Corporate Social Responsibility Flashcards
How does the European commission define corporate social responsibility??
The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society
List the three levels of corporate social responsibility defined by Stahl and Grigsby in 1997
Minimum legal compliance:-
(Economic and Legal responsibility)
Transactional ethics. I do business and so am required to comply
Enlightened self interest:-
(Ethical responsibility)
CSR as a strategic weapon ‘we are better than our competitors’
Aims to improve society:-
(Philanthropic responsibility)
Independent to the benefit of the company…going above and beyond :L
List four advantages for companies practising CSR
1) Employee acquisition/retention
2) Marketing tool to attract/ retain customers
3) Avoid binding legislation
4) Damage control
List four examples of CSR
Sustainable sourcing of wood Local sourcing of ingredients Labelling food with nutritional information Reducing carbon footprint Investing in education Providing good working conditions Avoiding the cheap child labour
Corporate social responsibility has relevance to the oil and gas industry. List two potential issues associated with land acquisition/ resettlement
Staff at risk due to the conflicts with local communities
Staff contracted from local communities exposed to retaliation
Compensation processes flawed and/or below market rate
Insufficient time to consult with indigenous people and obtain consent.
CSR has relevance to the oil and gas industry. List two potential issues associated with drilling/ seismic testing
Contractors provided with poor housing and living conditions
Communities have restricted access to land and fishing grounds and are not compensated
Seismic testing could damage sacred sites or places of cultural heritage
CSR has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with construction.
Staff pressured to work excessive overtime or to work during religious holidays.
Migrant workers passports taken away.
Rise in HIV?
CSR has relevance to the Oil and Gas industry. List two potential issues associated with use of security forces.
Use of force by security providers puts staff at risk from local communities
Security providers use force to break up peaceful protests by local communities
Private security hired from dominant ethic/racial group leading to harassment of marginalised groups.
Briefluy explain the phenomenon known as ‘greenwashing’
Covers up negative impact of company by saturating media with positive images.
Media sensationalism
List two criticisms of the European Union Carbon trading as a CSR initiative
Carbon trading allows companies to avoid reducing their emissions by buying carbon credits
Right to emit are handed out based on historical emissions so those who have polluted the most get the most free rights to emit.
Consumer power underpins most market based approaches to getting companies to engage in corporate social responsibilities. List four potential weaknesses of this approach.
1) Consumers mostly interested in selling price, quality and availability as evidenced by Co-Op survey
2) Predicated on the fact that customers have access to high quality, un-biased information. Companies have large extremely biased advertising campaigns.
3) Consumers assessment is rather superficial. They are complicit In CSR because they would like to believe it.
4) If customers vote with their pounds this is undemocratic as ability to influence depends on financial resources. Power to decide what is and what is not acceptable should not rest with the rich.
