This is an evaluation of the articles, based on your own analysis, and supported by relevant academic literature. You need to demonstrate your understanding of the texts by explaining their central arguments in broader context (which will require some further reading) and describing, with supporting evidence, the strengths and weaknesses of the articles. You need to conclude by explaining which arguments you most agree with and why. Your review should follow a standard essay format of introduction, body, and conclusion and should use formal academic language and referencing conventions. You must write in full sentences NO bullet points. You need to use at least three academic peerreviewed references beyond the two prescribed texts and the other course material. The two texts you need to review are: Rasche, A., Morsing, M., Moon, J. (2017). Corporate social responsibility: Strategy, communication, governanceLinks to an external site.. New York; Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1. Rhodes, C. (2021). Why progressive gestures from big business aren’t just useless – they’re dangerous Links to an external site.. The Guardian, Oct 28. 2021.
RMIT Classification: Trusted GLOBAL CORPORATE RESPONSIBILTY ASSESSMENT 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Name of the tutor: Mr Thanapat Time: 11h30 Tutorial Day: Wednesday Date of 24 July 2022 submission: (Excluding cover sheet, reference list, tables and Checklist Number of words: 1100 figures) DECLARATION AND STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hold a copy of this work which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged This work is my original work and no part of it has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made No part of this work has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned I have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit I give permission for this work to be reproduced, communicated, compared and archived for the purpose of detecting plagiarism I give permission for a copy of my/our marked work to be retained by the school for review and comparison, including review by external examiners I understand that: Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is my own It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the University Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, RMIT Classification: Trusted written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral presentations Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited Plagiarism includes the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarise or to copy my work I INTRODUCTION Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important concept in the last few decades, which refers to businesses’ responsibility toward society and the environment within the scope of the legislation This essay is going to discuss the CSR concepts, theories, and how they perform in different contexts based on reviewing both authors’ viewpoints on required texts Firstly, this essay desires to summarize their core arguments and contributed theories Subsequently, this paper purports to clarify and explain the personal understanding of both texts by clarifying their focal arguments with supporting evidence on similarities and differences analysis of those articles Finally, eventually interpreting which reasonable arguments the writer most concurs II MAIN SECTIONS Article summary (Rasche et al 2017) This chapter pointed out many CSR concepts against the background of the changing roles and responsibilities of corporations corresponding to significant social transformation and trends in globalization CSR changes in businesses are determined through many social aspects The paper provided an overview of how globalization has essentially influenced CSR, which primarily increasingly struggles with governments to address social or environmental problems, and to regulate the operations of multinational businesses since sometimes those operations reach beyond single state boundaries It outlined different approaches to framing CSR in an accurate conceptual definition due to its ambiguity when CSR will be performed differently for different groups of stakeholders to serve their all interests Thus, there exist many disagreements about what exactly CSR includes CSR perspectives were distinguished into five main conceptualizations clusters, including RMIT Classification: Trusted normative, integrative, instrumental, political, and emergent perspectives It’s crucial to understand that a lack of CSR doesn't guarantee corporate irresponsibility There is no evidence to suppose lack of explicit CSR strategies and practices, corporations may show their irresponsible behaviors The paper also discussed CSR overlap many other concepts such as corporate sustainability, corporate citizenship, and business ethics but they are still significantly distinguished Many engage in CSR mostly due to the ‘business case’ Some corporations are motivated to prepare CSR commitment and practices due to the belief in positive impacts of CSR on their profits However, adopting CSR is not directly relevant to financial gains but CSR engagement can enhance the value driver such as revenue growth, productivity improvements, and minimization, which straightforwardly drive the financial benefits for companies Another way, some firms including MNCs, SMEs, and family-owned businesses likely engage in CSR as it is simply the right thing to need (moral case) Finally, this chapter provided three conceptual frameworks to study CSR: strategy, communication, and governance Article summary (Rhodes 2021) This article discusses when large organizations make progressive gestures in response to social and environmental crises and the corresponding long-term impacts might have on political systems It pointed out a diversion that multinational corporations are becoming too politically influential in society and argued that capitalism exists that seems to pose a threat to social development sustainability This article starts to show superficiality and irresponsibility performances of the Australian government for clarifying their roles and responsibilities against their every claim and operation towards society and the environment, which is against the CSR theory Most dangerously, many supported these behaviors Many corporations desire to meddle in politics, but in a different way when they publicly encourage “progressive” political causes Their behaviors are more environmentally and socially responsible toward their business decisions, which are dedicated radically to all “stakeholders”, now not just for shareholder primacy, and their self-interest However, from a negative angle, corporations actively show their gestures in support of progressive causes just RMIT Classification: Trusted for investment; they aim to attract progressive customers, limit public pressure, and occupy public sentiments for marketing to advance their image and position Rhodes (2021) argued that corporations muscled to take over political power by lobbying the government to influence policy, straightforwardly subsidizing political drives, and participating with citizens on issues of public concern, but finally mainly for businesses’ self-interest MNCs think they have rights and responsibilities to outline the world's moral and political agendas and address CSR problems because they judge the government is unable and unwilling to fulfill roles without their leadership following Political perspective and likely to turn them into political actors according to PCSR theory Nevertheless, it is a paradox that corporate contributions were tiny in CSR problem-solving inverse to what they promise Two articles comparison a Similarities Both required articles mention CSR performances and behaviors of corporations in reaction to environmental and social problems reactions in global circumstances Article acknowledges corporations' significant contribution (CSR approaches) to solving global critically social and environmental problems, and Article informs some businesses are publicly supporting positive progressive political causes More specifically, both articles mention Political Perspectives in CSR research which implicated that multinational corporations have freedoms to the democratic governance of business leading and participate in self-regulation when the government is unable or unwilling to fulfill their gaps legally Both articles agree on the negative consequences of PCSR implementation of MNCs in globalization that some states have withdrawn from many areas where they traditionally have regulatory monopolies, bolsters the private corporations' political power, and weakens government authority Big politically influenced MNCs can easily stimulate public debate and escape from government regulation to pursue economic profits Two articles acknowledge promoting CSR as an opportunity to promote operative elements to exploit financial benefits, CSR is related indirectly to businesses’ profits b Differences RMIT Classification: Trusted Rasch et al (Article 1) discuss more CSR concepts through many perspectives and provide abundant relevant CSR theories for examination The authors expand their CSR concept study scope by overviewing CSR performances through many different perspectives, including Normative, Integrative, Instrumental, Political, and Emergent perspectives Article reaches CSR definitions research which highlights CSR performs differently for different stakeholders CSR can be defined by many different approaches which mainly remark integration of enterprises’ responsibilities towards society to satisfy all relevant stakeholders CSR changes over time corresponding to contemporary trends worldwide inducing many state regulations to change to regulate international corporations properly Otherwise, the second article focuses on PCSR application from the Political perspective Rhode mostly discusses the methods by which many MNCs take political responsibility to engage in environmental and social solving-problems and gain politically influenced power The flip side of MNCs’ performance starts to turn into positive progressive gestures in CSR are increasing their public political influence, marketing, and negotiating power with the government to facilitate their operations Finally, there exists ineffectiveness of PCSR toward society by the way they aim to exploit political power for their self-interests Arguments Personally, the first most convincing argument derived from Article (Rasche et al 2017), is that defining exactly what is CSR in the global context is complicated due to the nature and specific contexts of each CSR problem CSR involves a wide variety of stakeholders; thus, the business’s CSR has to carefully evaluate different stakeholders’ interests to perform properly for different stakeholder groups (Freeman 1984) The stakeholder perspective of CSR is more intricate due to the inconsistency of stakeholder levels For instance, Shareholders might decipher CSR regarding profit maximization States might see CSR as legislative compliance and guaranteeing safe goods and working conditions For consumers, CSR implies delivering high-quality products at competitive prices (Donaldson & Preston 1995) That makes CSR more intricate due to the inconsistency of stakeholder levels Hence, corporations need to flexibly apply CSR concepts to each issue and express appropriate RMIT Classification: Trusted responsibilities to satisfy stakeholders (Matten & Moon 2008) Moreover, CSR is intimately involved in highly complex dynamic systems in environmental, social, philanthropic, and financial sectors, thus, there will be different CSR defining ways in different areas (Sheehy 2015) Secondly, the other argument I approve of is the critical analysis of contradictory consequences of PCSR of big corporations (MNCs), mainly in second article PCSR entails the business’ responsibility to engage in self-regulation to fulfill government gaps legally These behaviors carried a positive but dark angel In the globalization era, many MNCs become excessively powerful actors across different nations, and challenge states to regulate prompting inadequate regulatory forces of government on MNCs, accordingly, they could escape from strict regulation or negotiate with states and induce them to consider their race Thus, it is permitted for MNCs to exploit political roles to achieve profitability while leaving their liabilities regarding environment and social issues (Andreas & Guido 2011) III CONCLUSION Overall, the two articles discuss business CSR performance for sustainable development of environment and society from different perspectives; also place attention on Political perspective (Article 2) By similar and different CSR concepts analysis, they empathize the importance of all stakeholders evaluating in CSR and ensure show responsibilities to serve all stakeholder's interests Besides, there is a warning of negative consequences of using PCSR of some MNCs in the global context Additionally, it is convincing for Rasche et al to examine CSR concept from multidimensional views; define and approach CSR through many aspects Besides, Rhode argues in his study of the gaps of PCSR existing in globalization towards acting sustainably towards society and the environment IV REFERENCES Andreas & Guido (2011) ‘The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and RMIT Classification: Trusted Democracy’, Journal of Management Studies, accessed 23 July 2022 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00950.x Donaldson T and Preston L.E (1995) ’The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications, The Academy of Management Review, 20(1):65-91, accessed 23 July 2022 https://www.jstor.org/stable/258887#metadata_info_tab_contents Freeman R.E (1984) ‘Strategic management: A stakeholder approach’, Boston: Pitman Matten D and Moon J (2008) ‘“Implicit" and "Explicit" CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility’, The Academy of Management Review, 33(2):404-424, accessed 19 July 2022 https://www-jstor- org.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/stable/20159405?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents Sheehy B (2015) ‘Defining CSR: Problems and Solutions’, Journal of Business Ethics, 131(3):625-648, accessed 24 July 2022 https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/stable/ 24703631?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents