1A: A critical analysis of the CSR strategy of your chosen organisation (500 words) In this critical analysis, you must choose a company and write an analysis of its CSR strategy. This should include academic or reliable references to concepts and theories covered during the course and some element of critical evaluation, and you could consider evaluating the companys strategy versus what it does in practice. You should provide a brief summary of the strategy and critically analysing it. Do not use part 1A simply to describe the strategy (you can provide supplementary information in the appendix). This section should be written as an academic piece of work. Throughout the coursework please use footnote referencing (no bibliography / Harvard / APA-style referencing). The 500 words excludes the footnotes (word does this automatically) and any appendices that you decide to include. 1B: A briefing paper written as a board paper to be (in theory) submitted for approval to the managing directors / board directors, focusing on the same company as part 1A (500 words) For one particular issue within your chosen organisation / company please write a board paper / briefing note in line with the examples provided by previous students [previous students enjoyed writing the board papers and wanted coursework to have a higher weighting, hence the extension of the coursework and the increase to 50%]. In the briefing paper you should position yourself as an employee or a consultant of your chosen company. The briefing paper is a Board paper where you inform the Board of Directors of your company of a CSR related problem that has arisen (i.e. is on-going and contemporary) which impacts one or several of your companys stakeholder groups. You should: Briefly outline the problem Then make recommendation(s) on how to solve this problem, while referring if necessary to best practices of competitors Also consider how your suggestions affect other stakeholders of your company Your target is that the Board of Directors approve your recommendation(s), i.e. the resolution(s). You will need to make sure that your recommendation(s) are feasible e.g. dont just say to an Oil and Gas company that they should stop producing and selling fossil fuel. As this is a Board paper you should NOT cite using Harvard in-text referencing but instead reference / cite / refer to important external information using footnotes. These footnotes should contain the information that is usually provided in the list of references / bibliography at the end. No list of reference or bibliography is required in part 1B. The 500-word limit excludes footnotes (Microsoft Word excludes these automatically) and appendices. The appendices could for example include tables, graphs, images or other important information. NB In part 1 of this assignment (as well as the exam) there will be opportunities to explain theories. In this briefing paper however, you should not explain theories but rather apply them and ensure that you are producing a balanced argument which takes shareholders and other stakeholders into account and uses a variety of references (rather than solely basing your argument on the opinion of one NGO for example).
