Businesses should make more of an effort to have good CSR.

Rebuttal" Firstly, the costs demanded and gained by the CRS are towering. "I basically addressed with my cost savings point. I agree that for a business to practice good CSR, the costs maybe be more expensive immediately. However, in the longer-run, businesses become more profitable and quickly make up the cost. The goal is to have a sustainable company that focuses both on the short term and long term. Increasing energy efficiency for example may be slightly expensive for the installation of new systems, but the business will earn more revenue each year due to this installation and will easily become more profitable than before, even if it was relatively expensive to make such a change. "Furthermore, there are small business who cannot afford to pay or to give to these bodies. "If you look at my definition of "business", I clearly state that small businesses are not going to be addressed in this debate because of the little impact they actually make on society. Therefore, your entire small business point is void because it does not follow of what the definition of "business" is. Just to reiterate the definition, a business in the context of this debate is a relatively larger company that has the ability to make a significant difference in society. I recognize there is no specification, such as a minimum of 500 employees, but I believe you can understand the general concept. I apologize if you did lots of research for your small business point, but I made the definition of business quite clear in the first round I thought. "By doing acts such as cleaning up the environment, recycling, ensuring product safety as well donating time or money for welfare issues will raise the company's costs; increasing their expenses and their cost of production. "I have already addressed this, but I will do it one more time. I agree that there are costs attached to practicing CSR. It is possible that it will affect profit margins too, but it will surely not last very long. Practicing CSR can increase efficiency and sustainability, thus save money. For example, decreasing the amount of packaging per product, or increasing energy efficiency so that there are less costs for electricity consumption. Also, cleaning up the environment, ensuring product safety, or donating can raise a businesses profits as well. Doing good things for society is very appealing to consumers. As I have said before, the trends have changed recently so that consumers are looking for products that are not harming the world. Businesses can use their CSR practices as marketing to attract more customers and increase the demand for their products. "These extra costs and expenses would be transferred to the consumer in the final costs of the product or service. "Just because there are costs at the beginning does not mean that the final cost of the G&S (Goods and Services) will increase. As I have said twice before, there are many ways that CSR can increase profit margins (marketing, saving costs, etc. ) For example, if a company decreases packaging for their product, that will increase their margins between the price of the product and the cost for manufacturing. If this margin increases, the business now has the liberty to lower the price of the product, yet still having the same or more profit than the product that had more packaging. Also, with the lower price, it will appeal to consumers who are looking for affordable products. "they look for the best quality product for a reasonable price"Con is presenting a very exaggerated, unrealistic depiction of how much CSR costs. For some reason, Con is assuming that the costs for practicing good CSR are enormous, so enormous that the price of the product will suddenly be raised to an unattainable amount that even the average consumer will believe that it is not a reasonable price. That is just not the case. The goal of businesses who practice good CSR is not only to help the community, but also have a profitable product of high quality. Unilever was my example in the last round. They have products such as deodorant that is not only of very high quality, but extremely affordable, even for a lower income family. My Innovation point refutes Con's point. "In addition to this, potential buyers and investors are not interested in how "socially responsible" an entity is when seeking to purchase or invest. "Yeah, they are actually. As I said before, consumers these days are looking for products that do not negatively affect our society. A company's CSR reputation can seriously affect the sales of their goods and services. A company that gives back to society often appeals to more consumers, therefore this company tends to have more sales. If it has more sales, then investors will want to buy shares of this company. A company that is socially responsible is also sustainable and clearly has a long-term plan. If a business wants to decrease packaging costs, they will change their current packaging to a more efficient one, therefore increasing profit margins for the future. Again, the business becomes more profitable and if investors buy shares right now, their shares will increase in value because the business becomes more profitable. I think this pretty much refutes Con's entire Interest of Potential Buyer and Investors point. Arguments Environmental Effects Our world today is facing serious problems in regards to the environment. Problems such as global warming, deforestation and over consumption of natural resources are raising major concerns about the future of planet Earth. Now, the public is even more informed about these issues and the role that large corporations play in this. Often, you will find consumers boycotting companies that are damaging the environment. Because of this, companies now have an incentive to reduce their environmental impact. One company who has a very small carbon footprint is Google. I'm sure many people already know this, but Google has some of the most amazing work facilities. Their amazing employee benefit programs and workplace environment makes Google one of the most appealing places to work. Not only is it a great place to work, but it also has some of the most efficient facilities in the world. Google, as any other tech company, uses large amounts of energy for their data centers and servers. However, the Google data centers 50% less energy than the typical data center. [1] Google has developed and put into place their own custom servers that are an astounding 93% efficient. [2] Google has 5 steps to ensure that they have almost no impact on global warming. They constantly measure PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) to ensure that they can be as efficient as possible. Currently, they are operating at 12% overhead, compared to the typical data center which operates at 100% overhead. This means most of Google's energy is used towards powering the servers and products rather than used on cooling. [3] Google also designs their facilities specifically so that the airflow is properly managed, significantly decreasing costs for cooling. [2] Google also raises the temperature in their facilities, to decrease use of air conditioners, use natural forms of cooling such as bodies of water to also reduce air conditioning costs, and optimize power distribution so that 15% or less of energy is being wasted while being transported. [2] The typical data center wastes about a third of its energy while it is being transported. [2]Though all these installments raised costs for Google, the upside of the installments allowed Google to significantly increase and their efficiency and profit margin, while reducing their carbon footprint to the point where they have virtually no impact on the environment. In 2011, Google emitted around 1.5m tonnes of carbon, which is on par with the guidelines set by the United Nations. [4] Google estimates that their data centers account for 1% of the world's energy consumption and Google uses only 1% of that energy. [4] Giving Back to the Local Community Giving back to the local community is also a great way to practice good CSR. This can come in numerous forms such as volunteer work, monetary donations, or social programs. Tim Horton's is also my example for this point. Much of this is in the round before, but it is still a great example. Tim Horton's hosts three camps each year for underprivileged children. They have the famous Camp Day which is the single largest fundraiser on one day and each year, it raises millions of dollars for children. Tim Horton's has many other local programs. They have a free skate and swim program offered to youth, Earn-A-Bike volunteer program, a food drive program and a litter awareness program. [5] They also have their famous Timbits Minor Sports Program. Tim Horton's sponsors over 200, 000 youth from ages 4 to 8 to be active and play sports such as soccer, hockey, baseball, lacrosse, etc. Each sponsored team receive a Tim Horton's jersey and often play with sports celebrities from the NHL. [5] Helping the Global Community Become A Better PlaceI'm basically out of characters, so this point is going to be short. Basically, companies who donate money to charities and other NGO's can help with global issues. The Bill & Melinda Foundation work to solve global issues. They have worked with United Nations for global immunization against diseases, provide sanitary water in Africa, and have spent billions of dollars to solve serious global threats. [6] . http://www.google.ca... [1] . http://www.google.ca... [2] . http://www.google.com... [3] . http://www.theguardian.com... [4] . http://www.timhortons.com... [5] . http://www.gatesfoundation.org... [6]SWAG