The Body Shop, Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

MA Management Corporate Social Responsibility Assignment Corporate Social Responsibility Analysis of The Body Shop Date 29 January 2010 Word Count 5477 Grade 75% Table of Contents Preamble 1 Introduction 1 Corporate Social Responsibility 2 Opposition to Animal Testing 3 Support for Community Trade 6 Environmental Protection 9 Evaluation 11 Conclusion 13 References 16 Appendix 1 20 Preamble The objective of this piece of work is to undertake a critical analysis of the cosmetics company The Body Shop, in terms of its philosophy, business practices and other activities and assess the extent to which the organisation can legitimately be regarded as a socially responsible†¦show more content†¦Bowen defined social responsibilities in the business context as those which are ‘desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society’ (Bowen, 1953:6). Since then, definitions of corporate social responsibility have become more sophisticated responding to and taking account of changes in the complexity, nature, diversity and size of business organisations operating within an increasingly global context. There are those however who believe that ethical and moral considerations or indeed social responsibility of any kind have no place in business, its operations or processes. Milton Friedman argued that ‘there is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits’ (Friedman, 1962:133). He disputed that businesses can have responsibilities, ‘Only people can have responsibilities’ he asserted (Friedman, 1970). Friedman viewed business organisations as amoral, accommodating a position that is neither moral nor immoral. In this sense, as long as business takes place in context of open and free competition, is conducted in the spirit of fairness and within the rule of law, questions of social responsibility remain mute. Other theorists link theShow MoreRelatedCorporate Social Responsibility: A case study of The body shop1223 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Explain with examples what i s meant by Corporate Social Responsibility and discuss why it is important to modern business In today’s world, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been one of the topics that every company must be concerned with. It is usually viewed as a legal obligation for every company to create social benefits alongside with the profit gains (Peng and Meyer 2011, p.297). CSR is a crucial factor for our society and environment. 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