The Corporate Citizenship of Avon - Essay Example

The Corporate Citizenship of AvonThe Corporate citizenship of a company includes its roles in the society or its responsibilities towards that society. It also entails regarding companies as citizens within a certain territory. AVON is one company that claims that corporate citizenship has been part of it since its inception. David McConnell who is one the founders said their guiding principles was “To meet fully the obligations of corporate citizenship by contributing to the well-being of society and the environment in which it functions” (Avon Company par 1).

The company also claims that “central to its corporate citizenship is the mission to better the lives of women globally” (Avon Company par 1). According to James Post, corporate citizenship does not merely involve good acts. One central requirement of citizenship is the promotion of social harmony. A company should therefore ensure that its social activities are those that are directed to the building and sustaining of a harmonious society. A company and its operations should also have a harmonious existence with the society in which it operates under because it cannot promote harmony if it is the first to rub shoulders with its stakeholders and the community (Post 146).

AVON Company has achieved this to a good level by speaking violence and ensuring that its operations does not cause disputes with the society of operation. AVON Company has sustained and even increased its public social works as they continue with their own private business. This means they have met the key corporate citizenship requirement that businesses are supposed to re-connect private work and public work. As corporate citizens, multinational companies are required to take responsibility for the impacts that the company’s activities have on the environment and its stakeholders (Wood and Logsdon 53).

AVON Company participates in and focuses its environmental protection and rehabilitation activities in opportunities and places that will achieve greatest impact hence it is a corporate citizen. Another requirement for a corporate citizen is to voluntarily extend its social activities beyond those that are required by the country’s legislation (Post 145). As a demonstration to this, AVON Company has been actively involved in helping women affected by cancer by donating approximately $700 million towards breast cancer programs.

It also participates in emergency relief and has awarded millions of US dollars to women affected by natural disasters. Corporate citizenship requires that a company comes up with the correct mix of activities depending on the cultural contexts in which it operates. The premises of the multinational company must also respect the local traditions, customs and authority even if they are different from those in the company’s headquarters or major business operation point. The company should celebrate the core human values of the society it operates in as well as globally.

It should also tie the core competencies of the company with meaningful social services that rhyme with the local government’s developmental goals (Post 144). Corporations are taken to be artificial citizens of the state they operate in and therefore they have obligations to fulfill just as they have rights to claim. AVON’s claims of good cooperate citizen can be said to be true to a good extend because the company co-exists harmoniously with the people while promoting harmony in the society.

Its social activities also go beyond those required of it by the legislature just as ordinary citizens would do. Works CitedPost James. Global Corporate Citizenship: “Principles to Live and Work By”. Business Ethics Quarterly (2) pp 143-154.2002. Wood Donna and Logsdon Jeanne. “Business Citizenship as Metaphor and Reality”. Business Ethics Quarterly (1) pp 51-59.2008. http://www.avoncompany.com/corporatecitizenship/index.htmlAvon Company. Avon Corporate Citizenship. 2011. 21 Apr, 2011.

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