The Secret of Joy & Happiness in Life
- June Loo
- Oct 18, 2018
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 18, 2018
Ever stopped and wonder, why are some people more loyal towards a certain brand despite of it offering a rather more expensive product or service compared to their competitors?
Consumers consider more than just quality goods and services nowadays when choosing a brand. Sustainable development has become a crucial factor for consumers, especially for millennials, the most dominant generation in the world today with their strong affinity with sustainable products and services. Many are prioritizing the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), where they hold the corporation accountable for their effecting social change alongside their business’s practices, profits and beliefs.
“Social responsibility is a critical part of proactive reputation management. And companies with strong reputations outperform others when it comes to attracting top talent, investors, community partners, and most of all consumers.” Carol Gstalder, senior vice-president of Nielsen Reputation & Public Relations Solutions.
CSR is increasingly becoming as important in the technological era we are living today. With a quick search on Google, we are able to see the changes a corporation has made in the society. There is certainly an increase in the amount of CSR projects being done as more and more companies thrive to offer both a workplace and the corporation of caring culture into their businesses.
WHAT IS CSR?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies integrate the environmental and social concerns into their business. CSR aims to ensure that companies conduct their business in an ethical way, taking into account their social, economic and environmental impact towards society as a whole. Employers are seeing CSR as an important way to not only protect and raise brand awareness of their businesses, but as well to build trust with their customers and employees.
CSR programmes are emerging more and more in Malaysia as of December 2017. Apart from people being more socially concerned with the issues happening in society these days, this is because the government has made it mandatory for government-linked companies (GLCs) to fuse CSR programmes into their businesses. Apart from giving back, gaining recognition and becoming a well-known brand among the public through CSR projects, organizations are able to increase long-term profits for the organization itself.
“Brands that establish a reputation for environmental stewardship among today’s youngest consumers have an opportunity to not only grow market share but build loyalty among the power-spending millennials of tomorrow, too,” Grace Farraj, senior vice-president of Nielsen Public Development & Sustainability.
Click HERE for the main key areas highlighted on the Nielson Global Corporate Responsibility Report.
There are many companies outdoing themselves year by year with their CSR projects. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is a prime example that goes out of their ways to prioritize the betterment of the community through their CSR programmes.
About Shangri-La
Shangri-La was established by the world’s 48th wealthiest billionaire (currently), Malaysian business leader Robert Kuok Hock Nien. It was founded by parent company, the Kuok Group which initially began in 1949 as a small business in Malaysia trading rice, sugar and wheat flour.
However, it wasn’t until 1971 when the Shangri-La story began with their first deluxe hotel in Singapore. Initially, the hotel management was transferred to Western International Hotels, but by 1981 when the Kuok group opened its Shangri-La Hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong, the group decided to cover direct hotel management and founded Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts.
The headquarters of Shangri-La are in Hong Kong as Robert Kuok moved out of Malaysia in the 1970s to avoid stifling to political cronyism. At that time, more meritocracy was present in Hong Kong which led to the success of Robert's multinational conglomerate.
The Shangri-La Asia Ltd. today has added Traders Hotels, Kerry Hotels and Hotel Jen chains to their world-class hotel group. They have as well, introduced the uniqueness and distinctive Asian standards of hospitality across the globe, spanning to Middle East, North America and Europe.
Vision
To be the first choice for guests, colleagues, shareholders and business partners.
Mission
To delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our heart.
Embracing Care In The Community
Shangri-La has two main CSR projects that are carried out annually by respective hotels. They are able to effectively deliver in the community because they have measurable outcomes in their projects which enables the programme to be evaluated based on the performance.
One of them is Embrace, which is Shangri-La's Care for People Project that was launched in September 2009. The project committed each Shangri-La hotel to a 5-10 year partnership with a chosen beneficiary working on children’s health or education programmes. Read more about Embrace HERE.
The other is Sanctuary, Shangri-La's Care for Nature project, which was launched in 2010 with the aim of making a concerted effort towards biodiversity conservation and habitat protection. Respective hotels work on individualised projects which are developed, tracked and monitored after a biodiversity assessment takes place. To date, there are a total of 16 Sanctuary projects in place engaging stakeholders worldwide with 13 hotels and resorts having Eco Centres.
'The Glittering Baubles Of Life'
One of the most prominent CSR project by the Shangri-La group is the annual Christmas charity project conducted by Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur. This is a project under “Embrace The Gift of Life” with the aim to aid children suffering from severe heart ailments and other serious medical conditions. Since 1985, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur has helped over hundreds of critically ill children and raised about RM4 million through this charity project.
Titled, 'The Glittering Baubles of Life,' Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s 2017 Christmas charity project has successfully raised funds to heal disadvantaged children with heart ailments and other afflictions. Donors who pledged a minimum of RM1000 towards this charity project received one of the 10 designs out of the 190 ornaments from the towering Christmas tree in the hotel’s lobby. These colourful Christmas baubles are handmade and creatively crafted out of chocolate and marzipan by the hotel’s pastry team.
There were as well, five exclusive limited edition Christmas Baubles which were available at a minimum donation of RM3000. All these baubles represents a life given to a child and the donations bring hope and new lease of life to the children in need of urgent medical attention.
“So far, we have managed to raise RM4 million through this Christmas Charity Tree. All the funds collected will be paid directly to the hospital for the children to undergo surgery immediately,” Manfred Weber, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur area general manager.
On the day itself, the official tree lighting ceremony was a real treat for the visiting group of a total of 97 underprivileged and refugee children from Tasputra Perkim, Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR). The children were treated to a sumptuous buffet spread and wonderful goodie bags.
Read more about sustainability conducted by Shangri-La with their United Nations Global Compact Communication Report 2017 HERE.
Shangri-La carries out a variety of CSR programs across the world. Watch the video below to see how Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Cebu in Philippines create a more sustainable community at their adopted community through their Soap for Hope™ program.
CSR: Soap for Hope at Shangri-La's Mactan Resort & Spa, Cebu
"Ethics is the new competitive environment" - Peter Robinson
It can be certain that organizations tendering and tackling essential social issues through CSR projects not only gives back to the community as a whole, but as well gives the business in a good place in the long run. What other organizations do you know that has contributed great CSR projects to the community?
References :
Bernama (2017) CSR programmes now compulsory for GLCs. New Straits Times. [online] Available at : https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2017/12/314941/csr-programmes-now-compulsory-glcs [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Business World (2018) In favour of sustainable brands. [online] Available at : https://www.bworldonline.com/favor-sustainable-brands/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Caramela, S. (2018) What is Corporate Social Responsibility? Business News Daily. [online] Available at : https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Chua, J. (2018) 5 Thing You May Or May Not Know About Robert Kuok. MSN News. [online] Available at : https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/other/5-things-you-may-or-may-not-know-about-robert-kuok/ar-AAxFU6v#image=AAxFU6v_1%7C1 [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Hunt, A. (2015) Three Things you should know about Shangri-La Asia. The Motley Fool. [online] Available at : https://www.fool.sg/2015/09/18/three-things-you-should-know-about-shangri-la-asia/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Kuok (Singapore) Limited. (N.A.) The Kuok Group. [online] Available at : https://www.kuokgroup.com.sg/about/kuok-group/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Lim, S. (2017) ‘The Glittering Baubles Of Life’ at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur Heals Children With Heart Ailments. Malaysia Tatler. [online] Available at : https://my.asiatatler.com/events/RM4-million-raised-by-shangri-la-hotel-kuala-lumpur-annual-christmas-charity [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Nielsen (2016) Nielsen releases first-ever global responsibility report, aligned with GRI G4. [online] Available at : https://www.nielsen.com/my/en/press-room/2016/nielsen-releases-first-ever-global-responsibility-report.html [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. (N.A) About Shangri-La Group. [online] Available at : http://www.shangri-la.com/corporate/about-us/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
The Star Online (2017) Buy a bauble, help a life. [online] Available at : https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2017/12/11/buy-a-bauble-help-a-life-hotel-sets-up-christmas-tree-to-raise-funds-for-children-in-need-of-heart-s/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
The University of Edinburgh (N.A.) What is corporate social responsibility? [online] Available at : https://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/your-future/options/occupations/csr/what-is-csr [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Vilas, N. (2017) Top 20 Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives for 2017. Smart Recruiters. [online] Available at: https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/top-20-corporate-social-responsibility-initiatives-for-2017/ [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
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