Many of today’s businesses think
of CSR asmaking these types of paternalistic, charitable contributions. However, he continues, there is
another form of CSR, that is, the stewardship principle. According to this
view, corporations become stewards or public trustees by using their resources
to affect all people in society in fundamental ways, not just stockholders.
This latter principle led to modern stakeholder theory in which corporate
managers recognize the need to interact meaningfully with all groups who have a
stake in the organization’s activities. Although stewardship ideas were
discussed in the works of Abrams, Bowen, and Eells, it was during the 1960s and
1970s, that CSR underwent some of its most important iterations.
In the most widely
read textbooks published
after 1970, the process of public relations is described by using decision
making models and two-way communication. Cutlip and Center offered four stages in their
public relations model: fact-finding and feedback, planning
and programming, action and communication, and evaluation.
This idea was slightly altered
and became the four-step management process:
- Defining the problem (or opportunity)
- Planning and programming
- Taking action and communicating
- Evaluating the program
Acer Incorporated’s principal activities are to develop and market
mobile and desktop PCs, servers
and storage, LCD monitors,
high-definition TVs, and handheld/navigational
devices. The company
is
the world’s number 4 ranking vendor for total PCs and notebooks (after Dell, HP and Lenovo). Its other
activities include
repair
services
of
Acer
brand products,
investing,
financing, , and
provision
of internet, electronics
services
and
information
storage.
With 58 percent, notebooks make up the largest
share of
Acer’s
total
IT-products sales. Displays,
desktops and others, count for 19, 15
and 8 percent of
sales, respectively. Acer’s main market is
Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in which 65 percent of
its
products are sold. The Americas
and Asia Pacific
each contribute 13
percent to total sales while the Chinese market makes up 9 percent
of total IT-products sales. Acer has streamlined its operations in recent years, spinning off its manufacturing operations (now
Wistron), as well as its consumer electronics and peripherals business (now Benq). It still holds
stakes in both companies. Acer now outsources its manufacturing. It sells through resellers and
distributors worldwide.
Acer Incorporated
is
part of the Acer
Group. The Acer Group comprises several companies
and markets a broad spectrum of
branded IT products, e-business
solutions and services. In addition, the group supplies
multiple brands
of IT products including
components
and
software in Greater China. The Acer
Group employs 6,100 people, while Acer
Incorporated employs 5,300 people supporting dealers and distributors in
more than 100 countries. As an ethical and responsible
enterprise, Acer believes in building a people friendly environment that
cultivates innovative thinking, and in creating a sustainable company while
providing positive contributions to society. Acer regard the interests of our
customers, employees and shareholders with foremost importance. With company
growth and profitability achieved, Acer holds to the spirit of giving back to
the society that sustains it and is committed to implementing CSR for
sustainable operations. However, Acer’s interest in CSR
is very recent and seems to focus predominantly on environmental issues. Only
in 2005, Acer published its first Corporate Environmental Report. The report
mainly focuses on the environmental performance of Acer while human and labour
rights are hardly addressed. Acer also does not have a code of conduct which
mentions these themes. Neither is there any information on human and labour
policies on its website.
Acer is committed to ensuring
that working conditions in its supply chain are safe, that workers are treated
with respect and dignity, and that business operations are environmentally
responsible and ethical. As a result of this overarching commitment, Acer will
not accept any supply chain activities in the DRC or adjoining countries that
fuel conflict of tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold. Acer supports the conflict
mineral provisions contained within the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173), and will support similar requirements in
other regions of the world. Acer commits itself individually and through
participation in the EICC/ Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)
Extractives Working Group to support EICC/GeSI due diligence programs, OECD due
diligence guidance and piloting, smelter audit and verification programs,
inregion sourcing schemes, and engagement with stakeholders for collaboration
and efficiency. Acer understands that a certification program may be a
necessary solution in the future. Acer will support a certification process
should all the relevant stakeholders agree to go down that path. In the
meantime, Acer will continue to support the audit and verification programs
established by the EICC and GeSI.
One of the early theorists on the process
of CSR was L. E. Preston,
a
consultant to the Royal Commission
on Corporate Concentration in Canada.30 Part of that
study
included Preston’s ideas on the corporate social response matrix,
the focus of which was the
management of social issues by
cor- porations.31
Managers followed a four-step process known as corporate
social
involvement. The stages included:
- Awareness or recognition of an issue
- Analysis and planning
- Response in terms of policy development
- Implementation
On Acers website, the only
information available refers to environmental policies. However, some of the
assertions in the environmental report Acer published recently indicate that
Acer can also be held accountable for issues related to human and labour rights
in its supply chain. Acer liken the relationships within the supply chain to
those of a community, and believe we can work together toward a common goal to
establish Acer’s green supply chain management system one step at a time. Acer
has nearly 100 suppliers, most of which are system suppliers and primary
component suppliers. In terms of supply chain management, Acer makes no
distinction between itself and its suppliers. Fostering a corporate culture
that emphasizes creativity, Acer sets goals and lets suppliers propose the
method of execution. In environmental responsibility, Acer's
global operation, spanning across Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas,
Greater China and the Asia Pacific, is devoted to:
- Ensuring that its products and operations meet all applicable environmental regulatory requirements.
- Selecting technologies that minimize harmful, non-environmentally sensitive materials; conserve energy; and are recyclable.
- Saving energies, preventing pollution, minimizing and recycling discards in its daily operations.
- Promoting awareness of its environmental policy among employees and partners in Acer supply chain.
Building an Environmental
Management System (EMS) to continually monitor and improve activities. Acer
applies the precautionary approach. It states that: “our product design takes
into consideration the ways to reduce environmental loading from the outset of
production, in addition to user needs, functionality and added value.”
In the Greenpeace Report, Acer
was ranked 2.3 points out of ten which is a rather low score. According to
Greenpeace, despite Acer’s adoption of the precautionary principle, the company
has yet to provide timelines for the elimination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The company scores no points on product
take back and recycling.
Acer loses a point because its
Hazardous Substance List fails to provide a system for identifying future
harmful chemicals for elimination. Further it has no PVC-free or BFR-free
models on the market, no reference to individual producer responsibility Acer
only provides takeback services where required to do so by national EPR laws,
no information to individual customers on what to do with their discarded Acer
products and no information on the amounts of e-waste collected and recycled.
Compliance with CRS Standards
Responsibility
As mentioned above Acer demands
that its suppliers adhere to green product specifications. One of the
environmental objectives of the company is to establish a ‘green supply chain’.
However, nowhere Acer acknowledges its corporate responsibility with regard to
social issues in its supplier chain.
Stakeholder involvement
The only information on
stakeholder involvement is provided by the website, which states that “Acer
actively communicates with international environmentalist organizations such as
Greenpeace and Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC) to better sensitize itself
with related issues as well as expectations of other sectors.” 24
Verification
It seems that Acer is presently
in the process of auditing its suppliers on environmental performance. In the
environmental report it is mentioned that with regard to the green supply chain
the 2006 objectives are to “establish a comprehensive supplier grading system”,
“complete green product management system audits of first-tier suppliers” and
“advise/require suppliers to improve corporate responsibility”.25 There is no information on social audits of
suppliers.
Transparency and Reporting
Overall, Acer publishes very
limited CSR related information. The main sources are:
1. Acer
Corporate Environmental Report: Mainly includes environmental practices. In the
report it is stated that it adopts the GRI guidelines. However, unlike some
other companies, it is not clear which and where guidelines are applied.
2. Acer
website: also mainly addresses environmental issues.
Acer has set up an environmental
management liaison window which allows the public to contact the company by
e-mail on environmental issues.
Conclusion
from the above discussion we can
conclude that the acer in social responsibility and it still has weakness that
need to be improved. in terms of ensuring the health of workers and raw
materials to be used, the above discussion has described some form of social
responsibility as long as it done by acer, that is Ensuring that its products
and operations meet all applicable environmental regulatory requirements,
technologies that minimize Selecting Harmful, non environmentally sensitive
materials, conserve energy and are recyclable, Saving energies, Preventing
pollution, minimizing and recycling discards in its daily operations, Promoting
awareness of its environmental policy among employees and partners in Acer supply
chain. For public relations, acer should also ensure if there is negligence in
production that can cause harm to consumers by imposing warranty or guarantee
that the product is damaged due to failed production. while also expand
services in areas where large enough for consumer satisfaction.
