Role Of Corporate Social Responsibility In Malaysia

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility reflects the benefits corporations provide to local communities, the country as well as the environment in general. Globalisation has caused an increase in pressure on companies as well as their employees to act responsibly in and outside of the office. Companies will benefit in the sense that customers will be more loyal to them, locals will be more tolerant and cooperative, employees will be happy, output improves as well as reducing the risk of hazards and accidents that affect the natural ecosystem (Idowu and Towler 2004). Corporate social responsibility is employed by companies as a means to get closer and to repay their staff as well as the community as a whole. Corporate social responsibility

This is in line with the “vision 2020” plan that was developed in year 1991. One of the main goals of vision 2020 is to create a society that is not only economically well to do but also concerned about their actions and ethics towards others (Mohammad 1991). To achieve this, corporate social responsibility plays an important role in the business sector that has been earmarked as one of the key factors that can improve the country’s economy as well as benefit Malaysian’s lives at the same time (Mohammad 1991). This means that local companies have to find a customer base abroad especially in western countries as they have more spending power and this in turn will help our country’s economy grow and one of the ways of attracting these potential customers is by having a good corporate social responsibility track record.

2.3 CSR activities normally involve NGO’s and thus help with their growth Besides government bodies, non-government organizations as well as the media have played an important role on matters such as pollution, product safety, health hazards as well as discrimination against the handicapped. In order to promote corporate social responsibility such as good ethics and integrity in corporations, the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (MII) was established under the National Integrity Plan in 2004. According to “Bursa Malaysia”, non-government organizations have been

Brand image management is a very important factor in a company’s marketing strategy and makes their products identifiable to customer’s requirements via their brand name and image. For example, Starbucks applies corporate social responsibility by launching their “Starbucks Love Project” where the company highlights the importance of pollution reduction from the root starting from their coffee plantations. In this way, the corporate social responsibility activities carried out by Starbucks raises awareness and this in turn promotes the brand name and helps them gain loyal customers who would like to contribute to this