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- Introduction to business,
- Management and leadership
- Three views of csr (corporate
What you will do ...
Module activities
- Examine the CSR challenges presented above. Compare the two responses to each challenge.
- Learn about three models of corporate social responsibility.
- Develop a fully articulated social contract between business and society. Use this contract to understand the basic CSRs of business corporations.
- Prepare a Social Impact Analysis on the fictional firm, Burger Man.
- Prepare for and participate in a board meeting for Burger Man to examine ethically its practices and develop for it a viable and sustainable program of corporate social responsibility. This requires that you give a short presentation on the interests of a particular Burger Man stakeholder
- Develop a full blown CSR program for Burger Man that carries out the responsibilities of this company to its stakeholders.
Burger man stakeholders
The author became aware of the Burger Man exercise when participating in an Ag-Sat broadcast course in Agricultural Ethics in 1992. The exercise was created by the leader of the course, Dr. Paul Thompson.
Burger man profile
Burger Man is a franchise that began by selling the fast food staples of hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. As the company has matured and faced other competitors in this market niche, it has, of course, developed a more sophisticated set of products and services. But it has also been challenged on various issues related to corporate social responsibility. Groups representing the rights and interests of animals have criticized the agribusiness methods used by its suppliers. Recently, public interest groups have blamed Burger Man and its competitors for encouraging unhealthy dietary habits among its customers and the public in general. Shareholders, of course, are concerned that the company continue to be profitable and provide them with a good return on investment. Governmental regulatory agencies such as the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) wish to hold Burger Man accountable for conforming to its regulations. In short there are several stakeholder groups surrounding this corporation, each vying for its particular interest. In this exercise, you will play two roles. First you will be assigned a role as one of Burger Man's stakeholders and make a presentation of your group's interest in mock shareholder meeting that will be held in class. Then you will switch to the role of Burger Man management. Here your assignment will be to articulate the different stakeholder interests and integrate them into a coherent CSR plan for your company.
Burger man customers
- Burger Man customers are the consumers who go to its restaurant and enjoy its food services. In preparing your board meeting presentation you need to explore Burger Man's social responsibilities to its customers.
- Are these reducible to providing them an enjoyable product at a reasonable price? Or does BM's social responsibilities go beyond this?
- Burger Man has extensive interactions with its suppliers that include meat packing corporations and agri-business concerns. How should Burger Man choose its suppliers? How carefully should it monitor their activities. To what extent is Burger Man responsible for the untoward activities of these groups?
- How responsible is Burger Man for shaping the dietary habits of its customers? Does it bear responsibility for the health problems that its public develops from bad dietary practices?
Source:
OpenStax, Introduction to business, management, and ethics. OpenStax CNX. Aug 14, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11959/1.4
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