The corporate social responsibility of the Water Services Corporation in a liberalised market

Abstract

This thesis compared the traditional role of the Water Services Corporation and its past social responsibility as a government-owned and supported entity, with the emerging scenario of a fully self-supporting and commercialised firm. The study asks whether the corporation is using a mainly shareholder-value model and is motivated solely by profits, without considering that it ought to embrace meaningful corporate social responsibility and operate in an ethical manner. The study explained a number of differing ethical models and approaches in order to emphasize that not all seemingly good corporate deeds are necessarily ethical. It argues that ethical practices and a socially responsible corporate policy based upon the Common Good model will actually help the WSC reach its goals and will not harm its profitability. A number of best-practice examples were examined and were compared with some of the most infamous cases of corporate disdain for ethics. A quantitative survey was carried out amongst the WSC employees to gauge whether they would embrace ethical practices and to what extent they would support their employer's ethical initiatives. The findings suggest overwhelming support for corporate ethical initiatives and corporate social responsibility. The thesis concludes with suggestions for ethical initiatives based upon successful ethical entities from around the world as well as the impressions and opinions of some of the most influential people from a number of fields.