How can investing in csr give companies a competitive advantage

The idea was to research on how the corporate social responsibilities (CSR) initiatives benefit the company over its competitors. CSR initiatives which have been adopted by many firms have decreased immensely. However, the idea has been entirely based on the creation of sustainability relation with the society which the business operates in. The concept has resulted to improvement of competitive advantage in firms. The research has discussed CSR initiative which has been proven through the concept of customer loyalty, brand image, the creation of entry barriers to new firms and much more creating social media attention. 0 Introduction 12 1. 1 Background of the Study 13 1. 3 Definition of CSR 16 1. 4 The Corporate Social Responsibility in Today’s Business Environment 17 1. 5 CSR as a Strategic Necessity and Competitive Advantage 18 1.

1 Corporate Social Responsibility Concept 25 2. 2 History of Corporate Social Responsibility 26 2. 3 Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility 28 2. 4 Corporate social marketing 28 2. 5 Vodafone History 31 2. 2 Research Strategy 41 3. 3 Data Collection Methodology 42 3. 4 Research Method (Qualitative Vs. Quantitative Research) 42 3. 5 Research Approach 44 3. 4 VODAFONE Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities 57 4. 5 CSR activities have positive relationship on Brand Image 59 4. 6 CSR activities have positive relationship on Competitive advantage 60 4. 7 Vodafone Corporate Social Responsibility activities and the Customer Loyalty 62 4. 8 Importance of CSR in Relation to business growth indicators 64 4. 9 The barrier of Entry of Competitor 71 5. 10 Competitive advantage 72 5. 12 Aims of the Research Discussions 73 5. 13 Summary of findings 74 5. 14 Recommendations 75 5. 2 Distribution of Respondents by Age(years) 56 Table 7 4. 4 Distribution of Respondents by Age(years) 57 Table 8 4. 1 Respondents knowledge on CSR 57 Table 9 4. 2 Respondents Knowledge on Corporate Social Responsibility 58 Table 10 4. 3 Consistency of Vodafone Corporate Social Responsibilities Activities 58 Table 11 4.

2 Extent to which CSR indicators play to enhance profitability 65 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Variables of corporate social responsibility 39 Figure 2 Characteristics differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research 44 Figure 3 4. 2 CSR activities undertaken by Vodafone 53 Figure 4 4. 4 CSR Theme initiatives undertaken annually by Vodafone 54 Figure 5 4. 7 CSR impact to Business Bottom Line 56 Figure 6 4. 2 Overall gender distribution 57 Figure 7 4. Some people like Kotler and Lee (2005) call for such initiatives with regards to Corporate Social Marketing. They labeled them as the best of the breed among all the alternatives with the initiative’s corporate social. CSR can improve the well-being of the customers and help a firm achieve the strategic goals set such as increasing the number of sales, and development of the markets simultaneously. Initially, businesses only used to make donations to selected people and organizations.

CSR remained largely not institutionalized, making the contributions of the organizations to the community well-being to remain peripheral; which was an extended favor to the public from the management of the respective organizations (Petrovic-Randelovic, 2014). In the third quarter of the 19th century, multinational companies realized the marketing potential that the CSR strategy could earn them profits. Most of them had to make concerted efforts to alter their CSR policies and approaches. The approach to CSR was tailored by companies to mitigate criticism. Today, the marked shift seeks to establish a CSR approach that relates to the organization’s core business objectives, mission, and vision statements (Lee, 2016). Nowadays, organizations approach CSR in more strategic ways that aim to align the projects with their business models.

The gusto for the CST has been in many ways reverberated in the literature marketing. In particular, many researchers and scholars have been able to examine the responses of consumers with regards to the initiatives of corporate social responsibilities. Moreover, the expected and significance with relation to ethics and the social responsibilities among the practitioners in marketing have been realized. There are some associated benefits in marketing that may have been as a result of the corporate actions with the social dimensions instances (Maignan, 1999). From the early 1950s, CSR along with all the related responsive concepts, responses, and the performance of corporate socials have been the main conceptualizations originating from the management literature. Similarly, Wartick (1985) had claimed that “there are issues with management and the assessment of the environment constituting to the two sets of processes in management to be so useful in the achievement of a practical attitude of social responsibility”.

In consideration to the given views on varieties outlined there above, there will be single conceptualization of CSR in the domination of the past research. Assessing and assimilating all the past definitions of CSR cannot be exhausted. Many scholars have always considered the social responsibilities of different entities conceptually that may include (Wood, 1991): a) The Generality of the businesses b) Firm individualism c) The decision makers 1. 3 Definition of CSR Bowen developed the first definition of the concept of CSR in 1953. It has worked on assumptions that firm managers are basic public trustees and not the custodian of stakeholder profit motives. Second, Bowen assumes that accepting philanthropy as a humane philosophy is a choice of the organizational management. The second definition, however, points out at the areas of excesses that need checking for ethical business operations (The University of Edinburgh, 2018).

These areas include: • Transparency and accountability • Sustainable development practices • Advocacy on various aspects of human rights • social justice, and democratic principles • Maintenance of healthy stakeholder relationships and ethical business practice. 4 The Corporate Social Responsibility in Today’s Business Environment The concept of CSR is founded on the idea that organizations cannot be allowed to operate as isolated economic entities detached from the larger society. Companies get to enjoy the following: • Improvement in their financial performance • Reduction in operating costs, • Enhancement of the brand image and company reputation • Improved access to capital • Minimized regulatory oversight • Heightened the ability to attract and retain talented employees, and most importantly improved sales and customer loyalty. On the part of the community, the benefits include charitable organizations, volunteer programs of the companies’ employees, safe and quality products, corporate involvement in noble programs like employment, community health, and education.

The environmental benefits created for everyone include: • waste recycling, increased use of renewable resources • Effective integration of environmental management tools into corporate business plans (Gugler, 2008). These business plans include project costing, life-cycle assessment, eco-labeling, and environmental management standards. The benefits, in all dimensions, convert to competitive advantage for firms that engage in properly designed CSR. Lastly, does the intention of the firm always in congruence with the perception of the stakeholders, and do there exists any dissimilarities between the existing stakeholders? This paper will contribute in this work of CSR by addressing it as a competitive advantage. Also, it will explain if investing in it will uphold and strength its competition levels with the other firms. Additionally, the concepts of the similarities, as well as the difference between the company intentions, and those of the stakeholders, will be taken into consideration.