酒店行业中企业的社会责任 — 格里昂de视点
格里昂高等教育学院 2015年3月27日
企业社会责任（CSR），可持续发展和绿色商业都是时下商业领域中必用的商业术语。管理者们也看到有非常多的研究报告显示顾客对有责任心的商业活动非常感兴趣。2014年夏，尼尔森（Nielsen）发现55%的消费者愿意为一家履行社会责任的公司支付更多，但是根据埃森哲（Accenture）和联合国全球契约（UN Global Compact）的调查，27%的欧洲消费者总是或者经常会注意到他们购买的商品是否有利于可持续发展。从这些调查结果来看，参加企业社会责任活动明显成为企业的一条战略发展途径 — 通过这一途径可以改善公司的财务状况，或者是以增加利润的形式实现，或者是通过吸引来更多的客户来实现。大多数大型酒店集团，除了极个别的一些酒店集团之外，在每年的企业社会责任报告中都会显示出企业参加了许多不同种类的企业社会责任活动。但实际情况通常比较复杂，企业尽到的社会责任也是大同小异。
尽管消费者对企业履行社会责任持明显的积极态度，但财政收入是否能够通过企业履行社会责任得到增加这点仍然难以捉摸。企业在社会和环境保护方面尽到更多的责任是否会达到更好的财政收入状况？关于这一点，学者们经过几十年的研究也没有得出确定的结论。大多数的研究者，包括酒店行业的研究人员，他们研究表明在企业收入和企业社会责任之间不存在任何中性关系和略微正相关的关系，只能得出企业履行社会责任不会造成企业的财政收入下滑 — 这个结论对管理者做企业社会责任的投资活动选择并没有多少参考价值。虽然良好的商业道德具有非常好的内在价值，并且这种具有良好道德的商业行为在任何环境中都必须提倡，但是还需要强有力的证据能够证明履行社会责任可以有效提高企业的商业运作，只有这样企业才能把履行社会责任作为一种完全的战略策划进行投入。而这个证据反过来又可印证消费者更喜欢履行社会责任的企业这一事实。
为什么消费者对履行社会责任的企业更加偏好这一现象没有转化成增加的销售额？在酒店行业，尤其对非必要支出具有代表性的旅游领域，这对消费者来说是一个理想的机会来选择更具社会责任感的公司为其服务。但目测情况并非如此。对于这种调查结果和消费者实际行为不符的情况，其中一个原因可能是人们在面对市场调查的时候，会倾向于用一种受访者的心态去回答这些问题，或者他们认为自己会这样做，但到实际生活中的时候他们的表现与原来自己的想法并不相同。这种现象被称作社会称许性偏见效应（social desirability bias），这对所有涉及敏感话题的市场调研都是一个挑战，比如说关于商业道德的市场调研。然而，如果要说社会称许性偏见效应是造成调研结果与实际情况相背离的唯一原因的话，这种效应所产生的作用就又被夸大了。经过多年在企业社会责任领域的研究，我并不认为社会称许性偏见效应是造成调研结果与实际情况相背离的唯一原因。
除了社会期望效应，还有什么原因会造成消费者的实际选择与他们所宣称的喜好不符呢？过去这些年中，我从经济学供求关系原理这个角度对这个问题进行了深入研究。如果一个产品或一项服务要在市场中获得成功，首先在市场中必须存在对这项产品或服务的需求。这种需求也有可能是潜在的。潜在需求指的是人们对一个当下还不存在的产品或服务有所期待。而识别和把握潜在需求非常困难，于是就需要进行周密的市场调查，而在把握了这种潜在需求之后，企业获得的收益也是十分可观的。撇开纯运气的因素，没有哪一家公司是不经过研究和理解顾客的潜在需求就获得了巨大成功的。虽然企业宣称其在商业行为中履行了社会责任，但是这种履行通常只呈现在书面报告和企业社会责任模型上，并且在履行方式上还会受到个人喜好因素的影响。企业履行社会责任会为社会提供巨大的价值，但是如果企业履行的社会责任不能达到消费者的预期，这家公司就不会从中获益。
于是，对于商业管理者来说，要弄清楚：他们的潜在顾客对企业社会责任的要求是什么？这些顾客是否会因此愿意在这家企业中支付更多，以及顾客是什么时候展现出这种意愿的？公司履行社会责任的行为与潜在客户对企业社会责任的概念相符吗？如果面临的是潜在需求，企业如何履行与这些潜在需求相符的社会责任？通过系统的市场调查是可以回答以上这些问题的，企业也会因此获得巨大的销售额增长空间，获得更多利润 — 但只有在企业履行的社会责任对其潜在客户具有实际意义的情况下这些才能实现。
关于作者：
Henri Kuokkanen获得经济学理学硕士（赫尔辛基经济学院（Helsinki School of Economics）），他还是利兹贝克特大学（Leeds Beckett University）的博士研究生。他是格里昂研究生学院的全职研究人员，同时教授收益管理（revenue management）和企业社会责任（corporate social responsibility）这两门课程。他在全球电信行业中的财务及商务控制和管理方面有丰富的工作经验。在加入格里昂之前，Kuokkanen先生是一家咨询公司的合伙人，这家公司专注于将企业社会责任转换成企业的竞争优势。Kuokkanen先生的主要研究领域之一是企业社会责任在旅游和酒店行业中所扮演的角色，尤其是在企业社会责任为企业带来的潜在商业机会需要从顾客的角度来衡量的这些行业。这也是他在博士候选期间的主要研究方向。Kuokkanen先生在收益管理领域也出版了很多作品，重点研究规范管理为旅游景点带来的潜在的商业机遇。Kuokkanen先生领导格里昂在线MBA课程的应用型商业项目（ABP），同时还负责校园课程中的学生与全球顶尖酒店集团的合作研究项目。
英国与瑞士格里昂酒店管理高等教育学院 - Glion Institute of Higher Education
中文页面：http://glion.gheac.com/
咨询电话：010-8447 6928
189 0119 3685
在线ＱＱ：800093391
电子邮件：info@gheac.com
办公地址：北京市 东城区 东直门外大街48号 东方银座 C座16E
邮政编码：100027
Corporate Social Responsibility in Hospitality, a Glion perspective
by Glion Institute of Higher Education 27 March 2015
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sustainability and green business are all integral to current business terminology. Managers have access to a huge number of studies that suggest consumer interest in responsible business practices. During the summer of 2014, Nielsen found that 55% of consumers are willing to pay more if a company is committed to responsibility, while according to Accenture and UN Global Compact, 27% of European consumers always or often note sustainability in their purchase decisions. In light of such findings, CSR activities would seem an obvious strategic path to improved financial performance, either in the form of increased margins or through attracting new customers. Most large hotel chains, among other companies, report on a wide range of actions as part of their annual CSR reports. But reality is usually complex, and responsibility is no different.
Despite the apparent positive consumer perceptions of responsibility, financial gains through CSR remain elusive. Over several decades of research, academics have not reached a conclusion on whether good social and environmental performance leads to better financial results. Most researchers, including within the hospitality industry, suggest anything between a neutral and mildly positive relationship, but the mere result that responsibility normally does not reduce financial performance is of little value to managers choosing CSR investments. While good business ethics have clear intrinsic value, and ethical business conduct must be followed under any circumstances, full strategic commitment to corporate responsibility would require evidence of improved business performance. This would, in turn, validate the findings according to which consumers are willing to favour responsible companies.
Why does the stated consumer interest in responsibility not convert into increased sales? The hospitality industry, particularly the tourism side that represents discretionary consumer spending, could provide people with an ideal opportunity to prefer responsible services. Yet this does not seem to be the case. One reason for the discrepancy between survey results and observed actions is likely the human tendency to answer surveys in a way the respondents would like to behave, or think they should behave, even when in reality they act differently. This phenomenon, known as social desirability bias, is a challenge in all market research that touches sensitive topics, such as ethics. However, this may be overemphasized as the sole reason to reject survey results. After years of consulting and academic research in the field of CSR, I question its role as the only explanation for the discrepancy.
Other than social desirability, what might contribute to consumers not acting in line with their stated preferences? For the past few years I have approached this question in my research from an economics perspective of demand and supply. For a product or a service to be successful, demand must exist for it; this demand may be latent. Latent demand is defined as a desire for a non-existing product or service. Recognizing the characteristics of latent demand can be difficult. Consequently, this requires thorough market research and the gains for discovering such characteristics can be enormous. Pure luck apart, no company achieved greatness without studying and understanding the needs of potential customers. Yet when responsibility is included in a business offering, it is often based only on reporting standards, CSR models and preferences of the individuals involved in the work. While this may provide great value to society, if consumer demand for responsibility is not met, the company will not benefit.
The question for business managers thus becomes what their potential customers mean by responsibility, if and when they indicate an increased willingness to pay for it. Do company CSR actions match the perception of responsibility held by potential clients? Is the demand latent, and if so, how can a company supply the right aspects of responsibility? It is possible to answer these questions with systematic market research, with a great upside potential to gain new sales and increased profits; but these can only be achieved if the supply of CSR is meaningful to potential customers.
About the author:
Henri Kuokkanen holds an MSc in Economics (Helsinki School of Economics) and is a PhD candidate at Leeds Beckett University. He is a full-time Research Fellow at Glion Graduate School, where he also teaches revenue management and corporate social responsibility. His industry experience includes treasury and business control management in the global telecoms industry. Before joining Glion, he was a partner in a consulting company focusing on transforming corporate social responsibility (CSR) into a competitive advantage. His main field of research and PhD candidacy encompasses the role of CSR in tourism and hospitality, in particular the business potential that responsibility offers from a consumer perspective. He has also published in the area of revenue management, with a focus on the potential the discipline can offer in tourism destinations. Mr. Kuokkanen heads the Applied Business Projects (ABP) for Glion’s online MBA program and he is co-responsible for the campus-based commissioned student research partnerships with leading international hospitality companies.
【原文引自】：http://www.gheac.com/thread-7588-1-1.html
版权与翻译版权所有，转载，复制请注明出自于“GHEAC-环球酒店教育与行业盟”。
没有评论:
发表评论