Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business (SRB), or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Ideally, CSR policy would function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its support to law, ethical standards, and international norms. Consequently, business would embrace responsibility for the impact of its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere, regardless of legality. Essentially, CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making, and the honoring of a triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.

The practice of CSR is much debated and criticized. Proponents argue that there is a strong business case for CSR, in that corporations benefit in multiple ways by operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short-term profits. Critics argue that CSR distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; others yet argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. Corporate Social Responsibility has been redefined throughout the years. However, it essentially is titled to aid to an organization's mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers.

Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment.

In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century, the demand for more ethical business processes and actions (known as ethicism) is increasing. Simultaneously, pressure is applied on industry to improve business ethics through new public initiatives and laws (e.g. higher UK road tax for higher-emission vehicles).

Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia, descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility charters). In some cases, corporations have re-branded their core values in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. BP's "beyond petroleum" environmental tilt).

The term "CSR" came in to common use in the early 1970s, after many multinational corporations formed, although it was seldom abbreviated. The term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization's activities have an impact, was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders as a result of an influential book by R Freeman in 1984.

ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR (currently a Draft International Standard). Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The UN has developed the Principles for Responsible Investment as guidelines for investing entities.

Decision Making

Nugroho J. Setiadi said that decision making is the process of integration which combines the knowledge to evaluate two or more alternative behaviors, and select one of them. The result of this integration process is an option, which is presented as a desire to behave cognitively. According to Schiffman and Kanuk Meanwhile, the decision is selecting an action from two or more alternative choice.
there are four points of view in analyzing consumer decision making, namely:
1. Economic Perspective
This view is to see consumers as people who make decisions rationally. This means that consumers should know all the alternative products available and should be able to make ratings of each alternative is specified, the views of the usefulness and disadvantages and should be able to identify the best alternative.

2. Passive Viewpoint
This view says that consumers are basically resigned to its own interests and passively accept the promotional efforts of marketers.

3. Cognitive Perspective
According to this view the consumer is always looking for information processing and evaluate information about products and outlets.

4. Emotional Perspective
This view emphasizes emotion as the main driver so that consumers buy a product.


Consumer Decision Making Model :
1. Input
Component inputs are external influences as a source of information about particular products and affect the value associated with the product., Attitudes and consumer behavior. The main input is the marketing mix activities and socio-cultural influences.

2. Process
Components of the process of how consumers make decisions. In order to understand the process, must be understood some concepts related to psychology. Araea psychology is the internal influences that affect consumer decision-making process. Internal influences are motivation, perception, learning, personality and attitude. The decision making process by a consumerism consists of three stages namely the introduction of requirements, pre-purchase search and evaluation of alternatives.

3. Output
Component output refers to two kinds of post-decision activities closely related to each other, namely:
• purchasing behavior: that makes two types of purchases that is, try and repeat purchases.
• post-purchase evaluation: the most important component of post-purchase made is a reduction in the uncertainty of the selection done.

Brand Equity

Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities associated with a brand, name, and symbol that add or subtract the value provided by a goods or services to the company or enterprise customers. Strong brand can already be certain to dominate the market, because the brand is the most valuable corporate asset, which can be used to predict survival.
According to David A. Aaker, there are four main elements of brand equity, namely:

Brand Awareness (brand awareness)
Brand awareness is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize, to recall a brand as part of a particular product category.

a. Top of Mind
Top of Mind describes the first brand that respondents remembered the first time called in question when asked about a product category.

b. Brand Recall
Brand Recall or admonishment back brand brands reflect what the respondent remembered after mentioning the brand was first mentioned.

c. Brand Recognition
Is the minimum level of brand awareness. This is important when a buyer choose a brand when purchasing.

d. Brand Unaware
Brand Unaware is the lowest level of brand awareness pyramid, where consumers are not aware of the existence of a brand.

Brand Association (brand association)
Brand Association is any impression that comes to mind someone related to her memory about a brand. Associations related to a brand is generally associated with a variety of the following:
a. Product attributes (product attribute)
b. Intangibles attributes (attributes intangible)
c. Customer's benefits (benefits to the customer)
d. Relative price (relative price)
e. Application (use)
f. User / customer (user / customer)
g. Celebrity / person (famous people / audience)
h. Life style / personality (lifestyle / personality)
i. Product class (class of products)
j. Competitors (competitors)
k. Country / geographic area (country / geographical area)

Perceived Brand Quality (impression of quality brand)
Perceived Brand Quality is the customer perception of quality or excellence of a product or service related to what is expected by the customer. Referring to the opinion of David A. Garvin, Perceived Quality dimension is divided into seven, namely:
a. Performance: involvement of the main operational characteristics.
b. Services: reflects the ability to provide service on these products.
c. Resilience: reflect the economic element of the product.
d. Reliability: consistency of performance that generated a product from one purchase to the next purchase.
e. Product Characteristics: additional parts of the product (feature).
f. Compliance with the specification: a view of the manufacturing process quality (no defects) in accordance with predetermined specifications and tested.
g. Results: The lead to the perceived quality involving six dimensions previously.

Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty is a measure of the customer relationship to a brand. A customer who is loyal to a brand will not easily move their purchases to other brands, no matter what happens with the brand.
The level of brand loyalty are as follows:
a. price-sensitive buyers (switcher)
b. buyers who are habits (habitual buyer)
c. buyers are satisfied (satisfied buyer)
d. buyers who love the brand (the brand liking)
e. buyers who commit (Committed buyer)

human's tooth in wild fish

VIVAnews - An angler in the United States absurdly surprised when the fish caught, even biting hard. He, of course, scream and after reviewed these fish-like teeth to bite humans.

As reported by web.orange.co.uk edition dated September 24, 2010, Frank Yarborough was fishing on Lake Wylie, South Carolina. Not long ago threw the hook, a fish bite the bait and get caught.

Frank absurdly excited because the fish are caught is really great. The color is dark and weighs about 5 pounds with nearly half a meter long. Yarborough suspect it is a catfish.

He also put his hand into the water to take fish. However, he felt shocked and screamed as loud as didigit human bite. After review it rada rare fish. Diamemiliki teeth such as incisors, molars, and fangs like a human. Unlike the fish in the lake in general.

Rare fish caught and taken home. Yarborough did not think to fry. Until now still stored in the refrigerator.

Biologists believe the fish can be raised in the exotic pools. Robert Stroud, a freshwater fishery biologist Department of Natural Resources in South Carolina, has confirmed the existence of the fish samples. Fish samples were sent to determine the type of fish species mysteriously.

WBTV Stroud said: "Maybe this fish is a species with pomfret, which allegedly originated from the Amazon River basin of South America is a very common type of fish in the ornamental fish .."

Pomfret is still a close relative with ferocious fish in the Amazon River, Piranha. Piranha is a fish species and non-native warm water of Lake Wylie.

Social Responsibility in Marketing

Most marketing organizations do not intentionally work in isolation from the rest of society. Instead they find that greater opportunity exists if the organization is visibly accessible and involved with the public. As we’ve seen, because marketing often operates as the “public face” of an organization, when issues arise between the public and the organization marketing is often at the center. In recent years the number and variety of issues raised by the public has increased. One reason for the increase is the growing perception that marketing organizations are not just sellers of product but also have an inherent responsibility to be more socially responsible, including being more responsible for its actions and more responsive in addressing social concerns.

Being socially responsible means an organization shows concern for the people and environment in which it transacts business. It also means that these values are communicated and enforced by everyone in the organization and, in some cases, with business partners, such as those who sell products to the company (e.g., supplier of raw material for product production) and those who help the company distribute and sell to other customers (e.g., retail stores).

In addition to insuring these values exist within the organization and its business partners, social responsibility may also manifest itself in the support of social causes that help society. For instance, marketers may sponsor charity events or produce cause-related advertising.

Marketers who are pursuing a socially responsible agenda should bear in mind that such efforts do not automatically translate into increased revenue or even an improved public image. However, organizations that consistently exhibit socially responsible tendencies may eventually gain a strong reputation that could pay dividends in the form of increased customer loyalty.

Social responsibility

Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that business should not function amorally but instead should contribute to the welfare of their communities and an entity whether it is a government, corporation, organization or individual has a big responsibility to society at large. This responsibility can be "negative", meaning there is exemption from blame or liability, or it can be "positive," meaning there is a responsibility to act beneficently (proactive stance).

Businesses can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. (Kaliski, 2001) For instance if a company is proactive and follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA) guidelines for emissions on dangerous pollutants and even goes an extra step to get involved in the community and address those concerns that the public might have; they would be less likely to have the EPA investigate them for environmental concerns. “A significant element of current thinking about privacy, however, stresses "self-regulation" rather than market or government mechanisms for protecting personal information” (Swire , 1997) Most rules and regulations are formed due to public outcry, if there is not outcry there often will be limited regulation.

Critics argue that Corporate social responsibility (CSR) distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; others argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2009).
Contents

* 1 Socially responsible
* 2 Emerging Normative Status of Social Responsibility
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links
* 6 Further reading

Socially responsible

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible (SRB), or corporate social performance,[1] is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Ideally, CSR policy would function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure their adherence to law, ethical standards, and international norms. Business would embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stockholders and all other members of the public sphere

For each business, different measures are taken in consideration to classify a business as "socially responsible". Each business attempts to reach different goals. There are four areas that should be measured regardless of the outcome needed: Economic function, Quality of life, Social investment and Problem solving.[1] that are trying to be achieved should be measured to see if it meets with the cost guidelines that the business is willing to contribute.

Emerging Normative Status of Social Responsibility

Social responsibility as a non-binding, or soft law principle has received some normative status in relation to private and public corporations in the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Universal Declation on Bioethics and Human Rights developed by the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee particularly in relation to child and maternal welfare.(Faunce and Nasu 2009) The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is developing an international standard to provide guidelines for adopting and disseminating social responsibility: ISO 26000 - Social Responsibility. Due for publication in 2010, this standard will "encourage voluntary commitment to social responsibility and will lead to common guidance on concepts, definitions and methods of evaluation." (ISO, 2009) The standard describes itself as a guide for dialogue and action, not a constraining or certifiable management standard.

Brand Concept part II

Brand identity

A product identity, or brand image are typically the attributes one associates with a brand, how the brand owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand - and by extension the branded company, organization, product or service. The brand owner will seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity. Effective brand names build a connection between the brand personality as it is perceived by the target audience and the actual product/service. The brand name should be conceptually on target with the product/service (what the company stands for). Furthermore, the brand name should be on target with the brand demographic.^[6] Typically, sustainable brand names are easy to remember, transcend trends and have positive connotations. Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand's differentiation from competitors.

Brand identity is what the owner wants to communicate to its potential consumers. However, over time, a product's brand identity may acquire (evolve), gaining new attributes from consumer perspective but not necessarily from the marketing communications an owner percolates to targeted consumers. Therefore, brand associations become handy to check the consumer's perception of the brand.^[7]

Brand identity needs to focus on authentic qualities - real characteristics of the value and brand promise being provided and sustained by organisational and/or production characteristics.^[8][9]

Visual Brand Identity

The visual brand identity manual for Mobil Oil (developed by Chermayeff & Geismar), one of the first visual identities to integrate logotype, icon, alphabet, color palette, and station architecture to create a comprehensive consumer brand experience.

The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual presentation. A brand’s visual identity is the overall look of its communications. Effective visual brand identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colors, and graphic elements. At the core of every brand identity is a brand mark, or logo. In the United States, brand identity and logo design naturally grew out of the Modernist movement in the 1950’s and greatly drew on the principles of that movement – simplicity (Mies van der Rohe’s principle of "Less is more") and geometric abstraction. These principles can be observed in the work of the pioneers of the practice of visual brand identity design, such as Paul Rand, Chermayeff & Geismar and Saul Bass.

Brand parity

Brand parity is the perception of the customers that all brands are equivalent.^[10]