For
Business Research Methods
Submitted to, Submitted By,
Dr. Gunjan Malhotra Shrirang Jadhav (09FT-064)
Mohd Afroze Ali (09FT-085)
Mohd Asif (09FT-086)
Nitesh Bhagchandani (09FT-185)
Table Of Contents
Abstract: 3 Keywords : 3 Introduction: 3 Literature Review: 6 Research Gaps: 8 Objective: 8 Research questions: 8 Research Hypothesis: 8 Methodology: 8 Discussion and observation: 9 Conclusion: 22 Bibliography: 23 Questionnaire: 25
Abstract:
Problem - In today’s society, there is a growing interest in, and demand for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Reasons for this can be multinational corporations’ increasing influence on world economy as well as scandals revealing horrible working conditions in different industries. In spite of the fact that the demand for CSR is growing, there has always been critics. The most influential critic is Noble Prize winner Milton Friedman, who claims CSR to be a waste of stockholders’ money. However, several articles claim, opposite Friedman, that CSR rather increases a company’s financial performance in the long run. These claims have made us curious about in what way CSR is related to a company’s performance. Moreover, it has led to us wanting to find out how CSR can influence customer perceptions on a product or service offering.
Conclusions –All the initiatives gave a positive influence on the respondents’ perceptions, but the ones resulting in the most positive changes of the perceptions and willingness to buy were social responsible business practises, cause-related marketing and corporate philanthropy, which are initiatives where the company are doing the largest effort instead of just encouraging others to make an effort. The respondents answered that they trust the companies’ information about CSR to some extent, but also think a third party should scrutinise the companies’ activities and inform.
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