business strategy

Order Description

Background
Corporate social responsibility (CRS) otherwise referred to as corporate social performance or sustainable responsible business is a form of corporate self-regulation

which is usually integrated in a business model (Baumann-Pauly et al. 2013). In the modern business world, CRS strives to explicate and clarify uncorrelated and

correlated issues specifically pertinent to environmental and social interests and welfare. While doing this, businesses consider the benefits and the financial

interests of the stakeholders (Crane et al. 2013). Responsibility is now focused on obligation and accountability. Accordingly the issue of business ethics has brought

about the arena of CSR. Some of the issues allied with CRS include corporate social marketing, global citizenship, corporate responsibility, community development,

community affairs, community relations, corporate community involvement, corporate giving, corporate philanthropy and corporate citizenship (Carroll & Buchholtz 2014).

CSR affects the manner in which the business strives to balance environmental, social and economic imperatives. Therefore, CSR involves an execution of a well planned

strategy.

Aim
Advancement in technology has intensified globalization. This has enabled business to operate in more than one country leading to international businesses.

Accordingly, in this competitive world and harsh economic times, most companies are going international with the aim of diversifying their markets. Subsequently, when

they operate in different countries, they are regulated by different governments (Scherer & Palazzo 2011). This means that businesses may have to alter some of the

activities to comply with the regulations of the respective governments. Corporate social responsibility is becoming obligatory (Lima & Tsutsuia 2012). Consequently,

the study aims at establishing how a business can ensure CRS in the global business arena.

Objectives
• To establish the effect of globalization on corporate social responsibility
• To determine the strategies used by international businesses to select CSR activities for each country they operate in
• To identify factors that promote CSR in the global arena
• To establish factors which impede countries from exercising their CSR strategies
• To evaluate the effect of exercising CSR on international businesses

Rationale
The project will establish how companies can be able to exercise CSR in the global market. This is helpful considering the positive effect of CSR. Adoption of CSR

enhances innovation, saves costs, helps in brand differentiation and creates an avenue for customer engagement. However, to benefit from this, a lot of thinking has to

go into the process (Torres et al., 2012). The fact that CSR has to be exercised in a global market makes it even more complicated. Conversely, the research will

provide information on what needs to be done. This information will be important for all businesses operating in the global arena and those that wish to go global.

Methods
This study will be a survey that will collect information from five international companies. Information will be collected from strategic management personnel of these

companies. The researcher will consider companies that have made it in the global arena like KMPG among others to establish the strategies they have used. Accordingly,

the researcher will list all these companies and assign them numbers. Through randomization, the researcher will pick five. Subsequently, the five companies will be

reached through email and phone calls. Only those which accept to take part in the study will be considered. In case any of the five companies declines, the researcher

will pick another number until a sample size of five companies is attained. The project will use interviews and questionnaires to gather data. Questionnaires will be

emailed to the strategic management personnel. Interviews will be held with the strategic managers for more information and clarifications.

Bibliography
Baumann-Pauly, D Wickert, C Spence, L & Scherer, A 2013, “Organizing Corporate Social Responsibility in Small and Large Firms: Size Matters” Journal of Business

Ethics,vol 115, no.4, pp. 693-705.
Carroll, A & Buchholtz, A 2014, Business and Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management, Starmford, CT, Cengage Learning.
Crane, A Matten, D & Spence, L 2013, Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context, Abingdon, Routledge.
Lima, A & Tsutsuia, K 2012, “Globalization and Commitment in Corporate Social Responsibility: Cross-National Analyses of Institutional and Political-Economy Effects,”

American Socialogical Review, vol.77, no.1, pp. 69-98.
Scherer, A. & Palazzo, G 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 Democracy,” Journal of Management Studies, vol.48, no.4, pp. 899-931.
Torres, A Bijmolt, T Tribo, J & Verhoer, P 2012, “Generating global brand equity through corporate social responsibility to key stakeholders,” International Journal of

Research in Marketing, vol.29, no.1, pp. 13-24.

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business strategy

Order Description
MAN-30048 Business Strategy Sem 1 15/16
Assignment options
Choose ONE of the options below:
a) Mintzberg (1987) likens strategy in an organisation to personality in an individual. Consider why this might be, and any implications for our understanding of strategy, with reference to The Strategy Concept parts I and II and a maximum of TWO other relevant concepts introduced on the module.

b) Analyse the strategy of a company of your choice from the perspective of any ONE or TWO of the models or concepts introduced in lectures.
You are required to submit one hard copy and one soft copy (via the Turnitin drop-box in the KLE) by 1pm Monday 23rd November (see Module Guide – also on the KLE – for full details). You must include the Turnitin reference number on your hard copy cover sheet.
The word count target is 2000 (+/- 10%, excluding your references list and any appendices).
Proper and full Harvard referencing is essential.
Question-specific advice
a) These two articles were covered in Lecture 1, but you may find that the ideas resonate with other concepts introduced in subsequent sessions. Make sure that you are explicitly answering the question, not simply reproducing or paraphrasing Mintzberg’s work. Do your best to show that you understand what he is saying by – for instance – evaluating it (is it a good or bad idea, how useful is it, does it really help us to understand the nature of strategy?…) or pointing out any similarities you see with other ideas on the module.
Note: the inclusion of additional concepts is optional, it is entirely acceptable to concentrate your discussion solely on the Strategy Concept articles – this will give you the opportunity to achieve greater depth, whilst the addition of other concepts allows for comparison. Both approaches are valid: ‘different, but equal’.
If in doubt, discuss with me!
b) This is an opportunity to examine a real company of your choice and research their strategy with specific reference to your chosen topic(s).

If you choose one of the companies or industries examined in tutorials, you will of course be expected to use much more than just the case study material!
I strongly suggest that you start by choosing a company in which you are personally interested, and ask yourself the following questions to get you started:
• Can I find sufficient information about this company?
o Company reports?
o Academic sources?
o Quality media sources
• Do they explicitly state what their strategy is?
o If they do, do you agree that it is appropriate, and why?
o Do they appear to be doing what they claim to be doing?
o If they do not, why not?
• What are independent sources (academic, media…) saying about them? (See below).
Based on the above, you can then choose the model(s) and/or framework(s) you consider most appropriate to help you examine their strategy.
I suggest you start by reading the Chairman’s and Chief Executive’s statements in the company annual report (if appropriate and available). There is no need to read the entire report, the statements above (often referred to as ‘letter to shareholders’ or ‘Chairman’s report’) should be adequate, unless you need more detail in specific areas such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports etc. You might also like to look back at previous years’ reports – is their strategy consistent, or has it changed. Why?
I also suggest that you look at quality media such as good newspapers (eg the Financial Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian) and periodicals (such as The Economist). Access to their sites (which are searchable) is free via the Library electronic sources.
Beware! You will find many ready-made answers to this kind of question on the Web, particularly on sites such as scribd, ivythesis and studymode. Do not be tempted to use them! Use only legitimate academic sources, quality newspapers, periodicals and media, and material taken from your chosen company itself – particularly the Annual Reports where available.
As always, if you have any concerns or need clarification of what is required, please ask me! Consultation hours 11-1 Mondays, or you can book an appointment: [email protected].

business strategy

Order Description
MAN-30048 Business Strategy Sem 1 15/16
Assignment options
Choose ONE of the options below:
a) Mintzberg (1987) likens strategy in an organisation to personality in an individual. Consider why this might be, and any implications for our understanding of strategy, with reference to The Strategy Concept parts I and II and a maximum of TWO other relevant concepts introduced on the module.

b) Analyse the strategy of a company of your choice from the perspective of any ONE or TWO of the models or concepts introduced in lectures.
You are required to submit one hard copy and one soft copy (via the Turnitin drop-box in the KLE) by 1pm Monday 23rd November (see Module Guide – also on the KLE – for full details). You must include the Turnitin reference number on your hard copy cover sheet.
The word count target is 2000 (+/- 10%, excluding your references list and any appendices).
Proper and full Harvard referencing is essential.
Question-specific advice
a) These two articles were covered in Lecture 1, but you may find that the ideas resonate with other concepts introduced in subsequent sessions. Make sure that you are explicitly answering the question, not simply reproducing or paraphrasing Mintzberg’s work. Do your best to show that you understand what he is saying by – for instance – evaluating it (is it a good or bad idea, how useful is it, does it really help us to understand the nature of strategy?…) or pointing out any similarities you see with other ideas on the module.
Note: the inclusion of additional concepts is optional, it is entirely acceptable to concentrate your discussion solely on the Strategy Concept articles – this will give you the opportunity to achieve greater depth, whilst the addition of other concepts allows for comparison. Both approaches are valid: ‘different, but equal’.
If in doubt, discuss with me!
b) This is an opportunity to examine a real company of your choice and research their strategy with specific reference to your chosen topic(s).

If you choose one of the companies or industries examined in tutorials, you will of course be expected to use much more than just the case study material!
I strongly suggest that you start by choosing a company in which you are personally interested, and ask yourself the following questions to get you started:
• Can I find sufficient information about this company?
o Company reports?
o Academic sources?
o Quality media sources
• Do they explicitly state what their strategy is?
o If they do, do you agree that it is appropriate, and why?
o Do they appear to be doing what they claim to be doing?
o If they do not, why not?
• What are independent sources (academic, media…) saying about them? (See below).
Based on the above, you can then choose the model(s) and/or framework(s) you consider most appropriate to help you examine their strategy.
I suggest you start by reading the Chairman’s and Chief Executive’s statements in the company annual report (if appropriate and available). There is no need to read the entire report, the statements above (often referred to as ‘letter to shareholders’ or ‘Chairman’s report’) should be adequate, unless you need more detail in specific areas such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports etc. You might also like to look back at previous years’ reports – is their strategy consistent, or has it changed. Why?
I also suggest that you look at quality media such as good newspapers (eg the Financial Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian) and periodicals (such as The Economist). Access to their sites (which are searchable) is free via the Library electronic sources.
Beware! You will find many ready-made answers to this kind of question on the Web, particularly on sites such as scribd, ivythesis and studymode. Do not be tempted to use them! Use only legitimate academic sources, quality newspapers, periodicals and media, and material taken from your chosen company itself – particularly the Annual Reports where available.
As always, if you have any concerns or need clarification of what is required, please ask me! Consultation hours 11-1 Mondays, or you can book an appointment: [email protected].