TATA vs China (Corporate Social Responsibility perspective) Corporate Social Responsibility in Tata - Tata which was started by Jamsetji

N Tata always follow the idea of running a business that whatever comes from the society should go back to the society as well. They always believe that the economic and the social aspects of running a business are equally important. Even today 2/3rd of equity of Tata Sons go for philanthropic works. From every project of Tata like Tata Nano which they take up has something to give back to the society also. Nano is the world smallest and cheapest car. Idea of Nano came in Mr. Ratan Tata mind when he saw a family of middle class persons travelling four persons in a single scooter. Thus he thought for a revolutionary idea so that every household of India have the easy access of four wheelers by providing a trustworthy means of transportation and improving the life of an average Indian. While Nano was first criticized on the basis of increased trafficking and pollution on the roads but ultimately it owned a very positive response from the international community. The TATA index was introduced keeping in mind that the social initiatives should not only be sustainable but also be quantifiable such that one can always see where it is lagging and take measures to improve the same. All the stakeholders i.e. people, systems and programs play a role in defining the index. The onus is on each project leader to make appropriate evaluations based on the index and identify the social aspects that can be improved and sustained in the long run. Corporate Social responsibility as followed by Tata is a Top-Down process. Top management should emanate it so that they are able to set a good example in front of all the employees. They designed their business model, keeping in mind that they have to do social good along with economic betterment of all the stakeholders. It has reached a stage now that the TATA way has become a legacy. It encourages the employees to volunteer in socially sustainable activities and bring up such propaganda during business meetings so that it can be well thought upon by the management also. And employees here now have the culture which enables them to follow the Tata way without even someone compelling them to do it. It has now imbibed deeply in every employee of Tata. All this is done by the TATAs without anyone expecting that much from them. Corporate Social Responsibility in China - CSR in China is quite different as compared to this. The Chinese society has always been a communist society so it expects the government and the corporate community to help at times of need and otherwise too. Companies there have to show to Government and public that they are doing CSR work. They do it forcefully even if they dont want do it.

Another fact presented in the article is that a company that is discrete when it comes to helping the needy at a time of crisis can be misjudged as being thrifty and giving more importance to profit rather than righteousness and nationalism. Because the community expects the corporate community to help, it doesnt understand international norms, it only sees relative margins and decides who is thrifty and who is not. It is also seen that the amount of donation is also directly proportional to the amount of goodwill generated by the company from the population of China. With the advent of electronic media and due to the lack of trustworthy media of any other sorts where reliable news and views can be obtained, people of China take the denizens very seriously in this regard and it is seen that the amount of publicity negative or positive is immense due to this platform. This internet word of mouth propagation has become a phenomenon in the Chinese civilization.As a result, to make a sustainable CSR strategy in China, companies are required to cut through all the red tapes and bureaucracy whenever a chance to help comes up and donate as soon as possible so that the brand integrity is maintained. Also, a prominent part of the CSR strategy is to give and then go public as soon as possible to let people know how much they have helped as it also helps gain a lot of goodwill from the people.

Thus we can see that while the Tata follow CSR activities because of their culture and not because they are compelled to do it but because they cultured to do it. While in China it follows because companies there have to do this for remain profitable there.