1 Understand the characteristics of corporate social responsibility and sustainability
1.1 Discuss types of corporate social responsibility and sustainability activity
1.2 Analyse the range of stakeholders who have an interest in corporate responsibility and sustainability
1.3 Evaluate the impact of legal and regulatory requirements on a business, in respect of corporate social responsibility and sustainability
1.4 Examine ways in which corporate social responsibility and sustainability is managed
2 Understand the impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy on business performance
2.1 Evaluate the impact of stakeholders’ interests on corporate social responsibility and sustainability
2.2 Evaluate ways in which corporate social responsibility and sustainability requirements can be incorporated into the development of new products and services
2.3 Discuss how corporate social responsibility and sustainability requirements can affect business performance
3 Understand the strategic requirement for corporate social responsibility and sustainability
3.1 Explore the need for businesses to develop a corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy
3.2 Evaluate the social impacts business activities have on society
3.3 Evaluate the environmental impacts business activities have on society
4 Understand ethical approaches to leadership and management
4.1 Analyse the approaches businesses adopt at a strategic level when managing ethical issues
4.2 Evaluate the impact of an ethical approach to leadership and management on a business
4.3 Evaluate the impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability on leadership and management
Understand the characteristics of corporate social responsibility and sustainability
Sustainability: definition; types, e.g. social, ecological, economic, political; managing waste and recycling; using sustainable resources; reducing carbon footprint; improving work activities and production processes; reducing pollution; climate change; monitoring impact of activities; identifying improvements
Corporate social responsibility: definition, e.g. how organisations integrate social and environmental concerns into business operations; corporate governance; stakeholder and community engagement; human rights; green initiatives; importance of ethical codes of practice, e.g. in sales and marketing, intellectual property; role and responsibility of managers, e.g. energy awareness training, publishing initiatives, targets and results
Stakeholders: primary stakeholders; secondary stakeholders; key stakeholders; owners, e.g. proprietors, partners, shareholders; government (international, national, regional, local); employees; internal and external customers; suppliers; community organisations; pressure groups, e.g. Friends of the Earth, Consumers’ Association; trades unions; investors, e.g. banks, venture capital providers, debenture holders; importance of stakeholders; roles; responsibilities; interests; concerns; influence of stakeholders on organisations
Environmental legislation: EU legislation; UK legislation; environmental protection (air, environmental permitting, land, waste, water, chemicals); noise and nuisance; climate change; energy conservation (the most up-to-date legislation covering these issues must be used); Environmental standards: ISO14001; Eco-Management Audit System (EMAS), Energy Efficiency Scheme; integration of standards with wider management systems
Management: focus of mission statements; objectives linked to sustainability and social responsibility; implementing sustainability policies and procedures; embedding sustainability across all organisational functions; measuring progress towards sustainability goals; presenting information and progress to stakeholders; defining responsibility and accountable
2 Understand the impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy on business performance
Impact of shareholders interest: primary stakeholders will be interested in the organisation performance, their work activities, conduct and reputation; secondary stakeholders can indirectly affect the organisation by preventing the organisation from succeeding or by supporting the organisation’s efforts; corporate actions made only be in the interests of some stakeholders; pressure from different stakeholders which forces organisation to take action; corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategy are positively accepted when they are in the interests of stakeholders; there may be a conflicts of interest between stakeholder groups e.g. shareholders versus environmentalists.
Development of new productsservice: integrate sustainability into all aspects of the product development cycle; production e.g. reduction in the energy and water used, raw materials, reduce waste products, less packaging, marketing activities; purchasing, e.g. rating for equipment, suppliers, with similar sustainability and social responsibility policies, repair and reuse equipment.
Business performance: sustainability can be driver for innovation, growth; impact on financial performance e.g. shareholder value, revenue, market share; impact on non-financial performance such as saving energy, reducing waste; employee and customer satisfaction; companies not involved in corporate social responsibility and sustainability activities may be unattractive to customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders; the cost of allocating resources to incorporate and report on corporate social responsibility and sustainability activities; costs incurred for promoting and providing information to stakeholders; customer perceptions will impact on sale, revenue, profits; competitive advantages of being seen as a corporate social responsibility organisation; the approaches to measure the impact on performance
3 Understand the strategic requirement for corporate social responsibility and sustainability
Strategy: strategy will show the commitment made to corporate social responsibility and sustainability; summaries the actions to be taken towards operating in a socially responsible manner; identifies whether operations are ethical; identifies, positive behaviour towards the community and environment; positive impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability e.g. performance, image, may attract more investors, fall in overheads, stakeholders perception; improved image will attract more customers and sales which impact on profits; critics of corporate social responsibility and sustainability; customers will react more to negative corporate social responsibility efforts; if marketing is seen as false the organisation may lose loyalty, trust; the ability to measure the impact of non-financial activities
Social impact on society: business decisions influence employees, customers, suppliers and competitors; operations which affect communities, destroy lives, destroys a way of life; implementation of social goals; labour practices e.g. child labour; impact on human rights and labour relations; fair wages and working conditions; equality and diversity policies and procedures; negative impact on society e.g. accounting fraud, breaking regulatory or legal constraints, false advertising, discriminating activities
Environmental impact on society: pollution; climate change; responsible managing of waste and recycling; biodiversity; using sustainable resources; reducing carbon footprint; improving work activities and production processes; methods of reducing impact on the environment and the use of natural resources
Impact of issues: legal compliance and statutory duties; loss of reputation, poor publicity; types of damage; methods for minimising impact of damage; corrective actions; monitoring impact of activities; identifying improvements
4 Understand ethical approaches to leadership and management
Ethical issues: corporate governance; corporate social responsibility; sustainability; human rights and discrimination; corruption; trading fairly; legal and regulatory compliance; business practices; production e.g. animal testing, genetically modified foodstuffs, planned obsolescence; sales and marketing, e.g. spamming, product placement, green washing; finance, e.g. bribery, executive pay, insider trading, lobbying
Business approaches: adapting business behaviour; implementing codes of ethics; responding to ethical pressures; implementing ethical practices; influence of stakeholders and pressure groups; ethics embedded in business models, organisational strategy and decision making processes; utilising staff with appropriate skills to scrutinise performance and strategies; appropriateness of the adopted approach
Impact of ethical approach on a business: benefits from demonstrating high ethical standards; reputation, ethical policies can add value to brands and corporate reputation; public image; ethical trade; value added; impact on competitiveness; complying with relevant legislation and codes of practice e.g. UK law, EU law; UN Declaration on Human Rights
Impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability on leadership and management: senior managers and leaders must demonstrate total support for corporate social responsibility and sustainability processes; commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability; corporate social responsibility and sustainability incorporated and defined in mission statement and objectives; need to produce and implement new policies and procedures; analysing operations to ensure they satisfy social responsibility and sustainability policies; implementing staff training and awareness; implementing procedures which measure the impact of corporate social responsibility and sustainability processes
