentative Discussion: However, the arguments on the subject of CSR has been running over the years. CSR is considered to be one of the business concern for the wellbeing of the society. The basic purpose of the CSR is to maintain the sustainability of the firm in the competitive market. The arguments on the subject is indicated towards the necessity and importance of the CSR in the strategic management of the organizations. Many scholars are in favor of the CSR and some are not. the arguments summarize the importance of the CSR activities in terms of the protection of the interest of key stakeholders, long run survival, self-enlightenment, avoidance of government regulations, resources and professionalisms. Some of the scholars and researchers state that the CSR activities of the company protects the interest of the key stakeholders in the business of the firm (Prasad and Holzinger 2013). The organization is responsible for protecting the rights and social values of the key stakeholders of the firm which is one of the aspect of the CSR activities.To run a successful business in the competitive market, the firm needs to discharge responsibilities towards its stakeholders, especially the employees and consumers. Consumers being the prime factor of the business that determines the profit if the organization in the target market (Guthey and Morsing 2014). Therefore, the business organization needs to ensure the level of satisfaction of the consumers and CSR initiatives is one of the strategic management for serving the same. Long run survival is another factor that indicates the importance of the CSR activities by the organizations. Long run survival is another name of the sustainability which is ensures by the CSR performance of the firm along with the business activities in the market (Lin-Hi and Mller 2013). Not maintaining the social norms is capable of attracting the government to impose regulation on the organizations business activities. If the business activities of the organization affect the society and environment the government can take legal action against the firms. Therefore, the CSR activities is important for avoiding the legal restrictions. The organizations from its business activities possess wide range of resources that can be used in the CSR activities of the organization which often includes minor and aboriginal communities. Therefore, the utilization of the resource indicates the importance of CSR initiatives. Professionalizationof the organization addresses the social orientation of the business. The corporate activities of the business entities are marking the increase of the professionalization of the firms which further includes the maintenance of the code of ethics and legal aspects by the same. CSR activities being a part of the code of ethics marks the importance of its practice. However, there are many scholars who argues that the CSR activities are not important for maintaining thesustainability of the firm in the competitive market. The arguments over the topic states that business entities being the profit organization must not practice CSR activities in order to ensure its business profit. In addition, the arguments marks that the for addressing the social and environmental wellbeing, there are government and nonprofit organizations. The scholars against the CSR activities claims that CSR is the waste of time and resources by the organizations. The CSR is limited under the grounds that are business as an economic activity, quantification of social benefits, cost benefit analysis, transfer of social costs and sub optimal utilization of resources. As stated by Kitzmueller and Shimshack (2012), business being an economic entity must not get into social an environmental activity which will weaken the business activities of the firm in the market. Whereas another scholar points out that social responsibilities is one of the complicated and difficult tasks as it comprises various responsible activities to be done. Therefore, the CSR activities can make the firm less prioritize its business activities due to the excessive quantification of social benefits. The CSR practice of the firm is not a cost benefit act as sometimes the initial budget exceeds the level of benefits. On the other hand, using the cost to the social welfare can result into firms low wages and low profits. Therefore, it is evident from the above argumentative discussion on the CSR practice of the firm that the advantages of CSR are more than the disadvantages. However, the drawbacks of CSR activities of the firm cannot be ignored, but the same can be overcome through proper and effective strategic implementation of the CSR initiatives. The debate over the CSR practice of the organizations raises numerous questions for the organization itself. Some of the scholars raise question about the operational defection of CSR (Malik 2015) whereas some argues with the uniformity in business policies are lacked by the CSR activities. Emergence of CSR Concept: The concept of the CSR activities has been argued by many scholars for its acceptance in the corporate sectors. The CSR took years to get conceptualized by the business organization. It must be noted that most of the business organization in the 21stcentury. Most of the business entities are practicing the CSR activities for enhancing the public image. As opined by Kolk and Lenfant (2013), all the multinational companies must take active part in the CSR practices in order to ensure the sustainability of them in the international market. At the same time, Izzo and Magnanelli (2012) argued that the CSR initiatives is capable of disrupting the sustainability of the firm as it is the waste of money. However, though the conceptualization and acceptance of the CSR has taken several years, but it has been accepted most of the international and national organizations. In fact, almost every popular organization publishes its yearly CSR reportto sustain and make people aware about their social environmental activities. The most effective adaptation of CSR concept is its emergence and acceptance by the organizations as the sustainability development strategies. Consequently, the CSR has become one of the important and necessary part of the strategic management for any business entities. Acceptance and Practice of CSR Concept: The above discussion shows the emergence of the CSR concept as one of the aspect of the strategic management. Among many concepts of the strategic management the CSR has gained the most popularity. The importance of the CSR activities is incased towards the sustainability of the firm in the market (Przychodzen and Przychodzen 2013). Specifically, for any international organization, the CSR has been a mandatory practice. It must be mentioned in this regard that the any market in todays era is highly competitive. Hence, the organizations existing in the market must consider the strategic management in terms of gaining the competitive advantages in the targeted market. For the organizations operating its business in the global context, the CSR has become an inseparable part of the organization. It must not be forgotten that despite having the range of advantages in adapting the CSR activities, there are number of organizations that do not participate in the CSR practices. For ensuring the proper management of business activities, these organizations follow other strategic management such as the generic strategies, core competencies, alliance, mergers and acquisition, blue ocean strategy and others. Some of these strategies are equally effective as the CSR and some are not. The generic strategies are specifically designed for ensuring the competitive advantages of the target market (Tanwar 2013). Any firm uses the generic strategies for the achievement of the cost leadership, focus and differentiation which further leads the organization towards the success in the competitive market (Kinyuira 2014). The generic strategies are used by many firms, specially the new ones. However, though the generic strategies are found to be one of the best aspect of the strategic management, it has not gained the popularity as much as CSR. However, the comparison between the two is not sensible as because it is possible for any firm to use both the aspect of the strategic management. It must be remembered that the generic strategies and CSR despite being the aspect of strategic management, performs different functions. However, all the concepts of the strategic management address the profitability of the firm, but the ways of achieving the same are different (Mahbuba and Farzana 2013). Blue ocean strategy is another concept of the strategic management that creates a brand new market which is excluding of competitor companies. This concept of the strategic management refers to the idea of uncompetitive innovative market which is uncontested (Mebert and Lowe 2017). This strategy is used by some of the organizations in order to create new consumer values (tverkov,?ervinka and Humlov 2012). However, it is found by many of the researchers that this concept of strategic management is not as effective as the CSR. At the same time, the concept often does not provide intended results and this concept is new to the business market. on the other hand, the CSR has gained popularity for its effectiveness. Mergers and acquisition is another effective strategic management concept for securing the profitability of the firm out of the business activities (Schmidt 2015). Mergers and acquisition refers to the consolidation of companies, while merger denotes combination of two or more companies into one whereas the acquisition entails the takeover of the one company by another. It is found from the market research this concept of strategic management is used basically in the financial industry of business. The concept of mergers and acquisition majorly and accepted and followed by most of the organizations in financial sectors (Bena and Li 2014). The effectiveness of the organization is based on the acquisition of the potential customers. However, the CSR concept of the strategic management cannot be ignored and is equally practiced in all industry including the financial one to a great extent. Considering the fact that of sustainability by CSR practices, the same is given high priority and importance by most of the business entities in todays era. Cai, Jo and Pan(2012), found from his researches that the wide number of firms in todays era considers the CSR is important in terms of performing the social responsibilities. There are many organizations in the international context that are taking the CSR seriously for making profit out of the business activities. As mentioned by (Minoja2012), the CSR practices by any firm not only ensures the long run existence of the firm in the industry, but also reduce the risk of losing its ground in the market. the new entry in the market becomes a threat to the existing firm which can be reduced by the CSR initiatives. On the other hand, the impact of the CSR practices plays an important role on the part of stakeholders. the stakeholders of the organization are one of the major part of CSR activities. The stakeholders not only are benefitted through the CSR practices of the organization but also they play a vital role in performing the CSR initiatives. Employee welfare is one of the aspects of firms CSR practices (Minoja 2012). In addition, there are many communities who are helped and supported by the CSR performance of any organizations. The wellbeing astakeholder of the firm to certain extent is determined by the CSR activities of the firm. Therefore, it is evident that CSR practice of the firm determines the relationship of the firm with the stakeholders. On the other hand, the environmental perspective is another aspect of CSR activities as emphasized by many organizations. There are numerous organizations which stresses on the environmental maintenance as the part of CSR activities. The environmental activities such as controlling the carbon emission, green preservation, greenhouse gas management and many others (Malik 2015). In todays era, the environmental preservation is one of the biggest issues that must be considered by every organization. Industrial activities are considered to be one of the primary reason for the environmental degradation. Therefore, the socially aware organization is found to be taking part in preserving the environment and reducing the damage in the same. For serving the noble purpose, the organizations consider the CSR practices to the most effective. It must be noted that all the organization face numerous business challengesin terms of operating its business in the competitive market. The firms perform their CSR activities for avoiding and resolving the business challenges. The business challenges like legal and ethical business practice, achievement of competitive advantages, sustainable business operations can be overcome by the CSR practice (Rexhepi, Kurtishi and Bexheti 2013). The industrial business operation often tends to break the legal and social rules of business. The practice of CSR is capable of making the firm avoid these legal obligations. In the vast market of competition, any company can enhance its public image by its CSR performance which will further increase level competitive advantages achievements. Furthermore, as stated above the CSR exercise of the firm not only ensures the competitive advantages of the firms, but also strengthen the suitability the same in completive market (Saeidiet al. 2015). In fact, the sustainable business operation is one of the reason for firms CSR practices. Therefore, it is evident that the business entities are dependent on CSR practice, however not mandatorily, for reducing the risks that comes from the various business challenges. In regard to the business challenges, it must be mentioned that there are diversechallenges that are faced by the all the business entities in the competitive market in performing the CSR activities. The challenges come from both from within and outside the organizations. The internal challenges may come from the stakeholders such as the investors and employees. The inventors of the organization often create obligation to prevent the firm from practicing the CSR activities (Elvinget al. 2015). On the other hand, the employees may be reluctant to perform job in the CSR activities apart from their organizational job responsibilities. At the same time, the external challenges may come from the legal and social perspectives in many forms. However, these challenges can be overcome by the proper management. Conclusion: Therefore, this can be concluded from the above discourse that strategic management is one of the vital part of business for ensuring the profitability of the firm in the competitive market environment. The above discourse discusses the various concept of the strategic management with the emphasis on the CSR activities as one of the concept. It has taken certain times to get the concept of CSR accepted in the corporate sector. The CSR has gone through various adaptation as the process of acceptance by the corporate entities. However, there have been consistent debate over the concept that implies both the advantages and disadvantages of CSR for the business organization. The discourse makes it clear that CSR activities have become an inseparable part of the business entities in contemporary market. 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