In 2016, more and more business, both big and small are making the change towards fair trade products. Fair trade ‘is a social movement whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions and to promote sustainability.’ One of the biggest examples of a company that has adopted fair trade products is Starbucks Coffee, with fair-trade certified coffee beans, ensuring farmers can fair pay for their products.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to business practices which benefit society or promote sustainability. CSR has become a central theme amongst top companies and businesses around the world today. It is looked at as a fair and ideal situation in which all parties can benefit. This has been argued by many economists who claim that the primary role of a business is to maximize profits, regardless of how socially responsible the company is. However, I think that CSR can also work very greatly in the favor of companies as one of the major benefits is an improved brand image, which can lead to an increase in demand and sales revenue. Using Fair-trade certified products is a great way to promote CSR and improve a brand’s image as it provides all parties with different benefits.
I believe that CSR is an important topic in today’s context especially as consumer become more aware of global issues and are capable of understanding the repercussions of actions that are not sustainable, for example the rapid consumption of fossil fuels or extortion of labor prices in developing countries. Companies that act in a socially responsible manner are not only succeeding in a business context but are also contributing to society in a positive way.
In another student’s blog https://blogs.ubc.ca/ghardwickebrown/ they spoke about how business ‘take on climate change and social responsibility’ and also demonstrated how companies are adopted more socially responsible practices as a step in the right direction. Furthermore, in an external blog, http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html the author spoke about the importance of CSR and how it matters and presented a strong view point on the necessity of CSR which I agree with.
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Sources
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html
http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing/coffee
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/csr-rse.nsf/eng/home