Corporate Social Responsibility Enhances Corporate Reputation

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Social Responsibility Enhances Corporate Reputation. Answer: Introduction: This particular study has provided an in-depth understanding about the importance of corporate social responsibility in order to build the reputation of an organization. Corporate social responsibility is nothing but a business approach that helps an organization for a sustainable development by providing sound economic as well as social environmental benefits for both the internal as well as external stakeholder. This particular proposal has selected DhiraaguPLCas the chosen company. DhiraaguPLCis one of the largest telecommunication operators occupying a predominant place throughout Maldives.Through this particular research proposal, the study would like to discuss whether corporate social responsibility is at all able to enhance the organizational reputation of Dhiraagu (dhiraagu.com.mv). Research background It has been observed that corporate social responsibility has become one of the major missions and visions of DhiraaguPLC. DhiraaguPLCis able to expand their widespread wings throughout Maldives. This particular organization is the only operator who is able to link Maldives from extreme North to extreme South(Baumann-Paulyet al. 2013). As they have already creates a market demand in Maldives, the organization aims to enter into the international market. Therefore,corporate social responsibilityis one of the major ways to draw the attention of international customers and to build the image of an organization as well. Problem Statement This particular research proposal has chosen the effectiveness of corporate social responsibilityas the major way of creating the image of an organization. By selecting DhiraaguPLC, the researcher would like to make an effective case study on it. The primary concern of the researcher would be how corporate social responsibility of DhiraaguPLCis able to draw the attention of stakeholders(Brammer, JacksonandMatten 2012). In order to focus on this particular subject, the researcher would like to point out various CSR activities conducted by this organization for earning a good image and reputation. The activities include empower and grow, care for children, relief of the disaster victims, maintaining pollution at the environment and so many. Research Objective The primary objectives of the research proposal would be as follows: To understand the importance of CSR for the betterment of an organization To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of corporate social responsibility To identify the factors that affects highly for maintaining CSR at the workplace Research Question: Is corporate social responsibility at all fruitful for the development of a business organization? What are the impacts of CSR for a business organization? What is the primary factor affecting CSR at the workplace? Research Significance CSR activity has become as one of the most importantways to create the attention of the stakeholders. DhiraaguPLCafter launching this particular business approach has already occupied a predominant place in the multinational market. Therefore, the researcher has selected this particular topic as a matter of research proposal(Campbell, Edenand Miller2012). Corporate social responsibility of DhiraaguPLCwould be discussed in detail throughout the entire study. Research limitation The entire research is based on case study. A detailed information and knowledge has been provided regarding the CSR activities of DhiraaguPLC. Therefore, it would be very much time consuming for the researcher to collect sufficient data and information from the case study(de Grosbois2012). In addition, conducting an entire research work is very cost effective as well. Definition of terms Corporate Social Responsible is the business approach that most of the business organizations tend to follow in order to deal with the customers effectively(Deng Kangand Low2013). This particular business approach tends to deliver social, environmental and economic advantages to both the internal and the external stakeholder. Research background mainly highlights the previous context of the research issue because of which the researcher intends to deal with the topic Problem statement mainly identifies the research issue. In this particular research proposal, the researcher has focused to deal with the importance of CSR for enhancing the business process of Research objectives help the researcher to set the research goal in order to accomplish the project successfully Research significance primarily focuses to highlight the reason of conducting this particular topic as a matter of research proposal. Research Gap: In this particular research proposal, the researcher has primarily focused on the secondary data instead of primary.Various effective case studies have been conducted regarding the CSR processes of Dhiraagu PLC. This has been considered as a major research gap. Along with the case studies, the researcher should collect data and information by involving a large number of employees from Dhiraagu PLC. However, for this proposal, the researcher would only select 51 people for gathering data. Literature Review Introduction Literature reviewis the evaluation of informationthat helps the researcher to gather an in-depth knowledge regarding a specific topic. With the help of various article reviews, the researcher would like to analyze the point of views of numerous authors. By evaluating the contradictory opinions, the researcher would focus tocome into a complete solution(Duand Vieira Jr2012). However, the topic of this particular research proposal is the effectiveness of CSR activity for gaining the organizational reputation. In the part of literature review, one effective previous literature review has been conductedn order to highlight the point of view of a particular author. After discussing the concept of corporate social responsibility, the researcher would like to discuss the importance of CSR and factors affecting CSR within the organization. Related literature review The articleThe impact of corporate social responsibility on firm value: The role of customer awareness, published by Servaes and Tamayo (2013), provides a deep insight regarding the relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value. CSR enhances the value of a particular firm by creating awareness on the mind of customers. This particular business practice is able to draw the attention of the customers. Therefore, CSR has been considered as one of the major practices for building the reputation of an organization(Eberle, Berensand Li2013). The author in this particular article has mentioned that corporate social responsibility is one of the major tools of promoting the products as well as image of a particular organization. Promotion would be effective only when the target customers would like to pay their attention towards this particular brand and products. However, with the help of CSR activities, the products can reach to the doorsteps of the people of various geogr aphical areas. In order to highlight the impact of CSR, the author has focused to discuss both the positive as well as negative impact of this business practice. One of the major positive impacts of CSR is that both the internal as well as external stakeholders get necessary benefits and facilities due to this particular business approach(Edmans2012). Apart from providing a better remuneration to the employees, the organization tends to satisfy the needs and demands of the employees from every aspect. At the same time, this specific business practice is not devoid of some of its negative effects as well. Corporate social responsibility renders the economic crisis of an organization(Filatotchevand Nakajima2014). If one particular business organization is not very much strong financially, CSR seems to be a luxury to them. The company should concentrate on evaluating the strength of their market first rather than involving themselves in the CSR activity. The concept of corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibilityis one of the most important business practices,whichaim to deal with the betterment of the society.It is nothing but a business strategy that most of the business organizations tend to follow for drawing the attention of stakeholders, be it internal or external stakeholders(Homburg, Stierland Bornemann2013). Corporate social responsibilities have been categorized in several aspects that include environmental efforts, philanthropy, practice of ethical labor and volunteering. Environmental efforts: Both the internal as well as external environmental factors are highly important for conducting the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility for an organization. Internal environment includes effective employee relation at the workplace, co-operative management style, good relation in between the managers and the employers and so many. On the other hand, external environment includes political factors of the place where the company is situated(Hopkins2012). The social and cultural environment is also very important to maintain corporate social responsibility at the workplace. Therefore, without creating a suitable environment inside and outside the business organization, the managers would never be able to maintain CSR activity at the workplace. Philanthropy: Business organizations like to fulfill their corporate social responsibilities by helping the national as well as regional charitable organizations. It is one of the most effective parts of their business plan and policies(JoandHarjoto2012). By helping charitable organizations, the business companies can easily draw the attention of the customers. Ethical labor: In order to get the best services from the employees, business organizations like to provide necessary benefits and facilities to the employees inside the workplace. The managers should not interact with the employees in such a way that employees do not like to hesitate for sharing any kind of problem regarding the job profile (Khan, Muttakinand Siddiqui2013). In addition, the managers would not like to create any kind of health issuewith the employees. Volunteering: Volunteer service indicates that the managers like to appoint some of the employees for volunteer services. Those volunteer service providers like to give free services to the customers. Free services indicate selling the concept of their product by making a direct communication with the customers(Kimand Li2014). While communicating directly, the volunteers have been instructed to provide some free samples as well. As a result, the customers would automatically gain a good impression about the organization. The importance of corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility is truly important for the development of a business process. The importance of corporate social responsibility is as follows: Creating a better public image: After conducting an effective social responsibility, the company would be automatically able to gain the public image. The primary purpose of CSR is to help the society in such a way that people of different geographical areas can pay their attention to use the service and products of that specific organization(Kitzmuellerand Shimshack2012). Most of the important CSR activities can be mentioned such as disaster relief, saving the under aged children, food delivery at the time of flood and so many. Boosting the employee engagement: Employees would like to show their interest in those companies, which have already brought a prestige. Reputed companies already boost the energy of employees for performing well on the stage(Lanisand Richardson2012). Therefore, the boost of employees engagement is highly important on the reputation of that specific company. The managers can make an effective communication with the employees as well as with the customers. With the help of strong communication, the managers would like to deal with the employees cordially. Providing good communication is the ultimate way of satisfying the needs and demands of the customers. Retaining the investor: Investors always intend to stand beside those companies, which have showed their demand on the market. As per the point of the invertors, money should be utilized properly instead of scattering it. Employees should get equal respect and dignity from the managers. The service providers should interact with the customers in such a way that customers do not like to hesitate for using the service process of this particular organization(Leeet al. 2012). However, whenever, a particular organization likes to provide money to any kind of non-profit organization, the investors like to show their interest for making the sponsorship more effectively among the television kings and queens. Factors that affect conducting CSR within an organization Factors that affect conducting CSR within an organization are as follows: Lack of sufficient internal resource: Internal resource implies economic strength. In order to maintain CSR activities, the business organization has to strong economically. For an example, in order to conduct a child relief program, the organization should have an economic strength to take the responsibilities of those children(MarquisandQian2013). Therefore, money has been considered as the first priority without the assistance of which the company would never be able to make CSR at the workplace. The lack of financial resource highly affects the entire rhythm of CSR activities. In-perfect business ethics inside the organization: Maintaining corporate social responsibility is one of the most effective parts of business ethics. As per the business value, culture and belief, the organization needs to maintain some major social responsibility for the wellbeing of the social people. It ultimately helps to build the image of that particular organization as well. If the business organization tends to run their business process ignoring all the business ethics, cultures and beliefs, it affects highly on the entire rhythm of business process(Moon2014). Social factors: Social factors include cultural factors as well as psychological factors. People of various culture and background become the part of a business organization. Therefore, those employees have to strive immensely in order to make a collective decision regarding any kind of business goal. The psychological dilemmas of those people prevent fervently to make any kind of major decision at the prime time(Parastand Adams2012). Like the same way, these kinds of social factors obstruct the people of various culture and attitude for being associated with any kind of social responsibilities. However, in order to overcome this kind of situation, the business organization needs to diversity management at the workplace so that people of various backgrounds can be able to take an effective decision at the right time. The impact of corporate social responsibility on both the stakeholders and the company In the current trend of business, the organization needs to follow corporate social responsibilities not because of building mere image and reputation of this organization but because of earning more profit from the business. CSR activity is very much effective both on the stakeholders as well as on the company. However, the major impacts of corporate social responsibility are as follows: Importance of stability: A small business organization would be able to maintain their stability after conducting CSR at the workplace. Corporate social responsibility is such a business practice that can easily draw the attention of the customers. Even a small business organization is able to create the market demand after maintaining their CSR activities effectively(Rasche, De Bakker and Moon 2013). This kind of effective business process renders a sound profit for those organizations. It helps immensely to enhance the entire process of business in different geographical area. As a result, they would be able to maintain their stability in the market. Stability is the ultimate way of enhancing the entire business process in various multinational countries. Retention of the customers: In order to retain the customers to use the products of a specific business organization, the company has to gain the trust of those customers at the very first stage. Corporate social responsibility is one of the most important tools to gain the trust of target customers. With the help of CSR activities, the organization would be able to promote their business. People on the other hand would like to rely the organization of they face their effective service process(Servaes and Tamayo 2013). If the customers retention planning can be executed successfully, the organization would not have to think about the profit for twice. Positive image: CSR helps to create a positive image about the organization. If a particular business company has to face immense difficulties in order to create an image in the market, CSR can change the entire scenario. Positive image is truly necessary to maintain the sustainability among the stakeholders. Therefore, organizations tend to strive to keep up their positive images. Any kind of ethical issue, diversity issue, communication issue can hamper the entire process of business. Consequently, service providers have to face numerous obstacles to gain the trust of customers(Tang, Hulland and Rothenberg2012). In this situation, CSR is one of the most effective ways to impress the external stakeholders towards the organization. Conceptual framework: Figure 1: Conceptual framework (Source: Created by author) Gap in the related literature review In the previous literature review, the primary concern of the researcher was to discuss the impact of corporate social responsibility mainly. The relation in between the company value and CSR has been highlighted categorically. Moreover, in this specific article, the researcher has avoided to mention the importance of CSR for the enhancement of a business organization. Various factors that affect to conduct CSR at the workplace have not been mentioned in this article as well. Therefore, this article is very much specific that highlights one particular aspect primarily. The author could have been concentrated on discussing the necessary benefits of CSR for expanding the entire business. Summary: The entire literature review deals with the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility at the workplace. While discussing the effectiveness of CSR, the researcher has mainly concentrated to highlight the necessary importance of maintaining social responsibility for a business organization. Various kinds of factors affecting CSR at the workplace have also been pointed out in this particular chapter. On the hand, in the previous literature work, the researcher has only focused to deal with the various impacts of CSR on both the stakeholders as well as the organization. Methodology Introduction Research methodologyis the systematic process with the help of which the researcher would be able to complete the entire project successfully. This particular procedure is constituted with different categories. With the help of research philosophy, research approach, research design the researcher would like to collect necessary data and information about the research issue. In this particular research proposal, post positivism research philosophy would be used. Post positivism research philosophy is based on research observation. As per the point of view of positivists, observation is repeatable but phenomenon is isolated. Therefore, with the help of repeated observation, the researcher would like to collect necessary data and information regarding corporate social responsibility of DhiraaguPLC. Apart from post positivism philosophy, the researcher decides to select deductive research approach and descriptive research design. Deductive research approach is intensely dependent on case study. In this particular study, the researcher has received numerous secondary data on DhiraaguPLCregarding their CSR activities of this organization. Research design: Descriptive research design would help to collect sufficient data about the impact of CSR activities in building the reputation of DhiraaguPLC. By utilizing descriptive research design, the researcher would like to collect qualitative data as well as quantitative data. Quantitative data collection technique has been conducted by making an effective survey(Tang, Hulland Rothenberg2012). Preparing some of the major questionnaires the researcher would like to collect sufficient feedback from the participants. On the other hand, interview is the other procedure to make an effective plan of qualitative data. Interview can be conducted by involving the employees of DhiraaguPLC. Population and sampling Population is the total number of persons who have been involved to participate for providing necessary data and information. On the other hand, sampling is the systematic procedure with the help of which the researcher likes to involve the participants from a particular department. Sampling is divided into two types that include probability sampling method and non-probability sampling method. For this particular research proposal, the researcher would like to choose probability-sampling technique. Probability sampling technique is otherwise known as random sampling technique(Torreset al. 2012). With the help of probability sampling technique, the researcher would like to involve random participants of 51 peoplefrom a particular department of DhiraaguPLCfor gather data. Research instrument The researcher as a research instrument would like to use both online platform and offline platform. Various online websites, social media platform would be utilized as an instrument for conducting the research proposal. Among the Offline platformthe researcher would like to choose survey, interview, and group discussion as the research instrument. In this specific research proposal, the researcher would like to collect various case studies from online platforms(Zhaoet al. 2012). On the other hand, offline 51 employees of DhiraaguPLCwould be selected for questionnaires and three managers of DhiraaguPLCwould be chosen for conducting an effective interview. Data collection procedure Data collection procedure is nothing but the systematic method of acquiring necessary information regarding the research issue. Data can be collected from two sources mainly. Both the primary as well as the secondary source of data can be used in order to collect necessary data and information(Zhaoet al. 2012). Gather primary source of datacan from direct survey, group discussion, conducting interview and so on. On the other hand, utilize secondary source of datacan from various journals, books, magazines, newspapers, online websites and so many. Data analysis procedure In this specific research proposal, the researcher would like to use both qualitative and quantitative research work. With the help of these tools, the researcher would like toanalyze the data specifying the mean, medium and mode. On the other hand, making the standard deviation, co-relation and regression, the researcher would prefer to analyze the data properly. Conclusion: The entire research proposal deals with the topic of importance of corporate social responsibility. DhiraaguPLChas been chosen as the selected company. DhiraaguPLChas already expanded their business throughout Maldives. Therefore, the company would like to increase their wings in various multinational countries. 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