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The aim and objective of this study is to find out that CSR is how much essential tool to sustain in the competitive business world. Throughout this study I tried to show logical arguments why CSR is essential I have also mentioned some arguments against it. The logical arguments in favor of CSR is the use of CSR as a tool to create corporate image, enjoy competitive advantage, face hypercompetitive market, attract stakeholders, produce potential business benefits, perform ethical responsibility .There are also some negative viewpoints relevant to this issues. .After all I tried to focus on the fact through literature review that CSR is very much effective tool for business organization as it produces mutual benefits for the organization and society. The effectiveness of CSR is supported from survey analysis and findings. To justify the effectiveness and relevance of CSR as an effective tool to sustain in the competitive business world, three questionnaire surveys have been conducted for different interest groups of Standard Chartered Bank. Three samples have been taken for managers, employees and customers. The sample size was 7, 20 and 25 respectively. Total 21 questions were designed. Both primary and secondary sources have been used to collect both types of data. The research is done on the basis of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Some questionnaires have been made on the basis thesis statement. The respondents of questionnaire are managers, employees and customers of Standard Chartered Bank. The above mentioned respondents were asked some questions regarding policy and overall scenario of CSR of Standard Chartered Bank. The respondents wisely responded according to question design. Most of the questions which were asked to them were related to the necessity and current condition of CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank. The most of the respondents responded in such a way which indicates that, although the overall scenario of CSR of Standard Chartered Bank is satisfactory to gain competitive advantage and to sustain, Standard Chartered Bank should on CSR policy and programs to do well in business in future and to attract more customers.
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 The Introduction Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term that is now a buzzword in the modern business world. CSR generally refers to the responsibilities of the corporate houses towards the society. It is now a burning issue in the present time. It is known to all that every business belongs to the society. Business firms manage all the inputs from the society and also sell their outputs (products/services) to the society. So it is clear that society and business units are closely interrelated. One is impossible without the existence of another one. Today, businesses are performing in the hypercompetitive market. Every corporation is trying to be different from others in the market to get competitive advantages. For this, they are following various value adding approaches. It is CSR which is very crucial element of them. From our daily experiences, it is obvious to all that the companies with the involvement of CSR are performing better than those companies which are not concentrating on CSR. For this reason, big corporate houses of the world are focusing more on CSR besides their business oriented activities. They have now realized that to sustain in the competitive business world, there is no scope to ignore corporate social responsibilities. On the other hand, there are many back dated organizations which consider CSR as a useless expenses. As a result, they do not concentrate on CSR. This type 0f organizations are lagging behind compared to their competitors. Recent observation made by economist intelligence units shows that 85% of the investors and executives surveyed told that corporate social responsibility is now a core and vital consideration in the investment decision making. But corporate social responsibility concept is not very long. It is a recent invention in the corporate world. The policy to form interrelation with society was taken into consideration by American and European companies at 1970s. The concept of corporate social responsibility was established not more than 20 years ago. From the beginning of the invention of CSR it was thought that companies have to react to the problems made by them or from the consequences of their own activities. This attitude has supported the concept that organization must be proactive that they should respond to a vast range of social problems because they have the expertise and
the power to do so. As the economy of the country mostly depends on the banking industries, it is essential for a bank to run smoothly. To run properly sustaining with other Banking and non banking competitors, corporate social responsibility is the most crucial elements. From this viewpoint standard chartered bank ltd, a leading global bank is also maintaining CSR activities strongly to enjoy competitive advantages and to maintain good relation with the society. Standard chartered bank (SCB) ltd was established in 1969 through a merger of two banks. One of them was the standard bank of British South Africa which established in 1863 and the one was the chartered bank of India, China, and Australia which was established in 1853. From the beginning of 1990 standard chartered was concentrated on developing franchise in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. From the earliest of 2000 the bank had gained some milestones having a number of strategic acquisitions and alliances. The bank is now performing all over the world including developing and developed countries. It has become one of the prominent banks in the world by providing different kinds of services including consumer banking, wholesale banking, SME banking, Islamic banking and so on. Besides providing these regular banking activities it is now performing different types of social welfare activities which mostly include corporate social responsibilities (CSR). The corporate social responsibilities of standard chartered bank ltd covers eye care, HIV protection, sports, research issue, education, environmental protection, and so on. The bank is now sponsoring different kinds of sports and cultural activities around the globe. It also spends huge amount of money on different kinds of research purposes. Besides this function this bank is now helping poor and meritorious students by providing financial assistance mostly on the developing countries. This bank has already got the best banking awards for corporate social responsibilities in many countries. It is clear that, the reasons of developing business around the world not only depend on good management but also maintaining good relationship with the societies.
The common belief of societies is that all organizations have greater responsibilities to stakeholder who are directly or indirectly affected by the performance of the corporation. As stakeholder s can be positively or negatively influenced by the performance of the corporation, they have some legal or ethical interest towards the organization. CSR policy can be driven by internally through corporate leadership or can be driven by externally through stakeholder pressure. But whatever the reason behind this policy, it is surely the evolving values, interests and expectations of society that has led business to redesign their mandates and this mandate forces corporation to rethink not only their own values but also the values of other stakeholders as well. There is a evidence of a growing contingent of corporate leaders with a greater social and environmental conscience & purpose. Net impact, for example, is a group of 11000 new generations leaders, committed to using the power of business to improve the world.(Freidman, M. cited in Tapscott, D & Ticoll, D 2003. P. 68). The common fact is that day by day social expectation is getting higher and higher. Societies not only consider the quality of consumption but also they are very clear that to maintain a sustainable standard of living. It is corporation that can play the best role. The current century has been an expansion of the global economy and an increase in the quality and quantity of consumption and wealth within both developed and developing countries but this economic expansion has negative side also. It is expanding the environmental and social problems with the passage of global economic developments. As the is getting modernized and huge number of local and multinational corporations are performing their business activities , the total world income as well as per capita income of specific nations are also increasing from times to times. For example we can say that the world income has been increased by an average of 2.8 percent annually from 1992 to 2002. (The economist: Pocket world in figure 2005 Edition. P. 244). But at the same time, for producing this vast amount of production to meet the demand of World population, we are seriously hampering the environment. And some extent, we are damaging our existences. By the consequence of this fact, the ozone layer has been seriously damaged; air and water, important elements of the natural environment are the major concern of many areas. Not only these elements but another important element of environment is forest which is very much essential to our living. Forests are being cutting off. By the effects of this above mentioned facts, it has been seen that the number of people living under poverty increased by almost hundred million during the last decade 20th century. The realization of the society about the rapid deterioration of the earth natural capital led them understanding that the present trends of consumption are unattainable and even unsustainable. As a result both corporation and society are facing the challenge for their environmental impact which is mostly imposing negatives scenario to their activities as well as their future existence is not very hard to realize that every corporation is liable to maximize its shareholders wealth. The rate of corporate leader is vast in this respect. But maximizing profit is not the main concern of modern organization. This forces the corporate leader to rethink their duties towards the society and stakeholders. There are three perspective of CSR have been emerged from the past to present. First of them is the CSR
on limited by legal obligation and profit maximization, the second view is the right thing to do for the benefit of society and the environment and third view s it as a process of value adding or creation. According to the traditional economic rationale it is thought that corporations are contributing to improve quality of life by providing goods and services, creating new job opportunity and contributing to economic prosperity. Any action taken by the corporation defines the ultimate responsibility of the corporation. Every business is run by the business leaders. But these business leaders are not social advocates. They have been hired and trained to run business successfully. According to these perspectives, their role is solely evaluated with respect to profit maximization. Business laws and regulations serve as the boundary to the means by which corporations are able to motivate profitability. But beyond this, corporations have no social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is not mandatory in all respects. It depends on the willingness of the corporation and legal environment.
Standard Chartered Bank has been taken for this thesis paper to analyze the impact of CSR activities to the bank and to the communities where it operates. The standard chartered bank is one of the largest and renowned banks in the world. The bank was formed in 1969 through a merger of two banks. It operates in over 70 countries around the world. The bank is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The organization cannot ignore the community the organization operates within .The bank itself thinks that it is to be great responsibility to be aware and engaged with issues that affect the customers, business partners, and the economies of the markets. It is thought that CSR activities help the bank to be differentiated and make its brand different from other organizations. It also helps to strengthen the relationship with stakeholders. That is why the bank operates its CSR activities locally and globally.
Every enterprise, enterprise for profit making or not for profit enterprise, has its own objectives. For business firms or enterprises, profit making is the indicator of normal operation. In the past, business was developed with sole objective of generating profit and the social welfare was not considered. But the current situation is not like that. Situation has changed over time. At the present time, the aim of the enterprise is not simply profit generation; it also considers the welfare of the society as ethical responsibility. In a word, it can be described more clearly that the objective of the business is the wellbeing of the involved persons or people. Still now many private enterprises focus on the sheer objective of profit maximization while other organizations are very concerned that to survive to perform better, it is essential to enjoy competitive advantage by any means. Some organizations are doing CSR activities at a larger extent to have a greater social image to the community. Voluntary CSR initiatives have emerged as prominent measures to complement or replace sometimes ineffective regulatory approach to limiting corporate activities (Gibson, R. 1999 P.7).This corporate social responsibility or activity is working in two ways for the organization. In the one way, it creating social image and another way it is working as promotional tool for the organization through publication of corporate social responsibility activities. The traditional focuses on the single group. This single group is the group of shareholders. This single group works for single purpose that is profit maximization. To maximize profit, any organization develops different types of strategies to achieve its stated objective. But at the present time, doing business is more complicated. Business organization is to be very careful and alert about the activities of the competitors and how they are getting closer to customers and society. Dave Mowat, CEO of Vancity, remarks that, in business, it is too easy to focus on quarterly results. We need to think & act as if we will be around for 20 years (Canadian Business for social responsibility, 2005. P.10).This thesis paper actually describes how organization with the involvement of corporate social responsibility is getting more benefits compared to the costs spent for corporate social responsibility and how the organizations with no involvement of CSR activities are lagging behind. Some organizations consider expense for CSR activities is wasteful and needless for organizations as this cost does not increase revenue while other organizations consider CSR as ethical responsibility and as investment as it produces various benefits to the organization as well as to the interest group.
To identify the nature of CSR Why it essential now a days for corporation How it adds value to corporation To compare the performance of corporation involving with CSR with that of those not involving CSR. How SCB enjoys competitive advantage through CSR How much is it effective to add value
2.1 Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term that is now the buzzword of the modern business world. Now a day the performance of a corporation is measured not only of its profitability but also of its contribution towards the stakeholders as well as society. Corporate social responsibility is considered differently to different individuals and corporation. Some corporation regard CSR as the most essential tool to sustain in the competitive business world while on the other hand there are some corporation which consider it as a useless expenses. But the general view about CSR is that as corporation are performing in the society, uses resources from society and also provide its output in the society so every corporation must have some duties and responsibilities towards the society. Maintaining social responsibilities may not be the legal attribution of a country but from the ethical perspective every corporation must have some responsibilities towards them. From the general experience it is found that the most lucrative and trustworthy organization of the world are very much concerned about their social obligations. As we everybody know that today natural environment is getting worse day by day by consequences of activities performed by the business houses. So the only motive of the corporation should not be to maximize its own profit. As they hamper the environment, uses resources from there they must pay wages for its activities. Though CSR is important topic now a day to research it was not so popular just more than 20 years ago. At that time the main duty of the corporation was only to maximize profit or wealth of its shareholder. But today this concept has totally changed. Today the organization that is very much concerned about society is getting positive differential effects from its shareholders as well as general people from society. As CSR is very crucial issue to sustain in the modern business world big corporate houses are much more concentrating for this purposes. Every big corporation of the world are spending huge amount of their earning for social purposes. This spending may not generating profit in a direct way but it has a great impact to generating profit in indirect way. As this topic has been the important tool to research this paper is basically the analysis of the impact of corporate social responsibility for overall performance of the corporation. This analysis is done through the analysis of the impact of CSR on standard chartered bank ltd the leading banking corporation of the world. The standard chartered bank ltd is performing its banking activities throughout the world by providing newer and newer banking products and services. The standard chartered bank ltd has to encounter many challenges posed by its competitors. The bank properly handled this challenges not only providing various services but also maintaining good relation with the environment as well as stakeholders such as customer, employees, competitor, and general people who have direct and indirect interest to corporation. Standard
chartered bank ltd prompts its CSR activities very strictly. As it is a multinational banking corporation it performs all over the globe. Every year this bank spend huge amount of money for social purposes not only its mother country but also all over the world. To get positive support from foreign government, customer as well as from general stakeholders CSR plays very important role to its foreign policy.
Another thinking which arises when we attempt to define CSR is that whether it engages the approach of voluntary initiatives or whether it simply seen as compliance to regulation in the different areas covering to the society & to the environment .According to the Friedman, CSR relates to obeying the law and generating as much money as possible for the shareholders. In this respect, CSR compliances with regulatory issue and moves strictly to environment. On the other hand CSR is generally cut on the voluntary measures that apply to organization welfare beyond the legal compliance (Pollution Probe. 2004. P.13.). According to this perspective CSR is totally voluntary measure. And that is why it needs to be distinguished from the legal compliance.
of profit for social purpose to strength their base in society. So it is clear that CSR is now the demand of situation.
committed to responding to the social problems as the corporations have expertise and financial backup. The social responsibility of the business is not obligatory behavior. Corporations have to be socially responsive. It is said that traditional corporation is a business organization for single group with a clear cut single purpose of conducting business for profit. This traditional view states only the legal social responsibility and this view leaves the public interest. Another concept with due consideration of public interest is known as well-tempered corporation. Advocates of this view claim that shareholders interest is more likely to be gained if a organization develops a position as a socially responsible organization. Now it is considered that business is not conducted for single group rather business is conducted for interest groups. Interest groups are stockholders, investors, bankers, creditors, competitors, trade associations, local community, tax authority, government and other social bodies which are directly or indirectly benefited or affected by the operations of the business organizations.
Complete social responsibility has four parts which are mentioned above. It is usual that making goods and services available to make profit is the minimum degree of social responsibility followed by legally compelled obligations. These two parts are generally performed by every business organization. The real social responsibility starts from responding social requests .This means doing something for the benefit of the society. It is not the highest degree of social responsibility. The highest degree of social responsibility means the level at which business organizations do some social activities without any formal request or social expectations. (A.R. Khan, 2000 p. 60). But hardly this level four is performed by the business organizations unless they are motivated by the feelings that performing social responsibility for the sake of society is profitable investment. But at the present, it is found that many business organizations are contributing to the society without any own benefits.
environment, and towards the general social welfare (Griffin 1998p.112). The following are the list of some policies and programs that respondents referred to when tell about CSR. Environment Health and safety Community affairs and investment Product certification Food safety Privacy and confidentiality Risk management Human relation Human rights Ethics Education Products sourcing and buying
CSR and Globalization: globalization has made the present world almost like a global village. Big multinational corporation (MNC) is doing business across the national globe. Their activities are now not only concentrating on its motherland but also the whole world. As the corporation is concentrating across the national boundary they have some responsibilities as well to these countries where they are performing their business. Most of the multinational corporations have to compete with its competitors in the area of product, services, local culture and so on. So this corporation must pay due concern to the betterment of the society as well as stakeholders in the foreign countries. We know that the corporation especially multinational corporation which performing CSR activities in foreign countries get positive response from the society and also from the govt. and this positive response is very much essential to sustain in the foreign market. While the open market economy open huge opportunities to the corporation it also creates a huge competition among them. This competition cannot be overcome only providing value added goods and services. Corporations also need to evaluate society and also the betterment of the stakeholders. And this type of responsibilities can be maintained by maintaining CSR. So it is clear that the relationship of CSR and globalization is very close.
The demand for social responsibility is on the way of increasing. CSR has thus come to take into consideration three main areas: society, the environment, and the economy ( Willard 2005p.15). It is the duty to manager for maintaining CSR on the organization. Organization need to fashion an approach to social responsibility the way that they develop any other business strategy. That is, they should view social responsibility as a major challenge that requires careful planning, decision making, consideration and evaluation. They may accomplish this through both formal and informal dimension of managing social responsibility
contributes to employees self worth, which in turn increases the productivity and also reduces absenteeism. As the success or profitability of business mush more depends on the employee satisfaction, corporation should act in a way which benefits the employees as well as socially as the employees are the big part of the society. Business can perform its CSR activities largely by maintaining responsibilities to its employees.
are huge options to maintain SR in direct way. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the number of people living in poverty increased by almost hundred million (Stiglitz, J. 2003. P. 5). Many corporations of the world spending a lot of money for these purpose including environment issue, research issue, health care, education, and so on.
This is the most influential factor to form CSR policy or to involve in CSR activities. Environmentalism creates some special challenges for global marketers (Kotler & Armstrong 2006 p.638). Now an organization faces a hypercompetitive market where it is very tough to operate. Many forces (internal &external) make the market hypercompetitive. The market is becoming hypercompetitive because of ever changing customer taste or needs, existence of a large number of substitute products or services, rapid technological change and bargaining power of buyers & suppliers. So in this market, it is very hard to sustain or to make profit through providing only quality products or services. So to get competitive advantage or to be differentiated, it (CSR) is very useful and effective tool. This CSR policy helps to face hypercompetitive market successfully and to attract the customers.
those policies, to make those decision, or to follow those lines of actions which are desirable in terms of objectives and values of society ( Bowen 1953). Every citizen expects that each and every organization should be socially responsible. So it can be told that CSR is actually the demand of time and situation. From this viewpoints, every organization should meet the expectation of the society by contributing a certain a certain part of their profits.
General public, regulatory body takes CSR positively. CSR activities are published through annual report and different media which make the organization well known make it different from the competitors it faces. Thus CSR provides competitive advantage.
the corporation have no other obligations to the society. But other scholars claim that all economic entities have obligations to society as they work within it. the socially responsible firm is one that is responsive to the demand of society, not only economic ones, but social and environmental as well ( Monsen 1973). Besides, many CSR proponents point out that CSR can significantly improve long term corporate profitability because it reduces risk as well as inefficiencies while offering a host of potential benefits such as enhanced brand reputation and employee engagement.
CSR has many positive sides for both organization and the society or community where organization operates its business. Business function is economic not social, and economic values should be the only criteria to measures success ( Davis & Blomstrom 1975 p.30). There are some logical arguments behind CSR while profit maximization is the only goal of the organization. Some specialists say that corporation starts CSR activities for the commercial benefit through raising their reputation with public or with government. Some strong arguments are described below:
It is obvious that to run CSR activities requires expenses and management skills. These expenses and management skills increase the per unit production cost of product or service. So this extra cost leads the managers or organization to set higher price which is ultimately borne by consumers. Another emerging perspective is one that views CSR in a less altruistic light. Todays CEO increasingly argues that integrating social, environmental and financial goals is imperative to what Freidman describes as the fundamental role of the corporation: To make as much money for their shareholders as possible (Freidman, 1962. P. 133).
It is another strong argument against CSR by the opponents that corporations are too busy to survive. They think that in this hypercompetitive market corporations should pay full attention to their own activities to compete with competitors. To survive in this global market, they are to enjoy competitive advantage either through cost leadership or product differentiation. But CSR programs or policy increases the cost of the organizations. These costs are added to product cost. So this definitely induces to set higher price for the product offered in the market. So it becomes hard for the organizations to survive or to make higher return while other organizations with no CSR policies can offer a product with same level of quality at lower price.
Some more arguments: Businesses are owned by Shareholders. So it is considered that money spent on corporate social responsibility by managers is theft of the rightful property of the owners. The leading companies who report on their social responsibility are basket cases. The most effective business leaders don not waste Valuable time on this issue. It is said by the opponents of CSR that corporations have no time to focus on CSR.They are to focus on their core business to make higher profit. Involvement in social programs gives business too much power. Business lacks the expertise to manage social programs. Rising costs of export goods cause difficulty in foreign competition. Different business with divergent viewpoints will cause social friction. Without expert skill standard quality of such services may be low.
Overlap in the movement of two constituents of pluralism. Political commitments through government actions may be curbed.
the firms. The purpose of this audit is to analyze and recommend the corporation which sector should be given high priority or attentions. But on this audit requires a huge time to conduct, organization do not frequently conduct it.
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The term research methodology is combination of two words namely research and methodology. The word research means something people or researchers undertake to find out things in a planned or systematic way to obtain knowledge and the word methodology refers to the way in which information is found or the way something is performed. Research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how to proceed, to measure progress and what constitutes success. Research methodology is a very vital part or area while conducting a research. It requires very careful attention because if the right method or approach is not selected or applied, then it is more likely that main objective will not be met or gained. It can be divided into three types namely fundamental research, strategic research and applied research (Sounders, Lewis and Thornitt, 2007). In this study, it has been tried to show how Standard Chartered Bank is gaining competitive advantage over competitors to sustain in the competitive business world focusing on CSR activities. Through CSR policy this bank is trying to retain the well-informed customers
and attract the new customers thereby increasing revenues. In this study, quantitative and qualitative approaches have been used. Samples have been taken for managers, employees and customers separately from respective population to draw a conclusion through data analysis and findings. Both primary and secondary data has been collected and used. For this study, simple random sampling has been used, which is also known as representative sampling. Sampling is used because it requires less time, efforts and costs. Random sampling has been chosen because while it is chosen at random and the size of the sample is large enough, it can represent the population with very little variation or sometime with very insignificant variation. Three questionnaire surveys have been conducted to three samples of managers, employees and customers of Standard Chartered Bank. Those questionnaires filled up by managers, employees and customers.
quantitative approach. These two approaches have been used to make the thesis paper more understandable and reliable.
record nor in published sources may it become necessary to collect primary data. The primary data helps effective research because this data are collected from the original sources. The work of collecting original data is usually limited by time, money, and manpower available for the study. . Primary data is essential to be assured of the reliability and validity of the data. The reliability and validity of the primary data depends on some factor. So researchers have to be cautious about when collecting primary data. There are some approaches to collect primary data. These include direct interview & observation and questionnaire. For getting actual result from primary data, data should be collected and presented in a planned and systematic way. For my research both primary and secondary data have been used. The primary data here is used in the form of observation and questionnaire. The approach which I followed to collect primary data is described below:
3.4.1.2 Questionnaires
Questionnaire design: the purposes of direct and telephone interview was to fill up the questionnaire. This Questionnaire method is very helpful to collect data directly from respondents. The success of this Questionnaire method of collecting data depends largely on the proper designing of the Questionnaire. Designing of the Questionnaire is a highly specialized job and requires a great deal of skill and experiences. It is difficult to lay down any hard and fast rules to be followed in this connection. Although much progress has been made, the designing of questionnaire is still very much an art. While designing a Questionnaire we have to remember some special techniques to make the Questionnaire more effective
and reliable. First of all it is very important to think about Questionnaire size in respect of number of size. Then it should be easy and understandable to all respondent and it is very essential to avoid any unnecessary details and complexity. And finally question should be formulated for choice options from objectives or multiple answers. My Questionnaire of this research has been designed according to this way. I have made several questions to manager, employees, and clients differently regarding overall CSR condition of the standard chartered bank. They all responded according to my question guide. Through this Questionnaire I have collected primary data directly from manager, employees, and clients. This Questionnaire method is selected to collect data to find out reliable and relevant information directly from respondent so that the research becomes more representative. This Questionnaire survey is conducted among 7 managers, 20 employees and 25 clients of standard chartered bank. The aim of this survey is to describe the nature and importance of CSR to sustain in competitive business world.
3.5 Data validity and reliability: Yin (1994) claims that research design is the logical sequence that
connects empirical data to its conclusions. Hence, for a research measure to be valid, it must also be reliable and vice versa
3.5.1 Reliability
Reliability is a tests first requirements and refers to its consistency (Dessler, p.211). There are several ways to estimate reliability. Reliability is very important for any research work. Actually reliability refers to the consistency in the outcome from the use different ways. (Lekvall&whahlbin, 1993) states a research holds high reliability if it can be repeated several times and the outcome is same. The reliability of my report is conducted on the basis of questionnaire and found output. I tried to shows the reliability of work by the questionnaire set to the people of different position of Standard chartered bank. I think this paper shows the reliability of findings and it is to be reliable if other process is used.
3.5.2 Validity
Validity is a characteristic of measurements concerned with the extent that a test measures what the researcher actually wishes to measure; and that differences found with a measurement tool reflect true differences among participants drawn from a population (Cooper and Schindler, 2008. p. 714). Actually reliability does not prove that you are measuring what you intend to measure. It is usually somewhat critical to resolve validity than reliability. For the purpose of this validity some managers, employees, and customer of standard chartered bank have been asked to fulfill questionnaires. Through these questionnaires some statistical methods have been used to validate.
Chapter four
4.1The Introduction
For the purpose of conducting research, 7 managers, 20employees and 25 customers of standard chartered bank have been surveyed from different branches of standard chartered bank. The number of surveyed people has been selected randomly in order to make data more relevant and representative. All the findings and information have been presented graphically.
Survey Question no 1. Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy?
When the respondents (managers) were asked to tell that whether every business firm should follow CSR policy while conducting normal operation of the business or not, among 7 respondent 6 respondents told yes and remaining one person told no while no one was neutral in expressing any response. It is clear from above statement that on an average 85.71 % respondents were in favor of the policy and
14.29% respondent were against the policy while o% respondent was neutral. So it can be concluded that most business managers claim that every business firm should follow CSR policy.
Survey Question no 2.
It was stated to managers that CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. But 3 respondents strongly agreed with this statement, 3 respondents agreed with it while the remaining person disagreed with other respondents response. In this case, no one was r neutral nor disagreed with this statement. So it can be claimed from this result that on an average 42.86% managers agreed with the statement and 42.86% respondents strongly agreed with it. But 14.28% respondents disagreed with people who strongly agreed and agreed. It is also noticeable fact that no one was neutral or strongly disagreed with the statement. So total (42.86%+42.86%) 85.72% managers think that in this very competitive business world, it is very important or essential to follow CSR policy to sustain.
Survey Question no 3. Does it (CSR) really provide competitive advantage to your organization?
When respondents (managers) were asked to reply that whether CSR policy provide any competitive advantage over competitors, out of 7 respondents, 4 respondents said yes that it provides competitive advantage. Among them 2 persons said no that it really cannot provide any competitive advantage and one of the seven respondents was neutral in opinion. From this observation, I can say that approximately 57.14% managers take CSR policy with the intention of gaining competitive advantage while maintaining social responsibility at the same time. For this reason Standard Chartered Bank involves in CSR activities for both to gain competitive advantage and to perform some social responsibility. But on an average 28.57% respondents claim that CSR policy cannot provide any competitive advantage.
Survey Question no 4. Stakeholders prefer the organization which emphasizes on CSR policy. How much do you agree with this statement?
Managers opinion was tried to find out through a statement that stakeholders prefer the organization which emphasizes on CSR policy. Among selected 7 respondents, 2 respondents strongly agreed with this statement and 3 out of 7 people agreed with it. But one of those seven persons one disagreed with the statement and remaining one person was neutral in expressing any clear opinion. So from this observation, it can be stated that on an average 28.57% managers strongly agreed and 42.86% managers agreed with the statement that stakeholders prefer the organizations with CSR policy. Actually totally 71.43% managers were in favor of the statement. But approximately 14.28% managers disagreed with those managers who agree with the statement.
Survey Question no 5. Every business organization is ethically responsible. Specify your opinion
A general statement was made to those respondents who were included in survey about that every business organization is ethically responsible and they were asked to specify their opinion. Among 7 managers, 2 respondents strongly agreed and 4 of them also agreed that every business organization is ethically responsible as they operate in the society or community. But one of them did not agree or disagree. It is
also good that none of them did not strongly disagree or disagree with the statement. So it can be mentioned that around 28.57% respondents strongly agreed and 57.14% respondents agreed with. So totally 85.71% respondents (managers of Standard Chartered Bank) say that every business is ethically responsible.
Survey Question no 6. Do you think that CSR policy reduces overall profitability?
The respondents were asked whether CSR policy reduces overall profitability or not. Some of them said yes and some of them said no. Out of 7 respondents (managers), 4 respondents said yes that CSR policy involvement reduces overall profitability of any business organization. But 3 respondents out of 7 declare that no; CSR policy does not reduce overall profitability. So it is clear from above observation that about 57.14% managers agreed with statement that CSR policy does profitability of the business firm while 42.86% reduce profitability of the business organization. reduce overall managers of Standard Chartered
Bank Did not agree with the statement and they said that no, CSR policy does not
Survey Question no7. Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool?
The respondents were asked to specify their opinion on the statement that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool for the organization. Five options were given them. Among 7 respondents, 2 respondents strongly agreed with it and remaining 4 respondents agreed with the statement. No person strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement. Approximately 28.57% respondents strongly agreed and remaining 71.43% respondents agreed .Total (28.57%+71.43%) 100% respondents agree that yes, CSR acts as an effective promotional tool for the organization. For this reason, Standard Chartered Bank follows policy with the dual objectives. It uses CSR activities as a tool to promote its products and services and another objective is to maintain social responsibility to the society.
sincerely according to their own opinion. The data and information collected through questionnaire are presented and explained graphically Survey Question no 1. Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy?
Graph 2.1 Shows survey report of question no.1 The first question was same to the employees and twenty were asked the question. When the respondents were asked to tell that whether every business firm should follow CSR policy while conducting normal operation of the business or not, among 20 employee of Standard Chartered Bank 15 said that yes, every business firm should follow CSR policy at some extent. It is surprising that 3 respondents of them against of the policy and they said no, every business firm should not follow CSR policy. Even 2 people out of 20 were neutral to say yes or no. From this survey it is obvious that on an average 75% employees want the organization to follow CSR policy and 15% respondents want the organization not to follow it.
Survey Question no 2. CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. How much do you agree with this statement?
Graph 2.2 Shows survey report of question no.2 It was stated to employees that CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world and they were asked to specify their opinion. Among 20 employees, 4 respondents strongly agreed with the statement and 11 employees agreed with it.3 of them disagreed with the statement that CSR is essential to sustain the
competitive business world. Two of them were neutral and they did not agree or disagree. If it is expressed in term of percentage, 20% employees of Standard Chartered Bank strongly agree that CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world and also 55% respondents agree with it. Approximately 15% employees disagree with the statement that CSR is essential while no one strongly disagree. So totally (20%+55%) 75% respondents declare that CSR is essential and Standard Chartered Bank emphasizes on it to sustain
Survey Question no 3. Do you think that CSR affects employee career planning?
A more relevant question to employees was asked to specify their opinion. They were asked whether CSR policy affects employee career planning or not. Conducting survey, it is found that out of 20, 12 employees say that CSR policy affects employee career planning. Only 3 employees of them think that CSR policy does not affect their career planning and they disagree with those who agree. It is also found that a large number of employees are not clear themselves that whether they are affected or not by CSR policy.5 respondents out of 20 were neutral in expressing their opinion. So I can conclude that more than half of the employees think that CSR policy affects them and they consider it while planning their career. So Standard Chartered Bank should give emphasis on CSR to retain these employees and attract new employees to be preferred employer.
Survey Question no 4. Do you think that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affects customers choice?
This is a very important question asked to the employees. Through this question it was tried to find out that really CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affects customers choice in selecting it. Total 20 employees were asked to fill up the question and it was found that 11respondents out of 20 said yes that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affects customers choice. It is also noticeable fact that a large number of employees disagree and said no, it does not really affect customers choice. Out of 20 respondents 4 respondents were against the statement. Even a larger part of them do not actually know whether CSR policy affects customers or not and they were neutral .That is why they did not say yes or no. So I can draw a conclusion that on an average 55% employee believe that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affect customer in taking decision about selection of the organization but 20% respondents disclaim it. So Standard Chartered Bank should continue CSR policy for betterment of the organization as well as society.
Survey Question no 5. CSR policy increases the employee loyalty to the organization. How much do you agree with this statement?
When the employee were asked about whether the CSR activities of standard chartered bank increases employees loyalty or not to the organization, out of 20 respondent 3 people responded that they are strongly agree with this statements, 9 people responded that they are agree with this statements, 3 people were neutral in providing their opinion, 4 people responded that they are disagree with this statements and 1 person responded that they are strongly disagree with the statements. From the above information it can be said that 15% of the respondent were strongly agree with the statements, 45% of them were agree, 15% of the respondent were neutral, 20% of the respondent were disagree, and the rest 5% of the respondent were strongly disagree with this statements. So we can conclude that, as the majority of the percentages of employee loyalty depend on CSR policy, the standard chartered bank should emphasis on CSR to make their employee more loyal to the organization.
Survey question no: 06 Do you think that involvement of CSR reduces the efficiency of the organization?
When the respondent were asked about whether the involvement of CSR activities of standard chartered bank reduces the efficiency of the organization, out of 20 employees 8 respondent responded that it reduces the organization efficiency as organization have to give extra time and money for this purposes, 10 responded that it does not reduces the efficiency, on the other hand 2 person were neutral in
providing their opinion. This shows that 40% of the respondents think that involvement of CSR reduces the organization performance, 50% of the respondent responded that the involvement of CSR does not reduces the efficiency of the organization, on the other hand 10% of the respondent were neutral. The information given above indicates that almost half of the employees think that CSR involvement reduces the organization efficiency. But it is clear that, though involvement of CSR reduces the organizations efficiencies in some extent the bank should increases this policy if they want to get extra facilities in another area.
Survey question no: 07 Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool?
When the respondent were asked about whether the CSR policy act as a promotional tool, out of 20 respondent 17 responded that CSR policy act as a promotional tool, 3 people responded that they have not clear opinion about this issues, on the other hand no person responded negative. From the above given information it is found that about 85% of the respondent told that CSR policy act as a promotional tool, 15% of the respondent did not provide their opinion. So it is clear that CSR act as a promotional tool. Through CSR policy Standard chartered bank can improve its promotion. This policy acts as two dimensions, one side maintaining social responsibility and the other side increasing advertising to its organizations. As maintaining social responsibility and increasing advertisement are both important to sustain in the competitive business world, standard chartered bank should follow this policy to achieve this factors.
Graph 3.1 shows survey report of question no.1 When I asked the customer about their opinion whether they know about CSR on not out of 25 respondents 19 responded yes, 2 clients responded no, and 4 did not responded. So we can see from the above information that about 76% of the respondent knows about CSR, 8% of the respondent doesnt know about CSR and about 16% of the respondent did not provide their opinion. Thus I can conclude that most of the client of standard chartered bank knows about CSR and its use of the corporate world as about 76% of the respondent responded positively. Only a little percentages of the client have not clear idea about CSR and also a little percentages of the client of the does not provide their opinion. Survey question: 02 Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy?
When the respondent (customer) were asked whether all of the organization should follow CSR or not out of 25 respondents 22 responded yes, 3 respondent did not provide their opinion and no one showed negative opinion about CSR policy. So we can say that about 88% of the respondents think that all organization should follow CSR as it is very important issues now a day, 0% of the respondent think that it is not essential to follow by the organization, and 12% of the respondent do not comments on the issues. So I can conclude on the basis of this information that as most of the respondent feel its necessary so standard chartered bank should follow CSR policy. If they dont follow CSR there is a great chance to lose customer confidence.
Survey question no: 03 did CSR policy of SCB affect your choice?
When the respondent were asked whether the CSR policy of standard chartered bank affected their choice of selecting this bank, out of 25 respondent 12 person responded that CSR policy of standard chartered bank affected their choice of selecting the bank. 5 people responded that the CSR policy of standard chartered bank did not affect their choice selecting this bank. And the rest 8 of the respondent did not provide their opinion. From the above information we can conclude that 48% of the respondent were affected to select this bank by the CSR policy of standard chartered bank. 20% of the respondent told that this policy did not affect their
choice of selecting the bank. And the rest of 32% of the respondent did not comment on their choice of selecting the bank. This information shows that the CSR policy of standard chartered bank affect choosing the bank for their clients but not affect tremendously as only 48% of the respondent were affected by this policy .On the other hand 32% of the respondent did not provide any opinion regarding this issues. This indicates either they are not conscious or value the CSR policy as it did not affect them directly. Survey question no: 04 what is your opinion about CSR of Standard Chartered Bank?
When I asked the respondent about their opinion of CSR policy of the standard chartered bank out of the 25 clients 3 respondent that the current policy of CSR of the standard chartered bank is very good, 13 clients respondent that it is good, 5 clients did not provide their opinion regarding this issues, 3 clients told that it is bad and the rest of the 1 person said that it is very bad. From the above information we can conclude that only 12% of the respondents are very satisfied of the CSR policy of standard chartered bank, 52% of the respondent are satisfied, 20% of the respondent are neutral about this policy, 12% of the respondent showed their dissatisfaction and the rest of 4% of the respondent showed their very dissatisfaction regarding the CSR policy of the bank. So from the above information we can say that though most of the respondent showed their satisfaction, big percentages of the person are not satisfied of their policy. So to attract the vast segments of the clients the standard chartered bank should increase its CSR policy and programs.
Survey question no: 05 Do you think that CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be increased?
When I wanted to know whether the CSR activities of the standard chartered bank should increase or not, out of 25 respondents 19 person responded that the bank should increase its CSR policies and programs, 1 person responded that the bank should not increase its CSR policies and the rest of the 5 person did not provide any opinion on this matter. From the above given information w can say that 76% of the respondent feel the necessity of increasing CSR activities of standard chartered bank, 4% of the respondent do not feel the necessity and the rest 20% of the respondent are neutral about the matter. As the business world is getting more and more competitive and the most of the respondent feel its necessity, the standard chartered bank should increase its CSR activities around the world to make its customer more satisfied and more relative to the bank. If he bank does not take initiative accordingly it may lose its customer base and hence the market shares.
Again when the respondent were asked about their opinion relating to how much CSR is essential to them, out of 25 respondent 3 people responded that CSR is most important to them, 17 people told that it was important to them, 3 people did not give their opinion and the rest of the 2 people responded that CSR is less important to them. From the above given information we can conclude that CSR is more important to about 12% of the respondent, is important to 68% of the respondent, is less important to 8% of the respondent. On the other hand 12% of the respondent was neutral about giving their opinion. So we find from the information that CSR is very important to most of the respondent. It is not very important to only a few percentage of the respondent. It is clear that the standard chartered bank should give importance to CSR as most of their clients regard it as an important matter now a day. If they do not give it much importance their clients can switch to their competitor who will give importance to this mater.
Survey question no 07.CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be enlarged across the world. Specify your opinion
20 15 10 5 0
str on gly ag re e ag re e ne utr str dis al on ag gly re e dis ag re e
S eries1 S eries2
As a multinational bank, standard chartered bank have to perform all over the world. As a result they have to perform CSR activities all over the globe. I wanted to know about their opinion what they think about the CSR activities of standard chartered bank should be enlarged or not. When the respondent are asked, out of 25 respondent 4 responded that they are strongly agree with this statements, 16 people responded that they are agree with this statements, 3 people did not provide their opinion, 2 people responded that they are disagree with this statement. So we can say that 16% of the respondent strongly agree with the statement that Standard chartered bank should enlarge its CSR activities around the globe, 64% of the respondent agree with this statements, 12% of the respondent was neutral in providing their opinion and 8% of the respondent was disagree with this statements. From the above information it is clear that as most of the respondent agrees with this statement the standard chartered bank should enlarge its CSR activities around the world.
5.1 Conclusion
The main purpose of the study is to analyze whether the corporate social responsibility is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. This thesis paper actually describes how organization with the involvement of corporate social responsibility is getting more benefits compared to the costs spent for corporate social responsibility and how the organizations with no involvement of CSR activities are lagging behind. Some organizations consider expense for CSR activities is wasteful and needless for organizations as this cost does not increase revenue while other organizations consider CSR as ethical responsibility and as investment as it produces various benefits to the organization as well as to the interest group. Modern world is said to be the hypercompetitive in the sense that more and more
new business firm are entering in the field of business. This new firm creates competitive situation for the existing firm. On the other hand businesses are now not involving in its native land. Multinational Corporation is performing its business all over the world. This is another reason why business premises are getting more and more competitive than the before. Technological advancement has made the information available to the customer, competitor, investors as well as general stakeholders. No firm in the present world can sustain in the competitive market only providing quality goods and services, because every firm tries to provide its goods and service in improved manner. In this context a firm trying to reach in the highest position in its operation must do something unique to be different from other. Corporate social responsibility is one of the most successful ways to do this. There are many reasons of corporate social responsibility to be essential. In a word, it can be said that to perform CSR activities or to be concerned about CSR is the reality of the present time. Actually it is the demand of situation. There are some external and internal reasons behind this. There is a direct correlation between the economic result and company image of CSR policy. In the past, operation of business was limited to a certain area or to a group of customers. That is why competition was very low. But now business operates in a wide range of areas and faces very intense competition because of large number of buyers and suppliers, technological advancement and rules & regulations, every firm performs its operation in the environment. On the other hand every stakeholder who has direct and indirect interest to the firm is a part of the society. So maintaining social responsibility acts as two way dimension. One is maintaining social responsibility as a responsible participant and the other is use of this process as a promotional tool. It is not very hard to realize that every corporation is liable to maximize its shareholders wealth. The rate of corporate leader is vast in this respect. But maximizing profit is not the main concern of modern organization. This forces the corporate leader to rethink their duties towards the society and stakeholders. There are three perspective of CSR have been emerged from the past to present. First of them is the CSR on limited by legal obligation and profit maximization, the second view is the right thing to do for the benefit of society and the environment and third view s it as a process of value adding or creation. According to the traditional economic rationale it is thought that corporations are contributing to improve quality of life by providing goods and services, creating new job opportunity and
contributing to economic prosperity. Any action taken by the corporation defines the ultimate responsibility of the corporation. Every business is run by the business leaders. But these business leaders are not social advocates. They have been hired and trained to run business successfully. According to these perspectives, their role is solely evaluated with respect to profit maximization. Business laws and regulations serve as the boundary to the means by which corporations are able to motivate profitability. But beyond this, corporations have no social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is not mandatory in all respects. It depends on the willingness of the corporation and legal environment. As the time is getting modernized and huge number of local and multinational corporations are performing their business activities, the total world incomes as well as per capita income of specific nations are also increasing from times to times. Every enterprise, enterprise for profit making or not for profit enterprise, has its own objectives. For business firms or enterprises, profit making is the indicator of normal operation. In the past, business was developed with sole objective of generating profit and the social welfare was not considered. But the current situation is not like that. Situation has changed over time. At the present time, the aim of the enterprise is not simply profit generation; it also considers the welfare of the society as ethical responsibility. In a word, it can be described more clearly that the objective of the business is the wellbeing of the involved persons organizations are very concerned that to survive to perform better, it is essential to enjoy competitive advantage by any means. Some organizations are doing CSR activities at a larger extent to have a greater social image to the community. This corporate social responsibility or activity is working in two ways for the organization as mentioned above. but is not the all about. There are some negative arguments against CSR which is already discussed in the literature review part and this argument is also supported by the data analysis and findings of questionnaire survey among the respondent. There are some logical reasons behind this type of arguments. The pessimists of CSR think that CSR not only has positive impact on the organization but it has also so many negative impacts on the firm. They claim that CSR reduces the overall profitability, efficiency of the firm. They also claim that CSR policy increases the cost and price of the product or the services which is ultimately borne by the customer or the clients. According to them CSR is not the legal obligation of the business or the corporation. It is actually the duty and responsibilities of the government or the politician. But
whatever they think CSR has many positive sides than negatives. Corporate social responsibility is an important issue now a day. Most of the business of the world are spending huge amount of profit for research purpose so that they can identify the strength and weakness of their business and also the relative position of their competitors. As my purpose was to research about whether corporate social responsibility is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. To analyze this statement I have selected Standard chartered bank for case analysis. The questionnaire I developed was related to my thesis purpose. The questionnaire I developed for the purpose of driving best comments from the people who is directly related to the Standard chartered bank. The data regarding the nature and importance of corporate social responsibility was collected from some managers, some employee and some clients of the Standard chartered bank. They provide their opinion regarding the CSR policy of Standard chartered bank. The data collected from them was directly related to thesis paper. I wanted some information regarding CSR policy of the bank from them which is related to my thesis statements. The data which I collected and analyzed is directly related to my theory. When the manager was asked about some important question relating CSR policy of their bank they responded in a way which directly support to my research objectives. The question asked to employees also related to these issues. As the main focus of every business in the present world is customer for getting more relevant and reliable information I collected some information from customer of standard chartered bank who also gave various important information related to CSR. But the main point is that, the data provided by them indicates one important conclusion that CSR is essential and every business should emphasize on these issues to get competitive advantage and to sustain in the modern competitive business world
5.1.1 Evaluation
This research paper is on the basis of data analysis and findings. Some most important questions or issues were placed to some interest group of the Standard Chartered Bank. Managers were asked to specify their opinion whether every business firm should follow CSR policy. On an average 85.71 % respondents were in favor of the policy. 85.72% managers think that in this very competitive business world, it is very important or essential to follow CSR policy to sustain. So I can conclude that Standard Chartered Bank should continue its CSR policy and should expand according to the needs and demands of the age. I can say that approximately 57.14% managers take CSR policy with the intention of gaining competitive advantage while maintaining social responsibility at the same time. For this reason Standard Chartered Bank involves in CSR activities for both to gain competitive advantage and to perform some social responsibility. Actually totally 71.43% managers were in favor of the statement. It was found in findings and analysis that 100% respondents agree that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool. Most of the managers say that every business is ethically responsible. It is the most surprising information for the organization. From this survey it is obvious that on an average 75% employees want the organization to follow CSR policy and 15% respondents want the organization not to follow it. Approximately 15% employees disagree with the statement that CSR is essential while no one strongly disagree. So totally (20%+55%) 75% respondents declare that CSR is essential and Standard Chartered Bank emphasizes on it to sustain .So I can conclude that more than half of the employees think that CSR policy affects them and they consider it while planning their career. So Standard Chartered Bank should give emphasis on CSR to retain these employees and attract new employees to be preferred employer. So I can draw a conclusion that on an average 55% employee believe that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affect customer in taking decision about selection of the organization but 20% respondents disclaim it. So Standard Chartered Bank should continue CSR policy for betterment of the organization as well as society. From data analysis and findings, it was found that most of the customers were somewhat satisfied with the CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank. But it is also noticeable fact that most of them claim that Standard Chartered Bank should enlarge its CSR activities to meet the upcoming needs of the society.
It is tough enough to complete a thesis paper. It requires hard work and effort because all the requirements for preparing a thesis paper are not easily accessible and available. It needs vast knowledge and both primary and secondary data. I myself have studied some books related to CSR to increase knowledge and also have gone through some journals. Articles, website to take help. For primary data and information I conducted several (three) questionnaire surveys for managers, employees and customers of Standard Chartered Bank. Totally 21 questions were designed to get required data from three samples of 7, 20 and 25 respondents respectively. There are some limitations to finish this study. The primary and secondary data used in this paper are not so available in the relevant areas. There were some limitations regarding designing questionnaire. The questionnaire which was design to survey managers, employees and customer was tough enough and had to give much effort to collect data from them. There are some surprising results I have found from data analysis and findings areas of this study. Most noticeable fact is that almost every manager, employees and the customer claims that every business corporation should involve CSR policy in their operation at some extent. It is also found that most of the manager, employees and the customer think that CSR act as an effective promotional tool for the organization and thereby providing competitive advantage through creating social images. The topic CSR is now a buzzword in the modern world. It is very important topic and is closely related to my studies. This thesis paper has improved my field of knowledge. I also think that this paper will work as a useful resource for standard chartered bank. This paper will also be helpful for study in the field of CSR and related issues.
5.2 Recommendations
The purpose of this thesis was to justify whether corporate social responsibility is essential to sustain the modern competitive business world. To find this result a systematic approach has been followed. The questionnaire which was made to justify these statements was filled up by some important parties of Standard Chartered Bank namely Managers, employees and customer who are directly and indirectly related to the implementation of the CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank. From the questionnaire survey I wanted to know what these specific people think about CSR and its implementation in the Standard Chartered Bank. In response to the question these people provided important information regarding the current CSR condition of the world and the current situation of CSR activities of the Standard Chartered Bank. From this study I can conclude that the volume of CSR activities of the Standard Chartered Bank is somewhat satisfactory according to response of the respondent. The bank is also gaining competitive advantage by providing different value added services and maintaining CSR activities throughout the world. But as the world is getting harder and harder day by day this favorable situation will not remain in the future. Business strategy among different business houses are changing rapidly. So Standard Chartered Bank should adjust its CSR policies and programs according to the changing environment. So I find from this study, that though Standard Chartered Bank is enjoying competitive advantage through CSR policy, there still has some scope to do better. At the present Standard Chartered Bank should be very strategic. Now the customers are well-informed and they take wise decisions they are becoming educated. So I can recommend that Standard Chartered Bank should implement its CSR policy more effectively to maximize benefits for itself and society. Standard Chartered Bank should develop
appropriate separate regulatory body for implementation of CSR policy. It should create public awareness vastly about CSR activities and this public awareness will create social image for the bank. Standard Chartered Bank should also consider the betterment of the society. I can recommend that Standard Chartered Bank should manage the budget for CSR policy more effectively to produce maximum benefits. The bank has to be positively different somehow to stakeholders from competitors. To be different it has to develop strategic plan for its stockholders, managers, employees and customer. From this survey I found that most of the managers of the Standard Chartered Bank supported policy. Total (42.86%+42.86%) 85.72% managers think that in this very competitive business world, it is very important or essential to follow CSR policy to sustain. When the respondents (managers) were asked to tell that whether every business firm should follow CSR policy while conducting normal operation of the business or not .On an average 85.71 % respondents were in favor of the policy and 14.29% respondents were against the policy while o% respondent was neutral. So it can be concluded that most business managers claim that every business firm should follow CSR policy. So Standard Chartered Bank should emphasis on CSR policy at larger scale to satisfy theses managers and to retain them as they are key people of the organization Employees are most important part of an organization. Most of the business policy is implemented by them. So my survey covers the employees to a large extent. When the employees were asked to give their opinion about importance of CSR for an organization especially for the Standard Chartered Bank, impact of CSR on their career planning, and some other important issues such as role of CSR as an effective promotional tool and influence on creating employee loyalty, most of them responded in favor of CSR. So I recommend that Standard Chartered Bank should not only follow CSR policy but also increase it tremendously.
As Standard Chartered Bank is one of the largest and renowned banks in the world, it should be more careful to remain so and to do better. At the present customers are the main focuses of any business organization. For this reason I have conducted a separate survey for them to get feedback about CSR. Through this survey I have conducted 25 customer of the Standard Chartered Bank. Actually I have tried to find out how customers treat CSR policy. Through data analysis and finding I found that
most of them are very cautious about CSR policy. They are satisfied with CSR activities of the Standard Chartered Bank but they claim that Standard Chartered Bank should increase the volume of CSR activities and even they argue that every business firm should involve CSR policy. From this observation I can draw a conclusion that Standard Chartered Bank must widen its CSR activities to make these customers more royal and to attract new customer to sustain in the competitive and modern business world. I know that Standard Chartered Bank is performing its CSR activities in many sectors including sports, cultural activities, health purposes, education, agriculture and so many sectors. But as the business world is changing dramatically, so I specially recommend that the Standard Chartered Bank should modify its CSR policy to meet the current situation and to make its CSR budget on the basis of preferred sectors.
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Appendix 1
Questi on No. 1 2
Questions Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. How much do you agree with this statement? Does it really provide competitive advantage to your organization? Stakeholders prefer the organization which emphasizes on CSR policy. How much do you agree with this statement? Every business organization is ethically responsible. Specify your Yes-6 Strongl y Agree3 Yes-4 No-1 Agree3 Neutral0 Neutral0 Disagre e-1 Strongl y Disagr ee-0
No-2
Agree3
Agree4
Neutral1
Disagre e-0
opinion 6 7 Do you think that CSR policy overall profitability? Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool?
ee-0
Disagre e-0
Questi on No. 1
Questions Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. How much do you agree with this statement? Do you think that CSR affects employee career planning? Do you think that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affects customers choice? CSR policy increases the employee loyalty to organization. How much do you agree with this Yes -15 No-3 Neutral2 Neutral2 Disagr ee-3 Strongl y Disagr ee-0
Strongl y Agree-4
Agree11
Yes -12
No-3
Neutral5 Neutral5
Yes -11
No-4
Strongl y Agree-3
Agree-9
Neutral3
Disagr ee-4
statement? 6 Do you think that involvement of CSR reduces the efficiency of the organization? Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool? Yes -8 No-10 Neutral2
Yes -17
No-0
Neutral3
Questi on No. 1 2
Questions Do you know about CSR? Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? Did CSR policy of SCB affect your choice? What is your opinion about CSR of Standard Chartered Bank? Do you think that CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be increased? Yes -19 Yes -22 No-2 No-0 Neutral -4 Neutral -3
3 4
No-5 Good-13
No-0
6 7
How much CSR is important to you? CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be enlarged. Specify your opinion
Neutral -3 Neutral -3
Appendix 2
Q. 1 Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.2 CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. How much do you agree with this statement? a) Strongly agree disagree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) strongly
Q.3 Does it really provide competitive advantage to your organization? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.4 Stakeholders prefer the organization which emphasizes on CSR policy. How much do you agree with this statement?
b) Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree e) strongly
Q .5Every business organization is ethically responsible. Specify your opinion a) Strongly agree disagree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) strongly
Q.6 Do you think that CSR policy overall profitability? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q .7 Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q. 1 Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.2 CSR is essential to sustain in the competitive business world. How much do you agree with this statement? a) Strongly agree disagree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) strongly
Q.3 Do you think that CSR affects employee career planning? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.4 Do you think that CSR policy of Standard Chartered Bank affects customers choice?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Neutral
Q.5 CSR policy increases the employee loyalty to organization. How much do you agree with this statement? a) Strongly agree disagree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) strongly
Q.6 Do you think that involvement of CSR reduces the efficiency of the organization? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q .7 Do you think that CSR acts as an effective promotional tool? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q. 2 Do you think that every business firm should follow CSR policy? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.3 Did CSR policy of SCB affect your choice? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral d) Bad e) Very bad
Q.4What is your opinion about CSR of Standard Chartered Bank? a) Very good b) Good c) Neutral
Q. 5 Do you think that CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be increased? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral
Q.6 How much CSR is important to you? a) Most important b) Important c) Neutral d) Less important
Q.7 CSR activities of Standard Chartered Bank should be enlarged. Specify your opinion a) Strongly agree disagree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) strongly
References
1. Business Ethics BY A R Khan First Edition page 51-57 2. Business Research Method by Donald R. Cooper & Pamela S. Schindler 10 th edition 3. Management by Griffin 9th Edition page 97-102 4. Marketing Research by Naresh K. Malhotra 5. The future of business by Lawrence J Gitman Fifth Edition page 88-90 6. Human Research Management by Gary Dessler 11th edition 7. Strategic Management by Fred R. David 12th 8. Business communication and report writing by R C Sharma & Krishna Mohan 3rd edition 9. Essential of Business communication by Rajendra Pal & J. S Korlahalli 10.Carrol A S (Ed) Managing corporate social responsibility 1977 11.Social Responsibility of Business by Chairman Mukherjee
12.Towards Social Responsibility by Woodman J M & Kverdal 13.http://www.suite101.com/content/budgeting-for-corporate-socialresponsibility-a220513#ixzz0yUddk3x8 14. . http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10243.html 15. http://www.karmayog.org/csrothercompanies/csrothercompanies_7021.htm 16. . http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10243.html 17. http://www.karmayog.org/csrothercompanies/csrothercompanies_7021.htm 18. . http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july202004/spt9.asp 19. http://www.karmayog.org/CSR/ 20. http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10243.html 21. http://www.scribd.com/doc/3503656/Ekram-Kabirs-articles-on-Corporate-Social-
Responsibility-in-Bangladesh
22. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\17\story_17-2-2009_pg5_11 23. http://www.globalissues.org/article/723/corporate-social-responsibility 24. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/topics/socialresponsibility.html 25.http://www.suite101.com/reference/csr_performance 26. http://www.suite101.com/content/history-of-corporate-social-responsibilitya215966 27.History of Corporate Social Responsibility: Trace the Roots Between Corporate Citizenship and Economics http://www.suite101.com/content/history-of-corporate-social-responsibilitya215966#ixzz0yUYsHCVb 28.http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-understand-corporate-socialresponsibility-a272656#ixzz0yUcAlfWX