The strategies that an organization might use when developing its organization’s socially responsible efforts are to take care of environment, reduction of the waste output, Promoting diversity, Choosing suppliers on non-economic criteria, Reintegration support, Partnership with NGOs (Grayson, 2003). At least one social measure etc. the four types of behavior that are examined in the social responsibly area are the adoption of measures regarding the positive social impact, familiarity regarding the concept of corporate social responsibility and implementation of corporate social responsibility. Business management is a very serious factor which affects the corporate social responsibility. The business executives are ideologically with the social justice advocacy as there is environmental protection or business transparency which is supported by CSR efforts (Matten & Moon, 2004). The CSR efforts help in improving the public images of the company that may also increase the profits overall (Magaro, 2010). Given the possible set advantages the corporate social responsibility are made to improve the public image of the company and capture more consumers. Corporate Social Responsibility always starts with self responsibility only. Social Corporate ethical values differ by the companies are also defined by their behaviors and also values that help to govern the business environment. In general we can say business ethical values are said to be as the guiding principles that will help to motivate the individuals in the company so as to make the decisions which are based on the companies stated beliefs and attitudes towards the business practices within the industry (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010).
Target Corporation tends to provide best corporate practices in all the areas of operations as well as activities which are implemented of the series of principles known as the Corporate social responsibility. They have set policies which are divided into the ethical business conduct, policies specific to the employees, policies which are specific to the company etc. training al the employees, clients and other will respect, fairness etc . Their ethical business practices are carried out throughout the operations, like striving for enhanced excellence and also the professionals in our dealings ( Werther, 2010). They recognize the involvement of the employees so as to have key in the success of business and also adopt the policy of keeping employees which are fully informed regarding the matters affecting them as well. The organizational responsibility within any organization is to keep the environment clean and healthy. They should not use such things which have an effect on the community services and degrade the society. The company should follow the corporate social responsibility which aims to see the company actions and also encourage a positive impact on the activities of the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders etc. it’s the duty of the organizations it operated directly with people who are affected by the business activities. An organization main responsibility is to support the public interests or have minimized the negative impact on the surroundings of the community as well. An organization becomes responsible to the community can promote the charitable acts by the employees and also minimize the risk of pollution as well. The individual Responsibility within a community is that he should be completely in control regarding his actions and deeds taking place in the community. He should keep the environment clean and friendly so that his nearby surrounding are effected and the community overall becomes a better place to live in. Thus the individual responsibility is to check his actions whereas the organization's responsibility to take care of all the things which are effecting the environment due to them. Their larger rival gains are more publicity for their sustainability efforts which they have put, but target holds it on their own when it comes to acting upon their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Their CSR basically focuses on the retail giant who announced their responsibility from the focus on the environment, education, healthy living and also their community work.
They launched their “Here for good” portal which target provides more and more information to the employees and also the customers regarding their life decisions. Customers are increasingly spending money on purchasing ethical products and services and this trend is expected to increase over the next decade. The consumer mindset is shifting from materialistic inward looking view towards a more ethically proactive mindset. The concern of companies with social responsibility has extended to the values of the customers also. Target learned about the operations by removing waste and also reduce their carbon footprints and also making use of the resources more resources more responsibly.
Some of goals Target has accomplished so far include:
- The recycling of 4000 tons of shrink wrap and plastic bags in 2010.
- Over 117 million plastic bags diverted from landfills and counting.
- Achieved the #2 ranking on Greenpeace’s seafood scorecard.
- Donated a total of almost US$300 million to schools.
- Convinced 94% of employees at its headquarters to participate in the company’s retirement plan. (Official website of Target, n.d.)
As for the future, Target has set several milestones to be achieved by 2016:
- Earn the Energy Star rating on 75% of its buildings.
- Reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions 10% per square foot and 20% per dollar of retail sales.
- Cut water consumption 10% per square foot.
- Improve the energy efficiency of its transportation logistics system by 15% to 20%. (Official website of Target, n.d.)
The main idea of the CSR activities of Target is to support developing safer communities. They started with these initiatives about half a decade back (Official website of Target, n.d.). Target was one of the first companies to financially support a law enforcement program and sponsor events like “National Night Out.” From the business point of view, this strategy of ensuring a safe community actually helps the company because it helps the company to ensure that its business is based in a safe place. Target has always taken an active initiative in joining hands with the local governments to curb crime in the cities. The company not only has some fancy descriptions about their CSR initiative on their website, but they are indeed a lot involved in at a very deep level of these community activities. The company has made large grants for improving policing and making relation between citizens and police more comfortable and cooperative (Kaye , 2011). The company has an excellent internal marketing strategy. The company values its employees as one of the most important stakeholders of their business (Official website of Target, n.d.). Target makes constant endeavor to ensure it strikes the right balance between all its stakeholders – customers, employees, community and environment.
References
Kaye , L. (2011). Target announces corporate responsibility goals.
Grayson, D. (2003). The CSR Brand. Quality World, pp. 10-12
Lindgreen, A. & Swaen, V. (2010). Special Issue: Corporate Social Responsibility, International
Matten, D. & Moon, J. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility, Journal of Business Ethics, 54
(4), pp. 323-337
Magaro, M.M. (2010). Two Birds, One Stone: Achieving Corporate Social Responsibility
through the Shareholder-Primacy Norm. Indiana Law Journal, 85(3). Retrieved from http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=ilj
Official website of Target. (n.d.). [Online] viewed 11 December 2013 https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility
Werther, W. (2010). Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility. SAGE Publications, Inc
