In this day and age, keeping up with technological advancements are the key to business success. Not only does keeping up with technology aid businesses in a competitive market, but creating their own technology can also give them a leg up. While technology is important to keep tabs on, businesses struggle with maintaining a competitive nature, while still exercising corporate responsibility.
One company which has failed at maintaining social corporate responsibility is FIFA. There was much controversy in preparation for World Cup 2014 this year in Brazil, including forced evictions from homes, tax evasion, labor abuse, and other human right violations. According to Revolution News, “A dozen houses in the Mangueira slums of Rio de Janeiro have been demolished, and residents have been removed at gun point by the government of Brazil in order to build a parking lot for the upcoming World Cup.” These actions have resulted in not only much controversy, but have had an extremely negative effect on the company’s reputation as well as Brazil’s society. FIFA probably should have evaluated whether or not their actions would be ethical, and in this case, they definitely weren’t. When companies act in this manner, with absolutely no regard for social corporate responsibility, it causes consumers to question their support of the products or services a company offers.
While the previous example is clearly a negative example of corporate social responsibility, sometimes it is not as clear ethically whether companies intend to have a negative impact or not. One instance of this that occurred within the technology world was an incident in 2009 when Yahoo! held a Open Hack Day in Taiwan, and had some, well, unique, attendees. Yahoo employees were informed that in Taiwan, it was custom for there to be female entertainers present at many technology events, therefore they hired “Hack Girls” as an aspect of their Taiwan Hack Day. These girls apparently crossed the line of appropriate behavior for a corporate event when they apparently started offering lap dances. While Yahoo! (it seems) did not intend to portray women in that light, nor use sex to encourage developers to attend, it was generally a bad situation, particularly in the press. Trying to compete and keep up with the technology community in Taiwan got Yahoo! into trouble, and did not strengthen their efforts toward corporate social responsibility in the slightest.
While these two examples are negative, there are many companies in our society who place much value on corporate social responsibility within their business model. Gap Inc., among other serious efforts to maintain social responsibility, created a program that teaches skills like literacy, communication skills, health awareness, and other life skills to female garment workers in Cambodia and India. According to their website, the program has reached 25,000 women. Another focused effort that Gap Inc. is executing is the implementation of a youth career program called “The Way Ahead”, which offers internships and job training to underprivileged youth in New York City and San Francisco. This is an excellent example of how a business can both promote technological advances and exercise corporate responsibility. Gap’s efforts to educate underprivileged youth will benefit the technological world in the long run as those minds begin to contribute to the overall market. Without their program, the youth that participate probably would have never received an opportunity to become a contributing member of society, and now can.
I believe it is extremely important for companies to have a strong sense of corporate social responsibility. If corporations ignore their social responsibility, they will eventually weaken society and this will in turn weaken their business and the markets they are active in. While some companies may consider themselves to be invincible due to assets, this is not the case. The economy suffers when society suffers, and in order to maintain a healthy world, businesses must realize this.
“Brazil: FIFA Forces Evictions For World Cup, Police Brutality Rages – Revolution-news.com.” Revolution-news.com. 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Aug. 2014. <http://revolution-news.com/brazil-fifa-forces-evictions-for-world-cup-police-brutality-rages/>.
Choney, Suzanne. “Yahoo Lap Dancers Make Wrong Moves.”Msnbc.com. 20 Oct. 2009. Web. 13 Aug. 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/33402109/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/yahoo-lap-dancers-make-wrong-moves/#.U-7P07xdX40>.
“Gap Inc.’s This Way Ahead.” Gap Inc.’s This Way Ahead. Web. 13 Aug. 2014. <http://cecp.co/press-room/cecp-insights/item/52-gap-inc’s-this-way-ahead.html>.