Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy of Disney - Assignment Example

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Of Disney Table of Contents Introduction 3 Husted andAllen’s 7-step corporate social strategy framework 3 Social Issue analysis 3 Firms resource and capabilities for the opportunity 4 Evaluate firms identity in terms of the opportunity 4 Cost and means for necessary resources 4 Plan creation 5 Implementation 5 Measure and evaluate performance 5 Conclusion 6 Reference List 7 Introduction The Walt Disney Company is a multinational mass media corporation headquartered at California. It was founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney on 16th October 1923 (Robb, 2014). The Walt Disney Company is one of the most well-known organisations for their corporate social responsibility. In terms of their social responsibility their main focus is to improve the environment (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). Their CSR activity is also focused on community development program and labor standard enhancement (USA Business Review, 2013). The following analysis will help the company to introduce new strategies for their CSR venture. It will also help them to design the implementation plan of the strategy. Husted and Allen’s 7-step corporate social strategy framework Corporate social responsibility is the initiative taken by any organisation to assess various social and environmental issues and actively participating in the betterment of the society. 7 steps of well designed strategic plan have been introduced by Husted and Allen for the proper implementation of corporate social strategy (Husted and Allen, 2010). The 7 step framework of Husted and Allen has been used to design the implementation plan of corporate social strategy of Disney. Social Issue analysis The CSR of Disney includes activities such as healthy cleaning, recycling of waste materials, providing nutrition guidelines and online safety for kids (Hopkins, 2012). Women economic empowerment is a factor that can be considered by Disney to expand their existing range of CSR activity. Economic condition of women is miserable in various parts of African and Asian countries. The locations of Disney in those countries can help them to resolve this issue. Large companies like Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola are already involved in various operations to enhance the economical position of women in the society. Government of those countries are attracting more investment from top corporate towards the solution of unemployment and poverty (Lownes-Jackson and Guy, 2012). Disney can conduct training facility for the women under poverty level of these countries to enhance their working skills. Offering employment to these women can improve the economical status of these countries. Firms resource and capabilities for the opportunity Disney needs to analyse their available resources and the capabilities of the organisation before creating any plan. The major resources of any organisation are their financial resources and physical assets. Walt Disney holds a large number of consumer franchises that caters from soft toys selling to theme parks which are established in various parts of Africa and Asia. They have numerous positions where they can recruit female candidates (Itami and Noto, 2007). In the last five years, the annual revenue of Disney has increased significantly with 7% increase in the last financial year (Market Watch, 2014). The company has 28,000 Acres underutilized land assets whose value is $1.1 billion (USA Business Review, 2013). This resource can be used to establish new training centres. The primary goal of the resource analysis is not only to value the company assets but also to understand their capabilities. They have the capability to utilize their financial and land resource to establish new opportunities for women. Evaluate firms identity in terms of the opportunity Good corporate citizenship of Disney has strengthened the bond with the consumers and stakeholders around the world. Disney-owned website, television and radio channels have strictly maintained the standard of food advertisement to take a stand on childhood obesity. This approach helped the company to create a healthy brand value among the parents and kids. Similarly their initiatives in the waste recycling and environment protection projects have attracted a large number of consumers toward their products (Starke, 2012). Their new venture towards women economic empowerment will give them a new recognition in the society. Through this strategy they can contribute in the poverty reduction venture of those countries. The Walt Disney Company has established their identity as a promoter of the well-being of their stakeholders (Starke, 2012). Now this new CSR strategy will promote their identity as global corporate citizen. Cost and means for necessary resources Initial investment is very necessary to implement any strategy. The company already has the financial resources and land resources for the actualisation of this strategy (USA Business Review, 2013). Disney needs to create a plan to establish training centres and to hire trainers for the program. They need to supply training materials and guidelines to the employees as well. Recruiting sufficient numbers of teaching staffs as per the requirement of the location and designing their compensation structure should be the primary agenda for Disney. Wal-Mart has already spent $3.24 billion in the year of 2013 towards women empowerment plans in USA (Spence, 2014). To implement their plan in Africa and Asia Disney needs to allocate a budget of at least $5 billion. 2/3rd of this budget will be allocated for establishment of training institutes in 3-5 locations of Africa and China. The rest of the amount will be divided into 2 main sub-segments such as wages and salaries and study materials. Plan creation In the previous steps the opportunity, resources, capabilities and non-market stakeholders have been recognised. Now Disney needs to create a plan to implement the strategy properly. In the primary stage they need to do a reality check by meeting stake holders and beneficiaries of the targeted community to get their feedback. They must allocate staffs to conduct field visits which will help them to connect with the local people and to aware them about their plans and programs. Their short term goals should be assessing the competitive advantages in the market and allocating land and financial resources to build training centres. The next three years goal for Disney would be attracting sufficient number of participant for the cause. Their long term goal should be using this cause to build a brand identity for the organisation. Implementation Disney needs to divide its plan into few short-term goals and they need to evaluate the performance on half yearly basis. The first target is to gather the human resources. A proper plan for exchange benefits should be designed to attract volunteers from local universities. Disney must use their channels and websites for time to time promotion of their motive and the social benefit of this strategy. End of each year they need to compare the achievement with the target to modify their next year’s target. An implementation officer would be hired to oversee the achievement of the team on a timely basis. Measure and evaluate performance To measure the performance they need to evaluate that how their commitment toward the society is affecting their brand value and reputation. Increase in their brand value, trustworthiness and social reputation is likely to improve their financial gain in the long run. They need to follow Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) and Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT) to monitor the goals and targets for the program. These measurement tools influence rigorous performance of HR and monitoring team to maintain the proper track of the target and ensure their visibility in the future. Conclusion Corporate social responsibility helps any organisation to create a long term positive impression of their brand identity. It also helps them to gain trust and loyalty of consumers. By humanising the Disney characters and creating health awareness among children and parents the company has already accrued a huge share in their niche market. The proper implementation of the women empowerment and poverty reduction strategy will give them a new recognition in the society and it will help them to enhance their global reputation. Reference List Hopkins, M., 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility and International Development: Is Business the Solution? United Kingdom: Earthscan. Husted, B. W. and Allen, D. B., 2010. Corporate Social Strategy: Stakeholder Engagement and Competitive Advantage. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Itami, H. and Noto, L., 2007. Analyzing Resources and Capabilities. [pdf] CSAC05. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. Lownes-Jackson, M. and Guy, R., 2012. The Economic Empowerment of Women: A Global Perspective. California: Informing Science. Market Watch, 2014. Annual Financials for Walt Disney Co. [Online] Marketwatch, Inc. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. Robb, B. J., 2014. A Brief History of Walt Disney. United Kingdom: Hachette UK. Spence, B., 2014. 2014 Global Responsibility Report. [Online] Walmart. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. Starke, M., 2012. When CSR is thoughtfully integrated as part of a company’s strategy, it pays out on the bottom line. [Online] Marketing In The Lead. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. The Walt Disney Company, 2012. Disney Citizenship Performance Summary. [pdf] The Walt Disney Company. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. USA Business Review, 2013. The Walt Disney Company - A Leader In Corporate Social Responsibility. [Online] BRUSA. Available at: [Accessed 18 December 2014]. Read More