Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Business - Essay Example The scope and extent of a company’s contribution towards social and environmental causes, almost guarantees successful results, which is why, every other company, today proudly flaunts its commitment towards such causes, in its annual reports. Are the companies today, actually environmentally and socially conscious or is it a desperate bid to gain consumers’ trust through deliberate green-washing? This paper seeks to delve deeper into this aspect of business, and seek answers to the critical issue of social and environmental commitment of multinational companies, their corporate agenda and the impact of the same on their stakeholders. For the purpose of this study, the case of The Body Shop will be explored and analyzed. Corporate Social Responsibility: Fact or Farce? Contemporary multinational organizations today are caught in the middle of a heated debate, surrounding the legitimacy and credibility of their claims regarding their social and environmental commitments. In the process, they are being pushed towards including broader public good will, and beyond their conventional commitment towards their shareholders. ... The Body Shop exemplifies one such situation, where the company seems to have got it right in the beginning, but over the years, ended up in controversies, putting the company on the pedestal, and forcing its management to justify its actions, with regard to its mission and values, which boasts of environmental and social commitment and broader public good (Rosenthal, 1994, Pp. 15 - 17). This brings up the question, whether corporate social responsibility can go hand in hand with the core corporate motive – that of maximizing profits; whether commitment to social and environmental causes and contribution towards society can co-exist along with commitment to the company’s stakeholders; and whether CSR is a farce or a fact? The same is discussed through the case of The Body Shop International Plc – a UK based multinational cosmetic brand, which boasts of its commitment towards the environment, via its ‘green’ and natural products and its contribution t owards social and environmental causes. The Body Shop International Plc. The Body shop is a world renowned British cosmetic retailing firm, founded in the year 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick, and having a strong international presence (The Body Shop, 2011). The company adopted an environmental strategy from the very beginning and showed a strong commitment towards green causes and social issues, thus ideally being an advocate of ‘green’ business and a portraying a model corporate social responsibility agenda (Dennis et al., 1998, Pp. 649-653). The company boasts of an impressive range of environmentally friendly / bio-degradable range of products; endorses recycling and over the years, have shown an active involvement in social and