CSR Strategy
In today’s competitive environment, businesses have more to do in order to acquire and sustain customers. Due to the intensifying competition, traditional ways of building brand image may not help the organization achieve more; hence many are shifting to other strategies such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). While it is prudent to invest in CSR strategies in the competitive business environment, implementing them to sustain the customer base remains daunting cost-effectively. However, in my workplace, this is possible, but with consideration of some following:
building the strategy around the company’s core competencies
recognizing issues that matter to the company
expanding the company’s definition of CSR (Freeman, and Velamuri, 2016)
Also, a CSR strategy that is customer-centric works well in sustaining customer base cost-effectively.
A targeted CSR strategy is effective marketing products that are preferred by specific customers. However, this strategy is faced by a myriad of challenges. For instance, within the targeted customers, several groups exist; some may be restricted by culture or religion from consuming the products a company produces. Thus market segmentation is an important tool in addressing such issues as it helps the organization to narrow down to a group made up of potential customers. Market segmentation allows the company to identify the most promising customers and thus invest social programs within their locality (Pomering and Dolnicar, 2009). This will help the company to develop a relationship with them that would lead to profitable interactions. What are the costs involved in market segmentation?
References
Freeman, R.E., and Velamuri, S.R., 2016. A new approach to CSR: Company stakeholder responsibility. In Corporate social responsibility (pp. 9-23). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Pomering, A., and Dolnicar, S., 2009. Assessing the prerequisite of successful CSR implementation: are consumers aware of CSR initiatives?. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(2), pp.285-301.