Week Eight Reflection

In the eighth week, my class went over Corporate Social Responsibility–or CSR. I've studied Nadia Reckmann's article titled "What Is Corporate Social Responsibility?", watched a video on Business Case for Sustainability, viewed another video on Triple Bottom Line and Sustainability: The Science of Good Business, read an article on Driving Corporate Growth Through Social Impact, read The Broken "Buy-One, Give-One" Model: Three Ways To Save Toms Shoes, What are B Corps?, Why B Corps Matter, The B Corp Declaration, and of course, a TED Talk given by Paul Tudor Jones II titled Why We Need to Rethink Capitalism. There are a few key takeaways for this week. First of all, CSR encourages companies to improve their communities, the economy, or the environment. There are five ways they could do this and that is by promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace, treating employees with respect, giving back to the community, ensuring business decisions are ethical, and by being environmentally friendly and eco-conscious. There are four kinds of efforts in upholding CSR and that is by doing environmental initiatives, charity work, ethical labor practices, and volunteer projects. Some things to avoid with a CSR model are to not choose unrelated initiatives, don't use CSR as a marketing scheme, and don't wait for the industry to catch up. Lastly, CSR is for all businesses.

What I found rather eye opening and surprising from this week's studies is the impact Toms Shoes has made in third world countries. I thought giving away free shoes to villages and small towns would make things better. According to an article written by Cheryl Davenport titled, "The Broken 'Buy-One, Give-One' Model: Three Ways to Save Toms Shoes" the charitable company has done more harm than good to the communities in other countries. In fact, Cheryl has stated Toms wasn't really created to help bring people out of poverty. Instead, it was just another feel-good company western consumers participate in. Cheryl suggested Toms Shoes should better understand the problem, create a solution and not just a band-aid, and lastly, Toms Shoes should innovate business models, not marketing campaigns. I agree with Cheryl on the fact that Toms Shoes should source shoes from developing countries, small businesses and burgeoning entrepreneurs. I also agree on the fact Toms Shoes should not only give the gift of shoes, but to also help provide improved infrastructures and health facilities to reduce the risk of hook worms and other diseases.

Photo taken from Google Images

I think the reason why CSR has become more popular in recent years because society, as a whole, has become more environmentally-conscious. There are also more people standing up for their rights to a safer, cleaner work environment. CSR helps ensure companies fall in line with the new protocols and regulations to be more fair to everyone and provide a positive impact in the local communities. Being more environmentally-conscious and making workspaces a better, safer area for employees can save businesses money in the long run when done right.