Corporate Social Responsibility in Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer Companies: Nucor Corporation and Starbucks Corporation Case Studies

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, has become a hot topic in business research within the past years. Corporate social responsibility is the way companies manage their business to have an overall positive impact on society. By studying CSR initiatives in business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies, this research intends to illustrate how social responsibility impacts both business models. Two companies were chosen for case studies: Nucor Corporation as a business-to-business company and Starbucks Corporation as a business-to-consumer company. The two companies chosen for case studies in this research represent various supply chain levels in business: Nucor Corporation is a steel manufacturer, and Starbucks Inc delivers its food and coffee products to final consumers. Both companies are publicly traded corporations founded in the United States. This research includes historical literature overview of CSR research and qualitative analysis of the two companies’ CSR initiatives. It aims to help the reader to better understand the differences and similarities between CSR applications in business to-business and business-to-consumer companies. The paper provides a detailed analysis of internal and external CSR activities in both companies and shows how the two unrelated businesses can have similar incentives to implement CSR practices.