See attached
Week 6 Lecture
Leadership, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Strategy
Approaching the three topics for Week 6 requires deep consideration. Leadership constructs strategy and all strategy requires responsibility so that is constructive and not destructive. When going global marketing managers must, not only think about product price, place and promotion, but also the impact that their strategies will have on local communities and countries that they conduct business in.
Xu (2019, February) has found that company executives need to be involved in the corporate social responsibility efforts of their organizations. Such a belief fits with the need for leaders to model the behavior that is expected out of organizational members. Thus employee buy-in can be directly associated with leader participation. Such participation may go beyond donations of money. Donations of time and thus labor or expertise can indicate a higher level of buy-in by the organization and its members.
A resent example of corporate responsibility occurred when Delta Air Lines of Atlanta, Georgia operated relief flights to the hurricane-stricken Bahamas in 2019. Delta delivered 4700 pounds of supplies for the Bahamian peoples and also airlifted 72 of the inhabitants. The relief included food, water and clothing (Yamanouchi, 2019).
Yamanouchi (2019) also reported that Delta employees also participated in unloaded the supplies while assisting Bahamians with boarding the relief flight. A point of awareness is that such aid generates a higher level of brand awareness for any company participating in such corporate social responsibility efforts. In this case citizens should remember the Delta logos when they consider choosing and airline to fly on in the future. The Bahamas is an independent country that, in this case, received direct hands-on assistance from an American company and its employees.
It is very important to always consider which marketing efforts beyond the regular marketing mix creates a favorable global image for the company, its products and its services. Such a thought process includes how every function of the company impacts company image. It should be noted that Delta was able to give the type of help that was immediately needed by a country and its people.
Delta Air Lines actions fit with its social responsibility statement found on its website. The statement is as follows:
Delta believes that its
social responsibility lies at the intersection of its core values and core competencies, making a difference where Delta people live, work and fly by giving time, talents and one percent of the company’s annual profits (Delta, 2019, para 8).
The social responsibility statement of Delta Air Lines focuses on the company and its members donating time, ability and money to helping others. When the leadership of a company acts in the best interest of society it becomes a function of leaders as stated by Keegan and Green (2020) being “… a proactive steward of the reputation of the company he or she is leading” (p. 548). In constructing global marketing strategies that promote the growth of the company and that meets the needs of the customers of selected countries, leaders of large corporations and even small companies must meet the imperative to proactively commit to acting in a manner that produces good outcomes in our global society.
References
Delta Air Lines (2019, August 15).
Corporate stats and factsLinks to an external site.
.
Keegan, W. J., & Green, M. C. (2020).
Global marketing (10th ed.). Pearson.
Xu, K. (2019, February 4).
How to make your corporate social responsibility come from withinLinks to an external site..
Forbes.
Yamanouchi, K. (2019, September 8).
Delta operates relief flight to deliver supplies to Bahamas, evacuate survivorsLinks to an external site..
Atlanta Journal Constitution.
