BP's image ...

It can take a while to recover from major damage to a company's image as BP is currently discovering. The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico took place nearly two years ago now (April 2010)when 5 million barrels of oil leaked into the sea with huge ecological conseqeuences.

The case has only come to court this week however, and reporting of the proceedings is unlikely to enhance the company's reputation.

Manny websites about the disaster are politically motivated, and hardly unbiased. Some seem to have withdrawn comments where the company has threatened legal action. There are some good reports on the Newsbank database.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the UK

From the most recent copy of Business Ethics :

Fitjar, D.H ( 2011 ) Little big firms ? Corporate social responsibility in small businesses that do not compete against big ones Business Ethics (20) 1 p.30-41

Article contains some good general definitions of CSR, and makes the point that smaller companies are just as likely to come under public scrutiny as large ones. Having a good CSR policy is thus imporatant in distinguishing one small firm from competitors.

In contrast to large companies however there may be less obligation to make CSR policies public.

The Role of the ASA

Higher complaints to the ASA show that business is not interested in CSR. Discuss

This AMP Project really depends on finding out what the remit of the ASA really is.

The ASA ( Advertisng Standards Authority) is an independent regulator of advertising across all media.

The ASA studies adverts which are misleading, inappropriate or offensive. An advert could however be misleading without being against the principles of CSR. Check the ASA website to check which advertisements have infringed the code.

http://www.asa.org.uk/

Facts and figures might also tell their own story. In 2008 there were 26,433 complaints and 2,475 ads withdrawn. Perhaps the public these days are more 'willing' to be offended.

Certainly some of the advertisements in our old journals would not be considered acceptable today.

(Depicted ad from Country Life 1973)

CSR - a fundamental change or 'greenwash' ?

Don't ignore some of the useful information in printed journals , such as this this one.

Held in print at the Park Square library, and definitely worth a browse for some recent academic opinion....

Corporate Social Responsibility Blog

This one is an excellent source for definitions of corporate social responsibility, case studies, and informed debate on the topic.

Follow up references from academic journals which you might find through Business Source Premier.

But this would definitely not be out of place in your bibliography.

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/index.php

Costa Social Responsibility

Fairtrade products form 17.2 % of the ground coffee subsector *.

That's alot of caffeine,


If you are looking for case studies on fairtrade or CSR then it would be advisable to see what the websites of Costa, Starbucks, or Cafe Nero say on this topic...


* Keynote Report (2009) Hot Beverages Market Assessment [online] via http://library.beds.ac.uk. Accessed on May 18th 2010

Sandwiching in CSR

This week's Mary Portas article* looks at the Pret A Manger and EAT chains. These might make useful UK case studies if you are looking at either CSR ( Corporate Social Responsibilty) or e-business / Web 2.0.

Pret is now 24 years old, and has 202 UK outlets ( none in Bedford or Luton ?) Pret's website is full of material on their commitment to charity projects and sustainability. All tuna is pole-and-line caught...

http://www.pret.com/sustainability/

EAT is a smaller company ( 100 UK outlets ) which has a whizzy iPhone application...the charity page is 'coming soon'.

Both chains might be also suitable for comparison with Starbucks and Costa in their business practices....

*Portas, M (2010) Shop! Daily Telegraph Magazine, 15th May p.11

Business Ethics

For those people attempting the question on the ethical behaviour of small and large firms this journal is well worth a browse. It's a UK based publication, and covers issues in an easy to-understand manner. There's a recent issue ( 2009 ) all about CSR and ethics in small and large corporations

Corporate Social Responsibility

As well as several books in the LRC this seems to be a topic on which there are several fairly serious articles available through Newsbank. Choose your sources carefully, but the majority of sources seem to be from papers such as the Guardian. Lots of discussion about whether CSR is meaningful or simply a gimmick. 'Greenwash' as it has been labelled...