Google is one of the big Tech companies offering internet-based services and products such as Gmail, Search engine, Google Play, Google Drive, Google Maps, Android, and etc. Companies have started working heavily on Corporate Social Responsibility heavily, and Google has also been one of them. Google is associated with a top reputation ranking with CSR: the first organisation to achieve carbon neutral in 2007 (the CSR Journal, 2021). Reaching 100% of annual electricity use with renewable energy since 2017, becoming the best renewable energy purchaser in the world (Hölzle, 2021).
Implementing efficient data centres
In today’s economy, the products are being thrown away after the validity expires, and the new products are being replaced: the liner economy. Therefore, the resources will soon be unavailable, and the waste harms the globe. To prevent this phenomenon, Google aims to operate in a new type of circular economy by creating products that are easy to reuse, repair, recycle, and refurbish. There are 14 google data centres worldwide, assisting in keeping the internet working 24/7. Data centres are filled with servers, drives, routers, and other components. Google has been trying to achieve a circular economy by focusing on four strategies: maintain, refurbish, reuse, and recycle. For instance, if servers are broken, they are replaced with refurbished parts from previous Google servers, which reduces waste. As a result, Google achieved that 22% of the elements used for machine upgrades were refurbished inventory in 2016. Furthermore, certain materials that no longer have the need in creating technology are being checked and cleaned frequently for resale in the secondary shop (Google Sustainability, 2018).
Through Google’s endeavours, 86% landfill diversion rate for data centres was achieved in 2016, and 100% diversion was achieved in six out of 14 Google’s data centres (Google Sustainability, 2018).
The Belgium Project
In order to reduce the energy used for cooling off the devices in google data centres, google determined to build a new data centre that applies advanced evaporative cooling system which use grey water from a nearby canal in 2007. This project costed €250million, and the data centre was fully operational in 2010. Moreover, two data centres were built at a cost of €250 million with €3 new solar plant in 2018 (Google Data Centers, n.d.).
The Belgium project also contributed to the aspects of job rate in Belgium, providing 120 local permanent jobs and 300 temporary construction jobs (Miller, 2007).
The impact of CSR on Google’s supply chain
Google has been working with over 1,000 suppliers in over 70 nations (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2019). The company also focuses on CSR in its supply chain. In order to maintain a healthy supply chain, Google has been aiming to accomplish the following objectives: collaborating with suppliers across the globe to create a safer, equitable supply chain, maintaining favourable climate, workplace, society, and ecosystem, investing in and building technologies to create the trusted supply chain network (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2021).
Supplier Code of Conduct is applied to every supplier to protect their health, treatment, and safety. Therefore, suppliers must act in accordance with the code of conduct. The conduct, for example, includes banning debt bondage, indentured labor, slavery or trafficking, and so on. Suppliers have been monitored through supplier self-assessment and risk assessment to gauge whether they meet Google’s requirements and standards (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2021).
The Supplier Diversity Program has been taking place since October 2020. Google aims to spend a minimum of $100 million on black-owned suppliers and $1 billion on diverse-owned suppliers. In so doing, the expansion of job opportunities will be achieved (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2021).
Improving suppliers’ workplaces is also Google’s top priority. Google has committed to preparing safe and clean working environments for suppliers to maintain their health and safety. For example, clean toilet facilities, potable water, storage, and eating facilities are prepared for the workers. Due to the widespread pandemic, measures for infection prevention are also taken place (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2021).
Since global warming and climate change are threatening people and animals’ living now and will be in the future, Google has been cooperating with its suppliers to achieve an energy-efficient, low-carbon, circular supply chain. The attempt to reduce the environmental impact is key to protecting human and community health (Responsible Supply Chain Report, 2021).
The impact of changes in CSR on Google’s performance
Google was announced to be No. 1 at the top of the RepTrak Rankings for CSR by the Reputation Institute (GOOGLE LEADS GLOBAL RANKING OF BEST CSR REPUTATION, 2016). The company was assessed based on three corporate reputation dimensions: citizenship, workplace, and governance. Ranking the top company in Global CSR Rep Trak indicates that the company was best perceived by people for having a positive impact on society, being climate-friendly, acting ethically, operating with willingness and transparency, treating employees fairly and equally, and improving workers’ well-being. Therefore, Google has achieved successful branding for its business. Considering the suppliers, environment, and community benefits the society as a whole, increasing their reputation, satisfying their customers, users, and advertisers, and generating profits.
Current ethical issues in Computing Supplies Ltd
Computing Supplies Ltd received a bad reputation because of the following factors:
- 10-year-olds in Africa dismantled outdated computers for gold
- Harmful fumes are being produced due to the computers being burnt for collecting gold, hurting the environment and the children.
- The majority of the company’s employees make a living with minimum wage since the company wants to maximise its profit.
- In order to reduce the operation costs, the company is going to relocate some of its manufacturing facilities to India even though it would not benefit the locals since the subcontracting cost implies cuts relating to local wages and local use of water.
How business objectives are affected by ethical considerations
Companies need to track their everyday performance to ensure they are operating in the correct direction. Setting business objectives help them achieve their goals. According to Hollet (2006), there are three types of business objectives: Economic objectives, social objectives, and Human objectives. These objectives are vital for a company to strive in the business world, yet ethical considerations need to be considered throughout the process of setting business objectives.
Economic objectives are set for achieving the financial success of a business. A business generally tries to maximize its profits by generating revenues, creating new markets and innovation. In order to remain profitable, the income must exceed its expenditure. However, some companies like Computing Supplies Ltd pay employees lower wages to reduce the cost of their operation. Therefore, applying ethical standards is pivotal to avoiding any unethical issues such as hostile work environment and discrimination.
Secondly, Social objectives are associated with gaining positive publicity. Companies, again, need to consider ethical considerations because applying ethical considerations prevents antisocial behaviours such as human trafficking and black marketing. Furthermore, it can improve people’s living standards by providing job opportunities. Moreover, companies will try to operate within the legal framework of their companies by paying taxes to the government.
Lastly, integrating ethical considerations into human objectives improves workers’ living standards and job satisfaction rates. Companies need to provide employees safe and clean workplace and give fair remunerations. In so doing, it not only increase the job satisfaction rate but also the social publicity will be massively positive.
How Computing Supplies Ltd could improve the ethics of their operations
The bad publicity of CSL mainly resulted from being indifferent to Corporate Social Responsibility; therefore, developing a code of ethics is the first step in improving its operation. Each company has different ethical codes, yet most companies focus on the areas of integrity, objectivity, professional competence, confidentiality, and professional behaviour. In the case of CSL, they must treat employees well with integrity. For example, workers deserve to be well compensated for the complex parts of their jobs; therefore, the company bears the obligation of paying workers fair remuneration instead of paying the minimum wage for the benefits of the company. In addition to the problem of workers’ treatment, the computers were dismantled and burnt down for gold, resulting in dangerous fumes which harm the environment. The company could make a warning post about not burning the computers by explaining the effects on their website or poster.
In order to successfully apply a code of ethics to the business operation, the company should do the following:
- Integrate a code of ethics into its decision-making process of objectives and goals.
- CEO and senior management teams must show their leadership and act in accordance with the code of ethics so that subordinates follow after them.
- Engage and communicate fervently with employees and stakeholders such as suppliers, investors, and customer communities. Train the staff until an ethical culture is embedded to the company.
- Build a strong network among customers, suppliers, and the company, making them easy to report any suspected fraud as soon as possible.
- Frequently review the code of ethics and measure their ethical performance. If their ethical performance is not fulfilling the standards, alternative training or program needs to be taken place.
The recommendation of changes in Computing Supplies Ltd’ CSR policy to benefit different stakeholders
In order to benefit stakeholders, Computing Supplies Ltd could do the following:
- Increase salaries and wages for employees and suppliers, leading to improve their living standards and job satisfaction rate.
- Providing clean and safe working environments. For example, clean toilet facilities, storage, and eating facilities.
- Providing internship and job opportunities to local and global communities such as students, people with disabilities, or minorities.
- For investors, frequently update the company’s information, such as their performance, finance, and goals.
- Providing the best products and services to customers which increases the levels of trust and loyalty to the company.
Reference
The CSR journal. (2021). Global Sustainability Report: Google is First Company to be Carbon Neutral Through Its Entire Operating History. [online] The CSR Journal. Available at: https://thecsrjournal.in/global-sustainability-report-google-carbon-neutral/.
Hölzle, U. (2021). Google achieves four consecutive years of 100% renewable energy. [online] Google Cloud Blog. Available at: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/sustainability/google-achieves-four-consecutive-years-of-100-percent-renewable-energy.
Google Sustainability. (2018). Data Centers: Circular Economy. [online] Available at: https://sustainability.google/progress/projects/circular-economy/#:~:text=one%20is%20never%20enough [Accessed 3 Jul. 2022].
Google Data Centers. (n.d.). St. Ghislain, Belgium – Data Centers – Google. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/st-ghislain/ [Accessed 3 Jul. 2022].
Miller, R. (2007). Google Data Center Project in Belgium. [online] Data Center Knowledge | News and analysis for the data center industry. Available at: https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/04/27/google-data-center-project-in-belgium [Accessed 3 Jul. 2022].
Responsible Supply Chain Report. (2019). [online] Google. Available at: https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/google_2019-rsc-report.pdf [Accessed 3 Jul. 2022].
Responsible Supply Chain Report. (2021). [online] Google. Available at: https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/google_2019-rsc-report.pdf [Accessed 3 Jul. 2022].
GOOGLE LEADS GLOBAL RANKING OF BEST CSR REPUTATION. (2016). [online] Reputation Institute. Available at: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2963875/Reputation_Institute_Jun2017/pdf/2016_global_csr_press_release_60915.pdf [Accessed 4 Jul. 2022].
Hollet, V. (2006), Business Objectives Oxford London: University Press
