Business Ethics and Sustainability Responsibility

Question: Discuss about the Business Ethics and Sustainability Responsibility. Answer: Introduction Kemper et al. (2013) states that Corporate Social Responsibility plays a crucial role in the betterment of the organization as it helps inbringing benefits regarding risk management, customer relationships, cost savings, innovation capacity and human resource management. Graafland and Mazereeuw-Van der Duijn Schouten (2012) also adds that CSR promotes the organizations approach towards the social and environmental responsibility. In this assignment, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity is analyzed of Westpac, which is an Australian bank having one of the largest branch networks and has been listed on the 2013 Worlds Most Ethical (WME) Companies list. They serve 13.1 million customers with 1429 branches and a network of 3850 ATMs ("Westpac.com.au", 2016). They took initiatives for women empowerment, reduction in carbon emissions and associated with NGOs. Discussion In this section, the CSR implemented by the organization will be analyzed to discuss whether the company meets their economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic obligation. Figure 1: Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility (Source: Arnold Valentin, 2013) Philanthropic Serving the un-served- Westpac being a leading finance organization, they offer help in financial literacy and awareness among community along with the financial education to the children, who desire to serve their best in this sector (Arnold Valentin, 2013). Collaboration- They also collaborated with many NSO and housing sectors and take initiatives to support 100 students each year forever for setting a new benchmark in corporate philanthropy. They also help in charity work for old-age homes, orphanage and academic institution. Ethical Responsible, prudent lending, risk management- Westpac ethically follows all their business approach through corporate governance framework. Lanis and Richardson (2012) depicts that with this framework they perform their financial; auditing, risk and compliances, nominations, remuneration and technology. Figure 2: Governance framework of Westpac (Source: "Westpac.com.au", 2016) Fair and transparent financial services- Westpac handles the customer complaint before any other business procedure as they intend to serve for the betterment of the organization to provide a better life for the community. They also have Westpac Group Securities Trading Policy that prohibits from dealing in any securities with any stakeholders. Reduction in greenhouse emission- This context handles the Triple Bottom Line procedure that signifies their Westpac sustainability strategy. They have taken initiatives for an environmental solution as the baseline of their electricity efficiency in commercial and retail sites in 2012 was 202 kWh/m2 which they target to reduce up to 18 kWh/m2 ("Westpac.com.au", 2016). Moreover, Cornwall (2015) also affirms that Westpac taken steps for reducing the Scope 1 2 GHG emissions in commercial and retail sites from 141,726 tonnes CO2-e to 121,884 tonnes CO2-e. Figure 3: Westpac Sustainability Strategy (Source: "Westpac.com.au", 2016) Legal Banking regulations- All banks in Australia formulated under Reserve Bank Act 1995 and the concerned organization followed all the banking and financial obligation like- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998, Privacy Act 1988, Cheques Act 1986 and State Fair Trading Acts like Fair Trading Act 1999 ("Federal Register of Legislation", 2016). Economic Westpac continuously takes proficient steps for making more profit so that the nations economy can be improved. Logue and Zappala (2014) highlights that in 2015 they earned an annual revenue of A$ 2,788 billion which is 8% higher than 2014. Moreover, their good performance results in lending up of 12% and customer revenue up by 2% that ensures that there will be fewer chances of depletions and financial crisis. As a result, no employee will lose their jobs ("Westpac.com.au", 2016). Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that Westpac met their economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic obligation and continued to be the most sustainable organization as they are already the number one in rank according to World Economic Forum. Reference List Arnold, D. G., Valentin, A. (2013). Corporate social responsibility at the base of the pyramid.Journal of business research,66(10), 1904-1914. Cornwall, A. (2015). Cautious optimism on emissions reduction.Australian Environmental Law Digest,2(2), 26. Federal Register of Legislation - Australian Government. (2016).Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A00310 Graafland, J., Mazereeuw-Van der Duijn Schouten, C. (2012). Motives for corporate social responsibility.De Economist,160(4), 377-396. Kemper, J., Schilke, O., Reimann, M., Wang, X., Brettel, M. (2013). Competition-motivated corporate social responsibility.Journal of Business Research,66(10), 1954-1963. Lanis, R., Richardson, G. (2012). Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness: a test of legitimacy theory.Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal,26(1), 75-100. Logue, D., Zappala, G. (2014). The Emergence of the Social Economy: the Australian not-for-profit sector in transition. Westpac - Personal, Business and Corporate Banking. (2016).Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from https://www.westpac.com.au/.