Corporate Responsibility Short Response

Q.1

In a business setting, there are what an entity is legally required to do versus what it chooses to do out of social responsibility to its area of operation. Corporate social responsibility, CSR, has a broader reach compared to the legal responsibilities of a business. Legal responsibility, on the one hand, is fulfilled through mere compliance to the dictates of the law. On the other hand, CSR drives a firm to recognize its social obligations even where such responsibilities are not covered within the confines of the law. CSR refers to how businesses voluntarily go beyond the legal requirements to attain environmental and social objectives in the course of conducting their daily business. For example, there are legal requirements relating to organizational governance, human rights, the environment, labor practices, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development. Similarly, CSR incorporates the same areas in voluntary activities that are geared towards the overall benefit of a society.

Q.2

2020 was a year that will go down in human history as a dark year. The COVID-19 period changed how people relate, work, consume, and how countries and regions experience exchange of commodities and people through movement. Communities have been affected differently as many in the USA now understand how countries in the third-world experience healthcare challenges on a daily basis. Google, one of the global leaders in CSR, in my opinion, has outdone itself in relation to using CSR as part of helping to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian (2020), the company set up a 24/7 incident response department that kept updates in sync with the World Health Organization. It also supports schools and governments in their response to the coronavirus, enables healthcare systems in the country to deliver better care and information, and created a foundation for better information management. The company also issued health alerts on all of its platforms including YouTube, Gmail, Google Search, and other commonly used avenues. Google products were used in all of 2020 to gain information regarding the COVID-19 virus, an exercise that Google offered for free as part of its CSR initiatives. Google’s efforts are admirable in relation to using its global reach and financial power to provide critical information to users regarding how to stay safe, updates on vaccines, highlighting WHO news alerts, and any other information that could assist in keeping people safe.

Q.3

Undoubtedly, CSR has a number of benefits as well as valid reasons as to why a business entity should contribute in a society. Nonetheless, there are a number of drawbacks that would make the CSR process disadvantageous to a business, including: costs, conflict with business goals and objectives, shareholders’ interests, competitive disadvantage, and effect on the reputation of a business. Cost is an important factor to consider when undertaking CSR activities. to meet the societal expectations of CSR, some of the proposed projects and programs that firms can engage in are costly to a point that a business may opt out of it. These costs could be burdensome. Conflict with business goals and objectives is also a critical element to consider. For example, buying a piece of property that would have profit benefits to a business but would not benefit a society is a source of conflict between business strategy and CSR. The same goes for the interests of the shareholders. All these issues may lead to competitive disadvantage and a poor reputation of a business within its society.

References

Kurian, Thomas. (April 21, 2020). “Helping our customers navigate COVID-19 and build for the

future.” Inside Google Cloud. Available at https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/inside-google-cloud/helping-our-customers-navigate-covid-19