Social Education » Corporate Social Responsibility

Energy Education for Oil and Gas Industry: How Important is It?

Admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:13:14 +0000

There has been a continuous rise in demand for oil and gas throughout the world leading to a rise in its prices. This was inevitable since petroleum is a non renewable resource and it is hard to match supplies with such a drastic increase in its demand year after year. Moreover, there are signs of negative effects on sea life as well as the overall environment through discharge of chemicals being a threat to oil corporate social responsibility. Obtained naturally from beneath the surface of the earth, crude oil or petroleum is an inflammable liquid that is collected beneath the seas in the form of oil reservoirs through years of plant and animal decomposition as well as deposition of layers of silt and mud materials. From time immemorial, crude oil has been put to several uses and today and accounts for a major portion of the world’s energy consumption. In the UK, it is the Department of Trade and Industry that regulates the activities and development of the oil and gas industry. The oil sim industry provides three quarters of the UK’s primary energy alone and globally it is responsible for more energy output than any other fuel production areas. Changing to meet the needs of the consumer and protecting the planet are both relevant considerations in industry’s recruitment drive with an increased awareness in energy education and oil simulation production alternatives and their impact becoming number one priority on most companies’ lists. Energy training and organizations like Simprentis lead a high profile trade mission on behalf of the UK Governments inward investment agency, UK Trade and Investment. The objective of the organizations mission is to promote excellence in UK oil training and educational excellence to the global petroleum industry. Such oil course foundations help provide numerous scholarships to students as they hold the key to tomorrow’s energy solutions. These programs primarily focus on design and programming of simulations for education and training, oil workshops, investigations into the training needs of corporations, teacher workshop, scholarship, student education, industry workforce development, research, and guest speaker programs. For more information visit this site http://www. simprentis. com

Corporate Social Responsibility

Admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:11:54 +0000

Though different organisations have framed different definitions for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), all of them have a common ground. CSR can be defined as the systematic commitment of a business towards economic development and work towards improving the quality of life of the people working there thus impacting the lives in the society. Basically, CSR is all about business giving back to society. India has one of the world’s richest traditions of CSR, even before the multi-national companies came into picture. Decades before CSR become a popular cause, the concepts of nation-building and trusteeship have been alive in the operations of long-established industrial dynasties, such as the Birlas and the Tatas. There are other leading Indian companies such as Hero Honda, HLL (Hindustan Lever Ltd. ), ITC, and Maruti Udyog, BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd). , HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation), NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), and ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) where, despite the march of privatization, social obligations form an integral part of their business. India being a fast growing economy is booming with national and multinational firms opening up new opportunities. At the same time, India also faces social challenges like poverty, population growth, corruption and illiteracy just to name a few. Therefore, in order to create and facilitate an environment of equitable partnership between the civil society and business, it is all the more important for the Indian companies to see CSR in the right perspective. IBSCDC has developed several case studies related to Corporate Social Responsibility which can provide an insight into the concept. CSR taken up by various companies primarily focuses on poverty alleviation, environmental protection and sustained development. Satyam Foundation of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. , Infosys Foundation of Infosys Technologies Ltd. , and GE Foundation of the General Electric Company are exemplary instances of the philanthropic commitment of the corporate sector in India. Irrespective of the profits they make, these foundations are aiming at uplifting of the poor and enhancing the standard of life in the rural sector. For example, the Emergency Management and Research Institute’s (EMRI) emergency ambulance service, called 108 launched by Satyam provides emergency services for people caught in life threatening situations due to accidents or natural calamities in cities as well as rural areas. This initiative has received huge applause from people of the states in India wherever this service has been started. ICFAI has also taken up an initiative of funding an NGO – Alpha foundation to run ICFAI Republic School. Nearly,98% of the funds for the school is provided by ICFAI. Companies are taking initiatives for developing infrastructure in rural areas, e. g. , TATA Motors provides desks, benches, chairs, tables cupboards, electrical fittings and educational and sports material to various primary schools in Singur (West Bengal). While some companies limit their CSR activities to India, other companies operate on a global level. Deloitte allocates one working day termed as ‘Impact Day’, across all its offices in the world to carry out social work. These initiatives include – creating awareness against cyber crime, teaching people about traffic rules; and safety measures, planting trees, working with NGOs to provide education to street children, spending quality time with the elderly in old age homes and children in orphanages and make an impact on the lives of millions of people across the world. The practice of CSR is subject to much debate and criticism. A common notion is that out of the very few companies who contribute to the social development, the basic intention is not to ensure the good of the nation, but rather a business policy to evade the tax net. How far is it true? While developed countries like England have separate ministries to look after the issue of corporate social responsibility, in India, most of the corporate firms do not have a clear policy on social responsibility. Nowadays, every corporate firm is practicing CSR. In fact, the credibility of companies is determined in a large part by their consciousness of social responsibility. Therefore, the question that arises is whether CSR has become a business strategy to help establish the credibility of the company or is it a responsibility undertaken genuinely? The answer to which can be best provided by the people who are and would be benefited by these activities. There are many case studies on this topic available in www. ibscdc. org that are a must read. Few of them are – Who Says there is No Money in CSR? Tesco’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives Corporate Social Responsibility – Are the Corporates Alone Responsible? Colas in India – The Pesticide Residue Controversy, etc.

organisations who have to provide social responsibility

How to Organize Courses on Social Bioethics – an Artur Victoria Proposal

Admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:13:18 +0000

By way of introduction, for an organization to come to grips with the task of strategically implementing reform in integrity and ethics, its people need to be knowledgeable about a whole range of issues to enable them to clearly understand the motivations, requirements, their various roles in implementation and how to work together for the larger purpose. So the topics identified as important to date, in roughly the right order I think, are as follows: 1. 2. Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity 3. Organizational Analysis 4. Awareness Raising, Education & Training 5. Codes of Ethics (Conduct, Practice, Behaviour) 6. Ethical Decision Making 7. Mechanisms for Ethics Advice and Support. 8. Risk Assessment Strategies 9. Information, Data Collection & Records 10. Professional Ethics: II. Leading with Integrity 12. Corporate Social Responsibility: 13. Future Perspectives Assumptions: An organization has had little or no prior exposure to institutionalizing ethics and integrity into its culture or operations. Obviously, in most cases that many would have some limited exposure, while possibly not having any actual systems in place, and might therefore at least be aware of some of the issues. If so, it might be reasonable to expect that these issues are possibly already being dealt with in some ways by a set of entrenched values (“good” or “bad”, written or unwritten) within their organizations. Approach: This particular segment of any course(s) that is developed would be of assistance in any organization. This would be by way of enabling and empowering its people to appreciate the complexities and the wide range of possible sub-strategies involved in implementing an integrity regime (ethics strategy. It includes the main things that I can think ofthat would be part ofthe process and assumes that nothing at all has been done previously. In practice one hopes that there may be a somewhat better basis than that, in some places anyway. Topics and Content A proposed logical order of progression, which could be dealt with at different levels of complexity and details, depending upon the need and the audience. For example, if one had only a few hours available on this in a course, a broad-brush look at important issues in strategic implementation would be feasible, although probably not terribly useful to my mind, by covering all of the topics in an overview presentation/workshop. More likely the approach would be to break these topics down, to the extent possible given time constraints with any training course etc. also allows the various “modules” to be flexible, such that users could choose to select all of the topics or could cherry-pick only those which they specifically needed at any point in time. Users may then come back for more later. The content under each topic has the better web-based information sources. That includes: Organizational Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, Leadership and Team/Self Development and to a lesser extent Public Sector Management and various courses in Human Resource Management. Readings & References At this point I have only given a broad general reference list. This is because many, if not most, of the good books now available cover a number of the topics. Neither list supports to be complete, but they do cover many good general sources. At the later stage of final design and delivery, specific chapters and or journal articles and/or professional articles would be recommended on sub-topics, depending upon the specific needs and/or interests of the course participants. This might perhaps be in the form of a prepared book of readings appropriate for the specific audience. In places I have shown sources of some ideas, but most are not from single sources but an amalgam of content from wide ranging sources. Introduction to Organizational Bioethics and Integrity This would present a broad introduction to the challenges and the need to build a proper implementation strategy. It would present the meaning and focus of Organisational Ethics and Integrity in respect of the organisations themselves, the individuals who work in them and the societies in which they operate. Some mention of theories would be included, such as the philosophical and moral foundations of ethics and integrity, values, organisational corporate responsibility, personal morality etc. , to provide a foundation of knowledge. However, this would be kept to the minimum possible, consistent with providing an effective enough grounding upon which to build. The emphasis on Strategic Implementation would always be based upon a “best practice approach” – what actually works in practice. Likely content would include: Broad terminology and concepts: How people focus on morally challenging dilemmas and make ethical decisions about their Actions Ethical theories: Consequentialist (teleology, egoism, utilitarianism etc. ), ethical relativism, virtue ethics, moral development (Kohlberg et al). Values and ethics Ethical decision-making: EDM models, normative judgements, distributive justice, excusing conditions, mitigating circumstances etc. Essential Issues in Organizational Bioethics ? Establishing the fundamental values of the organisation ? Defining broad principles which emanate from these values ? Developing standards which will guide employees in upholding these values and principles ? Establishing specific guidelines for employee behaviour ? Ensuring compliance: through rewards and sanctions Reasons for the increasing global interest in Organisational Ethics ? Increased concern over corporate violations and scepticism about corporate rhetoric ? Growing public demand for corporate accountability ? Strengthened roles of various watchdog organisations ? Numerous Public Enquiries, Royal Commissions, Senate Enquiries etc. . . . . . ? Leadership under fire in most sectors ? Global competition “win at all costs” mentality ? Diminishing organizational loyalty ? Increasingly complex decisions ? Competing demands from multiple stakeholders ? More sophisticated workforce ? Movement to “empower” employees ? Emphasis on: excellence, quality, continuous improvement ? Less teaching of values: in schools, families, churches etc. . . . . . ? Growing diversity in the workplace, differing value systems ? Emphasis in society or “rights” ? Legislation: equity, environmental protection, OH&S etc. ? Demand for information on how control is being managed What “best practice” organizations can do and are doing ? Going back to basics, revisiting mission statements, vision, values, principles (the “Why are we here ?!” questions) ? Developing or enhancing Codes of Ethics I Practice I Conduct ? Public and private sectors are addressing awareness raising, education and training strategies for employees (eg: orientation, management programs, special purpose training) ? Revisiting control mechanisms such as auditing, checks and balances ? Reinforcing fraud and corruption prevention controls ? Governments are passing laws and more closely addressing public sector management ? Educationalists and academics are exploring and revisiting theories, concepts, actions, outcomes etc. , in ethics ? Universities and Business Schools are including Business Ethics in their study programs Some current and emerging issues in Organizational Bioethics & Integrity (Some of these are arguably outside our loop. but they are contextual to understanding the complexities and inter-relatedness of global issues) ? International Corruption: strategies for dealing with this, in particular at the organizational level. ? Conflicts of Interest in all its form as a major challenge in almost every quarter ? Integrity in international business and dealing with cross-cultural issues. ? National and international litigation; individual and class actions. ? Care Ethics: Caring for employees in difficult times – responsibilities towards employees, customers, society at large and between employees. ? Global markets and globalization and the need for greater international and inter-cultural awareness and sensitivity. ? Ethics and the Media: Reactions to the major transgressions: invasions of privacy, libel, excessive investigatory actions, political influence. ? Bioethics: Issues such as euthanasia, birth control, fertility drugs, steroids in sport, genetic engineering, and the demise of public health systems. ? Integrity in International Business: reactions to damaging corporate and political scandals, to world political changes generally and combating global corruption. ? Environmental Ethics: Greater realization of the enormous damage being done in the nameof “progress”. ? Ecommerce, EGoverment: The dramatic changes, currently underway and accelerating, brought about by the “Information Highway”. These changes are rendering our familiar notions of national and international commerce, trade, the marketplace etc. completely outmoded and many traditional governance arrangements totally ineffective. ? Whistle blowing: how to facilitate it where necessary and how to protect the whistleblowers ? The protection of the environmental and the many organizational challenges emanating from this requirement. Sources of the future broad societal challenges likely to affect organizations ? Changing economic conditions ? People or Profit ? Rapid technological change ? The end of privacy ? Changing social values ? Multicultural Societies ? Endemic unemployment I underemployment ? Development of an underclass ? The end of organizational loyalty ? Increasing ecological I environmental pressures ? Bioethics (genetics, pandemics, survival etc. ) ? Population growth and massive shifts ? Workforce diversity ? Dominant corporate power and wealth ? Demise of the public sector ? Politics: national and international – demands for better leaders, with integrity ? “Global Ethics” (a better world) The message her is how the individual organisation can take action to stay ahead of the game as these impacts emerge. What organizations and their leaders need to do ? Regularly revisit your “Credo” ? Instill Credo and values in every employee – reject employees who cannot comply ? Provide strong ethical leadership, especially CEO ? Stay ahead of community standards ? Strive for diversity in the makeup of your organization ? Clearly state your “Vision” and gain employee ownership of it ? Develop a Code of Ethics based on your Credo, Vision and Shared Values ? Establish an Ethics Committee which pre- considers new ventures, examines cases and activities, to guide future actions ? Establish an Ethics “Hotline” to take suggestions and enquiries from stakeholders ? Balance concern for people and profit – based on wider social issues ? Educate before the need arises, not as a response to dilemmas

Good Student Credit Should Be A Corporate Social Responsibility

Admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:50:56 +0000

The students account balance may include monies received through financial aid. The student debit card programs have become the latest higher education cause for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, following a successful investigation into the student loan lending practices of banks that among other things, offered perks to financial aid officers to direct students to use their products. Cuomo’s investigation is only in its infancy, but the attorney general’s office is concerned about excessively high overdraft fees, and that banks may use their relationships with schools to pitch high-interest credit cards to their students.

Unless Cuomo’s investigation finds new evidence of kickbacks to school officials, solutions to the problems of student debit cards can be worked out between the schools and banks without government intervention.

One solution is to not allow students to overdraw their account. Spokespersons for the banks and their associations have argued that the overdraft penalties force college students to manage their money responsibly.

What is Corporate Social Responsibilty?

Admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:18:57 +0000

What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Introduction.

Would you believe it if I tell you that the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (1962) had opposed to the underlying premise of Corporate Social Responisibilty and feel that the sole responsibility of business is profit maximization.

He wrote in his book, Capitalism and Freedom, this statement:

“The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials……have a social responsibility that goes beyond serving the interests of their stockholders….This view shows a fundamental misconception of the character and nature of a free economy, there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use the resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”

This statement portrays a narrow and selfish view of business.

It implies that the social responsibility of managers is “to make as much money for the stockholders as possible”. This view reflects the character and nature of a free economy.

So this view is defended by the argument that is frequently used in a free economy, which is “Let the market decide”.

The issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been of growing concern among business communities in recent years. For example, Lord Sieff, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer plc, said that business only contributes fully to society if it is efficient, profitable and socially responsible (Cannon, 1992). Corporations like Johnson & Johnson also believe it is a company’s responsibility to be fair, honest, trustworthy, and respectful, in dealing with all its constituents (Johnson & Johnson, 2000).

Volkswagen defined CSR as the ability of a company to incorporate its responsibility into society to develop solutions for economic and social problems. These positions suggest that CSR is still a major concern among companies worldwide. CSR has also been viewed as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families.

Has time changed? Why have the views of managers of today changed so drastically from the narrow views of the Classical School?

Tiger Woods, the legendary world number 1 golfer, has invested hugh sums of money setting up golf training centres and educational establishments for the youths of today. He does not selfishly guard his immense earnings so that his future earning may grow at an even more enormous rate. Other world leading sportsmen and sports women have follow suit and are busy establishing socially desirable ventures to benefit the less fortunate citizens.

Malaysian Experience

Although CSR has received most public attention in the developed countries, CSR has also been of major concern in Malaysia in recent years where several non-governmental organizations like “Sahabat Alam Malaysia”, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association, and Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and many others have raised issues relating to environmental pollution, health hazards products, product safety, discrimination against the handicapped, and drug abuse (Abdul Rashid, 2002). These issues have raised the attention of the government and legislation has been introduced to prevent the problems becoming out of hand.

For example, the Environmental Quality Act was instituted in 1974 to enforce legislation against problems of environmental safety and pollution (Abdullah, 1991). Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was made compulsory for construction companies before they were to be allowed to develop new housing/property areas (Teoh and Thong, 1996). Several laws pertaining to drug abuse were also introduced by the Ministry of Health to reduce the distribution and supply of drugs that have potential side effects (Abdullah, 1991).

CSR Concepts And Approaches

In 1960, Keith Davis described social responsibility as businesses’ “decisions and actions taken for reasons at least partially beyond the firm’s direct economic or technical interest”. In 1971, the Committee for Economic Development made the following statement in regards to corporate social responsibility:

“Today it is clear that the terms of the contract between society and business are, in fact, changing in substantial and important ways. Business is being asked to assume broader responsibilities to society than ever before and to serve a wider range of human values. Business enterprises, in effect, are behind asked to contribute more to the quality of American life than just supplying quantities of goods and services.”

Since then, the topic of CSR is one that has been widely discussed. There are those, such as Milton Friedman (1962), who are opposed to the underlying premise of CSR and feel that sole responsibility of business is profit maximization. On the other hard, William C. Frederick (1960) who feels that the resources available to businesses should be “utilized for broad social ends and not simply for the narrowly circumscribed interests of private persons and firms”.

Also, in 1991, R. Edward Freeman and Jeanne Liedtka presented seven reasons why the concept of social responsibility is often abandoned. One of the reasons given was:

Corporate social responsibility promotes incompetence by leading managers to involve themselves in areas beyond their expertise – that is, repairing society’s ills.

We address the issue of whether companies are capable of addressing society’s ills by evaluating the managerial decisions and implications of an organization that has received a great deal of publicity for its alleged social responsibility.

Approaches

One school of though focuses on “micro level” analysis, how individual companies could be made more responsible towards society. Robert Ackerman, in his model suggests that responsiveness should be the goal of corporate social endeavor. He described three phases: 1) at the levels of Top management; 2) Staff specialists and 3) Divisional management, through which companies commonly tend to pass for developing a response to social issues (Stoner et al., 1995).

Carroll, in his four part model through the length of its bars suggests that the primary responsibilities of a company are economic and legal. It must produce the goods and/or services that society wants and in a lawful manner and must sell them at a profit. But still it has ethical as well as discretionary bindings. Carroll opines that to the extent firms fail to acknowledge discretionary or ethical responsibilities, society will assert and bring them under legal framework (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2003). Before that happens, it is advisable that corporations understand and perform social activities voluntarily.

Researchers belonging to other school of thought concern themselves with the “macro level” of analysis. They favor that the Government, not individual companies, should establish and achieve a country’s social goals. Friedman based his arguments on two principal contentions, one economic and other legal. From the economic perspective, he asserted that if managers spend corporate funds on projects not intended to maximize profits, the efficiency of the market mechanism will be undermined and resources will be misallocated within the economy. On the legal side, Friedman contended that because managers are legal agents of stockholders, their sole duty is to maximize the financial return to them.

Hence, if they spend corporate funds for social purposes, they are essentially stealing from the stockholders (Friedman, 1962). Levitt argued against CSR, fearing that business might come to dominate society. He believed that business as an institution would become the twentieth-century equivalent of the medieval church- the all-embracing institution in the society (Levitt, 1958).

Both approaches have been explained above are quite prevalent in global as well as in Malaysian industrial scenario. The next chapter will give a detail regarding the current scenario which is the attitude of the government and Malaysia companies towards CSR.

Attitude Towards CSR–Current Scenario

Government Attitudes towards CSR

In recent years, CSR has been of major concern in Malaysia. Several non-governmental organizations (see Table 1 for detail) have raised issues relating to CSR. These issues have raised the attention of the government and legislation has been introduced to prevent the problems.

Non-Governmental Organizations

Raised CSR Issues

Consumers Association of Penang (CAP)

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association

“Sahabat Alam Malaysia”

Environmental Quality Act was instituted to enforce legislation against problems of environmental safety and pollution.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was made compulsory for construction companies before they were to be allowed to develop new housing/property areas.

Ministry of Health introduced several laws pertaining to health hazards products, product safety, Discrimination against the handicapped and drug abuse.

Table 1: Non-governmental organizations and raised issues relating CSR

Source: Abdul Rashid (2002), “Managers attitudes towards Corporate Social Responsibility”, Proceeding of Pan Pacific Conference, KL, pp. 218-220

Company’s Attitudes towards CSR

Today’s business competitive environment builds more and more pressure on the managers to adopt all such methods that might ensure achievement of business goals. Values and ethics at this juncture become irrelevant. However, all companies are not alike and many have come forward for the cause of society.

But accounting to a survey conducted in 2005, shows that its still have an encouraging trend in the sense that the Malaysian companies have improved their involvement in CSR activities. 87.5 percent of the respondents agreed that their company was involved in CSR activities, a decline in the level of involvement of companies in CSR activities showed in Table 2. The results also indicated that the respondents disagreed considerably on the six negative statements on CSR, and were higher in 1995 than in 2005.

Items

2005

1995

Employees’ welfare (facilities & benefits)

91.8

91.8

Responsive to consumer’s complaints

82.9

86.4

Maintaining product/service quality to consumers

76.7

82.7

Ensuring product safety

62.3

64.5

Donation to welfare organizations

60.3

80

Provide contribution for games and sports

35.6

70.9

Contributions to culture and/or literary works

34.9

Employment of handicapped individual

32.9

Contribution to crime prevention

15.1

Contribution for public amenities (e.g. bus stop shades)

19.9

Assistance in overcoming problems related to drug abuse and alcoholism

21.2

Contribution to educational institutions (other than research grants, e.g. scholarships, bursary to students)

24.7

Provide loans for low-income housing

28.1

Provide loans to small enterprise

21.9

Table 2: Areas of CSR in which Malaysian companies are involved

Source: Md Zabid A. R. (2005), “Executive and management attitudes towards Corporate Social Responsibility in Malaysia”,

The researcher of conducting this survey Abdul Rashid M.Z. (2002) suggests that there are more positive attitudes towards CSR in the financial sector than in the telecommunication, manufacturing or construction sector. The financial sector is expected to be more prudent and more conscious of the role of banks in CSR. Abdullah (2001) in his report points out that the differences between the sectors on their priorities towards CSR activities.

In conclusion, Malaysian executives and managers had positive attitudes towards CSR. The extent of their involvement in CSR was lower today; the extent of corporate disclosure on CSR was nevertheless slightly higher than a decade ago.The level of CSR awareness appears to have improved slightly in Malaysia.

KFC Towards CSR

The underlying values of KFC’s target audience have changed, although it has been leading global brand for over three decades (Cannon, 2002) No longer can either rely solely on convenience and product consistency as unique selling points. KFC management clearly understands that a strong corporate emphasis on consumer health, quality and socially responsible initiatives must be incorporated. The new advertising campaigns or new product lines by themselves are not sufficient; to maintain and attract new customers, KFC needs to re-define its overall brand value.

As Goyder (1981), “Industry in the coming time can no longer be regarded as a private arrangement for enriching shareholders. It has become a joint enterprise in which workers management, consumers, the locality, Government and trade union officials all play a part.” Being major users of nature society and environment, business enterprises could play an important role in the protection of nature and environment and promote the social objectives.

To achieve these objectives KFC work either in partnership with Government, or on it own. For example, it has established a “CSR Management Department” to articulate and implement its CSR activities, including Corporate Governance, Compliance with the Law, Corporate Ethics, Internal Control, Environmental Management and Corporate Citizenship.

The benefits of the profits of the KFC are channeled back to the people through the major philanthropic trusts and other activities; Figure 1 shows the details of KFC profitability and expenditure.

Figure 1: Profitability and expenditure on society by KFC Malaysia

Source: Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 9 No.1, 2005

The help and donations distributed to five sectors (community, environment, people, safety quality and social compliance and health and wellness) accounting to the KFC CSR Malaysia reports, details are shown at below in Table 3.

Sectors

Achievements

Community

KFC Malaysia raised Rm 4,007, 421 to help Malaysian children in need.

KFC’s restaurants in Malacca provided a RM 40,000 donation support for victims of the flood. Local franchises were heavily involved in fundraising activities to help families affected by the flood.

Environment

Reusable crates are used by all dairies that supply KFC’s restaurants in Malaysia with ice milk, milk and creamers.

Over 95% of the cardboard used behind the counter at KFC in recycled.

KFC’s fry box packaging is made from 50% recycled paper, including 35% post-customer fiber.

People

The Human Resources Hot-Line provides employees with immediate attention to questions about their employment at KFC.

Regular commitment (opinion) surveys are conducted with the employees.

Safety quality and social compliance

KFC will provide its customers with safe food products; food safety is KFC number one priority.

KFC believes treating animals with care and respect is an integral part of an overall quality systems program that makes good business sense.

Health and wellness

Enhanced the quality of popular Chicken Nuggets by moving from a blend of white and dark meat ot white meat Nuggets.

Customers and public education, available at KFC’s websites

Table 3: KFC Malaysia CSR Activities in 2006

Source: KFC CSR report,

The analysis of the CSR activities of KFC restaurants shows that KFC is committed to doing what is right, to being a good neighbor, a good corporate citizen and a good employer in every community in which we live and work. And they have a proven track record of listening to the customers, and responding with innovative ideas to meet customer changing needs.

Conclusion

The ever-increasing market power of global fast-food retailers, and KFC’s high visibility through branding, has made it a target both for governmental public interest campaigns (e.g. the Food Standards Agency’s promotion of healthy eating), and for citizens’ and consumer lobby groups (e.g. the Consumers Association). In the years to come, issues such as corporate accountability, corporate ethics, and disclosure of relevant corporate information shall become increasingly important centers of attention.

Besides, diversification and adopting synergistic policies, Corporations need to develop new measures of performance, new standards of ethics and a new awareness of multiple bottom lines instead of concentrating only on profits as they did in the past. They have to increasingly focus on multiple bottom lines – informational, social, environmental and ethical – which are interconnected and interdependent. Hence, corporations should pay great attention to ethical issues while performing their role, because if ethics are missing, business and society as a whole would not flourish.

By: quah soo beng

why enforce social responsibilty