Competitive Advantage: CSR

Competitive Advantage: CSR CSR means that a corporation should be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities and their environment; it may require a company to forgo some profits if its social impacts are seriously harmful to the corporations stakeholders or if its funds can be used to promote a positive social good (Frederick, Post, Davis, 1992, p. 10). Tougher competition recently has compelled the firms to adopt something that is different from their rivals and has also put a pressure on the firms to examine their philanthropy and other social activities, by doing so the company can sometimes achieve a strategic advantage over its competitors (Burke Logsdon, 1996). David Vogel wrote There is a business case for CSR but it is much less important or influential than many proponents of civil regulation believe, CSR is best understood as a niche rather than a generic strategy: it makes business sense for some firms in some areas in some circumstances.There is a place in the market economy for responsible firms. But there is also a large place for their less responsible competitors (Vogel, 2006, p. 3). This essay will outline whether and how competitive advantage can be achieved by organisations through CSR. This will be done by critically discussing what CSR is? Further emphasising on how it gives an organisation strategic advantage over its other competitors. Various definitions of CSR have been given by various theorists, making the study of CSR even more complex. CSR activities have been posited to include incorporating social characteristics or features into products and manufacturing processes like aerosol products with no fluorocarbons or using environmentally-friendly technologies, adopting progressive human resource management practices like promoting employee empowerment, achieving higher levels of environmental performance through recycling and pollution abatement like adopting an aggressive stance towards reducing emissions, and advancing the goals of community organizations like working closely with groups such as United Way. Researchers are moving beyond just defining and identifying CSR activities, to examining the strategic role of CSR in organizations. (Mcwilliams, Seigel, Wright, 2006, p. 2) There are 2 types of approaches to CSR, the charity principle and stewardship approach. Charity principle is when the companies take on a social role just because they want to; its a charitable deed and has nothing to do with the profitability of the company. Stewardship approach is when companies act in interest of the people that are affected by the business decisions and policies to gain an advantage, it is in line with the Freidmans stakeholder approach explained further in the essay. Even today companies interpret CSR as normal day to day decision making process that dont need much expertise. Its true that CSR is influenced highly by the moral imperative. In some situations moral implications are easy to apply like filing accounts honestly, acting ethically but sometimes the company has to weigh its moral decisions with the impact it can have on the stakeholders which can be difficult. For instance, Googles entry in china has created a feeling of repulsion amongst its US customers towards censorship imposed by the Chinese government. Therefore in this situation one social benefit has to be weighed against another and also against the financial costs that would arise (Porter Kramer, 2006). It is important for the companies to understand that if the prevailing approach to CSR is changed and more emphasis is given on the importance of social responsibility like other core competencies of a firm, it can be discovered that CSR is more than just a cost, constraint or a charitable deed; it is a source of innovation, opportunity and competitive advantage (Porter Kramer, 2006). There are various situations under which an organization would undertake the CSR approach, When an organization wants to create an opportunity based on the societal trend or issue or when a organization seeks to solve a business problem that cant be solved within the traditional business boundaries or When an organization seeks to protect itself from a threat posed by a societal issue. or When an organization seeks to have a greater business and societal impact from its existing CSR program. (Milliman, Ferguson, Sylvester, 2008, pp. 30-31) Milton Friedman in an article to New York Times said that, the only social responsibility of a business is to increase its profit (Porter Kramer, 2002, p. 6). According to Freidman the only aim of an organization is to achieve profit on the other hand Freeman argues that a firm has responsibility towards the internal or external stakeholders of the firm which should be taken into account (Galbreath, 2009). Freemans Stakeholder theory basically describes what a firm should do or should not do in terms of their societal responsibilities and is more inclined towards CSR. More recently, the society expects companies to behave ethically and in a socially responsible manner, that means they expect the companies to not only be interested in their profits but also pay attention to the interest of the broader group of stakeholders like consumers, suppliers and society at large. There has been increasing societal pressures like negative media coverage on the companies that are socially inacti ve thus driving the companies towards CSR (Pater Lierop, 2006). But the way CSR is being practiced recently, what Freidman said is proving to be right, companies adopt for short term CSR objectives that are not coherent and diffused with the organizations mission. It is only to attain profit and earn the goodwill of its customers, employees and the local community. (Porter Kramer, 2002). Many companies adopted CSR not because they thought it was important for the company to survive but because of the media coverage and public reaction to the issues they were involved in. for example, Nike faced consumer boycott after New York Times reported that the labour was being abused by Nike in third world countries like Pakistan and Indonesia. Thats when Nike realised that it was time to act responsibly or at least act to be responsible to regain one of the four 4 Rs of CSR that the company was losing -Reputation. On the other hand some other companies were successful in understanding that society and businesses are interdependent. One of them would be Mr. Steven T.Bigari, owner a string of McDonalds franchises in Colorado Springs. Steven had a problem of high turnover rates amongst his front line workers affecting the profits of the firm (Fitzgerald, 2007). The problem persisted even after giving them pay incentives. Steven concluded that the traditional HR practices were not helping and therefore he decided to look into the matter deeper and tried to find out from the workers the reason for them not coming to work regularly. He found out that many of his low wage workers had number of personal life constraints like lack of transportation, child care etc which was the key reason of high turnover. Therefore Bigari started considering various methods of how these underlying societal issues affecting his business can be addressed. He developed programs with governmental organizations and NGOs to provide social service needed by his workers. This process took time but it also solved the problem which the traditional HR practice couldnt. Therefore by doing so, Steve was successful in achieving a much more reliable and productive workforce and also create a positive impact on the personal lives of his employees (Milliman, Ferguson, Sylvester, 2008). Thus this shows how CSR can be used to gain economic benefits for the company by also creating a social impact. Social and economic benefits are often seen as two distinct objectives but companies need to find out where these two objectives converge for their organization. This would enable them to acquire decent amount of economic benefits as well create a sustainable impact on the society. Competitiveness today depends on how efficiently the companies use their resources to increase productivity and exploit the opportunities. CSR has to be seen as a strategic resource which has to be exploited to gain competitive advantage out of it. Does social and environmental consciousness actually lead to competitive advantage? This is one difficult question to be answered. Toyota Found a new market in Japan with its environmentally sound product Toyota Prius and Body Shop gained an advantage over its competitors for its safe products. Toyota took advantage of the opportunity it got to pioneer innovation to benefit the society thus generating a competitive advantage for itself. The Toyota Prius is the first successful hybrid gasoline/electric vehicle that has produced competitive advantage and environmental benefits. The cars engine is hybrid and emits only 10% of the harmful gasses that the conventional engines produce and consume only half as much gas. The car was rated as the car of the year in 2004 by the motor trends magazine. The car is associated with the slogan, harmony between man, nature and machine (3rd Generation Prius, 2009). This innovation has given Toyota a strategic advantage over its competitors, one of the m being Ford who wants to acquire the technology from Toyota (Porter Kramer, 2006). Competitive advantage occurs through CSR when one company implements the strategies of CSR for the benefit of the company and a competitor fails to do the same (Filho, Wanderly, Gomez, Farache, 2010). Adoption of CSR also gives the company an opportunity to premium price its product also helping in the promotions of the product and attracting consumers which impacts positively on the companys financial performance (Mason Simmons, 2011). But there are other companies that have also failed in linking CSR with profitability. Therefore its hard to say whether CSR leads to competitive advantage directly but it most definitely supports the other core competences of a firm, indirectly giving a competitive advantage. Gaining a competitive advantage by only introducing Triple Bottom Line is difficult, instead a company should focus on developing an innovative model of Triple Bottom Line. When a consumer finds a product or a company that is more inclined towards the CSR objectives; it tends to give them an advantage over other firms in a number of ways. A few consumers are just more environmentally conscious and therefore if they find a product which is environmentally safe, they would prefer that one over the one that is not. It is important for the companies to develop a niche market for their products. For example, body shop has distinguished itself by long term social commitment. The company should think of its long term advantages like reputation, etc that can be achieved through acting responsibly socially than the short term interests than can cause harm to the society or environment. And this approach fits perfectly if the company gains cost advantage out of it. Nestle is a perfect illustration of how long term competitive advantage can be achieved through CSR. In 1962, Nestle was expanding in India and they got a permission from the government to build a dairy in Moga, when they started expanding in the region they realised that the farmers in India were facing problems like severe poverty, the farmers were living without the basic needs like electricity, adequate food, there was no proper transportation, telephones or medical care in the region. Farmers owned less than five acres of infertile land and kept only one cow that would produce milk sufficient for their own consumption only. The milk often got adulterated in transit because there was no proper refrigeration, transportation and way to test the quality of the milk. Therefore to solve this problem, nestle implemented CSR strategies and tried to build the factor and demand conditions in the area. Nestle built refrigerated dairy which was the collection point for milk from the farmers in town and trucks were sent from these dairies to the veterinarians, ergonomists to test the quality of the milk. Thus Nestle established a value chain similar to its value chain in its country of origin, Switzerland. The farmers were also trained and the sick animals were taken care off. This improved the productivity of the cows and also improved the working conditions in the area for the farmers. Initially when the company expanded in the area there were only 180 farmers supplying milk but today there are almost 75000 farmers involved with around 650 dairies in the region and the milk production has increased 50 times. Nestlà ©s working with the small workers gives them an advantage of saving the costs that they would have to incur if they had middlemen. Nestlà ©s CSR objective is part of their strategy and is adopted by them when they expand in other developing countries too (Porter Kramer, 2006). Also there are various standards like that can be used to create a positive impact on the stakeholders creating a strategic advantage for the company. There are various triple bottom line indicators like the GRI (global reporting initiative), ISO: 14000, ISO: 26000, EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) that affect companys reputation to the customers, suppliers, competitors, the stakeholders basically. These standards help in developing good relations with the government. Also employees think that they are working in a company trying to save the environment thus increasing their commitment levels and increasing their chances to stay with the organization. Investors would also be interested because it would affect the share prices. EMAS and ISO dont give a full picture; these standards dont cover the social indicators whereas GRI gives a full picture covering all the triple bottom line indicators. Most researchers agree that CSR provides an organization with various advantages and is not only useful for the society but also for the organization. It provides with the societys favour and lowers the risks of business operations; forms the image of the corporation and improves its reputation; stimulates the organizations innovation and creative work; helps to find easier ways to attract external sources of sponsorship; broadens markets and makes situations for sales increase; helps to attract positively motivated employees, enhances the value of human capital; stimulates the organizations culture; lowers expenditures, stimulates production and income increase, enhances the efficiency of work (JuÃ…Â ¡Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ius SnieÃ…Â ¡ka, 2008, p. 35). There have been debates that more and more companies have started adopting CSR and it has moved all the way to the boardrooms. This can be proved by around 360 CSR-related shareholder resolutions being passed by the companies in 2005. These shareholder resolutions range from issues relating to labour conditions and global warming and other social problems. Out of 250 large multinationals, 64% of the companies published their CSR reports either within their annual reports or separately as a sustainability report (Porter Kramer, 2006). Even the government has been stressing on the importance of CSR by making it mandatory for every publicly listed company to disclose its CSR related risks in the annual report. The businesses do know about these risks but they are not clear as to what has to be done to eliminate these risks and the response of companies have not been very strategic or operational. Companies come up with CSR reports but these reports dont really give an account of an art iculate or strategic framework of CSR activities of the company, instead it mentions uncoordinated CSR activities carried out by the company to show its social sensitivity. Therefore its important for the companies to turn to academic experts for advice and start thinking of CSR as a source of gaining competitive advantage (Porter Kramer, 2006). Companies know that addressing the societal expectations is important to keep their stakeholders happy but they are not aware about how to strategize it to gain competitive success (Galbreath, 2009). Companies are not liable for all the social, environmental problems that occur but it is about taking the responsibility to identify the problem that they can gain a competitive advantage from and act on them. As Porter Kramer(2006, p. 92) state, addressing social issues by creating shared value will lead to self sustaining solutions that do not depend on private or governmental subsidies. Thus it can be said that by linking businesses to the societal or environmental issues, a company can develop solutions that are socially responsible that provide an operational and competitive advantage (Fisher, et al. 2009).

Emotional Burdens Which Precede the Ultimate Tragedy Awaiting a Charact

Death is extremely final, and life is theoretically the greatest thing that anyone can lose. Whilst reading a tragedy that culminates with death, the majority of readers would say that death is the most significant tragedy of the story. Death is the result of primary dangers, which are the immediate physical dangers that result in death. But the tragedy of death is typically preceded by characters succumbing to other dangers. The dangers preceding death are secondary dangers, such as the character flaws of pride and paranoia. Emotional burdens can also be secondary dangers, as Bobbie Ann Mason discusses in her essay â€Å"On Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried.’† She states that the main struggle in â€Å"The Things They Carried† centers around the intangible baggage that the men carry, despite being at war where their lives are in danger. Secondary dangers are the source of the physical and/or mortal primary dangers. In Edgar Alle n Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† Montressor creates Fortunato’s primary danger by trapping him in a catacomb. In Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried,† the primary danger is war. The supernatural Boogeyman monster is the primary danger in Stephen King’s â€Å"The Boogeyman.† These dangers are deadly, but the tragedies of death are byproducts of characters succumbing to the secondary dangers that they face. Thus, the tragedy of death may not be the â€Å"ultimate† tragedy. Despite death being the final tragedy, the ultimate tragedy is succumbing to dangers such as emotional burdens, paranoia, and pride. Emotional baggage can be the catalyst of a seriously dangerous event. In â€Å"The Things They Carried,† â€Å"[the] immediate drama is the effort ... to contain the emotion, to carry it,† (Mason). Emotiona... ...is true of paranoia and pride, as too much of either of these can lead to dangerous situations. The paranoia, pride, and emotional burdens that characters face culminate to result in the ultimate tragedy of the story. Works Cited King, Stephen. â€Å"The Boogeyman.† Night Watch. Stephen King. Mason, Bobbie Ann. â€Å"On Time O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried.’† The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 1515-1516. Print. O’Brien, Tim. â€Å"The Things They Carried.† The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 1001-1014. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1109-1114. Print.

The Leadership Styles of Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem

A close look at the history and background of Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem allows one to analyze what may have made the leadership skills of each a success or failure. Both were patriotic and wanted the same thing for their country and that was for Vietnam to remain undivided. Yet their backgrounds were quite different and may have had some influence in their ability to inspire, motivate and transmit a hope for change and betterment. Evaluation of Leaderships Ho Chi Minh had a strong background in Vietnamese culture and history.Born in simple humble beginnings in the late 1800’s he experienced first-hand French colonization in some if its early stages. He was rebellious and radical like his Father who was a strong Vietnamese nationalist and passed his belief about Vietnam’s independence to his son. He even saw his Father resign his official position in protest against French domination. Eventually, Ho Chi Minh spent years traveling Europe and the Western world experien cing both worlds’ cultures and politics.But he aligned himself with other nationalists which developed his political outlook and defined his philosophy for Vietnam independence. By the time he returned to Vietnam he was a seasoned revolutionary and passionate about the goal of his country’s independence. What may have prepared Ho Chi Minh most was his ability to relate to the common Vietnamese people. He regularly visited villages and towns and was fond of dropping into schools to chat with the children.Vietnamese people had affection for him and he was universally called â€Å"Uncle Ho. † He was admired for his simplicity, integrity and determination. He knew the Vietnamese way of life, philosophy and religion; he did not assimilate to the European or Western cultures or religions. He resisted any efforts to compromise his move for Vietnam’s independence. He was so passionate about Vietnam’s independence that he explained patriotism not communism was what inspired him (Karnow 1998).On the other hand Ngo Dinh Diem was born into a more privileged wealthy family. His ancestors had converted to Christianity and he was a devout Catholic; this may have created distress for the predominantly Buddhist Vietnamese people. He was not assessable to the common people. His wealth, religion and the fact that he had worked for the colonial French government may have caused many Vietnamese to look at him distrustfully. Diem lacked compassion for the common people who made up 85% of the rural masses of South Vietnam.Instead he viewed them as potential enemies who must be kept under surveillance and tight administrative control. He was not sensitive to the majority but engaged in biased and religiously oppressive policies. An example of this is when nine unarmed Buddhists civilians were killed as they protested Diem’s government ban on flying the Buddhist flag in commemoration of Buddha’s birthday. He was known to be a difficult man to reason and work with. He micromanaged even the pettiest details so much so that he appeared incapable of seeing the larger view.He trusted no one except a few family members, refused to broaden the base of his government, and refused to negotiate with any of his many rivals (Moss 2010). Diem’s political philosophy and authoritarian methods of governing created opposition and preventing him from achieving the support he so needed. Conclusion Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem each manifested an individuality that characterized their leadership. Both were intelligent, hardworking and patriotic. Ho Chi Minh’s background helped him to succeed in affecting the Vietnamese people.He engaged their cultural, social, and economic issues; he was passionate and determined to make the nation self-sufficient with a strong internal infrastructure. On the other hand Diem, who also a nationalist lacked the background of the Vietnamese people and while he wanted self-rule he was finan cially dependent on U. S. aid and interests. His religious favoritism, his repressive attacks on those that opposed him alienated the majority of Vietnamese people. You can read countless books and articles on both men. It is interesting that even those who oppose communism admire the leadership skills of Ho Chi Minh.

Why Long-Distance Relationships Are Hard

Its no secret: long-distance relationships, especially in college, are incredibly difficult. After all, just being in college is hard enough, so adding a long-distance relationship to the mix is inevitably going to add some stress and difficulty. Whether youre deciding whether you want to give your relationship a shot across the distance or whether youre just trying to prepare for whats to come, it can be a great help to be aware in advance of the challenges inherent in any college long-distance relationship. It Can Be a Challenge to Share the Little Things Sometimes, its being able to share the little things with someone that matter the most. Grabbing a cup of coffee, pointing out how ridiculous your physics professor is, or sharing a giggle over something funny in the quad are all things that can be hard, if not impossible, with a long-distance partner. Not having the shared experience of a million little things can be both sad and frustrating, especially as time goes on and all of those little, unshared experiences start to add up. It Can Be a Challenge to Share the Big Things You landed an amazing on-campus job; you just totally rocked your campaign speech for student government during a dead hour in the quad; you finally got selected to write a weekly editorial for the campus newspaper. While these may all be a huge deal in your college life, they can be hard to explain to someone who is far away and not completely familiar with the context theyre happening in. Sure, a partner can be excited for you, but its never quite the same as being there with you to applaud your efforts and see your victories in person. And that can be hard sometimes. Trust Issues Can Be Difficult You both are far away and living your own lives ... which hopefully means meeting new, interesting people. You might be a little jealous about your partners freedom and frequent interactions with potential love interests; your partner might be a little insecure about how much time youre spending with people he or she sees as a threat to your relationship. While any relationship has to be based on trust, trust in a long-distance relationship can sometimes be harder to establish. Your brain may even be able to logically explain why you should totally trust your partner, and yet your heart just cant seem to get on board. So even if you know youre being a little silly, trust issues can still creep in and pose a major challenge for one or both partners in a college long-distance relationship. Holidays and Special Events Can Feel Lonely While major goals for college should be, of course, academic in nature, there are major moments that happen along the way that is made all the more meaningful because of the people you share them with. And when your partner isnt there, things can get pretty challenging. Whether its a major athletic victory, a large co-curricular event youre organizing, a religious holiday, Valentines Day, or even something that happens unexpectedly, being alone when you want to share a special moment with your significant other can turn even the best of moments into one thats also bittersweet. Distance Can Grow Without Either Person Realizing It Even if both partners in a college long-distance relationship have the best of intentions, things sometimes just dont work out. All your Skype dates, messaging, and attempts to stay close somehow just fall short. The challenging part of this situation can, unfortunately, be that it happens without anyone really realizing it or, even worse, with one partner realizing it well before the other. They Will Never Fully Understand Your College Life Even if your partner lived on the same floor in your residence hall as you do, you still wouldnt be fully able to explain all of the details of your life to them. So when you add distance to the situation, things can quickly become incredibly, if not overwhelmingly, challenging. Even the best communicators can find it difficult to accurately and adequately explain all the exciting things about their time in school. And a partner can quickly become frustrated at their inability to fully understand whats going on in their significant others daily life. So while it may not necessarily be anyones fault, it can be frustrating when neither partner fully understands the others life. You Just Miss Them It goes without saying, of course, that the biggest challenge of a college long-distance relationship is the fact that you just miss someone you care very deeply about. You can try your hardest to stay close and make the relationship work. And even if you do last during your time apart, youll undoubtedly miss your partner terribly during the journey.