Reference no: EM131466149
Case Study Deutche Bank
Deutsche Bank was founded in Berlin in 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade by Georg Siemens and L. Bambeger. During the early years major projects included the. Northern Pacific Railroad in the US and the Baghdad Railroad in Iraq. During WWI the Deutsche Bank lost most of its foreign assets and had to sell of many holdings. At the same time, however the bank helped to establishment of the film production company, UFA, and the merger of Daimler and Benz.
Darker days fell upon the Deutsche Bank after Hitler came to power, instituting the and the Deutsche Bank dismissed its three Jewish board members, and in subsequent years, took part in the confiscation of Jewish-owned businesses. The bank itself fell into German government hands during which time it provided banking for the Gestapo and loaned the funds used to build the Auschwitz and IG Farben facilities. It later contributed to a $5.2 billion in compensation fund following lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors.
In October 2001, Deutsche Bank was listed on the New York Exchange. It was later named one of the major dirvers of the collaterized debt obligation market during the 2004-2008 housing bubble.
In spite of Deutsche Banks' involvement in these historical issues, it has recently made a commitment to both social endeavors and to the environment. Deutsche Bank has invested in social projects such as StreetSmart, a campaign to raise money for charities for the homeless in the UK, and Surviving Winter, a campaign to help older and vulnerable individuals stay warm and well. Deutsche Bank has a commitment to long-term environmental sustainability. This includes reducing waste and working towards becoming more carbon neutral, and supporting innovative new technology. Since 2008 all electricity needs in the UK were met with renewable energies, and 85% of Deutsche Bank staff are now part of the Bin the Bin recycling initiative, reducing unrecyclable waste by 72% in two years.
Case Study The HCT Group
HCT Group is an established bus operation with services across the UK , running including ten red London bus routes, Park and Ride services, and NHS staff transport. HCT was launched in the 1980 to provide community transport in Hackney, London. At that time it was just one of many small community transport organizations that provided low-cost minibus transportation for marginalized communities, non profit organizations and social clubs. It also provided transportation for disabled persons who had difficulty using public transportation. HCT relied on grans and donations to support the operation. However, in 1993, HCT like many similar companies found it hard to get grans to support their service. Since the need in the community was just as great, HCT set out to find bold, new ways to meet their financial needs.
This required rethinking how they conducted business and developing a new business model that would not rely on grants but on winning commercial transport contracts. HCT believed that if they could win such contracts, they could reinvest the profits into projects for the community that would have strong social impacts. Part of this model included training the disadvantaged people of the community to take on the roles of drivers, passenger assistants and other jobs that not only provided them with income but allowed them to gain life-changing skills.
HCT develop their own training skills to pass on to their employees and landed their first contract. They went on to become the only accredited center for passenger transpotation training in Hackney, training 392 long-term unemployed people who became qualified in 2010-2011. By 2001 HCT had developed their skills as leaders in the transportation business to the point where they could compete for contracts with major transportation companies and won their first red bus route, opening them up to rapid growth.
Partnerships with other organizations opened up new depots and routes. HCT now provides over 12 million passenger trips every year. All profits are reinvested into the communities they service and fund training for long-term unempolyed. At HCT it is not shareholders who reap the benefits but the skateholders.
Case Study: Coca Cola
Coca Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton, a pharmacist, in 1886 in his back yard in Atlanta, Georgia. His bookkeeper, Frank Robinson came up with the name and the flowing letters that don coke cans until this day. The drink was initially sold at one soda fountain in Atlanta, bring in about $50 a day in revenue, while production costs equaled over $70, obviously operating at a loss. A year after its inception, another pharmacist, Asa Candler bought the formula from Pemberton and through aggressive marketing made Coca Cola one of the most popular fountain drinks in America.
As the soda fountain era came to an end, the era of bottled soft drinks and fast food restaurants began to rise and opened up a new distribution channel for Coca Cola. Today more than 1.4 billion drinks are consumed per day around the world in over 200 countries. The Coca-Cola Company is currently the world's largest beverage company, with more than 500 brands. They are the number one provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks in the world.
According to Coca Cola's 2012-2013 Sustainability Report, "At Coca-Cola, sustainability is a critical component of our business strategy. It is about improving lives, creating jobs, increasing opportunity, preserving resources and meeting needs for the communities we proudly serve around the globe," said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. "There are no issues that will more shape or define the 21st century than the global empowerment of women; the management of the world's precious water resources; and the well-being of the world's growing population."
Coca Cola's sustainability focus is based on a framework of "Me, We, World" and has three leadership priorities: Women, Water, and Well-being. The focus on women addresses women entrepreneurs to help them overcome barriers to starting and operating businesses from fruit farmers to artisans in 22 countries. In the area of sustainability, Coca Cola's water initiative with companies and organizations throughout the world to reduce water use and deliver safe drinking water to communities in need. Coca Cola partnered with DEKA to provide SlingshotTM, a vapor compression water purification machine that can produce about 30 liters of water an hour on minimal energy usage, to communities in need of clean water in rural parts of Latin America and Africa. In the area of well-being Coca Cola has focused on addressing obesity through production of low or no calorie products and has decreased its average calories per serving in its drinks by nine percent. In addition, they support healthy living programs in many countries.
Coca Cola maintains a philanthropic arm of the company that supports many community based initiatives, investing over $101.6 million in 2012 alone. They have maintained their policy not to market to children, and address global climate issues through an ambitious goal of reducing their carbon footprint by 25% by 2020.
Case Study: Intel and Corporate Social Responsibility
Intel Corporation is a semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Based on revenue, Intel is one of the world's largest semiconductor chip makers with an multinational presence. Intel Corporation was founded in 1968, by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore under the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove. Intel makes motherboards, network interface controllers, integrated circuits, flash member, graphic chips, and processors, combining advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Until 1981 the majority of its business was devoted to SRAM and DRAM memory chip manufacturing. Currently Intel is actively developing the 3-D transitor and 4th generation core processors.
As a socially responsible corporation, Intel is actively involved in improving lives, the community, and the environment. In 1988 Intel established the Intel Foundation to fund educational and charitable endeavors. Intel corporate leadership has a history of investment and engagement in programs to support social issues that has generated significant value both for Intel and for their stakeholders. Intel is especially active in developing "conflict free" mineral products. Many product made by Intel, as well as countless others in the marketplace, contain tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, that are know as "conflict minerals". These minerals are often sold by rebels to fund violent conflict. Intel is partnering with other organizations to find conflict free smelters for its resource supplies.
Intel supported Mike Mick Ebeling's Not Impossible Lab's to develop Project Daniel that initially set to provide a boy with new arms and his village in South Sudan with the Intel® technology, UltrabooksTM, using 3-D printing to develop prosthetics to help other civil war victims.
In other areas, Intel's She Will Connect program strives to close the Internet gender gap for girls and women that excludes them from 21st century jobs and opportunities. This is especially critical in sub-Saharan Africa. The project is intended to empower women, improve digital literacy training, provide online peer interaction, and gender relevant content. It is expected to transform African economy and families. Additionally, Intel supports educational projects especially for girls in Egypt, Tanzania, and 65 other developing countries through project such as Smart Girls and Girls Rising. Intel emphasizes the benefits communities and developing countries obtain when girls are educated leading to healthier and safer people, and less child marriage. Intel India's Empowering Women in Jharkhand, provides education and local economic support, Into empower underserved tribal women with education to start prosperous micro-businesses.
Intel's corporate culture has as its foundation a value for its people, the environment, human rights, and empowering the next generation. Their commitment to the environment includes projects to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, conserve resources, and use innovative ways for sustainability.