Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Management

Note to Mentors

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Unit Purpose and Aims

The purpose of this unit is;

This unit will enable the learner to fully understand the importance of corporate social responsibility and how it can be a force for good in a  creative business.

Learning Outcomes

The learner will;

1. Understand what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is.

Learners can;

1.1 Explain what CSR is.

1.2 Summarise the historical forces driving the growth in importance of CSR

1.3 Explain how a company can communicate and report its CSR activities

2 Be able to describe the potential business benefits of good CSR

2.1 Explain how CSR can aid human resources

2.2 Show how CSR can help with business risk management

2.3 Demonstrate how CSR has helped with brand differentiation using an existing company as an example

 

Learning Tools, Resources & Links

Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;

Mentors please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business (SRB), or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Ideally, CSR policy would function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its adherence to law, ethical standards, and international norms. Business would embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, business would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere, regardless of legality. Essentially, CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making, and the honoring of a triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit.

The practice of CSR is subject to much debate and criticism. Proponents argue that there is a strong business case for CSR, in that corporations benefit in multiple ways by operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short-term profits. Critics argue that CSR distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; others yet argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. Corporate Social Responsibility has been redefined throughout the years. However, it essentially is titled to aid to an organization’s mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers.

MASHABLE’S TOP TWITTER ENTREPRENEUR TIPS

1) It’s A Social Tool

Twitter is an amazing tool to market and really interact with fans and customers. It gives you real-time conversation with them, but if you don’t interact and answer questions people have, it’s a complete turn off. There is a reason that it’s a ‘social media’ tool and the key word is ‘social.’ Don’t constantly shove information down their throats. Be social and see what your customers want or need.

- Ashley Bodi

2) Avoid Insecurity Work

“Insecurity Work” is when you compulsively check your e-mail, website traffic, blog comments, etc., and it’s poison. Twitter is one of the most common causes of insecurity work that I see among young entrepreneurs. I suggest that you limit the time you spend on Twitter each day to less than a half hour. Remember: You don’t need to @Reply every single person that mentions your brand.

- Ryan Paugh

3) Engage With Your Followers

After running Ruby Media Group, a social media and personal branding agency for over a year now, my best tip for using Twitter to market to customers and fans is to not market! This sounds contrary to everything traditional marketers know, but the best companies on Twitter create conversations with fans and become “followers” of their lives, making their product embedded into their daily lives.

- Kris Ruby

4) Autoresponder

I have an automatic responder using socialoomph.com set up so that when people “follow” me on Twitter they get a direct message regarding my website. For Schedule Makeover(TM) time coaching and training, the goal is to drive traffic to my newsletter signup.

- Elizabeth Saunders

5) Provide Value and Get Software to Help

There are two goals you should have when using Twitter to market to customers: Establish yourself as an expert and deliver relevant valuable content. Post tips, advice and guidance that will help your potential customers. Once you get the content down on what you want to post, I recommend using software like Tweet Adder to help you manage your account and stay active with your followers.

- Lucas Sommer

6) Be Personal and Interesting

Seventy to eighty percent of your tweets should be informational, fun or personal in nature, and only 20 to 30% should be commercial. Retweet interesting links, useful articles and photos taken from your cell phone. For example, at SitePoint we recently tweeted about Movember mustaches, posted photos of 10 staff members who grew mustaches, and asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans to vote on the best one.

- Matt Mickiewicz

7) Twitter Etiquette

First, understand that quality always trumps quantity when it comes to social media. One hundred evangelists far outweigh 100,000 mere “followers.” Second, follow Twitter etiquette: listen, be relevant, mind your brand, engage, and give more than you get.

- Heather Huhman

8) Provide Relevant Information

Twitter is a brilliant tool to push information out to your customers and fans, but it is important to remember that Twitter is not about self-promotion. Be sure you’re engaging your customer base and starting a dialogue. Create genuine interaction and work to distribute information relevant to your customers. Using this approach will help you harness the power of Twitter.

- Anderson Schoenrock