CSR: Action I Will Take in My CSR Journey

Corporate Social Responsibility: Action I will Take 

In fulfillment of the issue exploration assignment in ED 730 at Cardinal Stritch University, this post will share a project I am working on as my application of corporate social responsibility. This post will address my involvement within a beer company startup called Retro Beer Company. I will explain the back ground of the company through a service lens. Additionally, this blog entry will be periodically updated to share the progress of the company and my action to preserve CSR tenets throughout development. This blog will cover: 1) overview of Retro Beer Company, 2) my role, 3) brand image, and 4) connection to CSR. 

What is Retro Beer Company?

A few friends of mine were inspired one day to give back to the community through something they love: beer. These three individuals, Tom, Tim, and Ray, all worked together as executives at Motorola. Since their 'moto-years' they have ventured off into the world of corporate consulting with their Retro CEO consulting company, and Retro Beer Company.

Retro Beer Company exists to add value to the community through giving 100% of profits back to local causes. It is our belief that by taking something people love (beer) and giving it a philanthropic image, we can shift the purpose behind beer. Our first product is called Give-a-Shift Pilsner, which is a play on words. We believe in order to shift the purpose behind beer we need to first, give-a-shift about a cause in the community. This launch product serves as an invitation for the community to jump in on the Retro social contract of adding value to the community together. We are planning on launching this product in mid-March 2014. The charities/causes will be based on the retailer and distributor's discretion. Below is a picture of our launch product. Website is launching soon!

The next section will cover my role within the company.

What's My Role?

About a year ago, the Retro team asked me to jump on board to blog, consult on social media, and help out with marketing needs. This served as a perfect opportunity to apply all I am learning in my service year during my doctoral journey. Therefore, my role has become to also infuse what I am learning about my service issues, CSR in particular, into the heartbeat of this philanthropic product. The next section will cover a blog entry I wrote for Retro Beer Company which communicates our purpose to the community. 

What is the Retro Brand Image?

Below is our first blog entry communicating our purpose. Our goal is to communicate how we are working to preserve principles of CSR throughout the growth of our organization. 

What if beer could do more for itself? What if beer could be given a purpose in which its value outlived its taste? Is it even possible to give beer such a responsibility that it’s reach becomes meaningful even beyond pure enjoyment?

 

These are the questions that three beer loving fanatics wrestled with one night while enjoying one of their favorite craft beers.Since its infancy beer was created for the sole purpose of enjoyment, social capital, and even at times nutritional value. However, these three fanatics felt like beer deserved more than this. They dreamed of giving beer deep rooted, good 'ol retro American values such as community, generosity, and even philanthropy. These values and ideas about making beer meaningful gave birth to the beginning of a wild and nostalgic philanthropic endeavor called Retro Beer Company. 

At Retro Beer Company we are shifting the purpose behind beer because we truly believe beer has untapped potential to make a lasting impact on the community. Our first product Give-A-Shift pilsner does just that. Whats cool about our product is how we have etched Retro values of community, generosity, and philanthropy into our brand identity. We are shifting the purpose behind beer through Retro values such as:

• Generosity: We exist to provide a partnership platform with distributors, retailers, and the community in which 100% of Retro Beer profits are donated to local causes/charities.
• Philanthropy: With 100% of Retro profits going back to a local cause, we are excited to give every person the opportunity to enjoy a high quality craft beer that gives back.
• Community: We believe that with your help we are together shifting the purpose behind beer and leaving a lasting impact on your community. 

Retro Beer Company is a start-up that I have been working with some businessmen I know since the beginning of this year. My role is to serve on the marketing team with social media initiatives, marketing ventures, partnership ideas, promoting our website, and writing on our blog. Our first beer, set to launch in the Midwest in March of 2014 is called Give-a-Shift, for two reasons:

1. In order to shift the purpose behind beer you need to first give-a-shift.

2. We want to give every beer drinker the opportunity to drink a quality craft beer that makes a difference.

Let's Shift the Purpose Behind Beer Together! Get social with us!

This blog represents a call to action to welcome and invite everyday beer consumers to join a service story to give back enjoying what they love: beer, camaraderie, and doing good. The next section will cover the Retro Beer Company connection to Corporate Social Responsibility. 

Connection to CSR

Our mission, shifting the purpose behind beer, our values (community, generosity, and philanthropy), along with our partnership platform, demonstrate exactly what CSR is all about: balancing profits with ethics and supporting the stakeholders with shared value across the spectrum.

It has been up for debate what the role of today's corporations should be. Larger companies are perceived by society to thrive at the expense of the community and society at large (Porter & Kramer, 2011). This section will talk about corporate social responsibility, a strategy used by organizations to add shared value to the community and the organization simultaneously. As Kotler & Lee (2005) state, CSR is "a commitment to improve community well-being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources (p. 3). I believe as a member of the Retro Beer Company, we are living out this definition through our efforts, practices and organizational vision. For example, our commitment is demonstrated through our promise of 100% contribution of profits going back to important local causes. Our contribution to these local causes is aimed at improving the well-being of the community. Our current vision asserts ethical business practices as our catalyst for innovation.

Conclusion

This blog is a work in progress.I don't believe there is a conclusion just yet. I plan on updating progress on this entry in the near future. Until then !!!

References

Kotler, P. & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.