business plan

Daniel Goldsmith, DBA

Strayer University

March 3, 2018

Describe the ways in which your company is committed to being a good corporate citizen.

With the increasing competition in markets today, companies are devising new methods to gain an edge in the market. Corporate responsibility is increasingly becoming one effective way through which a company can improve its image in the eyes of stakeholders and the communities where it operates (Paetzold, 2010). Strawberry Rite Inc. understands its long-term societal and environmental impacts and for this reason, it plans to incorporate them into its strategic plans as well as risk management activities. Notably, Strawberry Rite Inc. will carry out various corporate social responsibility initiatives which will not be a gimmick meant to attract customers. On the contrary, the various CSR initiatives will be genuinely and authentically meant to improve the lives of the people within the company and the community surrounding the company, and also to ensure environmental safety.

Firstly, Strawberry Rite Inc. will seek to create job opportunities in the surrounding community. The U.S and the world at large, is facing a daunting challenge of unemployment, especially among the youth. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2017), the rate of unemployment in the country stands at 4.1%. This company will play a role in tackling unemployment conundrum through various ways. Firstly, it will partner with local academic institutions for its own talent needs. By employing people from around who possess the required skills and qualifications, the company will help to address the challenge of unemployment in Washington DC. Secondly, Strawberry Rite Inc. will partner with government and non-profit organizations to train and educate the locals on how they can start and run successful small businesses as part of the solutions to the unemployment problem.

The second component of Strawberry Rite's CSR is the honest and fair treatment of its employees. One of the fundamental parts of Strawberry Rite Inc. organizational culture is employee empowerment. As Millenials take a more dominant role in the current workforce in the U.S, this company must take initiatives to share their beliefs and values with its employees (Bhattacharya et al, 2013). It will embrace a strong CSR message that encourages its involvement of employees in decision making. Employee buy-in will be encouraged in order cultivate a sense of ownership among the employees. Next, Strawberry Rite Inc. will embrace diversity by employing persons from across all cultural, educational, racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. It will also create policies and procedures that support workplace diversity such as anti-discrimination policies.

In addition, the company will build a culture whereby leaders and managers listen carefully to employees, forgives mistakes, praises efforts and improvements, and more importantly, provides career growth opportunities. It is part of the company's long-term plans to develop career development programs for its employees such as tuition reimbursement for those who wish to advance their education as well as in-house professional training and certification. Lastly, it will encourage and support employees to achieve work/life balance.

Discuss how your company's activities will affect the environment and identify the steps you will take to mitigate any negative impacts.

Environmental protection will also be a constitutive part of the company's CSR plan. The company understands that some of its activities, especially in its production faculties have an adverse effect on the environment. As such, it will make a concerted effort to make its activities as environmental-friendly as possible. The first essential strategy in doing this is ensuring full compliance with the local, state and federal environmental protection laws, regulations, and standards.

Secondly, Strawberry Rite Inc. will reduce its waste as much as possible through recycling of its bottles and used water. It will emulate Coca-Cola's water stewardship approach by improving its overall water-use efficiency, manages its wastewater and proper discharge of stormwater at its plants (Haynes et al, 2012). Next, the company will use of biodegradable materials, auditing its facilities, going paperless and measuring the amount of waste it produces each day.

Thirdly, Strawberry Rite Inc. will encourage its supply chain stakeholders to embrace environmentally and socially responsible activities in order to increase their environmental performance. For instance, the company will closely monitor and evaluate its suppliers' and distributor's social and environmental practices. As the company grows, it will start to contribute towards environmental protection initiatives both locally and country-wide.

Determine any health issues/claims related to the product you are making, whether negative or positive. Suggest the strategy your company will use to mitigate any negative issues and to ensure any positive claims are true.

Unlike alcoholic wine brands produced by other companies which have adverse health effects on consumers, Strawberry Rite's nonalcoholic wines will do the contrary- help prevent the negative health effects of alcoholic beverages. For instance, Strawberry Rite's wine brands will be suitable for breastfeeding mothers, diabetic individuals, and those with other health problems that don't allow them to take alcoholic beverages. Another benefit of Strawberry Rite's wines is that they are low in calories.

Many beverage products have negative health impacts on certain segments of a population (e.g., children, pregnant mothers, etc.). Suggest your company's plan, through advertising, distribution, and/or other methods, to target and reach only appropriate market segments.

Just like the other beverage companies, Strawberry Rite is required by law to provide its consumers with information regarding any negative impacts of its products. Fortunately, products, as pointed earlier, are healthy and beneficial to individuals with health problems such as heart disease, and diabetes. It is safe for everyone including pregnant mothers. However, in its advertisements, Strawberry Rite will ask parents who might be uncomfortable with their children taking its products to intervene.

References

Bhattacharya, C. B., Sen, S., & Korschun, D. (2013). Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent.

Haynes, K., Murray, A., & Dillard, J. (Eds.). (2012). Corporate social responsibility: A research handbook. Routledge.

Paetzold, K. (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility as an International Marketing Approach. diplom. de.

United States of Labor, (2017). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000