Business

Social responsibility, as defined in the textbook, refers to individuals and companies who have a duty to act in the best interests of their environment and society as a whole. Social responsibility can include environmental factors, philanthropic (charity/donation) factors, economic factors, and ethical factors. Different businesses have different approaches to their social responsibilities. Some businesses may focus their efforts on one specific social issue, whereas other businesses may spread their efforts across different social issues. Regardless of this, every business has or should have some level of social responsibility, seeing as though society itself is a stakeholder in businesses.

Microsoft exercises social responsibility by addressing several social issues. According to a Business Research Methodology article, “Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is guided by the citizenship mission of the company which is ‘to serve globally the needs of communities and fulfill our responsibilities to the public’” (Dudovskiy, 2019). A specific example of a social responsibility Microsoft seeks to maintain is the protection of fundamental rights. This includes issues of racial injustice, fair immigration, and employee health and safety. Microsoft has added a $150 million investment towards doubling their people of color (POC) managers, senior individuals, and senior leaders by 2025 (Microsoft, 2020). In terms of immigration, Microsoft has been and continues to support bills that accommodate fair immigration laws in order to increase diversity in talent throughout the U.S. In terms of employee health and safety, “The Microsoft CARES employee assistance program, offers free access to services including personal and family counseling, stress management, and referrals for child/elder care” (Dudivskiy, 2019).

Another example of a social responsibility Microsoft seeks to maintain is environmental and climate health. They do so by taking the following initiatives:

● Carbon neutral global operations. ● Minimization of waste via recycling, reusing and composting ● Wind, solar, and hydropower electricity

These are not the only social responsibility initiatives Microsoft participates in. There are several others that strive to make Microsoft an acceptable business in society.

Reference Texts

1. 2019. Microsoft Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): a brief overview - Research-Methodology John Dudovskiy https://research-methodology.net/microsoft-corporate-social-responsibility-csr/

2. Protect Fundamental Rights: Microsoft CSR Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/protect-fundamental-rights?rtc= 1