Corporate approaches to social responsibility

Corporate approaches to social responsibility

COMM101 Autumn Session 2020

COMM101: Tutorial Week 9, Autumn Session 2020

Topic: Corporate approaches to social responsibility (Assessed for Assessment 1)

Recommended reading for this assessment:

• Babic, M, Heemskerk, E & Fichtner, J 2018, ‘Who is more powerful – states or corporations?’, The Conversation, 11 July 2018, available at: https://theconversation.com/who-is-more-powerful-states-or-corporations-99616.

• Dans, E 2015, ‘Volkswagen And The Failure of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Forbes, 27 September 2015, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2015/09/27/volkswagen-and-the-failure-of-corporate-social-responsibility/#606504174405.

• Mitchell, RK, Agle, BR & Wood, D 1997, ‘Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 853-886.

• Moore, G 1999, ‘Corporate Moral Agency: review and Implications’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 329-343.

• Shaw, WH, Barry, V, Issa, T, Catley, B & Muntean, D 2017, ‘Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance’, Moral Issues in Business, 3^rd Asia-Pacific edn, Cengage, South Melbourne, VIC, pp. 154-200.

• Smith, NC & Orts, EW 2017, ‘Who Is Responsible for Corporate Misconduct?’, INSEAD Knowledge, available at: https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/who-is-responsible-for-corporate-misconduct-5751.

• Week 8 lecture notes.

Task 1: Read the article by Babic et al. (2018) – https://theconversation.com/who-is-more-powerful-states-or-corporations-99616 – and answer the following questions.

1. Is the powerful role of corporations in politics more or less conducive for fulfilling social responsibilities by corporations? Explain your answer.

2. What are some of the challenges in terms of ethical practices posed by the interplay between state and corporate power?

Task 2: Read Forbes’ article by Dans (2015), https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2015/09/27/volkswagen-and-the-failure-of-corporate-social-responsibility/#606504174405.

AND

Smith and Orts’s (2017) article, https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/who-is-responsible-for-corporate-misconduct-5751, and answer the following questions.

COMM101 Autumn Session 2020

1. Who should be held responsible for the Volkswagen’s failure of corporate social responsibility, individual(s) within the company or the company itself? Provide reasoning for your answer.

2. How could the adoption of the broad view of CSR by Volkswagen help the company avoid the unethical behaviour? Could such a perspective help with the company’s bottom line as well? Explain your answers.

3. What could be some of the arguments against Volkswagen’s adoption of the broad view of CSR?

Note: Remember to use concepts from COMM101 lectures and the textbook (Shaw et al. 2017)

WE ARE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR ORDER