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“Can Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) Give a Competitive Advantage?"

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“Can Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) give a competitive advantage?"

At a time where the UK business industry is more saturated than ever, more and more companies are incorporating social and environmental aspects into their business practices in order to stay competitive. Modern day customers no longer expect the best price and quality, in addition they expect the company to utilise their custom in order to enhance a positive impact on the world around them, because of this, many organisations are prioritising CSR and are ensuring they pursue ethical practices in order to generate a good reputation for being responsible for the procedures they undertake in production and supply.

One way in which a company may seek to utilise CSR in order to achieve a competitive advantage is by establishing an affirmative relationship with local authorities. For example, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company strive for upmost responsibility when it comes to the production of their ice cream products; they only use fair trade produce in production and furthermore they developed a dairy farm sustainability programme in Vermount which is the company’s hometown (James Caan, J.C. (2008). If it were the case that Ben and Jerry’s established a strong relationship with the local authorities due to their exceptional CSR, then it could mean they will be granted more use of local government owned land than competitors, which would lead to an obvious competitive advantage (Ben and Jerry’s website). However, it is a possibility that forming a relationship with the authorities above and beyond that of already existing ones may be an impossibility using only CSR, as in the current day and age it Is very common for larger businesses to run a corporate social responsibility programme and a well-funded and thought out one at that. Meaning that it would be almost fundamental that if a business

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