BUS2108 Global Business Environment

Question No 1

Over the few times, the Adidas sportswear giant is having issues with its labor force. The company made several announcements in the shape of promise to their black-skinned employees. The company promised that they would recruit and hire 30% of the black-skinned employee. The company declared that it would provide the funds to the scholarship of 50 universities for a year for the black-skinned students in the duration of the next 5 years (Pedersen, 2015). The company was agreed to the matter of expanding their funds to $120 million during the next 5year period for the charity programs which raises issues like racial discrimination. Due to the company’s failure in diversity management the head of the global human resource department of the sportswear and shorts shoe company Adidas resigned. The head was criticized from the employees’ viewpoint. The employees were pushing the company to make an apology as a form of treatment for the problem that some executives of the company Adidas have problem with the fact of discrimination and racism. But the company posted an official statement on the social media of Instagram saying that the company would not stand without the help of black-skinned artists, black-skinned athletes, black-skinned consumers, and black-skinned employees. The commotion inside the company began when several black-skinned employees and their supporters were demotivated and frustrated by the company’s response in the public. The commotion started at the head office of Adidas in Germany. Even supporting such discrimination fact, the employees stopped operating and they went out to the regular schedule of protest which took place in the outside of the company in the head office of the northern part of America in ore, Poland. Like such instances can be pulled out in the context of obstacles of an international firm like Adidas which can be experienced with the labor force. The company also faces problems in dealing with different types of customers having different tastes and preferences for the product brands (McWilliams, 2015). The company sometimes does not interact with the manufacturer and the retailers and thus misses out on the chance of knowing the customer feedback. The company does not take surveys from customers all over the world which hampers the reputation of the company locally and internationally. The company also faces obstacles in fulfilling the design requirements and comfort requirements of the customers and that leads to customer dissatisfaction. Communication between the stakeholders and the company is a vital necessity for the company and there needs to be harmony between the two. If the communication is hampered then the relation can get complex between the stakeholders and the company. The company always try communicate with the company through E-mail, company letters, and direct calling. The company always tries to convey the stakeholders with transparency and hard work. Sometimes the stakeholders don’t agree with the decisions taken by the company which hampers the objectivity and goal of the company.

Question No 2

Corporate social responsibility refers to a regulating business model by the company itself which helps the company to be more accountable in the social life. By practicing the responsibility, the companies can be corporate citizenship. For fulfilling the responsibility, the companies need to be more conscious about the factors including social, economic, and environmental. By engaging in this social practice, the companies are also functioning for the betterment of society and the environment (Carroll, 2015). Corporate social responsibility is highly important for the community as well as for the company. The activities incorporated in corporate social responsibility assist the companies in developing a strong bond between the company and the labor force. The employees get motivated morally and feel a sense of connectivity with the world by fulfilling such responsibilities. Many companies take corporate social responsibility as their companies’ brand image. The companies believe that the customers will engage with them if they see the company to be more ethical.  The responsibility can be taken as a management concept as the upper and lower management of the company takes part in it effectively. At the organizational level, it is regarded as an initiative that is implemented strategically for contributing to the reputation of the brand. It encourages the companies to be to make a positive influence on the stakeholders such as employees, investors, consumers, communities, and also on the environment. The companies introduce mandatory schemes for fulfilling corporate social responsibility at the national, international, and regional levels. In recent times of the pandemic, the companies increased their participation in carrying out duties that are related to corporate social responsibility. Companies all over the world took the responsibility to fight against this tough time as per their budget and contributed highly to the activities for a better future (Unit, Star, & SmartWay, 2015).

Question No 3

In these unpredicted times of pandemic of COVID-19 Adidas has been working incredibly to support and help their partners of supply chain department and the manufacturing labor force of all around the world. After the immediate outbreak of COVID-19, the company executed safety and health guidelines for their suppliers detailing the measures for preservation (Wang et al, 2016). The company also executed corporate social responsibility at the time of the SARS crisis. The company announced the guidelines to their manufacturing partners for encouraging their Chinese managers to be self-isolated for at least 14 days. The company had to work on the assignments in the time of pandemic with the safety measures issued for the Chinese region and as a result, not a single worker was reported sick at that time. They also supplied health check-up instruments and PPE suits for the workers and helped the factories to remain operational in the time of lockdown (Liang, & Renneboog, 2017). The company also provided instructions to their suppliers in detail for ensuring continuous pay for the workers during the lockdown period. Adidas also helped the migrant laborers who were locked in-home and who were unable to their place of work. The company believed that every individual and the stakeholders must collaborate to operation in this difficult time so the company can secure the best result for the lives and the livelihoods. Apart from the pandemic issues, the company focused on environmental issues (El Ghoul, Guedhami, & Kim, 2017). Adidas manufactured 20 million pairs of sneakers using the plastic from the recycled waste which was collected from the coastal regions and the beaches. The company also announced from 2021 they will use recycled materials for packaging which was used in transporting the product and at the same time the company is examining the recycle loop for use in the transport packaging. The company is set to used recycled polyester in the products across all their business. The company has developed a plan addressing the water quality, efficiency, and accessibility as they are fighting against the water scarcity issue (Crane, Matten, & Spence, 2019). The company committed themselves in using sustainable materials in their field of products, stores, and manufacturing. To sustain the environment, the company is trying to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, also harvesting the opportunities for transitioning the clean energy. The company stated that their strategic suppliers are responsible for global production volumes nearly around 75% of apparel material suppliers who are specialized in dyeing and printing operations. The company pledged that by the year 2030 the company and its suppliers will reduce the emission of greenhouse gas by 30% (Albuquerque, Koskinen, & Zhang, 2019).

References

Albuquerque, R., Koskinen, Y., & Zhang, C. (2019). Corporate social responsibility and firm risk: Theory and empirical evidence. Management Science, 65(10), 4451-4469.

Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Organizational dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.

Crane, A., Matten, D., & Spence, L. (Eds.). (2019). Corporate soci al responsibility: Readings and cases in a global context. Routledge.

El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., & Kim, Y. (2017). Country-level institutions, firm value, and the role of corporate social responsibility initiatives. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(3), 360-385.Grayson, D., & Hodges, A. (2017). Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.

Liang, H., & Renneboog, L. (2017). On the foundations of corporate social responsibility. The Journal of Finance, 72(2), 853-910.

McWilliams, A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Wiley encyclopedia of management, 1-4.

Pedersen, E. R. G. (Ed.). (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Sage.

Unit, B., Star, E., & SmartWay, E. P. A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility.

Wang, H., Tong, L., Takeuchi, R., & George, G. (2016). Corporate social responsibility: An overview and new research directions: Thematic issue on corporate social responsibility.

Looking for affordable assignment help online? Need someone to offer you prices that would go easy on your pocketbook? Bothered, “Can I pay someone to do my assignment at the best industry price?” Of course, you can. MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk has the finest paper writers. They are dedicatedly available to back you up with well-knit assignment papers at the best industry price. 

Sign up for finance assignment help or management assignment help and enjoy a flat 20% off along with an additional $20 sign-up bonus. How cool is that? So, think no more and count on our expertise for affordable assignment help in the UK.