Abstract
Fast food businesses of western origin implement public relations in their international operations. This concept is expressed through the corporate social responsibility of the company actualized through activities that develop good relations between the company and the community in which it operates and sells its food products. Among western food companies, corporate social responsibility has been used as a public relations strategy. However, in the case of traditional restaurants, there is a common perception that corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy is not implemented since these are western concepts. This research seeks to arrive at a study of corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy by looking at western fast food businesses particularly Pizza Hut and traditional restaurants. The research will focus on the manner that CSR as a PR strategy is practiced by Pizza Hut in China and assess the effectiveness of their specific CSR activities in achieving their marketing objectives while at the same time the research seeks to investigate the existence and manifestation of CSR as a public relations strategy in the case of traditional restaurants.
The research is an explanatory study that seeks to study the existence, manifestation and development of corporate social responsibility as public relations strategy in the food industry in China. The thrust of the research is to analyse and interpret the data gathered. Data will be gathered through the case study research strategy because of the specific focus on Pizza Hut in China by using semi-structured interview, telephone interview and questionnaire. Data requirements for the research cover both primary and secondary data.
Corporate social responsibility, as a public relations strategy, applies to both traditional and fast food businesses by linking the business with the public through community and customer focused activities. Corporate social responsibility practices are integrated into the value system of the business or the family managing the restaurant in cases of personal network-reliant restaurants while these are enshrined in the business plan of the restaurant directed towards mass communications as public relations strategy.
Based on the primary and secondary data, corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy exist in both traditional and fast food restaurants in China comprising of both domestic and foreign companies. However, CSR is utilized and manifested by traditional and fast food restaurants in different ways. In the case of traditional restaurants, corporate social responsibility is expressed through the development by the family-owned business of personal networks in the community. In the case of fast food restaurants, their corporate social responsibility is based on international standards developed by the mother company to be applied by all its franchises so that the accommodation of community issues depends upon the discretion of the franchises. Results of the study showed that corporate social responsibility is applied by both traditional and fast food restaurants of western origin in China although differing in its manifestations.
Reflections on Experiences during the Dissertation Completion Process
The world is full of information on everything within the capacity of humans to conceive. The bulk of knowledge prevents man from discovering everything there is to know so that people only select the information they need and want. It is the field of research the enables people to rediscover and utilize information in order to create meaning. Meaning is derived from research by providing people with information or by confirming or disproving what the person has already learned. Thus, research is the process of learning and unlearning information about every conceivable subject.
Regardless of the underlying purposes for conducting research, these may be classified under learning things or gathering evidence. In the first reason, the purpose is for the personal benefit of the researcher as means of enriching one’s knowledge base. This is important to every individual because it is through ones knowledge base that one is able to communicate with other people regarding a certain topic. If one does not have any knowledge of the topic then the person has nothing to share hindering further interaction. In the case of the second reason, this serves the benefit of people other than the researcher because it clarifies an on going debate or misunderstanding between different parties. Information can also be arranged, presented and shared to other people to enhance knowledge of more people about a subject, which may be helpful in decision-making and other purposes.
Based on these reflections on the role of research in both academic and social venues, conducting research on corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy stems from certain expectations of the researcher regarding the dissertation process. Initially, the perception covering the completion of the research is for academic purposes so that the topic should enable the researcher to apply information learned on public relations and corporate social responsibility in order to gain merit as an academic work on the particular course. The first expectation is that the dissertation would reflect the level of learning and understanding that the researcher has gained in studying the particular topic. However, in the course of the development of the topic and especially during the completion of the research the expectation revolved around the objective purpose of research. The expectation covers a combination of trying to derive evidence from actual cases of the application of theories and concepts in public relations and corporate social responsibility as well as to rediscover information on the subject matter to add to the researcher’s acquired knowledge on the subject. In the end, the dissertation turned out not only as a mere academic requirement but also as the researcher’s contribution to the knowledge on the subject matter.
Based on the expectations that the dissertation completes the researcher’s academic requirements, enables the researcher to test theories in actual settings, and share gathered information to other people, the research process was viewed as a significant means towards these ends.
One of the most important issues faced by the researcher in commencing the research process is the language for research presentation. Although the researcher has a wide experience with the English language, the researcher remains as an English as a second language (ESL) student. Articulating information through the formal academic English language involved a learning process in itself.
Since the setting of the research is in China, the researcher knew that many local terms have to be accurately translated in English in the same way that some English terms have to be applied in the community setting. In the case of English terms or western concepts, which have to be applied in the Chinese setting, the concept public relations and corporate social responsibility are non- existent in the Chinese business culture. However, this does not mean that these concepts are non-existent. The researcher had to consider the in-depth definition of these concepts in order to determine whether the elements of these concepts exist in actual Chinese business setting. Part of the research is to find evidence of the existence and manifestations of these concepts in the food industry in China although these concepts may be regarded in different terms and utilized in various ways. In the course of the research, it was discovered that the acquisition of corporate social responsibility in traditional restaurants was expressed through their assumed responsibility of compliance with community norms, values and practices. In the case of Chinese concepts, the term Guanxi was translated as networking connections to capture as much as possible the Chinese perception.
Another important issue relates to the conceptualization of the research problem and the write-up of the research proposal, particularly on the manner of balancing the selection and articulation of the topic so that it offers meaning but at the same time consists of a workable topic. The researcher had a general notion of the research topic that covers corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy in the case of the food industry in China. Since the research setting is too general rendering it difficult to cover in a limited span of time, the researcher determined fast food business as the focus of the study, particularly Pizza Hut branches in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
However, focusing only on the corporate social responsibility as a public relations strategy of Pizza Hut in these two Chinese cities belie the equal importance of the community relations of traditional restaurants. Due to the recognition of this important research issue and the contribution that studies on this subject would contribute to the knowledge-pool, the researcher decided to conduct a parallel study. On one side are fast food businesses of western origin established in China and on the other side are traditional restaurants. In relation to the fast food businesses of western origin, the corporate social responsibility of Pizza Hut was considered relative to McDonalds and KFC while with regard to the traditional restaurants, the case of Quanjude was considered to determine the existence and manifestation of the assumption of corporate social responsibility. In this way, the research is able to add more information to the body of knowledge on the subject matter in the context of modern China.
The data gathering aspect serves as an important part of the process because it is through this stage that the researcher is able to determine whether assumptions are validated and whether significant information is obtained. The methods and design of the research have been specified in the proposal so that the researcher is guided in the utilization of these tools.
Since the researcher has limited experience in the use of these tools, many lessons have been learned in the data gathering process. Conducting the interview involves more than just preparing the questions because the researcher has to prepare also for the manner of dealing with the managers during the interview process. Some of the managers were apprehensive about the interview because of the notion that their answers may have a bearing on their position with the company particularly since the questions include their assessment of the corporate social responsibility practiced by the company. For the researcher, building rapport proved difficult because one had to market the research. The managers wanted thorough information about the purpose of the interview and other specific aspects. Apart from this, they were also concerned about their identity.
This was a learning process for the researcher so that in succeeding researches, thorough preparation should be made in relation to developing fiduciary relationship with the research subjects and the application of techniques in earning the trust of the respondents to ease the flow of information.
In the process of completing the dissertation, the researcher had to go through several revisions and rewrites before achieving a satisfactory write-up. In data presentation, the researcher faced the challenge of classifying primary and secondary information into topics and sub-topics and arranging these to create a flow of information that addresses the research problems.
Since the research process takes a long time to finish and the preliminary chapters of the paper are written ahead of the other chapters, it is important to have continuity between the preliminary chapters and the succeeding chapters after the data has been gathered. The preliminary chapters serve as background for accomplishing the research since the theories contained in these chapters comprise what the study seeks to investigate in actual cases. The topics and sub-topics have been arranged and rearranged several times to achieve a flow of information that meets the objectives set for the study.
Information and conclusions also have to be accurately processed and articulated in the paper in order to effectively share the research results. This involves the exercise of communication skills for the paper to have an academic tone by using appropriate language. The researcher had to be conscious in differentiating conversational and formal English since this would add to the integrity of the dissertation. The contents of the paper have also been written and rewritten to arrive at the best possible way of expressing information, data analysis and conclusions.
Overall, the researcher has learned a lot form the process of completing the dissertation not only in terms of the information obtained but also from going through the process of accomplishing this research. One important lesson learned from the process is to constantly apply the scientific method. This may seem to be a technical and complicated process but if applied, proves useful for any researcher. The scientific method requires the researcher to determine the problem, identify different options for solving the problem, choose the best option, and address the problem. In research, this process implies that the researcher should be organized in terms of ideas and the process itself.
Apart from being organized, another important lesson is the necessity of being directed and guided by the research objectives so that the research will not stray from its intended purpose. There are a lot of information on corporate social responsibility and public relations available. However, the researcher had to choose only related secondary information to include in the dissertation and to analyze information according to the purpose of the research. The resulting paper comprises a different perspective on available information as contribution to the body of knowledge on the subject matter.
Completing the dissertation offer several challenges but accomplishing this task also has its own rewards, fulfilment on the part of the researcher for accomplishing the task and adding to the body of knowledge as a research goal.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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