CSR and Its Impact on Strategic Branding Author: Prof Vatsala Bose Co-Author: Prof Sunaina Sangwan SIES College of Management Studies, Nerul

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is generally used to describe business’s efforts to achieve sustainable outcomes by committing to good business practices and standards. According to the definition of Angelidis and Ibrahim (1993), corporate social responsibility is ‘corporate social actions whose purpose is to satisfy social needs’.

Branding Its the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product (good or service) / organization in the consumers’ mind, through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme or intensive marketing

Objectives To analyze whether CSR activities help the organizations: (i) To Brand itself (ii) To differentiate from competitors and make a mark in the market

Methodology The Secondary Data of three different companies from different sectors that are Pharmaceuticals(Ranbaxy), Automobile(Tata) and Telecom(Bharti). Data is collected from websites and Journals. The Primary Data is collected with Telephonic Interview with Head HR of Bharti Airtel.

Limitations There is limited academic literature examining how organizations incorporate CSR activities into their brand. Future research needs to be undertaken to explore the facts.

Findings Indirectly CSR has helped the organizations to brand themselves in domestic and international arena. Positive CSR experiences build confidence and goodwill with stakeholders. Many organizations have developed clear CSR efforts as strategic branding and management approach in achieving a win-win outcome.

Conclusion CSR is welfare for society. India took along time to understand the welfare of Society, but still we are lacking behind. Consumers today are more sophisticated, becoming more selective and sensitive to a company’s image and CSR efforts. So, a distinctive CSR profile serves as a strategic branding tool.

References Books: Kevin Lane Keller, Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity Second Edition John R.SCHRMERHORN Introduction to Management Philip Kotler Introduction to CSR Third Edition 2009 Publication

References Websites: Retrieved from Topic Importance of CSRhttp:// Retrieved from CSR activites of Bharti Foundation Retrieved from Activites of Bharti Foundation Retrieved from CSR activites of TATA Retrieved from Retrieved from Retrieved from ( seminar-series-opportunity-deeper/) seminar-series-opportunity-deeper/

References Journals: The Key to Successful Corporate Social Responsibility in India Journal of International Management Special Issue on CSR