Topic 20 Corporate Social Responsibility & Ethics

I done topic 20. Just got my result today, got a B. Its pretty easy, I spent a few evening over 2 weeks and knocked it out. My advice is to pick a few modules, then just apply those models to the company you choose. Dont forget to reference properly as well. Easy peasy

Hey i am doing topic 20 too. It has potential to make a sound project.

@dbuk2000
Hey I have been seeing you flaunting your results everywhere 😛 Congratulations man. It would nice to share some key findings and advice on this topic area. And when i say share and advice I DO NOT mean share your rap. Looking forward!

Hi Guys.

Of course I can help.

The hardest part is to find the models you want to use, there are so many models you can use for CSR. I picked out four models, and applied this to the company.

If I remember correctly the information pack gives you all the section headings and gives guidance on what you need for each section.

Literally put that guidance into Microsoft Word, start from the first section and just work your way downwards, being sure not to go over the world limit.

My advice before you decide the company to use is to find one that has a large amount of information on CSR. Most companies have a CSR report which is 50 pages plus. This gives you a massive headstart over using a company with practically no CSR. Dont get me wrong you still have to go outside the box and look at other stuff as well.

Try looking in the P3 text book. This has some focus on CSR and could provide a starting point

Sir Hammad Ahmad:is it possible to do a bsc project on a country located overseas or do i have to choose an entity from my own country?and do i have to visit the location?

It has a dubai office so maybe i can contact them for research

@em69

You should select a multinational company, a NGO or a company on which you have unlimited authority to access information. Kye decision in selection of any organisation is availability of information. Further, in you want to do a diverse analysis it will be good to consider information availability on a competitor for comparision

Thank You.

@tchigbo

Please clarify which model of tucker you are using as there are many models of him on different issues related to team management, CSR, motivation etc. Firstly, tell me about data availability for you and how you have structured part 3 of your RAP. Models you have selected are fine but you need to cover all stake holders for Topic 20, So try to use the models which covers customers, suppliers, general public, governments etc.

You can use:
– CSR pyramid
– Seven step model for CSR
– Star model for CSR etc

Please refer here also: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S187538921200524X/1-s2.0-S187538921200524X-main.pdf?_tid=35ffe76c-3d9a-11e3-bdb7-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1382722009_38a57176ee5c0cc0e87d00520f4ac3b0

Thank You.

@cherrony – There is usually more objective information available for CG than there is for CSR. I have seen students criticised for not having a balanced report for CSR (mainly because they cannot find information external to the company) so it all comes over as agreeing that the company is a good corporate citizen and that sort of thing (and this annoys the markers as they want to see that you have evaluated the information just not agreed with the company line). In this respect OBU wants to know that you have critically examined the situation (just take a look at the assessment criteria) and it is easier to do this for CG. You can look at all the relevant bits of CG and not only compare them with the applicable Code but with a comparator (composition of the board, attendance, whistleblowing policy, risk assessment commitees etc). It is far harder to so this objectively with CSR as CSR involvement varies in its application in each company as there is no prescribed code..

The pass rates for CG and the grades are higher too so my advice is, unless you have a lot of independent info that will make your CSR analysis really valid, go for CG. 😀

@tanvi2211 When doing a report you have to focus on the prescribed title. So for Topic 20 this is: ‘An assessment of an organisation’s corporate social responsibility policies, including business ethics, and their impact on business practice and key stakeholders. So:

1. You must focus on ONE organisation however it is perfectly acceptable – and in fact highly desirable – that you make appropriate comparisons with other appropriate organisations. For example if taking the supermarket Sainsbury’s as your main company you could compare its charitable commitments and donations to Asda’s and when it came to community relations you could compare this with Tesco’s. So in that sense you may use several companies as comparators if they operate in the same sector. You can also make comparisons with organisations of a similar size e.g. when looking at its donations to charity and community initiatives. Look at some examples of aspects of ‘best practice’ and see how your company measures up.

2. You must ensure that you deal with all aspects of the title e.g. business ethics and the impact of key stakeholders – emphasis there on stakeholders plural so this would encompass customers, suppliers, employees, social community as well as shareholders in the context of Sainsbury’s

3. Wherever possible try to use and bring in as many articles and information that is derived outside the organisation and its comparators to increase the objectivity of your report generally and strengthen your analysis in particular. As an example just today on the BBC website there is an article about how Councils in England want to levy a special tax on supermarkets because they feel that very little income that they derive from sales to the local community actually feed back into the local economy as opposed to smaller local businesses where much more money circulates back into the area.

I hope this gives you a better insight now in how to approach this topic as your grade will normally be dictated by how well you address your overall critical analysis. 🙂

@tanvi2211 You should concentrate on answering the topic 20 requirements. Markers can sometimes react with hostility to students whom they consider have ‘hijacked’ topics as they tend to suspect ulterior motives e.g. that the work was submitted previously for another university or for some other purpose. I would always recommend students to fufil the actual topic requirements then they stand the best chance of passing 🙂