Teaching Note

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the company by using Five Stages of
Corporate Responsibility Maturity to see companys current position. The last
half decade captured a remarkable attention among scholars and
practitioners to understand the ability of corporate social responsibility (CSR)
to raise the issues of environmental and social problems. People are more
aware than before about CSR and try to convince big companies to
implement CSR activities. Many well-known companies already included CSR
in the part of their strategy and working on this such as, Unilever, Danone,
and IKEA et cetera. However, to make it work successfully it is necessary to
invite SMEs or other small businesses to be a part of CSR in any way. In this
case study, we are going to discuss about Suhail Cosmetic business that has
been doing cosmetic business for last 3 decades. We implemented five
stages of corporate responsibility, maturity to see how many areas this
business is taking part in CSR activities. We are looking at the core vision of
the company as well as what kinds of strategies company using and future
aims of the company regarding CSR policy. We will explain the possible
impacts of not participating in any kind of social activities on the society,
environment, and business. Moreover, we will propose a few suggestions to
the owner of the business how he can use CSR as a competitive advantage.
Suggested additional readings/references
To get the clear image of this case study and for further analysis students
should read other articles, reports, and websites written on the same subject.
For instance,

Ainsbury, D. G. (2014). Understanding a Companys Current and Desired Stages of

Corporate Responsibility Maturity. Doughty Centre, 5-10

Ron Ainsbury and David Grayson discuss these five stages with detail
analysis. And wrote about the ways to measure the position of the
companies based on elements such as its time-horizon, focus, outlook,
attitudes to transparency and relationships (accountability), collaboration,
and business model. This, in turn, influences business purpose, strategy,
organization, policies and practices; and ultimately performance.

Global Insight, I. (2007). A Study of the European Cosmetics Industry.

A final report on the study of European Cosmetics Industry give the statistics
of the Europe industry. By reading this you can see the possible opportunities
available in Netherlands as well as the Netherlands market share in
European market. The Netherlands is on 6 th position according to this
European Union annual report.

Commission, E. (n.d.). Legislation. Retrieved from European Commission:

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/cosmetics/legislation/index_en.htm

European Union website is updated source of information regarding the rules

and legislations implemented by Commission regarding CSR policies. By
visiting this web-site you will get the clear information about the CSR
policies.
Possible Discussion Questions
To encourage and capturing the interest of the students, the instructor
should ask them questions during the class or can give them home
assignment. The instructor can ask questions such as;

1) What are the five stages of corporate responsibility, maturity and their
role?
Various academic authors and practitioner experts have described
Stages of Corporate Responsibility Maturity to evaluate the position of
the company concerning CSR practices. These five stages are;
Opportuni
Risk ty
Denier Complier Champion
Mitigator Maximise
r
The company can be a Denier or Champion it depends on his strategy,
but also it depends on different target model elements. In one
company they have different elements such as company strategy,
employee relationship, stakeholders engagement et cetera. Company
position can be also different according to his implementation of CSR in
that specific element.
2) How can Suhail Cosmetic get a competitive edge?
By implementing CSR activities in his business he can differentiate
himself in the wholesale industry and can get a soft corner in his
customers hearts.
The instructor can give an assignment to his students read the case
study and come up with the answers of following questions. Such as;
3) Identify the key players, factors, and issues in this case
4) Either Suhail Cosmetic using CSR in his business or not?
a. If not, why not find out the reasons or barriers.
b. If yes, what motivates him to implement CSR in his business and any
to look for any competitive edge he gets by adopting CSR.
5) Identify the position of the company by using SWOT analysis
6) Are there other constructive options that he hasn't considered in this
case study?
 7) If you were writing this case study what kind of recommendations, you
proposed to Suhail Cosmetic?
8) Decide the best way to summarize this case study in 1,000 words.

The instructor can determine a number of actions students could take, or he

or she could allow the students to determine their own activities. It is useful
to determine a number of actions so that students dont end up off the
track and writing issues that are not relevant.