Table of Contents
Executive Summary
This report outlines auditing of Singapore Press Holding Ltd (SPH) CSR activities so as to provide necessary recommendations for the improvement of its corporate social responsibility in association with various contextual theories and frameworks such as Carroll’s Pyramid, Stakeholder theory and three-domain model of CSR. To understand these models more explicitly, these theories are applied to the SPH so as to identify their respective CSR strategies in a more holistic way.
In relation to FY2020 targets, Singapore Press Holding plans to organize more than 100 programs under their five corporate social responsibility pillars i.e. Charity and community, Nature and conservation, Education, Arts and culture and sports.
Introduction
Singapore Press Holding (SPH) Ltd is Asia leading media enterprise incorporated in 1984. The core business of SPH is newspaper publishing, books, and magazines in both digital and print editions. The value system of the company lies on Ex-cite i.e. Excellence, customer focus, integrity, teamwork and embracing change. In relation to the vision, the company goal is to become a multi-media enterprise with a significant presence not only in Singapore however, but also in the region and beyond. Currently, SPH has a strong regional presence and has its footprints across many nations – such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The revenue as reported by SPH increase with 0.6 percent to $121.3 million in relation to the end of the first half (1H FY19) (sph.com.sg, 2019b).
In relation to SPH corporate social responsibilities, the company strives to be a good corporate citizen with different programs in art, charity, education, community, sports or conversation grounds. Different programs of SPHs have extended to many groups of the community and have created a big difference in the lives of many individuals.
Core Characteristics of CSRCore Characteristics of CSRVoluntary
Beyond Philanthropy
Practice and Values
Stakeholder Management
Alignment of responsibilities
Management of externalitiesRegulated CSRStrategic/ Instrumental CSRPhilanthropy
From the past few years, there are a significant transformation in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices from philanthropy to regulated practices and on to strategic CSR. The new millennium business is progressively getting higher pressure on compliance with regulations on environment protection, societal development and transparency to be more efficient (Jamali and Karam, 2018). CSR is a concept that brings together various aspects of an organization strategy that can be used as a direction for a better society. In relation to its key characteristics, some of the significant features of the concept that be likely to be visible in CSR undertakings include – Voluntary, internalizing, multiple stakeholder orientation, synchronization of economic and social responsibilities, practices and values and beyond philanthropy.
In relation to voluntary characteristics of CSR, it goes beyond the corporate obligations outlined in regulation and legislation and shows organization willingness for recognizing the perspective of government and stakeholders. In relation to this characteristic, Singapore Press Holdings can be associated with their supported and sponsored student volunteer program introduced by the Singapore Zoo in 2005 and under this program, students from participating schools undergo training courses on conservation work by Singapore Zoo (sphfoundation.org.sg, 2017). Furthermore, SPH has been associated with other 250 media organizations so as to encourage sustainability and boost coverage of the climate story (sph.com.sg, 2019).
The next core characteristic of CSR is managing externalities where it refers to different factors that have influence in various stakeholders’ rights not directly taken care of in the process of decision making of a corporate enterprise (Soderstrom, Soderstrom and Stewart, 2017). In relation to this, the company is directly working to contribute to the international sustainability program by distributing the information that refers to the environment via its media business. It also comprises public responsiveness linked to underlining the main challenges and caring for the planet article. Due to various corporate associations and business partners, SPH has to confront with many externalities. Multiple stakeholder orientation is the next CSR characteristic identifying stakeholders’ orientations relying on three key attributes i.e. urgency, control and legality (Arif, 2017). In relation to SPH CSR strategies, the company required to focus on different stakeholders’ perspectives while committing to offer a healthy and safe environment for all the stakeholders while retaining the greatest standards of business ethics and integrity. There are several stakeholders in SPH whose interest is connected with organizational strategies and activities concerning CSR.
Synchronization of social and economic responsibility is another key characteristic of CSR activities related to balancing of various stakeholder benefits (Matten and Moon, 2020) and with analyzing sustainability report of SPH, the company GRI standard have a specific disclosure with name GRI 419: Socioeconomic Compliance 2016 signifying sustainability aspects and regulatory compliance (sph.com.sg, 2019a). In relation to practices and values, CSR also represents a specific set of business strategies and practices that confront social issues, however, for various individuals, it is also something more than that – specifically a viewpoint or combination of values that reinforce such practices. SPH as a part of their sustainability initiatives, raise awareness in environmental issues in the Muslim community. The last core characteristic of CSR is beyond philanthropy signifying corporate discretionary responsibility or voluntarism towards the general public. Taking consideration of SPH, the company is honored to receive the Corporate Platinum Award by the Community Chest last year (sph.com.sg, 2019).
Carroll’s Pyramid
According to Spence (2016), Carroll CSR Pyramid is a simple framework that helps in defining how and why businesses should fulfill their social responsibilities and it is also based on the foundation of belief – profit must come first. This pyramid is also built upon four responsibilities as drawn below –PhilanthropicEthicalLegalEconomic
In relation to economic responsibility, business needs to be profitable as it is necessary for the survival of the business and benefiting society in the long term. In order to be profitable in this competitive and dynamic business environment, businesses need to invest more in technology and research capabilities to gain innovative ideas outcompeting the rivals. Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is doing well in this arena such as taking the recent example of 2019, the company is setting up its first overseas technology office in Chongqing to extend its technology capabilities and become a more digital-focused enterprise (Liang, 2019). Considering legal responsibilities, SPH requires to obey significant laws and regulations in relation to employment, competition and health and safety to remain in operations. As per the company’s annual report, the company is seamlessly undertakings its legal responsibilities and in FY 2019, there are not significant fines and non-monetary sanctions for non-compliance with laws and regulations (sph.com.sg, 2019).
In relation to ethical responsibilities, it concerns the act of morality and ethical behavior which requires the business to go beyond the narrow requirement of the law such as the treatment of employees and suppliers. SPH found to follow ethical media and journalism policy where they are committed to the greatest standards of business integrity and ethics in dealing with various stakeholders and suppliers (Duffy, Ling and Tandoc, 2018). The top displayed responsibility in Pyramid reflects the philanthropic commitments of the organization which is not bounded, however, important to gain a competitive edge. SPH has introduced various campaigns for charity and community to help children with special needs like with celebration of SPH 35th anniversary, there was a donation of around $426,000 to community chest (Cai, 2019).
Stakeholder Theory
Source: (Freeman and Dmytriyev, 2017)
The stakeholder theory was developed by Edward Freeman theorizes that the essence of business primarily lies in developing relationships and building value for all its stakeholders. Stakeholder theory and CSR often look at similar issues in management however, from different perspectives (Carroll, 2016). The individuals and groups can effectively be identified with this theory who will be impacted by the actions taken by SPH. In relation to stakeholder theory, building value for different stakeholders includes customers, employers, financiers, communities, and suppliers offsets a pull to use CSR for hiding misconduct with some other stakeholders. Apparently, these are false contradictions and helping communities can make shareholders better off in several ways; equally, fulfilling the needs of employees and suppliers is also beneficial for consumers (Freeman and Dmytriyev, 2017). As per the company sustainability report, SPH believes that the development of employees will automatically lead to superior customer service and in relation to this positive impact, 333 programs implemented to upgrade employee skills (sph.com.sg, 2019).
Three-Domain Model of CSR
Source: (Schwartz and Robinson, 2018)
According to this model, it is to be expected that the vast majority of corporate activities will be economic in nature. The business practices and actions will fall outside of the economic domain if they are not planned to maximize revenue or minimize loss and they are engaged in without any real consideration of the possible economic consequences to the firm. The Legal domain can include the activities related to the SPH compliance, avoidance of civil litigation and anticipation of the law. Ginney Lim heads the legal division and international corporate communication in the SPH Group steering various committees. She knows the necessary legal motives as well as their possible responses. In relation to the ethical domain, it refers to the ethical responsibilities of business as expected by the relevant stakeholders and the general population. Activities would fall outside of this domain when they are amoral in nature, however, SPH builds ethical and transparent business with upholding high ethical standards and advocate effective governance practices. There are several overlapping domains too dispersed into purely economic, purely legal, purely ethical and so forth. This three-domain model based on several key assumptions likes the three domains of CSR are somewhat distinct, and that they are all-encompassing. There are several CSR categories in this model that SPH required to be included in the conceptual framework, even though many of them will be less significant from a practical application perspective.
Strategies of CSR
Corporate social responsibility strategies of SPH are aligned with the regulatory requirement in association with Singapore Exchange as well as to Global Reporting Initiative Standards. SPH plays an important role in promoting sustainability challenges and objectives while engaging its audience to effect change across its various media zones. The company embraced an organization culture stimulating its employees to introduce more green initiatives and practices and be a part of company agendas for developing a sustainable workplace at all. In relation to CSR strategies, stakeholder inclusiveness is also one of the company’s sustainability agenda, where SPH engages with all its stakeholders on a continuous basis to understand their interests and expectations as well as their information needs. Taking an example of the customer as the stakeholder, they expect from the company to get quality products, reliability of media content, enjoyable shopping experience and so forth. In response to this, SPH ensures credible media content, reliable delivery if newspaper services and a high level of customer services (sph.com.sg, 2019). Furthermore, a company can also engage with customers on multi-channel and platform while organizing engagement activities so as to promote customer loyalty and satisfaction. Investors as stakeholders seek from the company punctuality and accuracy of financial and business reports and in response to that, SPH practice good corporate governance with accurate and timely updates of SPH business outlook to investing community.
The responsible supply chain is company another significant CSR activity where SPH is committed to collaborating with ethical, transparent and environmentally and socially responsible suppliers under the supplier code of conduct. Likewise, the supplier performance management process is practiced in four phases i.e. – pre-qualification, tender, execution, and review. SPH has also planned CSR strategies based on five sustainability pillars of the company i.e. Charity and community, Nature and conservation, Education, Arts and culture and sports.
Source: (sph.com.sg, 2019)
In relation to charity and community, SPH has introduced a campaign named “Double the Love” and with the help of this program, the company has donated $426,000 to the community chest to assist children with special needs helpless seniors and deprived families. With the help of this strategy, SPH employees were motivated to contribute to their adopted charities and the event also offered a platform for charity groups to garner support and awareness. In context with arts and culture, SPH showcases its strategy to develop a platform for Singaporean talents likewise bringing 13 free concerts of different genres to the community in the parks, shopping malls and heartlands (sph.com.sg, 2019). This social obligation helps the company to develop a positive image in the eye of Singapore’s regulatory bodies and legislation. The next strategy of SPH is associated with company nature and conservation pillar where they encourage the habit of recycling among employees and raise awareness among the new generation of eco-warriors through education. Taking an example, The SPH Green Fund was developed in 2016 to assist viable green projects. SPH also has formed a green task force in terms of the voluntary group made up of employees from different divisions of the company. In relation to education as the sustainability pillar, the company plans strategies to encourage media literacy and analytical skills via different sessions. SPH introduces various programs to progress the strategies such as SOTA (School of the Arts) and the Chinese Language Journalism Fund with the hope to nurture the talent and passion in young individuals. In the end, SPH also embraced over several strategies to support its other sustainability pillar i.e. Sports, and for advocating inclusiveness in sports, SPH Foundation partnered with the Singapore Disability Sports Council in relation to Swimming Championship 2019. It is crucial for helping SDSC to develop a pool of ready athletes across all age groups by offering a platform for local para-athletes to attain confidence and competitive experience.
Recommendations
SPH is achieving great in terms of sustainability and CSR areas, however, there are several significant recommendations to the company such as alignment of CSR practices with the overall corporate goals and vision as it will strengthen the business economic dimension that further help the organization in its expansion and undertaking of necessary CSR activities. The five pillars of company CSR strategies include different areas of development including education, sports, art, culture, however, not much focus towards health sector and therefore, SPH can embrace over the development of healthcare facilities and centers and supporting different forms of NGO, as a part of corporate social responsibility. The CSR activities can also be achieved holistically when it received full support from the employees (Edinger-Schons et al, 2019) and this further requires necessary training and efforts by SPH on their development together with the improvement of work culture. To facilitate its brand goodwill more positively in the public, SPH can encourage women empowerment so as to promote quality in society. All these plans will help SPH to implement its CSR plans more effectively and efficiently within its market reach.
Conclusion
In the limelight of the above discussion, it can be said that SPH is undertaking its CSR activities in a well-defined way with maintaining the business in diversified portfolios such as print, digital radio, property and so forth. The five pillars of the company are developing for the past many years and their results are also being shown consistently in their annual and sustainability report of the respective year. Internally, the company evaluated its value chain to recognize which of its SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are more of relative importance to its business and so mapped to company sustainability pillars.
References
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