Topic 20 Corporate Social Responsibility & Ethics

Hi Trephena,

Since am resubmitting my RAP, grateful if you could tell me :

1. whether my mentor is required to do the online mentoring course so that I can use his name while submitting. Also, whether it is free or my mentor needs to pay for it?.

2. Also am from Mauritius, where can I have a list of registered mentors for the rap.

thanks.

@tanvi2211 – For the rules about mentors you need to see the P31/32 Information Pack but you will have to use a listed mentor. The OBU website contains all the names and contact details so you should register there as a mentee.

If your existing mentor has not done the OBU Mentoring course they will have to pass this and meet the professional requirements in order to be listed. There is a charge for the Mentoring course – I believe it is about GBP 85. I am told this is because of the costs of setting up the mentoring website and maintaining it but it is not intended to run as a profit by OBU.( In actual fact I was told by the Programme Director, Jane Towers-Clarke that once all the set-up costs have been recooped there were proposals to use any surplus to assist students suffering particular financial hardship with their mentoring and submission costs. This way very poor students who had the ability would not be precluded from the degree program because they could not afford the marking fee etc. )

@tanvi2211 – The answer is most probably he will need to do the course but check with OBU’s admin office as they set the rules and therefore are the only ones who can give you a definitive answer

@unyimeedem

Your mentor is right – you should try to benchmark some of the CSR aspects where possible with best practice. Take a look at this article – there are two pages of it and on the second you will see that Apple is ranked 9th behind Microsoft. I think it would be reasonable therefore for you to look at what Microsoft does that is perceived as better than Apple
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/10/02/the-companies-with-the-best-csr-reputations-2/

You might also mention that both good governance and CSR start at the top and that the attitude of the leaders filters down and influences the culture of an organisation. You could mention that Bill Gates has set up the Bill Gates Foundation from his own personal fortune. I believe Tim Cook has pledged to give away a lot of his own fortune (but in this sense perhaps actions speak louder than words).

I am sorry but I am not able to review individual student work. Some experienced mentors who have the relevant skills are able to offer a specialist service in critically reading a completed report and providing a review feedback to help students pass. So you might like to consider this option. However as I have indicated to pass you need to: show balance in your research (use of some non-company sources); good and appropriate use of theories and models (particularly in applying them); demonstrate some critical thought (questioned, critiqued, compared and contrasted some aspects of the company’s CSR perhaps with some benchmarking) and not just accepted the company’s statements and its view; good layout (use adequate line spacing and diagrams, graphs and charts wherever possible); full and appropriate referencing (ensure that you have references in the appropriate place in the text and the designations match those in the list).

You must also ensure that you have addressed all of the marker feedback – the feedback sets out what the marker thought was missing or wrong and the next marker will expect you to have ensured that you have corrected all the deficiencies.

Finally do not make ‘sweeping statements’ that is saying how wonderful the company is. The marker is not interested in your personal opinion but they are interested in facts and proof of what the company is actually doing (as opposed to what it might say it is doing) and how this measures up to what is expected of them or to what others do . You are expected to stay fairly neutral and just present an objective report with good examples of both what it does well and perhaps what it does not do quite so well. Good luck! 🙂

Hi,

I am doing Topic 20. under Business Ethics I have used the model by Johnson, Scholes and Whittington’s the three levels of business ethics but my mentor is suggesting that Gary Owens and Adams 7 stances of CSR will be a better fit. I am confused as to how this would be relevant. Please advise.

@ Trephena, thank you very much. Your suggestions are indeed very helpful. I have already used Carroll’s CSR pyramid and Mendelow’s matrix in addition to that I was thinking of using Johnson Scholes and Whittington’s three levels of business ethics to justify my analysis about the company’s ethical stances.

As you suggested I will put more emphasis on the philanthropic activities of the company. This is my first submission and I really hope to pass. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

@Trephena-Thank you very much again. I find your suggestions extremely helpful.

@unyimeedem – absolutely not – so chill baby, chill! 😀

Submission Check list for T20

Ensure you do a BRIEF ‘literary review’ in Part 2 about the development and background of CSR to put your topic in a context. Mention some of the elements that are considered to be best practice. Also remember that CSR varies from country to country so if you are using a non-British company don’t forget that you are submitting for a British University and so aspects of the European definition of CSR which is more comprehensive than CSR as viewed in the USA for example (and some countries) should be considered when assessing the company (see the OECD definition for what this may involve:

https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-11-730_en.htm

Other things to reflect on and ensure that you have covered:

1. Have you made some comparisons with another company /other companies operating in a similar sector particularly on aspects where your company may not be performing so well or conversely is excelling?

2. Have you based most of your work on primary data? – if so you need to remedy this fast…

3. Have you considered all the relevant stakeholders properly? There are two parts to T20 and it does not end with just employees and shareholders – communities both in the country it is registered in and those countries it operates in are equally important (as I have mentioned on the forum think about whether it gives much back to countries it makes a lot of profit from or is it ‘exploiting’ them – avoiding tax, paying low wages, and could do more in terms of charitable efforts?)

4. Do you have external evidence of the company’s CSR? – commentary from analysists/ financial pages of the press or from websites that examine a company’s ethics e.g.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcompanyratings.aspx

https://www.corporatecritic.org/

https://www.thegoodshoppingguide.com/ethical-business-rating-tables-and-ethicality-audits/

5. On the subject of ethics – this is part of the Title and subject brief so ensure you cover it adequately – are the board members ‘squeaky clean’ – any evidence of how committed they really are to CSR and ethics? has the company for example been implicated in using suppliers who use child labour or other ‘unsavoury’ practices (environmental pollution, failures in health and safety to maximize profit) or do their CEOs lead the field e.g. Bill Gates has used his personal fortune for his charitable foundation? (Remember companies exist to make a profit so there are limits on giving shareholder profits to charities but those at the top can give their own money away). ‘Tone at the top’ is important!

6. Have you used visual means to display your information wherever possible – saves both on words and lots of boring long paragraphs so makes your work far more interesting to read. (Not so easy with this topic but try to bring in a few diagrams, charts and graphics to break up the text – it makes your work look so much more appealing)

7. And don’t just accept what the Board writes in their CSR statements – Remember the CSR statement to a certain extent is a bit of a PR exercise. (It always interests me how much space in the financial statements is given over telling people about the company’s charitable and community initiatives in relation to how much they have actually given in terms of money) How much have they given as a percentage of net profit? Is that trend increasing/static/decreasing? How much have they given in total to charity/community projects compared with dividends declared for the year? – again is this trend increasing/static/decreasing?

8. Question and look for proof (comparisons and research for articles on the company in the business press). A pass requires some critical thought not blind allegiance and a re-write of the company’s CSR statement…..

9. …so don’t forget to question and critique the company’s statements. Maybe they are doing a good job but don’t assume just because they say they are, this is the reality – they are hardly going to say that they have complex company legal structures and complicated internal transfer arrangements so that they can get away with paying little or no tax in jurisdictions where corporation tax is high and are more likely to say that ‘they pay all tax as due’ which belies what is really going on (remember Facebook paying less than GBP 5k – yes 5k –in UK tax which is less than the average UK tax payer)

And finally…
10. You need to appreciate that CSR like CG is a developing dynamic subject so you must show you are ‘on the ball’. Although you may have used the latest annual report and CSR statement as the basis of your Findings and analysis do a final check on your company as you have to consider any more recent dramatic/important developments that may have occurred since the report was published that may impact on the entity’s CSR. For example the big scandal regarding Volkswagen Cars that suddenly came to light that shows that VW cars are not just environmentally polluting more than was previously admitted but demonstrates perhaps the company’s real take on CSR in both putting profit before green issues (and literally taking everyone for a ride) by deceiving the customer! So be factual and unbiased when drawing your conclusions and don’t overly praise the company (or deprecate it) without EVIDENCE

Don’t forget to look at the general submission checklist (at the top of our Forum page) for other submission tips and guidance

Good luck 😀

Dear Trephena
For period 32 i have selected topic 20.but the company i have choosen their fiscal year ends at 30 june so basically the latest financial and CSR reports available is for 2015.there is quarterly information available on the company website but they are not audited ones.so what should i do?do i use the unaudited latest informations as well or just usr the audited ones.Thank you.

Thank you sir.

I meant products are not ebtirely similar for eg.Google and oracle corporation.

Thank you.