Est Task 1

EST Task 1

To first decide if Company Q is being socially responsible, we must define corporate social responsibility. In their textbook, Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferell (2009) define corporate social responsibility as the “obligation of an organization to maximize its positive impact on stakeholders and minimize its negative impact” (p.12). The four known levels, or steps, of corporate social responsibility are as follows: Economic, maximize stakeholder profit/value. Legal, abide by all laws and regulations. Ethical, following accepted standards and behaviors as judged by stakeholders. Philanthropy, attempting to give back to society.

After studying the case given we can conclude at the attitude of Company Q towards corporate social responsibility is lacking. While they take into account the Economic and Legal aspects of corporate social responsibility, they ignore the other two steps. This is because it seems they do not fully understand they have options to maintain their levels profitability while being socially responsible in the community at the same time.

They have made no effort to be Ethical or Philanthropic in order to maintain a socially responsible attitude. Company Q has not realized that the investors and the company management are not the only stakeholders they have a responsibility towards. Due to their location within the community, and the services they provide, there are several types of stakeholders looking to Company Q to be socially responsible. They include Company Q’s employees, local government, customers, and the local food bank.

Company Q has recently closed a couple of stores that were located in higher crime-rate areas of the city. The stores were closed because they were reported to be consistently underperforming and losing money. It can be inferred that this was primarily due to theft from the stores or it is also possible that there was not enough business because of the high crime rates. Either way, Company Q has a...