Social Responsibility by International oil Companies (IOC) - 7700 Words

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by International oil Companies (IOC) in Nigeria (Dissertation Sample) Content: [Corporate social responsibility by international oil companies in Nigeria] By Insert Your Name Presented to Instructors Name, Course Institution Name, Location Date Due Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction .. 3 2.0 Literature Revie 4 2.1 Corporate social responsibility review...5 2.2 Scope, concepts and theories of corporate social responsibility6 2.3 Corporate social responsibilities- controversy6 2.4 Research Methods and strategies 7 2.5 Inconsistency in Findings8 2.6 Unanswered questions..8 3.0 Methodology...9 4.0 Data analysis10 5.0. Discussion..13 6.0. Conclusion..13 7.0. Recommendations14 8.0. Critical evaluation15 9.0 Bibliography..16 Corporate Social Responsibility by International Oil Companies in Nigeria 1.0 Introduction The paper illuminates on the use of corporate social responsibility by international oil companies in Nigeria to the host communities. The research aims at asserting whether the use of corporate social responsibility meets the needs of the local community. Besides, exploring the extent the use of corporate social responsibility has been beneficial to both the oil companies and the community. Further, identifying the various methods international oil companies have employed corporate social responsibility and their success. To extensively explore the purpose of this study, several research questions need answers. 1) What are the major development projects in terms of corporate social responsibility undertaken by the oil companies that fulfil the needs of the host communities? 2) What is the level of benefit to both the oil companies and the host communities after implementation of the corporate social responsibility projects 3) What are the multifaceted methods used by the international oil companies to employ corporate social responsibility and the success of the plans. Over a decennium of years, there has been heightened agitation, crises and tension between the oil-rich companies and the host communities. The government of Nigeria has tried to channel efforts into creating a peaceful business atmosphere. However, the oil companies and the host communities remain at variance since the companies claim that they bring development to the communities, which forms part of the corporate social responsibility. Nigeria is an economy that relies greatly on crude oil that is derived from the Niger Delta. The population of the Niger Delta is approximately 28 million, which is about 16.7% of the total population in Nigeria. The host community in the Niger Delta has significantly suffered the consequences of oil exploration due to the environmental degradation. The widely known companies such as Shell, Mobil, Chevron and Texaco contribute immensely to the federal revenue in Nigeria, and the oil revenues contribute about 95% of the foreign exchange earnings in the country. However, these operations are not matched with the development of the country, considering the instability that has resulted in the oil companies and the host communities. The oil companies claim to have constructed hospitals, schools, roads, provided portable water, sponsorship, scholarship, electricity as well as the provision of support to health campaign programmes. The companies executed such projects to reflect corporate social responsibility in the host communities. Nevertheless, the host communities have not acknowledged the development projects and, as a result, there is a continued cruel behaviour towards the companies. In the primordial days, there was a good relationship between the host communities and the oil companies, which is no longer in existence. The tension between the two parties gave way to violence and hostility. This is evident through, pipeline malicious damage, seizure of oil installations, kidnapping, militancy, shutting down of oil companies and community conflicts. The rise in the rate of violence has been declared both a national and international issue. Internationally, the concern grows due to the fluctuation in the crude oil prices, which is caused by the upsurge in instability that is widespread in the oil-rich areas of Nigeria. Nationally, the issue is a concern due to the unspeakable threat to the economy due to the loss of vast numbers of oil barrels annually to pipeline malicious damage. Therefore, due to the debates and claims by the oil companies, the purpose of the study arises. The oil companies claim they are undertaking projects that reflect corporate social responsibility, yet the community does not acknowledge such efforts. As a result, this paper seeks to study the acclaimed development projects in terms of corporate social responsibility and find out if implementation of the corporate social responsibility meets the needs of the community, how beneficial it is to the companies and the community as well as methods that have been used to employ corporate social responsibility. A qualitative study has been conducted to undertake the research, particularly on secondary data. Data has been collected by reviewing peer-reviewed journals, government documents scholarly books and online sources. Besides, a descriptive survey was conducted, and the results are shown in the subsequent chapters. 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Corporate social responsibility review Corporate social responsibility is whereby; the companies put into consideration the societys interest. This is done by accepting responsibility for the influence caused by their activities on employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, stakeholders, the environment as well as the community as a whole. The obligation cover a wider scope other than the statutory compliance with the legislation. It extends further to improving the quality of life for the individuals in the community (Lodge, 2010, p. 320). According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), corporate social responsibility is defined as a continuing commitment by a company to show ethical disposition by contributing to the development of the economy as well as enhancing quality of the life of workforce, the members of the community and the society at large. According to Agwu (2012), corporate social responsibility is classified into four namely: Enterprise: which involves support and development of the initiatives that nurtures potential entrepreneurs as well as upsurge the growth of the enterprises. Education: which means bringing new, improved and standard horizons for young people. Arts and culture: means pursuing cohesiveness in the community through providing assistance in a multifaceted group of activities in the art. Environment involves channelling of efforts into safeguarding the environment as well as enhancing the quality of life (Agwu, 2012, p. 32). According to Theodore (2010), there is a classification of what corporate social responsibility...

Information Systems & CRM Research Paper - 1375 Words

Information Systems & CRM (Research Paper Sample) Content: Use of Information Systems in Customer Relationship ManagementNameCourse TitleDate Use of Information Systems in Customer Relationship ManagementToday, all of the businesses are based on information systems because it is the only means by which businesses can work in a better and organized way to stay ahead of competitors. Information systems help the organizations in making effective decisions within no time, aid in collecting and disseminating information to all the departments of the firm, help in communicating better with a firms external and internal stakeholders, smoothes business operations, aids in record keeping etc. On the basis of numerous benefits of information systems, the topic has been chosen so that its effects on customer relationship management could be understood thoroughly. In order to double the profits, companies are now focusing more on customer relationship management along with business processes and productivity. Having satisfied customers i s becoming the sole reason for the companies to thrive four times more than their rivals. Customer relationship management also assists in knowing the customers buying habits and opinions that result in grouping the customers and the specific markets into explicit profiles in order to deal with them more effectively and increase sales. Customer relationship management helps in changing the way a business operates so that improvements in customer service and marketing are observed. Moreover, the existence of information systems within a company to enhance customer relationship management gives companies a benefit to working in an efficient manner. It has become a businesss need to have a CRM system so that it can cope with increasing or changing customer preferences. Therefore, this research focuses on the importance of information systems and technology on todays customer relationship management. The topic has been elaborated comprehensively so that all the key concepts of informati on systems and its impact on a companys customer relationship management are examined in detail. DiscussionIt would not be wrong to say that the better a business knows how to deal with its customer, the more chances are of its being successful. Customer relationship management helps in understanding the behavior of customers and modifying business operations to guarantee the customers are treated in the best possible way. But there have been many examples in the past where CRM implementations have failed; the reason can be attributed to lack of understanding of information system and know-how of its execution. For example, in 1996, Hershey Corporation tried to implement CRM, ERP and supply chain management system but failed badly because the company noticed that the business processes involved highly complex transformations (Jonathan, 2011). In addition to that, the size and intricacy of its undertaking was huge that led the firm to pursue an aggressive implementation plan. A conti nuous loss in sales was observed due to problems and delays in the implementation. There are some useful tips that the companies can benefit from if they want to get most out of the CRM along with information systems. The companies must focus more on customers touch points rather than totally relying on technology (Beasty, 2005). Furthermore, the companies must avoid hiding from customers (Lager, 2007) because if the firms hid, they would not be genuine, and the customers would not believe them; therefore, there is likelihood that the customer relationship management would become difficult for the companies despite having the most advanced technology. With the growing needs of the businesses and with the help of observations of those that have made success in the industry, it has been learned that marinating strong relations with the customers is mandatory for the acquisition of new customers, retaining the existing ones and maximizing their lifetime value. It is obligatory to susta in a strong coordination between the marketing and information technology departments because, in this way, firms can know their customer closely and in a better way. The firm that knows its customers better can serve in a better way. Although past evidences and various researches have proved that the implementation of CRM is intricate, but information system scan simplify everything. A similar study was conducted in Kenyan banking industry that showed the banks have customized their services provided to the customers and for that, information systems have smoothed their business processes (Muro, Magutu, Getembe, 2013). Another study in the field of healthcare showed that personalized customer service helps in strengthening customer relationship management concepts and also assists the companies to meet diverse customer demands. Information systems have improved disease prevention and health promotion criteria for the hospitals (Choi, et al., 2013) because the hospitals are now clo ser to their customers and extensive researches have been conducted in the field of health on the basis of data collected from the customers. This has not only given rewards to the health industry but the customers as well. The results showed that although organizational performance and the organizational systems are linked together, and even the outcomes are dependent on these factors, the performance of CRM systems in hospitals have proved useful and has increased the satisfaction of the customers. Besides, the team work efficiency and individual performance are improved so that competitiveness in healthcare is maximized. There are many ways in which technology or information system can be used for the effective use and results of CRM in the companies. They are called CRM ecosystems, and they are divided into three categories: Operational CRM, Analytical CRM, and Collaborative CRM (Viljoen, Bennett, Berndt, Van Zyl, 2005). Operational CRM entails applications that are customer o riented such as sales force automation, enterprise marketing automation, and customer service and support. All types of interactions with the customers are recorded so that reference for future is saved. Analytical CRM helps in analyzing data that is collected by operational CRM. It includes operations like capturing, storage, extraction, processing, etc. This enables the companies to formulate promotional strategies and marketing efforts based on the results through analytical CRM. Additionally, collaborative CRM encourages customers to interact with the companies through latest and conventional communication technologies. This type of CRM can extend its usefulness to supply chain members and even the internal stakeholders, such as employees, so that all of them come in contact with the company; consequently, the company would make efforts to make improvements for all the customers and stakeholders. Information systems cannot exclude the importance of internet that is the most effi cient and effective tool for collecting information or any kind of data related to a companys customers, even if they are located anywhere in the world. The emerging type of CRM with the help of information systems and technology, based on the internet, is called e-CRM. There are evidences that B2B companies collect more data for CRM purposes through internet than B2C companies; the data collected includes customer demographics, online and offline sales, call center and email data, etc. (Barko, Moosa, Nemati, 2011). It could be inferred that there are complexities involved in gaining data through e-CRM, because data amounts are large and there can be a number of sources from which the data is collected but the fact cannot be ignored that information systems involved in such CRM are beneficial because it helps the companies to come close to their customer and support in providing better cust...