Describe how Agility Logistics engage in corporate social responsibility by giving specific examples
Agility Logistics engages in corporate responsibility in several ways, with humanitarian logistics, green steps, and investing in the community as the key areas (Manibo para. 3). Under community investment, Agility Logistics supports a Lebanon-based cancer treatment center. It has also been involved in the renovation of a school in Iraq. Also, Agility Logistics engages in teaching life skills in both Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It has also supported the livelihoods of thousands of Indians (Agility Logistics 1). In Singapore, Agility Logistics is involved in the transport and distribution of food meant to support the needy. In Turkey, the company has planted trees and in the United States, Agility Logistics has been involved in nationwide food drives. Finally, the company has helped to establish computer centers in Uganda.
Under its emergency and humanitarian program, Agility Logistics has facilitated the movement of food containers meant for victims of hurricanes, wars, earthquakes, and floods in Myanmar, Lebanon, Sudan, Pakistan, the U.S., China, Bangladesh, and the Philippines (Agility Logistics 1). Under the green steps initiatives, Agility Logistics has facilitated the eradication of millions of plastic bottles. Besides, the company has played a key role in research on the de-carbonization of the supply chain. Also, the company has helped to implement various recycling programs in its different offices across the globe.
What are the benefits of Agility Logistics for engaging in corporate responsibility?
There are several benefits associated with the decision by Agility Logistics to engage in corporate reasonability. To start with, CSR confers a better reputation for Agility Logistics. In other words, the company gets a positive public perception. An impeccable reputation would be a good thing for Agility Logistics because this would differentiate the company from its competitors (Bhattacharya, Sen, and Korschun 83). Also, the positive public perception would be a good thing for Agility Logistics because it means that the company’s market share and customer loyalty may increase, in effect increasing the revenue generated as well.
Investors would also want to deal with a company that has a good reputation in the eyes of the public. As such, another benefit of CSR for Agility Logistics is the ability to attract and retain more investors. Consequently, the company is in a better position to access additional capital (Bhattacharya et al 84). Before an investor can put his money in a company, one of the key factors that he has to be concerned with is reputation. Employees at Agility Logistics would also benefit from a CSR program. Recruits would want to be associated with the company. Employees would want to work at an organization that values growth, career interests, and safety. Because employees are the greatest asset in a company, this would facilitate the overall growth of Agility Logistics.
What are the possible drawbacks that Agility Logistics could face because of engaging in CSR?
Just as there are various benefits that Agility Logistics would stand to benefit from by engaging in corporate social responsibility, there are also some drawbacks associated with such a decision. One of these drawbacks is the role of profit. One of the main intentions of CSR is to enable a company to acknowledge responsibility to other stakeholders, besides the shareholders. These could be the customers, employees, communities, or suppliers (Orlitzky, Schmidt, and Rynes 404).
Although proponents of CSR argue that a company stands to benefit from engaging in CSR activities in the long-term, on the other hand, shareholders may get concerned at the thought that a company can decide to invest in a project whose financial gain is not guaranteed in the foreseeable future. As such, Agility Logistics may find it very hard to detect measurable bottom-line advantages associated with the company as it is very hard to account for environmental and social programs concerning monetary gain.
Another drawback that Agility Logistics could be faced with by engaging in CSR activities is the issue of competitive disadvantage. Some firms have demonstrated their reluctance to embrace CSR and most of them cite the drawback that such a decision causes to firms that have decided not to embrace such policies. For example, Agility Logistics has invested a lot of resources in humanitarian logistics, communities, and green steps initiatives (Orlitzky et al 405).
In case there is another company in the same industry as Agility Logistics that does not engage in CSR activities, such a company will end up retaining its financial resources and channel them to other business pursuits. Therefore, in the absence of stringent compliance in the entire industry, some firms might argue that they have no intention of falling back on some of the pending projects by allocating part of their moment to fiancé CSR programs.
The third drawback that Agility Logistics could be faced with by embracing CSR policies is the loss of focus (Orlitzky et al 405). When initiating CSR programs, many companies are mainly driven by the desire to retain customers and establish customer loyalty. However, opponents of CSR have argued that the main driving force of the majority of the firms that have embraced CSR is a possible backlash from the public, as opposed to their belief that it would ultimately be useful to the company.
Visit the website www.agilitylogistics.com, and go over the code of ethics section
In its line of business, some laws prohibit employees at Agility Logistics from discriminating against their fellow employees. This means that their participation in various activities and actions should be in line with the prescribed code of ethics by the company (Agility Logistics 5). Employees at Agile Logistics are normally forbidden from asking questions likely to identify a potential employee as belonging to a certain religion, race, sexual preference, national origin, disability group, or religion.
This is an indication that Agility Logistics is an equal opportunity employer. In case one is conducting a verbal interview, he or she is forbidden from soliciting information that is not permitted by law. About the issue of harassment, Agility Logistics is fully committed to ensuring that employees do not suffer from one form of harassment or another while at the workplace (Agility Logistics 6). Come of the example of harassment that Agility Logistics tries to shield its employees against include harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, age, and sexual orientation, among others.
The organization prohibits its employees from soliciting or encouraging any gifts, personal favor, or gratuity. This should also receive gifts on behalf of members of their family or friends from an agent, jobber, supplier, customer, vendor, competitor, or consultant (Agility Logistics 14). On the other hand, individuals could access non-monetary gifts, as long as they have not been solicited. Besides, such items need to be of nominal value.
Moreover, the person should ensure that the nonmonetary gifts offered do not exceed acceptable business practice and common courtesy. Such a policy is good because sometimes, you are never sure about the intentions of the person offering the gift. They might use it as bait in the future to get back to the company, not to mention the threat they could pose to the reputation of the company in case they have questionable character.
Works Cited
Agility Logistics n. d. Agility code of business ethics and conduct. n. d. Web.
Agility Logistics 2009. Our World, Our Future: Agility’s Social and Environmental Responsibility 2008. Web.
Bhattacharya, Somanjana, Sankar, Sen and Daniel, Korschun. Leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Business and Societal Value, Cambridge: UK. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.
Manibo, Medilyn. 2008. Agility wins Kuwait’s first CSR award. 2008. Web.
Orlitzky, Marc, Schmidt, Frank and Rynes, Sara. “Corporate social and financial performance: a meta-analysis.” Organization Studies 24.3(2003): 403-441. Print.