Using an example, describe how a business can use Corporate Social Responsibility to their advantage.

GSK is a PLC, so one of its main goals is to satisfy its shareholders and investors by paying them dividends each year, which come from their profits. The more profit made, the more each shareholder gets. Therefore, making a profit is very important to GSK, as it will keep the shareholders happy so that they don’t sell their shares and lower the share price. Also, without profit, GSK cannot re-inject capital into the company for things such as researching and developing cures and medicines. If they can’t develop these cures, they won’t be able to make any money from the cure, and the cycle continues. Since GSK already has a bad reputation of “profiting from the misfortunes of others”, they need to change it so that customers will continue buying from them. They are more psychologically inclined to buy from a company that has ethical boundaries than one focused solely on profit, as they feel more morally comfortable. Although GSK needs to make profit, the primary objective of healthcare is to help people who are unwell. It is greatly important for them to maintain a good public image. Therefore, if they don’t have a good public image and sound ethical principles, customers are less likely to buy from them as it will reflect badly on themselves. In conclusion, I believe that balancing the need to make a profit and ethics is important because it satisfies most of the stakeholders of the company. All companies linked to medicine must also have a philanthropic side, so by reducing the price of medicine in sub-Saharan Africa GSK is greatly helping poorer countries, which will improve their reputation and make them a more caring and principled company.