Downloaded 13 times
Uploaded byNiamh Walsh
Ethics & Social Responsibility
This document discusses the importance of balancing social responsibility and ethics with financial performance in business. It notes that companies should consider long term goals over short term costs and consider their reputation, brand integrity, and risk of litigation when pursuing profits to best serve shareholders and stakeholders in the long run. Doing good for the world and stakeholders can outweigh some short term financial gains.
Ethics & Social Responsibility
- 1.
- 2. Paying attention toethics and social responsibility is as important a business issue as paying attention to costs, profits, and growth.
- 3. Need to balanceSocial Responsibility versus Financial Performance Short Term Costs versus Long Term Goals "Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains." Google
- 4. Reputation Brand Integrityand Trust
- 5. Regulation Risk ofLitigation Damage to Brand or worse?
- 6. Bottom Line PeoplePlanet Profit
Editor's Notes
- #4 How do you measure the success of a company? By how much money the company makes. Corporate Social Responsibility costs money – why would you bother? The answer is that although CSR programmes may not be profitable in the short term, the long-term consequence of developing trust with stakeholders is very valuable in the long term.
- #5 Companies that are ethical and socially responsible perform as well as and often better than those that are not. Integrity and Trust improves your relationships with all your stakeholders – customers, shareholders, public, government… Companies that have a reputation for being responsible and trustworthy tend to be more successful at attracting and retaining customers. Companies that have Social Responsibility high on their agenda also tend to attract and retain better employees. Intangible assets such as brand value and reputation are often undervalued and may be worth far more than the tangible assets of the firm.
- #6 Auditing your activities according to their effect on other people and on the planet helps you to avoid potentially disastrous consequences of unethical behaviour. Your industry may avoid heavy-handed regulation that impacts on your operations and therefore your profits. You may avoid class action suits that may be taken many years after a customer has paid for your goods or services (for example cigarettes). By being proactive in watching that you do not incur the wrath of stakeholders, you may avoid damage to your brand and sustain your bottom line. What’s the worst that can happen? News of the World phone hacking scandal - senior figures jailed, major public outrage, advertising pulled from paper => Shut down
- #7 A company is responsible not just to shareholders but to all stakeholders. Companies should report on the social and environmental performance of their company as well as their economic performance.