1 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Name: Ömer Faruk Tan Department of business administration, Koç University Course code: ACWR101 Professor’s name: Gülay Işık Assignment due date: April 2nd.2021. 2 Considering the prevailing environmental issues we are incessantly confronting, companies and corporations should primarily work upon combining business and ecofriendly products so as to diminish the risks of further hazardous hitches. Hence, taking heed of Social accountability, responsible investment, as well as sustainability, are becoming less of a trivial matter for a plethora of corporations alongside their stakeholders with the support of the government. Socially responsible investment emphasizes on creating a long-term societal value according to the needs, the standards, and requirements of the society for the simple reason that the way we invest in the present day will have an impact on our lives in the course of time. Concerns about the latter remain despite the drastic increase in the number of screened funds and other allegedly distorted disclosures about ethical issues according to UK reports (2002, p.349 /William S. Laufer, p. 254) which is an issue that must imperatively be reformed. Moreover, investing in a socially responsible company according to its ESG metrics will spur people on choosing to spend their money in assets that moderately abide by their personal values and convictions. A prominent marketing strategy to preclude in order to comply with the SRI movement is greenwashing, a term conceived by an environmentalist in 1980. It is predominantly present nowadays and is inconspicuously deceiving and misleading customers (social accountability and corporate greenwashing –Laufer p.255) by claiming that the products they have at their disposal are utterly safe and environmentally friendly, and thus, by labeling them as 100% biodegradable, recyclable content, and heaps of other labels and ubiquitous trademarks aiming to delude the consumer, subsequently gain the desirable amount of money. In addition to that, the companies claiming to act upon ecofriendly standards are in fact no less than distorters of the environmental system itself, looking at the fact that they are only concerned with taking the 3 credit for leadership and causing confusion amidst the costumers. Particularly if the consumers are not skeptical or conscious enough to invest in only certified green, natural products. And thus, by looking up for eco-labels that are acknowledged by several kinds of ecofriendly corporations, which can now be found on different specific websites and other apps exclusively designed to detect and provide assessments, on whether the product is assuredly environmentally safe and meets the adequate criteria, as well as the international standards. Raising this awareness amongst consumers, and boycotting non-certified or unreliable products, will permit to thwart the spread of greenwashed brands and urge the public to adapt into the SRI and ESG conformity. For further amplification, the majority of the smartest companies, if not all, are seeking to implement and invest into a long-term sustainable production in their thriving business. And that is by coming up with discerning remunerative environmentally safe strategies according to the nature of the business they run. Adopting the mindset of linking environmental factors with company fundamentals is key to achieving long-term sustainability, and therefore eradicate the concept of a trade-off. A considerable number of corporations are ready to meet their costumers’ demands by introducing sustainable efficient products and can even contend to gain their trust and loyalty. Besides, the government must be highly concerned with ensuring that no natural resource is over or misused by companies, thusly, imposing taxes or fees if any transgression is noticed. Regarding luxury brands, sustainability is conspicuously reckoned and is firmly connected with the latter. Myriads of luxury companies nowadays administer the consumption of recyclable items and packaging for their products. Their ultimate goal is to meet the customer’s expectations who is, currently, solely interested and meticulous in choosing a green and environmentally safe product. A consumer is expected to assess a luxury brand built on four dimensions: The functional, social, individual and financial features of luxury value. 4 A luxury brand is no longer perceived as a source of exorbitance, extravagance or even preposterousness, for it has been proven that plenty of luxurious companies are carrying out a production that involves solely eco-friendly and raw materials throughout the supply chain process. Prominent fashion brands as ``Dior uses the leather from Italian Bio farm for the production of handbags” (sustainability as part of the luxury essence, delivering value through social and environmental excellence, p.30) and countless other world fashion companies are contributing in doing so by investing in a more ethical way of running their business. To condense the whole, adopting and developing the mindset and strategies of Socially responsible investment, corporate compliance, and sustainability is becoming a more crucial factor, if not more, a means of survival. A utopia is far beyond our behests. Nevertheless, ethics and environment must no longer be taken for granted or unheeded by neither governments nor corporations and stakeholders for the years to come. Abolishing the concept of a trade-off would create a certain equilibrium combining ethics and business altogether, which is ethical investors’ ultimate goal. 5 References Social Accountability and Corporate Greenwashing Author(s): William S. Laufer Source: Journal of Business Ethics , Mar., 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3, Social Screening of Investments (Mar., 2003), pp. 253-261 Published by: Springer Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25074996 Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Reporting Guidelines 2002 (GRI, Boston, MA) GRI, Boston, MA) (available at: ttp://www. globalreporting.org/GRIGuidelines/ 2002/gri_2002_guidelines.pdf). Greenleaf Publishing Sustainability as Part of the Luxury Essence: Delivering Value through Social and Environmental Excellence Author(s): Nadine Hennigs, Klaus-Peter Wiedmann, Christiane Klarmann and Stefan Behrens Source: The Journal ofCorporateCitizenship, No. 52 (December 2013), pp. 25-35 Published by: Greenleaf Publishing Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/jcorpciti.52.25
