McDonalds operates in fast food industry. Given the competitive pressures in fast food market, McDonalds holds highest market share in terms of sales. McDonalds exists across the globe and has expanded in emerging economies before the main competitors expanded such as Burger Kind. Concerns for healthy food consumption and obesity are increasing therefore McDonald’s values its policies regarding stakeholders and local community. McDonalds is reporting its social responsibility policies in a separate form than Annual reports.
In its annual report, McDonalds evaluates its stakeholder policy in terms of values in action, our communities, employment practices and charity services (McDonalds, Values in Action, 2013).
Under the section of values in action, McDonalds Company evaluates supply chain and supplier selection strategies. Policies taken to ensure that supplier relations are maintained in long run and rules managed in supply chain relations are emphasized. The overall sustainability report of the company is included in this section but we consider that sustainability practices of McDonalds Company are valuable because of the natural and healthy food habits.
In the same section, mention is made to animal welfare which of greatest importance because McDonalds operates in fast food industry (McDonalds, Our Communities, 2013).
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The primary focus of this report is to evaluate Kenyan agricultural and food policy. Although the agricultural sector is the backbone of economic development, it continues to face challenges such as food security and nutrition development. Despite having policies to tackle these problems, the disparity between intent and action widens. This paper reviews the Kenyan agriculture and food policy ...
The second part of the social responsibility report of McDonalds includes the communities or stakeholders of the company. But this part is not sufficient because not all the most relevant stakeholders are included. Charities, small communities and employees are mentioned but not with sufficient details (McDonalds, Our Communities, 2013).
The third part in the annual report of McDonalds is employment practices.
Talent management, employment value, and teaching diversity are included. This section emphasizes that main assets for McDonalds are its employees and policies taken to treat employees and manage them as talents are discussed. As explained in detail regarding the stakeholder theory, employees are valuable for an organization and all the training actions taken to treat employees respectively are discussed in this section. Therefore, sufficient information is given on employment, training and cross-cultural issues (McDonalds, Our Communities, 2013).
The fourth line of categorization regarding social responsibility issues of McDonalds is charities. This is a special section devoted to charity activities named Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) and the aim of this establishment is to ensure that parents stay with their sick children. GRI Reporting and Evaluation of CSR of McDonalds Company According to Global Reporting Initiative, the aim is to report practices of measuring, disclosing and being responsible for internal and external stakeholders of a company.
sustainability reporting should disclose relevant and balanced information including both the positive and negative sides of operations (GRI Reporting, 2013).
As for McDonalds, sustainability reporting does not disclose the negative sides of operations. The GRI Guidelines should include the Reporting Principles, Reporting Guidance, and Standard Disclosures (including performance criteria) (GRI Reporting, 2013).
According to GRI reporting, outputs are profile, management approach and performance indicators of companies.
In McDonalds, the management approach and performance indicators are not mentioned and emphasized. This is needed to compare the criteria of social performance with what is achieved. In the GRI reporting framework, there are standard reports that include but not limited to annual reports, performance statements and social responsibility reporting. In most cases, annual reports include social responsibility and financial performance of companies. For McDonalds, social responsibility of the company is reported via different mechanisms like Social Responsibility Reports.
The Research paper on Ethical Behavior and Social Responsibility of Organizations
Introduction Proper ethical behavior is a significant part of conducting business. Organizations must therefore find ways to incorporate ethical considerations into their strategic plan. Firms need to practice self governance and obey existing laws if they are to ensure their survival and the well-being of the society in which they exist. The decisions made by an organization affect society as a ...
According to GRI Reporting, four major criteria are important for social responsibility reporting and these are materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context and completeness of the reporting. The four sections of the sustainability report of McDonalds mentioned above lack some dimensions regarding materiality and stakeholder inclusiveness. Materiality means how various acts undertaken by McDonalds are realized in a time frame and in the reporting of McDonalds, we do not see the direct results of social responsibility acts (GRI Reporting, 2013).
Another key concern is about stakeholder inclusiveness. Except for the employees, no direct reference is made to other stakeholders like communities, local people and public. One of the most pronounced moves of McDonalds is that it has established charity center for children and works to ensure that parents are with their children in their times of sickness. In addition to these issues, a major problem McDonalds faces is related with obesity and health matters. Any efforts taken to deal with obesity, or any other local community involvement programs are not mentioned in social responsibility reporting of McDonalds.
For this reason, it could be argued that not all the relevant stakeholders are defined and involved in such as media, local community and effects on health of consumers in emerging economies. These are very critical steps to be mentioned in newly expanded and emerging economies as main customer segments in these countries are consumers of fast food (GRI Reporting, 2013).
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The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD): “Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large”. EU Definition of CSR: “A concept whereby companies integrate ...
In order to report on and measure the social responsibility performance of McDonalds, materiality needs to be clear and open. It stands for the mission, vision, goals of McDonalds and shows how committed McDonalds is towards achieving these goals in long run.
In mission and goals of McDonalds; words of people, value, engagement, empowerment, Mc-Family, opportunities, respect, ambition and connection are emphasized. People and value are much related concepts to social responsibility but ambition and opportunities represent growth prospects. Mission, vision and goal statements of the company are not also found in Social Responsibility Report directly which is a handicap. The materiality concept tries to underpin how the current activities of McDonalds will provide useful for its stakeholders. These are some of the internal factors that should be considered when evaluating the dynamics.
Externally, in statements of McDonalds, terms of growth and ambitions are emphasized. Also, in annual reports, we see that the company follows rapid growth and internationalization especially in emerging economies. For all of these reasons, both internally including mission, vision and goals; externally competitive environment and strategic directions should be aligned and made clearer in terms of their effects on social responsibility. The recent concerns on corporate social responsibility and health issues raised case suits against McDonalds.
Especially in less developed and emerging countries, we have seen cases where consumers made complaints about dietary issues and obesity problems. In some of the markets such as South America, unhealthy food aspects were found and these issues made the competition for McDonalds even harsher. In an effort to counter these claims, McDonalds decided to follow product diversification and include healthier food categories in its menu list. Such a strategy change has been reflected in annual and sustainability reports because the effects over upward and downward suppliers are evaluated in these sustainability reports.
There are some key steps that McDonalds needs to accomplish in order to comply with GRI Reporting standards. One of these areas relates to materiality and inclusion of all stakeholders in order to evaluate the effects of acts of McDonalds over these stakeholders. Another key concern for McDonalds to consider other stakeholder groups in addition to employees who are the main stakeholder groups. For instance, there is no reference made to local community development, initiatives, local media groups, government or any steps taken for the employment of local groups.
The Term Paper on State Farm Social Responsibility
Introduction As businesses worldwide continue to transition from production focuses to service mentalities, so has the zeitgeist of business operation. Profit-maximization goals are no longer predicated solely on selling more products or services; these goals are now also predicated on social responsibility, also called social awareness. In order to maintain its reputation as the premier insurance ...
