Social responsibility is becoming more and more important for businesses of all sizes. These days, simply providing a good service and selling high-quality products is not enough, and far looking managers and owners know this. Consumers now demand companies to go above and beyond to win their business, and this often means demonstrating clear ethical values.
KEY BENEFITS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
By focusing on corporate social responsibility, you can boost your reputation and distinguish your business from your competitors. When choosing one product over another, consumers often make an ethical decision as well as a practical one, and many will choose one company over another due to its ethical policies. But social responsibility is not just about attracting customers. When people decide where they want to work, they will often consider the ethical practices of a company. You want to attract the best people possible when it comes to filling your important positions, so making sure you have a strong social responsibly program can help you to do so.
Bad news travels fast these days, but good news can also spread quickly. Through social media, it is easier than ever for consumers to find out about the social initiatives of companies and spread the news with their contacts. If you promote a strong sense of social responsibility, this can become a source of engagement with consumers, assisting your marketing efforts.
BRANDS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Many brands now take their social responsibility very seriously, and these include brands both large and small. The question for many brands is not so much whether or not they should have a focus on social responsibility, but how they should go about implementing it. Many large brands are now involved in social projects. The company behind the www.engelbert-strauss.co.uk website, for example, has recently supported the construction of a school in Laos, helping to provide to children in the region. This demonstrates its commitment to giving back to the global community in some way, promoting its core social values.
Other companies have grown on the back of strong social responsibility practices right from the start. For example, The Body Shop was one of the pioneers of social responsibility, focusing on promoting its beliefs, including animal rights and the environment, from the start.
Ben & Jerry’s is another major brand that has always had a clear focus on giving back to the community, and it has donated large sums of money to charity since it was founded. Starbucks has also had a strong focus on ethical practices from the start, including promoting sustainable coffee production and supporting good causes.
GIVE BACK AND BE REWARDED
Corporate social responsibility is a way for companies to give something back to society and to be rewarded by consumers for doing so. It does not matter how small your company is: there are always things that you can do to promote your ethical values. These days, it is not something that can be easily ignored because consumers demand much more when making decisions on where to purchase. So if you have yet to develop a social responsibility policy in your company, make this a key focus.
