What is the main reason for businesses to carry out social responsibilities?
My view is that the main reason for businesses to carry out social responsibilities is to improve reputation, because it is a strategic and necessary move for business to do so, even better, by improving reputation, it helps to offset criticism. I will use two supporting evidences to show the significant importance of building reputation through carrying out social responsibilities.
First of all, actions speak louder than words. Being socially responsible is treated as one of the strategies to build up reputation. Reputation equals to the level of trust of consumers to the company. If a business has bad reputation, consumers no longer trust the company or products and services it provides. According to APCO Worldwide, for the factors shaping corporate reputation, social responsibility accounts for 28 % of it. The “Safeguard Reputation” report also states that by being committed to be socially responsible, it helps to increase reputation. Companies with reputation have comparative advantage than those without it. Hence, it shows being socially responsible is a good tactic to build reputation.
Secondly, improving reputation can help to offset criticism. Take Unilever as an example, it has been criticized for using sexualized images of women yet promoting women’s body images advertisements from Axe and in Dove’s message respectively, which shows contradiction in between. Yet, the involvement of Unilever in different aspect in society is significant, including cooperating with WWF on Fisheries, ensuring sustainable catch and clean need. Among all, its ‘Sustainable Living Plan’, which can reduce its environmental footprints by half by 2020, has won sustainability award. It also makes Unilever stands out from companies and has built up a good reputation among customers. When people say Unilever’s name, most of them will mention how socially responsible they are instead of criticizing for their advertisements. Another example is TOMS. During class when TOMS is
First of all, actions speak louder than words. Being socially responsible is treated as one of the strategies to build up reputation. Reputation equals to the level of trust of consumers to the company. If a business has bad reputation, consumers no longer trust the company or products and services it provides. According to APCO Worldwide, for the factors shaping corporate reputation, social responsibility accounts for 28 % of it. The “Safeguard Reputation” report also states that by being committed to be socially responsible, it helps to increase reputation. Companies with reputation have comparative advantage than those without it. Hence, it shows being socially responsible is a good tactic to build reputation.
Secondly, improving reputation can help to offset criticism. Take Unilever as an example, it has been criticized for using sexualized images of women yet promoting women’s body images advertisements from Axe and in Dove’s message respectively, which shows contradiction in between. Yet, the involvement of Unilever in different aspect in society is significant, including cooperating with WWF on Fisheries, ensuring sustainable catch and clean need. Among all, its ‘Sustainable Living Plan’, which can reduce its environmental footprints by half by 2020, has won sustainability award. It also makes Unilever stands out from companies and has built up a good reputation among customers. When people say Unilever’s name, most of them will mention how socially responsible they are instead of criticizing for their advertisements. Another example is TOMS. During class when TOMS is