Corporate Social Responsibility of Multinational Corporations

Abstract

Corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are becoming increasingly important in today's business world. Companies should care about their stakeholders' interests but at the same time, they should place more emphasis on other areas apart from solely profits making. Most people used to think that businesses are taking advantages from consumers. Nonetheless, nowadays stakeholders are not only concern about profits; they are more interested in company regarding various economic, environmental, ethical, governance, and social aspects, since these factors significantly affect the fate of the company in long term. Research has proven that there is a competitive advantage for corporations that have a higher reputation and are more socially responsible in their CSR program. Many multinational companies such as Starbucks, the Body Shop, and Microsoft, establish well-developed code of conduct; they also strive to achieve some social missions in order to do businesses ethically, minimize negative environmental impacts, raise public attention on certain issues, raise funds and donations, increase employees' job satisfaction, and more. The thesis will further demonstrate the significance of CSR and explore what companies have done to contribute to the world by comparing Apple and Microsoft, two well-known multinational corporations in the information technology industry.