THE IMPACT OF
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON
THE PERFORMANCE OF
ACCESS BANK PLC KADUNA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Corporate social
responsibility is one vital aspect of any business. However, this is one area
where grievous mistakes have been made. Companies need to understand the
subject its concept, theories as well as the benefits there of.
In today’s business
environment, business organization are being expected to assume broader and
more diverse responsibilities to the various groups within the society in
Nigeria., various communities in which some major companies are operating have
been demanding for one thing or the other especially in riverine area such as
River state asking oil companies in conjunction with (NNPC) Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation to provide drinkable water, giving scholarship to their
children, building hospitals, more schools and given them compensation due to
the damage cause on their farmland.
Business firms not being
socially responsible, infact lead youths of the communities to agitate for
their right such is the case of the riverine areas. There is no doubt that
there is an increasing amount of attention directed to social responsibilities
in business firms.
Corporate social
responsibility is the sense of obligation on the part of the organization to
build certain social concern and criteria into their strategic decision making
process. EVBOROKGHAI (2003).
Social responsibility by
Andrews (1971) is the intelligent and objective concern for the welfare of the
society that restrains individual and corporate behaviour from ultimately
destructive activities, no matter how immediately profitable, and leads to the
direction of positive contributions to human betterment, variously as the
latter may be defined. The concept implies that when companies evaluate
decisions from an ethical perspective there should be a presumption in favour
of adopting courses of action that enhance the welfare of society at large. The
point stressed in these definition is that when making decisions, business men
or organizations should consider the social interest of people in society.
These among other reasons probe the researcher to embark on this research work.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Access Bank Plc, is a very
reputable organization whose services is a visible friend in almost every home
in the society, but do not have a defined policy on social responsibility.
i. Base on the above, many companies use the strategy
of benchmarking to compete within their respective industries in corporate
social responsibility policy, implementation and effectiveness.
ii. Bench marking involves reviewing corporate social
responsibility initiatives, as well as measuring and evaluating the impact that
those policies have on society and the environment and how costumers perceive
corporate social responsibility strategy.
iii. After a comprehensive study and an internal policy
review performed, a comparison can be drawn.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study
is to look into the impact of corporate social responsibilities on the
performance of business organizations and they include:-
i.
To
examine social responsibility between/among business organizations, government
and its agencies, stakeholders and the society at large.
ii.
To
examine the impact of corporate social responsibility on the performance of
business organization
iii.
To
find out new areas in which business organizations can engage so as to
strengthen its relationship among various stakeholders that make up the
society.
iv.
To
find out how business organization contribute to national development through
charity donations in times of disasters, obedience and respect for governmental
laws and policies, partnering with government financially in ensuring a healthy
and vigorous economy.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study intends to
present the under listed significance of the study as:
The research work seeks to create awareness on the need to engage in
social responsibility in banking sector
Also, it seeks to bring into limelight how newly established
organizations can use the concept of corporate social responsibility to
capitalize on opportunities in their business environment.
The
project would also be useful for scholars in the field of business
administration and others to understand the basic concept on the area of social
responsibility
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i.
What
are the new areas in which business organizations can engage so as to
strengthen its relationship among various stakeholders that make up the society?
ii.
What
are the impact of corporate social responsibility on the performance of Access
Bank Plc?
iii.
What
extent have corporate social responsibility impacted positively among/between business
organizations?
iv.
What
are the contributions of social responsibility to the national development in
ensuring healthy and vigorous economy?
1.6 SCOPE OF
THE STUDY
The scope of the study will
center on the impact of corporate social responsibility on the performance of
Access bank plc with special reference to Kaduna Central Market Branch office, Ibrahim
Taiwo Road, to examine the nature, size and breath of activity in business
organizations. Social responsibility of business encompasses the economic,
legal, ethical and discreational expectations that society has on organizations
from 2006 to 2011.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Some of the available
constraint faced by the researcher are presented below:
i.
Time
constraint: To do adequate justice, the duration allowed for the completion and
submission of this research work is very limited, not to talk about other
school activities such as coping with lectures, tests schedules and most of all
researching for assignment and the project work at hand.
ii.
Financial
constraints: The work is really tasking and in my financial capacity as a
student it is not easy to meet up with.
iii.
Sourcing
for adequate and relevant information cover the research is not encouraging as
the respondent where not cooperating.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Various literary terms that
sharpen the write up will be examined and defined as follows:
i.
Ethics = Ethics according to Grace and Cohen (2005)
includes standards of moral behaviour that is, behaviours that are acceptable
by the society.
ii.
Consumerism = organized effect by individuals or groups aimed to
project the users of various products and service from harmful or deceptive
business practices Grace and Cohen (2005).
iii. Corporate social responsibility = according to
Ronald and Ricky (1999) it is an attempt by business organizations to balance
their commitment towards groups and individuals in it business environment.
iv.
Social
responsibility = according to Welhrich and Koontz (1994), it is the ability of
an organization to relates its operations and policies to the environment in
such ways that are mutually beneficial to the company and the society.
v.
Social
audit = according to Ronald and Ricky (1999) it is commitment to systematic assessment of reporting on some
meaningful and definable domain of the company’s activities that have social
impact.
vi.
Corporate
philanthropy = according to Michael E porter (1997), as a practical sympathy
and benevolence shown by a business organization to various sectors of the
society.
vii. Shareholders =
according to Kenning (1998), the include interest groups that are
tangible, visible and approachable groups or institutions which can exercise
direct influence in the functioning or
affairs of an organization
1.9 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY
Access bank plc commences
operation in 24th march 1998 as one of the measures taken by the
bank to spread it’s operations to the doorstep of the people.
Further to the approval of
the shareholders of Access bank plc and intercontinental bank plc, the central
bank of Nigeria and the securities and exchange commission announce the
completion of the re-capitalization of intercontinental bank and the
acquisition of 75% majority interest in the bank by Access bank plc. Effective
14th October 2011,
intercontinental bank plc (including all its assets, liabilities and
undertakings) became a subsidiary of Access bank plc.
Emphasis was placed on the
fact that there was need for financial services. Prior to the opening of the
branch, its officials embarked on mass continues awareness programme to
sensitize the environs
Access bank plc takes
corporate social responsibility seriously. It leads the business community by
its efforts at promoting the doctrines of responsible corporate citizenship
through initiative and programmes. That address economic, social and environmental
challenges. Essential, the driving philosophy and objective of the bank ‘s corporate social responsibility are to
affect lives of citizens and spur sustainable economic development in the
societies the operate in.