Development of Social Responsibility (Research Paper Sample)

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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Word Count – 2500
Executive Summary
Corporate social responsibility refers to the obligations of the firm to society. This paper expresses a reasonably comprehensive overview of contemporary attitudes towards 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR) and their influence on business and society. The purpose of engaging stakeholders and shareholders to operate as inter-dependants for the sole benefits of impacting the community and making profits for the company.
This paper argues the roles of businesses and the government to help developing countries and societies. It also focuses on African countries that have adapted to CSR, specifically Kenya. However, Kenyan companies are slowly assuming social responsibilities, which roles are fit for the government and which for the corporates and why. Drawing evidence from Kenya, we'll see why some of these responsibilities are superimposed on the businesses and not desirable.
Introduction
Over the last years, there has been an increase in activities related to the concept of corporate social responsibility. It has been the subject of debate, research, and theory building. Despite the ongoing deliberations of CSR embraces, it has evolved in environmental, philanthropic, economics, and human rights responsibilities. The idea that businesses have some duties to its' shareholders and society has been around for some decades now.
Development of Social Responsibility
The origin of CSR dates back to the 1930s. In the United States of America, people considered that businesses and their desires should also be responsible for their surroundings. The history of CSR is a relatively long one.
CSR is both informal and formal ways in which their business contributes to improving the ethical, governance, social, and environmental state of the society in which they operate. CSR does not have a definitive definition, and that's why Coelho et al. argues that the notion of CSR is "so vague and ambiguous that it can be interpreted in almost any way to accomplish anything" ( Idowu, 2012, p. 242); as CSR has been used generally to refer to distinct issues. Businesses are forced to adapt to CSR's concept by their shareholders as they want to be viewed as responsible and giving back to their stakeholders (surrounding communities).
Stakeholders are "individuals and constituencies that contribute, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to its wealth-creating capacity and activities and that are therefore its potential beneficiaries and/or risk bearers" (Post el al. 2002, p. 19) This shows the essential contributions of stakeholders and why it is crucial to consider their interests in businesses and not just shareholders who invest in companies. The involvement of stakeholders and shareholders in the industry shows just how much the two are essential in place, and both must coexist for the survival of a company.
Stakeholders' objectives are addressing the concerns of communities in which companies operate. "A stakeholder in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives," this is according to (Freeman, 1984, p. 46). Stakeholders in a company can be categorized into; internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.
Businesses should accept the fact that without stakeholders, they cannot operate as businesses only gain the trust of the communities surrounding them by incorporating “Tripple Bottom Line," which are economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability for both the society and business,
Difficulties can arise if CSR is legalized worldwide due to the different statuses of economic and social situations that differ from region to region. The corporate world has grown today, and it has numerous benefits to the community socially. Businesses are crucial members of society; in fact, many are also social institutions. The decisions they make and the actions they take reverberate throughout the vital community. Society depends on businesses to provide jobs, investment, goods and services produced, and new technologies. Thus, the company has become a profound driver of employment, investment, and wealth creation within society. A business may also impact the community beyond its evident economic influence.
Businesses have raised economic development by ensuring Entrepreneurs can develop their ideas, operate flexibly, and reap their rewards. Entrepreneurs will, in turn, help change the tides when the economy is doing poorly. When unemployment is high, they can develop novel products or increase competition; new firms can boost demand, creating new job opportunities, and reducing unemployment.
Some of these roles should be assumed by the government to increase their benefits to society.
The Role of Government in CSR
"Despite the growing evidence of government agency in relation to CSR, both historically and comparatively, the government-CSR relationship is counter-intuitive to many, and therefore remains largely overlooked, particularly in theoretical and conceptual terms" (Gond, Kang & Moon, 2011, p. 641). These authors acknowledged the insightful contribution of studies concerning the role of governments in CSR. While the relationship between the government and CSR is not clear, governments have a fundamental interest in supporting CSR in their country. CSR is attractive to governments since "it can substitute for government effort; it can complement government effort; it can legitimize government policies" (Moon, 2002, p. 399).
CSR is mandatory in Europe, making many European governments assume a more significant role in promoting CSR in recent years (Steurer, R., Martinuzzi, A., and Margula, S., 2012. P.206-227)
African countries have a hard time adapting to the CSR principles and regulations on giving back to the community. CSR practice in Africa is limited to the concept of charity. African companies donate massive funding to the less privileged as part of its corporate responsibility but fail to observe environmental laws or pay taxes is not socially responsible. CSR covers vital areas such as the workers' welfare, human rights, relationships, transparency, tax governance, and accountability.
We can look at how CSR has been implemented in Kenya in the below discussion and draw out social responsibility issues that the government has handled, driven by the businesses, and why. Also, why superimposing non-economical goals on companies and expecting them to assume responsibilities traditionally held by governments are not desirable.
CSR in Kenya
Kenya has unique political, economic, social, and cultural conditions that affect corporate practices. In December 1963, Kenya attained independence from the British and later became a republic. Kenya's leading economic sectors are agriculture, industry, and services; tourism exchange earner and exports such as tea and horticulture. CSR in Kenya is under four categories; environment, community, the marketplace, and workplace.
Environment
The Citizens of Kenya deserve a better environment, but there's a massive population of the Kenyan citizens still living in the slums. Most of these slums are used as waste dumps by the industrial companies making the neighborhood not fit for children to play around as some of the waste is chemically toxic and can cause bodily harm. CSR has somehow imposed Corporates to reduce environmental pollution since the citizens are the stakeholders' large population as buyers, workers, etc. These stakeholders deserve to breathe clean air, but this is affected by the gas emission from greenhouses. Corporates are slowly changing to the use of sustainable natural resources so as not to pollute the environment. When an environment surrounding a company gets contaminated, the community looks up to the corporate world to care for such issues. CSR has enabled the companies to look at their stakeholders from a different perspective by creating a safe environment even though some of the problems such as filthy streets are supposed to be taken care of by the government. The governors are slowly taking a break from inspecting their towns' cleanliness, leaving businesses to clean up the areas surrounding them to create a better image for their customers.
Community
Some parts of Kenya are not safe for citizens to do businesses or walk around at night. The security in such places is minimum, exposing the citizens to dangers such as crimes at night. Therefore, companies around such communities are forced to beef up their security in the city to make sure their businesses are not robbed at night. The community, in turn, depends on the security at the companies to look after them also. Most people settle near such companies because it is safe due to the guards looking after the company. Security issues facing citizens should become a problem for the government. However, the Kenyan government is reluctant to meet some of its roles towards its citizens. A safe community means the government cares about the citizens, but this is not Kenya's case. Such a government is full of corruption, making it unable to meet some of its social responsibilities. The selfish ministers and governors are looting funds meant for security purposes in the government. They only care about their well-being, and come election time; they make fake promises to their voters. Businesses are overwhelmed by such roles as they can only take care of the immediate surrounding neighbors. The government needs to stop imposing in the corporate world. The security of the citizens is am...