Corporate Social Responsibility in Food Industry Assignment Sample

1. Introduction

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1.1 Background of the Research

The food industry has a significant influence on the economy, the environment, and society, making corporate social responsibility (CSR) an important consideration for these businesses. Rather of focusing on a single company, CSR risks and possibilities are rapidly spreading across whole food supply chains and networks. Firm heterogeneity and the resulting variance in CSR initiatives creates significant problems for the future. As a result of monitoring CSR in Digital media, socially responsible organisations may make helpful adjustments to their strategy in order to be able to swiftly respond to changes in the market (Jaehrling et al., 2018). Companies are realising that they need a more robust and public social responsibility plan because of the rise of social media. Businesses that demonstrate a commitment to a greener way of life can benefit from the increased visibility provided by social media. It's much more important to have a robust CSR strategy.

1.2 Problem Statement of the Research

In terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Covid-19 presents a hurdle. According to reports, some businesses and stores are looking to make a quick buck from the current economic downturn (Pandey et al., 2020). With a view to preventing widespread profiteering, the "Competition and Markets Authority" (CMA) in the United Kingdom, for example, set up a special taskforce to go after businesses that are taking advantage of the epidemic by raising prices or making false promises about their goods.

2. Research Aims, Objectives and Questions

2.1 Research Aims

Generally, this study of the research aims to effectively demonstrate the importance and impact of practicing corporate social responsibility and relevant activities by the food industry throughout the world because of there are no sufficient number of studies in the market that demonstrates this particular information.

2.2 Research Objectives

• To identify the importance of CSR activities in the food industry.
• To demonstrate the impact of CSR activities on the brand image of food industry.
• To evaluate the data about different kinds of CSR activities done by different food companies.
• To analyse the significance of using and implementing several initiatives for doing CSR activities.

2.3 Research Questions

1. What is the importance of CSR activities in the food industry?
2. How the CSR activities impact the brand images of the food companies?
3. What kinds of CSR activities have been done by different food companies throughout the world?
4. What kinds of supports and services have been newly imposed by the organisations to conduct CSR activities?

3. Literature Review

According to the statement of Rimmer and Kam (2018), a company's CSR activities will be hindered if the public and other stakeholders are not aware of them, hence it is critical to convey this effectively to the public and all stakeholders. However, a company's attitude to and management of the consequences of its environmental and social actions on the company's stakeholders is often what is meant by "corporate social responsibility" (CSR), a word that may be defined in a number of ways. CSR is a way for corporations to improve their bottom line. The ideas of responsible business are being adopted by more and more businesses nowadays. As per the statement of Vilko and Hallikas (2019), there is a clear correlation between the growth in demand for proof of advantages in this sector and the rise in demand for evidence. Consumers, investors, and workers throughout the world have shown a preference for firms that practise social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

Consequently, if businesses wish to preserve their market position, they must fundamentally alter their marketing strategy. Based on the statement of Hallikas et al. (2019), environmental protection efforts are seen by the business community as requiring more resources and posing a danger to a company's ability to remain competitive. There have recently been increasing perspectives that improved trade, economic, and financial success may be achieved by improving a company's environmental performance. Pressure from government and non-governmental groups, as well as customers themselves, drives firms to address environmental challenges. Piroth, Rüger-Muck and Bruwer (2020) stated that nature has become an essential part of the marketing environment. Environmental sustainability has been a priority for food and beverage firms for many years. Involvement with food chain partners in a variety of efforts, such as reducing energy usage, water use, and waste creation, are all part of this strategy.

Companies are being pressed more and harder by a growing number of different parties to take social and environmental responsibilities seriously. Because of this, managers must know how their firms may be more socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and commercially viable. As stated by Schleper et al. (2021), the bottom line is that corporate leaders must learn to better integrate the market and nonmarket strategies of their organisations. In order to boost the company's image, CSR is primarily driven by this objective. As a result of this, CSR serves as a way for firms to obtain more exposure in the eyes of their consumers, regulators, or investors, and in particular, the attention of these stakeholders. Instead of developing a long-term strategy for CSR, organisations who see CSR as a method of enhancing their public image risk being taken advantage of by "cosmetic activity" scammers.

4. Methodology, Method and Sampling

4.1 Research Methods

The researcher has opted to choose the most acceptable and effective procedures for this research study after evaluating all aspects of the investigation. The researcher will use interpretivism to this study in order to better understand the phenomenon. Researcher's understanding of data acquired for "Importance and Impact of Practicing Corporate Social Responsibility in Food Industry in the UK and India" will be shown in this way (Etikan and Babtope, 2019). Deductive research methods, on the other hand, will be used by the researcher in this investigation. In addition, the researcher will use the explanatory study design technique.

4.2 Research Sampling Method

Purposeful sampling, also defined as purposive and selected sampling, is a sampling strategy used by qualitative researchers to identify individuals who can offer extensive data on the topic under inquiry. Each participant's eligibility for the study is based on meeting a set of criteria developed by the qualitative researcher (Airori, Baker and Turk, 2022). A good instance of this would be a learner doing research on how nurses at a particular hospital view leadership skill. Secondary qualitative data will be collected using a purposive sampling technique.

4.3 Data Collection and Data Analysis Process

To answer a research question, test a hypothesis, and assess the results, the researcher must first gather data from all applicable resources. Therefore, among the fundamental four kinds of data collection process, the researcher will utilise the secondary qualitative data collection process by accessing the data from peer-reviewed journals, scholarly articles, existing research paper, PDFs, etc. In this way, by using the secondary data, the researcher will be able to collect and gather the most evident information and data from the sources. Moreover, on the other hand, the primary quantitative data collection process by conducting survey among 40 employees of UK Food Industry and 40 employees of Indian Food Industry.

Generally, the secondary data will be collected because this process is the most significant for collecting the evident and reliable information from the sources. Moreover, Content analysis is a method for determining the existence of certain words, themes, or ideas in a given qualitative dataset (Jeannesson et al., 2022). Quantifying the frequency with which certain words, topics or ideas appear in a text and establishing their correlations may be accomplished via the use of content analysis. Therefore, the researcher will utilise the thematic analysis method within this research study for effectively and successfully analyse all the data and information regarding the study.

5. Project Plan

The research investigation was conducted in a methodical manner by the researcher. The researcher has met with his or her superiors in the first week to decide on the study subject. In addition, during the first and second weeks of the study, the researcher's goals and objectives will be established. In this way, in the second week the researcher will conduct the literature search through online. Thus, in the second and third week, the researcher will implement and take decisions for using different methods for the successful accomplish of the entire research. Furthermore, the researcher will gather data in the third week and analyse it in the fourth and fifth weeks after executing the strategy. Thus, the researcher will submit this study in the sixth week by successfully accomplishing the entire research.

6. Ethical Consideration

Gatekeepers' professional ethics may also provide a barrier to contacting participants and asking for their informed permission. This is especially true if the conversation is on sensitive themes. As part of our research, the police stressed the dangers of contacting children and their families, particularly those who had suffered abuse or neglect. Families should be able to go back to their normal routines after experiencing such a traumatic event. Because they understood from previous experience that it was impossible to foresee who would welcome being called and who would feel disturbed, the police decided not to seek for informed permission (Robertson, 2021). In academia, this form of argument is well-known. 'Asking informed permission might create such a strain for the subject that one must dread psychological injury,' according to Dutch biomedical archival health study.

Because of the time delay since the data were captured, gatekeepers do not accept post-hoc requests for permission. 'When the abuse and interview occurred long ago, it is more possible that the kid and its parents have achieved a stable balance and putting the torture back in mind is therefore more invasive,' or, on the other side, 'when the information are elder, the emotions and sensibility may have reduced' (Crespi-Abril and Rubilar, 2021). As part of the initiative, researchers sought to minimise the danger of interfering with criminal investigations, but they also intended to incorporate the most modern rules for conducting these interviews.