BUS 100 - Chapter 3
What are the five stages of global corporate citizenship?
- Elementary Stage - Engaged Stage - Innovative Stage - Integrated Stage - Transforming Stage
What is a social entrepreneurship?
- a person or group of people identify a social need and use their entrepreneurial skills to address this need and create social ventures - their goal is to achieve a social or environmental objective
What are social entrepreneurs?
- are typically driven by a core mission to create and sustain social rather than economic value - pursues opportunities, attract support, and build new organizations like traditional entrepreneurs
Why is it important for businesses to be transparent?
- build a reputation for responsibility - contribute to the company's brand - engage senior leadership in strategic conversations - improve stakeholder engagement - identify opportunities for improvement
What is the goal of a global citizenship management system?
- integrate corporate responsibility and citizenship concerns into a company's value, culture, operations, and business decisions at all levels of the organization
Which of the following companies is being the most socially responsible? A company trying to maximize its profits and then contributing to an environmental protection fund. A company halting its production of toxic gases after it discovered that people objected to this practice and threatened legal action. A company trying its best to operate in a way which will help local students get education and jobs. A company changing its product design to comply with regulatory mandates.
A company trying its best to operate in a way which will help local students get education and jobs.
An emerging business model that attempts to strategically balance the interests of all stakeholders to solve social and environmental problems is called: Balanced Corporation. B Corporation. B Lab. CSR Corporation.
B Corporation.
Which of the following statements is true about corporate social responsibility? A company should seek maximum profits from its operations in order to provide the best for society. Both of these answers are correct: Businesses should monitor and prevent social problems in advance of their becoming major issues; and corporations should be accountable for any actions that affect people, their communities, and the environment. Corporations should be accountable for any actions that affect people, their communities, and the environment. Businesses should monitor and prevent social problems in advance of their becoming major issues.
Both of these answers are correct: Businesses should monitor and prevent social problems in advance of their becoming major issues; and corporations should be accountable for any actions that affect people, their communities, and the environment.
Companies demonstrate global corporate citizenship by: Finding business opportunities that serve society Both of these answers are correct: Finding business opportunities that serve society and integrating concern for both financial and social performance. Building reactive stakeholder partnerships. Integrating concern for both financial and social performance.
Both of these answers are correct: Finding business opportunities that serve society and integrating concern for both financial and social performance.
Some companies have created a department of corporate citizenship to: Narrow the job of the public relations office. Decentralize under common leadership wide-ranging corporate citizenship functions. Centralize under common leadership wide-ranging corporate citizenship functions. Adopt the United Nations' Global Compact Principles.
Centralize under common leadership wide-ranging corporate citizenship functions.
The capability of corporations to influence government, the economy, and society, based on their organizational resources is called: Corporate citizenship. Corporate power. CEO power. Corporate media.
Corporate power.
When did the idea of corporate social responsibility appear?
During the 20th century
What are the three main responsibilities so businesses have?
Economic, legal, and social
What is one advantage of operating as a B corporation? Audits are not required. Financial reporting is not required. They are tax-free organizations. Government certifications are frequently conferred.
Government certifications are frequently conferred.
The iron law of responsibility says that: In the short run, sacrifice social goals for economic goals. In the long run, those who do not use power responsibly will lose it. Law is most important, more than social or economic responsibility. In the long run, economic responsibility leads to social responsibility.
In the long run, those who do not use power responsibly will lose it.
What is a social audit?
a systematic evaluation of an organization's social, ethical, and environmental performance
What are B Corporations?
businesses that focus on social responsibility and corporate citizenship by blending social and environmental objectives with financial goals to solve social and sustainability challenges
What is transparency?
refers to a quality of a complete clarity of a business/organization
What is the reputation of an organization described as?
refers to desirable or undesirable qualities associated with an organization or its actors that may influence the organization's relationships with its stakeholders
What is corporate citizenship?
refers to the actions companies take to put their commitments to corporate social responsibility into practice
What is corporate power?
the capability of corporations to influence the gov't, the economy, and society
What is an integrated report?
the integration of legally required financial information with social and environmental information into a single report
What is corporate social reporting?
when a company decides to publicize information collected in a social audit
What are some disadvantages of corporate power?
- can disproportionately influence politics - shape tastes - dominate public discourse - ability to move production sites and weaken unions/communities - economic influence to collude fix prices
List at least 5 things we count on corporations for
- job creation - well-being of the community - the tax base for essential municipal, state and national services - our needs for banking/financial services - insurance - transportation - communication - utilities - entertainment - growing proportion of health care
How does CSR affect gov't regulation?
- may head off increased gov't regulation of business - may reduce freedom for both business and society (freedom is a desirable public good) - regulations tend to add economic costs and restrict flexibility in decision making
What could happen when you put businesspeople in charge of solving social problems?
- may lead to unnecessarily expensive and poorly conceived approaches - may not have the expertise or the popular support required to address what are essentially issues of public policy
Why do companies publish social responsibility reports?
- most firms are motivated by ethical concerns - relevant stakeholder groups have expanded from social and environmental groups to include financial analysts and investors - increasing governmental regulatory pressure to report financial as well as nonfinancial data
Why do stakeholders think CSR has value?
- preserves the environment - protects consumers - safeguards the safety and health of employees - prevents job discrimination *shareholders expect businesses to maintain strong return on their financial investments
Proponents against corporate social responsibility feel that public officials, not business people, should solve societal problems because: Business people do not have the skill set to solve societal problems. Both of these answers are correct. Neither of these answers is correct. The private sector is not mandated to solve these issues.
Both of these answers are correct.
What is the iron law of responsibility?
in the long run, those who do not use power in ways that society considers responsible will tend to lose it
What are some advantages of a big company?
- can command more resources - produce at a lower cost - plan further into the future - weather business fluctuations somewhat better - globalization of markets allows upbringing of new products, technologies, economic opportunities, etc.
What are the six benefits of social audits?
- helps businesses know what is happening within their firm - understand what stakeholders think about and want from the business - tell stakeholders what the business has achieved - strengthen the loyalty and commitment of stakeholders - enhance the organization's decision making - improve the business's overall performance
List at least 3 ways companies demonstrate their corporate citizenship
- proactively building stakeholder partnerships - discovering business opportunities - transforming a concern for financial performance into a vision of integrated financial and social performance
Which of the following examples does not show a company guided by enlightened self-interest? A company breaking past records by maximizing quarterly profits. A company vice-president invited to attend a local community's town planning meeting. A company providing the best quality product at a fair price. A company providing assistance to employees who attend evening college.
A company breaking past records by maximizing quarterly profits.
In what ways can audit standards be created? (3 ways)
companies can develop standards designed to set expectations of performance for themselves, suppliers, or partners
What is corporate social responsibility?
corporations should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment
How are audit standards developed?
developed by global nongovernmental organizations or standard-setting organizations *developed to judge corporate performance
Why do gov't officials support CSR?
ensures corporate compliance with laws and regulations that protect the general public from abusive business practices
What is enlightened self-interest?
this concept reflects the notion that providing value to stakeholders is in a business's long run self-interest