Building a Sustainable Business

Element 1: A written Report (2600 words)
Element 2: Annotated presentation (equivalent to 400 words)

Learning outcome 1: Have critical understanding of stakeholder theory and function of CSR for future business sustainability;

Learning outcome 2: Evaluate societal expectations of businesses in the future and extent to which business can meet the organisational challenges of sustainable business models;

Learning outcome 3: Consider the current impact and strategic significance of CSR for business and future trends;

Learning outcome 4: Explore and analyse the importance of non-financial reporting.

Assignment Overview

Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, or responsible business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatory mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and national or international norms. With some models, a firm's implementation of CSR goes beyond compliance and engages in "actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law."

The aim is to increase long-term profits and shareholder trust through positive public relations and high ethical standards to reduce business and legal risk by taking responsibility for corporate actions. CSR strategies encourage the company to make a positive impact on the environment and stakeholders including consumers, employees, investors, communities, and others.

A recent study on behavioural CSR found that 42 per cent of how people feel about a company is based on their perceptions of the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This assignment would give you an understanding of corporate social responsibility in the development of a sustainable business and long-term and how to appreciate factors supporting a sustainable business.

Task Requirements

Your task is to choose a company/business that operates multinational and carryout research on how the company's CSR activities, policies, and practices contribute to the sustainability of the business. From the research, complete the following two tasks.

Task 1: Prepare a written report that covers:

An overview of the business/company you selected with its CSR policy (Must be multinational)

Explain how CSR contributes to the company's future sustainability. Give examples where appropriate.

How does the company rank with regard to ESG in its industry against its competitors? Explain the reasons behind the ranking.

Describe specific examples of corporate actions that resulted in the company's current CSR performance.

Does a company's approach to CSR influence your purchasing decisions? Why or why not?

Explain challenges of the company in meeting societal expectations for CSR.

The 2600-word report should be written in the appropriate report format, consisting of a title page, a table of contents, the main body of the work using appropriate headings and subheadings covering the above six points, and a reference list.

Task 2: Presentation (Written and Oral)

In a group of 3 - 4 prepare an annotated PowerPoint presentation that provides an overview of CSR practices of a company of your choice. Research the company's record in the area of CSR and be sure to look at both their domestic as well as their international reputation.
The PowerPoint presentation should include 7-9 slides maximum (equivalent to 400 words - speaker notes, excluding Table of Contents Slide and Reference Slide).

The presentation slides including speaker notes at the bottom of each slide to explain the key points on the slide should be uploaded on final summative link by the Group Leader having the full names of all group members. Keep the slides succinct and use bullet points than loading paragraphs that are meant for the speaker notes.

You would be required to make a 9-minute oral presentation in class from your Group PowerPoint slides. This would be a group presentation of 3 - 4 students and prepare your group speaker notes which would be submitted with PowerPoint slides in the summative.