The commitment of clients towards the company is probably the most precious asset that the company cannot even show in its books, yet it strives day and night for the same binder from these people they call their customers. This struggle is even more intense today than it was ever before and as per the standards of today, the client also wants to ensure that the company cares not just about the profits it makes but also about the people that it works for. This commitment of any corporation towards the society that it operates in is what we call ‘Corporate Social responsibility’, and the same has become the motto for many businesses working in today’s time.
The lengthy list of these companies includes VISA, a company which commits to protecting the finances for its patrons. The very first corporate responsibility campaign launched by Visa Inc. was way back in May 2008, at Clinton Global Initiative’s mid-year gathering. The objective of this campaign was a Humanitarian aid, to begin with where Visa committed to working with the very leading humanitarian organizations which were working towards helping the individuals that resided in vulnerable communities of the world.
The second of the two major objectives of this campaign was to alleviate poverty. This plan of the campaign focused on policies which intended to terminate the problem of poverty in the long run. The initial plan was to encourage economic efficiency amongst people belonging to low-income groups. The company wished to lure more people towards the banking sector so that entrepreneurship and small businesses could boost the overall economy.
Visa Inc. has come a very long way since 2008 for today; the segment of the company operating in Europe is registered with the Carbon Reduction Committee with the UK government. The company has also been awarded ISO 14001 attributing to its worldwide recognition in environmental management systems. The officials of the company make certain that every person who is a participant in its operation abides by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is a voluntary league of the table.
The company follows corporate social responsibility not just as a strategy for PR, rather the commitment to help others is so deep within its values that its operations are based on the same corporate social responsibility. They have been successful in improving their efficiency of energy consumption at their data centers operations so much that a figure of 1.56 grams of carbon emissions came all the way down to 0.34 grams in between the years 2009 and 2013.
This is only what the Company does to conserve the environment for other people of the community. There are also certain steps which Visa Inc. takes in order to lessen crime in all the communities in which the company has its operations.
Ever since the year 2001, the company forbids its user from accepting payments from the websites which complaint of trade in child abuse or in any such image or material which comes forth as a consequence of such child abuse. The company has also taken measures to not only print but also distribute amongst the police force pamphlets for dealing with visa card fraud.
Visa Inc. has always been in attempts at running their operations in such a way that the society, the economy, and the environment can become privy to the maximum possible advantage as a result of their efforts. The Company also has great care for the people who are unfortunate enough not to earn as much as their more affluent counterparts, and this is the reason why the company officials design their policies in such a way that these people could be included in the sharing of the world’s financial resources.
Most of us are well aware of how the poverty cycle prevails generation after generation amongst the less fortunate. Visa is a company which stands on the opinion that access to financial resources is critical to help people make progress and for them to break free of the eternal cycle of poverty. The Company has faith that if these untapped resources are distributed amongst the less fortunate, these people can also thrive and become contributors towards a more sustainable society.
This is the precise reason why the company believes in providing the low-income households with access to resources which they could make use of and send their off-springs to school, provide them with optimal living conditions and also provide healthcare to their close ones. These resources could also aid them in become entrepreneurs; so that they can create economic opportunities for their families and for the communities that they reside in.
With all of these efforts, Visa has set an example fit enough for the start-ups to follow in; so that they could do business in more sustainable ways and so that their business could truly and actually help the economy, the society and the environment that they live in.
A company’s mission statement says a lot about where the priorities of its people lie and through their actions; Visa has proved that it is set to do good for the people around. We can hope that we can also become part of systems where the benefit of the other is the true outcome of our efforts.
List of References
Cohen, P. (2008, May 02). Visa Launches New Corporate Responsibility Program. Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire.
Visa. (n.d.). Financial Inclusion and Literacy. Retrieved August 30, 2016, from Visa Inc. : http://www.cis.visa.com/cis/en-cs/aboutvisa/responsibility/inclusion.shtml
Visaeurope.com. (n.d.). Operating responsibly. Retrieved August 30, 2016, from Visa Europe: https://www.visaeurope.com/about-us/corporate-responsibility/operating-responsibly
