Diageo PLC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diageo PLC - Essay Example Company’s identity, as Cramer and Bergmans outline (2003, 2), is expected to be based on a balanced combination of working for all – people, planet and profit, and, furthermore, achieve sustainable development. Growing affluence, need for ecological sustainability, globalization and free flows of information have made the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) crucial for commercial organizations (Werther and Chandler 2010, 21) forcing them to invest much of the recourses into CSR programmes. Though such programmes themselves do not have a direct impact on company’s profits, companies believe that the positive image and good reputation they earn through CSR initiatives will make existing and potential clients more loyal to the company. Indeed, members of developed societies can afford to choose whether to purchase a particular brand or not. At the same time, some scholars argue that for many companies social responsiveness is just a way to hide more insid ious activities of a company (Bansal 2009, 182). Since the very first responsibility of any company is to bring profits to its stakeholders, businesses simply use CSR to deflect criticism of other activities, which might not be as positive. It is especially true in relation to companies, the whole business of which is rather controversial – manufacturers of cars that damage the environment, tobacco industry businesses, owners of alcohol brands, and so on. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to analyse and critically analyse performance of one of such companies – Diageo PLC – in order to understand the impact and implications of the company’s actions in terms of CSR on society and stakeholders. Diageo PLC Diageo PLC is the company that stands behind such famous alcohol brands as Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys, Crown Royal, J&B and Windsor among others (About us 2011). While some of the brands the company owns have been in the market for decad es, some, as the company’s website mentions, were developed later to match the new and different tastes of new generations of customers. The business operates in about 180 markets, has offices in 80 world countries, and employs more than 20,000 people (both office and manufacturing staff) worldwide. The CSR page of Diageo’s website is full of information on how the company invests into community development, and environmental protection through the use of renewable energy, water preservation, waste reduction and sustainable packaging (CSR 2011). However, for the purpose of this paper the ‘Alcohol in Society’ aspect of Diageo PLC will be analysed. The case for Diageo PLC ‘Alcohol in Society’ page of Diageo’s website states that one of the strategic goals of the company is to create a positive role for alcohol in the society (Alcohol in Society 2011). The company’s mission is to promote responsible drinking, because irresponsible d rinking causes harm to people’s health. For this reason the company responsibly markets its brands only to adults and supports initiatives that are aimed at fighting misuse and excessive consumption of alcohol. Employees of the company are even offered a responsible drinking training. In an attempt to educate people on the dangers of excessive or irresponsible drinking Diageo launched a DRINKiQ.com website, with 18 national websites in 8 languages, which provides information on the effects of drinking alcohol, drinking patterns, resources for educators and parents, as well as other alcohol-related information (Drinkiq.com 2011). The major goals of the company in relation to people’