Theoretical understanding of CSR in a company
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility involves a company or a business taking into account the impact it has on the economy, social life, and the environment besides launching initiatives that positively impact the people. When a company decides to do the right thing, it does not only do for financial gains but also builds trust with the consumers who depend on it. When a company is socially friendly, it will attract more consumers since the community will chip in their support. Most of the United States companies have embraced CSR because it has a greater impact on its products to its consumers. An exapmle of such company is Google, which has come out strongly to oppose environmentally friendly initiatives and against social issues raised by President Donald Trump on anti-Muslims comments. Thus, the paper seeks to explore the theoretical understanding of corporate social responsibility.
CSR policy employed by Walmart.
Walmart is a renowned company in the United States, which has a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores, headquartered in Bentonville. Due to its massive work and several outlets in the United States and outside, it is ranked the largest in revenue (Ben unglesbee, 2019). Walmart Company is at the forefront in reducing greenhouse gases as an example of CSR policy. The company believes that business can play a part in advocating the reduction of GHC emission and investing more in renewable energy because it will benefit both the customers and will be environmentally friendly. Walmart has done this by participating in events that lead to the Paris agreement at COP21 in 2015 and COP23 in Bonn, leading to the signing of we are still in the declaration. The company has also encouraged its suppliers to measure and disclose their emission to control the environment’s greenhouse effect. Apart from Walmart’s efforts to use the environmentally friendly platform, Johnson & Johnson Company has also been in the forefront. Their initiative has been on influencing the use of power energy to supply water to the consumers. Furthermore, the company has a privately-owned power supply, which allowed the company to reduce pollution while providing a renewable, economical alternative to electricity. According to GPP, ten companies use green power, including Google, Intel, and Apple.
Charity giving as a policy
Charity giving is one of the world’s notable activities done by corporates, companies, and individuals. Walmart, as a company, has donated to various cities across the States. Walmart spends over 150 million dollars each year across the United States, covering 643 cities since 2006. The money is received directly from Walmart and distribute via the Walmart Foundation (Qian, 2018). Despite these donations, some companies view Walmart’s charity to be a threat to them because they feel the competition is high on them. The company driving force to charitable work is due to the customer’s perception, which encourages the company to donate more.
Responsibility pillars focused by Walmart.
Walmart Company plays a significant role in its responsibilities. One of the ways is through being accountable to the activities through their Global Ethics and Compliance Program that enhances transparency and accountability in their operations that empower their associates to work honestly in the right way (Doug McMillon, 2019). Accountability is achieved in several ways, including;
Sourcing responsibly. The company has more than 100,000 suppliers globally, making the company susceptible to irregularities. Still, it has made their work easier by mitigating possible risks such as well-being and workers’ safety. The company does auditing to evaluate its chain supply against the standards. The company also assess their supply through external data, guidance from experts, and NGOs.
Ranking safety. Safety is a mandatory activity that any company must address to its overall workers and operations. Walmart is one of the company’s safety ranked as a priority since the workers and customers are valuable to the company, so the company always looks into the matter keenly. The company is responsible for purchasing new protective equipment, improved technology in operations, and machinery (Doug McMillon). For example, the safety observed in the last financial year, the number of subordinate days lost to accidents in their Chile business was down more than 27 percent on a per-capita basis from the prior year, and down more than 18 percent in their Argentina business and more than 9 percent in their Central America business.
Reducing corruption risks. Corruption is a major threat to the prosperity of any company. Walmart has engaged mechanisms that eradicate the risks of corruption. They have reduced the number of third parties in their involvement, increasing their prominence in business. This action is attained by exercising annual anti-corruption risk assessment in their international markets, hiring dedicated ethics and compliance leadership personnel, including a Global Ethics and Compliance Officer. These measures are in place to ensure the business is doing in the right way.
The mission alignment with CSR policy.
The Walmart mission reads; to save people money so they can live better. The statement aligns with the CSR so that CSR considers the overall impact socially, economically, and environmentally, and launches initiatives to ensure its positive impact. The two work towards one objective since Walmart has exercised it through its health policy. Walmart’s health location saves people’s lives by ensuring health care is within reach by everyone at affordable prices. Their money-saving $4 generic prescription program has helped its customers navigate the healthcare insurance system for a long time. Walmart is cheap to everyone health-wise through their products. They offer a high-quality health service at a low price, transparent prices by launching Walmart Insurance Services, LLC, a licensed insurance brokerage, which will assist people with enrolling in insurance plans—and simplify what’s historically been a cumbersome, confusing process.
Conclusion
The prosperity of a business should always follow the corporate social responsibility not to benefit. CSR’s guidelines ensure that a company will benefit from the consumers, and consumers will benefit from the company. As we have seen from above, Walmart has followed the CSR protocol of responsibility by doing charity work to various places in the United States and worldwide. The company has also worked towards ensuring the environment has been protected, too, since it will determine their future work.
Doug McMillon. (May 8, 2019)
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Qian, J. (2018). Charitable Giving, Corporate Image Building, and Market Expansion: The Case of Walmart (Doctoral dissertation).
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