Free Paper: Corporate Social Activities of Wildlife Management Business

The effect of corporate social activities of wildlife management business on the perception of the Abies Hunting in Romania and Hungary.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

2.0 Background and Academic Context.

2.1 Research topic

The proposed dissertation aims to examine how the corporate social activities of wildlife management business affect the perception of the Abies Hunting located in Romania and Hungary. Wildlife management is the action that people or companies take to achieve a desired objective in the conservation and preservation of wild animals and their ecosystems (Kerlinger et al., 2013). It is important in that it halts loss of biodiversity and allows for the balancing of ecological demands, including carrying capacity, stopping adverse disturbances in the ecosystem, as well as halting poor environmental practices while also balancing the needs of people and those of wildlife (Allen and Singh, 2016; Dressel, Ericsson, and Sandstrom, 2018; Fryxell, Sinclair, and Caughley, 2014). Wildlife management is vital in keeping human activities in check as they can contribute to both negative and positive influence on wildlife existence (Redpath, Bhatia, and Young, 2015). Human activities can help in the conservation and preservation of wildlife while they can also lead to the destruction of ecosystems, decline in wildlife population due to poaching, and loss of biodiversity. This calls for incorporation of sustainability and corporate social responsibility activities by entities that are responsible for wildlife management, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and companies such as Abies hunting that specialize in the preservation and conservation of the wildlife.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a vital component of all businesses, including those involved with wildlife management. CSR has moved from ideology to a business reality paradigm as the spillover effects of the business decisions on the physical and social environment, including positive and negative, have increasingly become clear to the wider community (Moyeen and Courvisanos, 2012). It is the responsibility Abies Hunting, which is in the wildlife management business, to maintain its economic activities within the fields or areas that belong to the company and manage the business to be beneficial to the wildlife management, which warrants the incorporation of CSR principles. Abies Hunting was formed in 1990 in Romania and has 47.000 ha, whereas the company moved to other areas, including Hungary, where it has 10.000 ha (Abies Hunting, 2018). Even though the company operates in many countries, including Austria, Serbia, and Croatia, the current research will mainly concentrate on its operations in Romania and Hungary. This calls for the incorporation of CSR activities in both Hungary and Romania. For example, in the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of a big number of large carnivores influence how people live in the rural area, as they can contribute to a security threat.

Regarding CSR and Abies Hunting, the most important thing to do is to develop and maintain the balance between the necessities of the rural population without harming the wildlife. Additionally, the Abies Hunting should not focus on bettering its financial income for the company at the expense of the environmental and social well-being of the rural population. For instance, the wild animals should not be a security threat to the people and should not adversely impact the ecosystem. In essence, answering the question why it is vital to incorporate CSR initiatives, as well as investigating how it affects the perception of the company is worth the effort is because the company can only reach an economic target if the wildlife is maintained within the sustainable context. Most importantly, developing and maintaining a balance between the necessities of the rural population without harming the wildlife is paramount. Therefore, while wildlife management can be a source of financial income for the company and the rural population, both can reach the economic target if the wildlife is maintained within the sustainable context.

2.2. Key academic Ideas

2.2.1. Economic use

It is crucial that Abies Hunting should implement strategies that advocate for the economic use of the available animals. Mostly, it is vital that the company should not allow hunting the animals in the ranches at a faster rate than the animals can replenish through birth. As such, economic use is vital. Lack of economic use of natural resources usually leads to a biodiversity crisis (Butchart et al., 2010; Tittensor et al., 2014). This warrants for frequent population analysis to determine whether the number of wildlife in the ranches can sustainably allow for the hunting business and that it does not lead to adverse environmental impacts (Di Minin, Leader-Williams, and Bradshaw, 2016). Moreover, wildlife tourism provides an economic opportunity to landowners, such as Abies Hunting, who retain wild animals on their land. These can be considered as private nature reserves and are important in protecting the animals from uncontrolled poaching, and thus, they complement safeguarding wild animals from unscrupulous activities. There are concerns about the economic use and sustainability of wildlife tourism, including observing and respecting animal welfare concerns, benefiting the community from a social and economic perspective, as well as biodiversity loss (Di Minin, Leader-Williams, and Bradshaw, 2016). Even though wildlife tourism in most cases contributes to the conservation of biodiversity, there is always uncertainty over the sustainability of offtake rates and the potential impact on the population of wildlife. This is because the offtakes and quotas are usually not based on scientific assessments and there are no restrictions set on population numbers or the type of animals hunted (Bradshaw, Fukuda, Letnic, and Brook, 2006).

2.2.2. Public relation activities

Despite the continuing debates pertaining to the role business should perform in the society, the view that they should take a broader responsibility than economic alone, and therefore, integrating CSR has received wide support. Essentially, CSR is considered a key contributor to sustainability in developing and managing a business. CSR shows a company's commitment in contributing to the sustainable economic development, working with the local community and employees, as well as the society at large to improve the quality of life (Camilleri, 2014). Knox, Maklan, and French (2005, p.8) articulate that CSR, "is something that every board must now address in some form." As such, the research should incorporate how Abies Hunting should incorporate various public relation activities.

2.2.3. Marketing activities

Marketing is vital for wildlife tourism. This can be helpful for the local community, as well as the companies, includes Abies Hunting, especially for deriving financial income. This brings value to the local wildlife and promotes the growth of tourism. Also, marketing for wildlife is vital in developing touristic rural accommodation for individuals interested in recreational activities. Marketing also provides an avenue for students to conduct educational activities and promote research possibilities to increase the financial income for the activity of wildlife management. Essentially, marketing is vital as it promotes visibility of the rural area. As such, this, when coupled with CSR activities, will enhance the financial and economic viability of wildlife tourism. This also enhances visitor experiences and improves repeat visitation and occupancy rates, thereby providing unique marketing opportunities and allowing companies in the wildlife tourism sector to charge higher rates (Ham and Weiler, 2012).

2.2.4. Wildlife and Tourism

Wildlife is important in promoting the local values, and also contributes to the growth of local tourism. Tourism increases the possibilities to increase the financial income from the activities of wildlife management. According to Curtin (2013), wildlife tourism is often under-appreciated in a nation's domestic tourism portfolio, but there has been incremental growth in the last decade owing to increased numbers of tourists, as well as tourism businesses and NGOs that offer access to wildlife viewing opportunities. This demands the incorporation of CSR and sustainability for wildlife tourism business to be economical while also protecting the environment.

How does this research relate to existing literature?Moyeen and Courvisanos (2012), Butchart et al. (2010), Tittensor et al. (2014), and Di Minin, Leader-Williams, and Bradshaw (2016) agree that wildlife management is vital for sustainability, as well as the protection of ecosystems and the environment. Camilleri (2014) and Knox, Maklan, and French (2005) also point out that since businesses can conduct wildlife tourism for financial gain, CSR activities should be incorporated. However, these studies have not established how CSR activities of wildlife management affect the perception of companies regarding the adoption of sustainable business models. This warrants research in this research gap, and thus, this study aims to examine how the CSR activities of wildlife management business affect the perception of companies, particularly focussing on the Abies Hunting operations in Romania and Hungary. 3.0. Research Objectives

The question this research will be answering is:

How do the CSR activities of wildlife management business affect the perception of the Abies Hunting in Romania and Hungary?

The hypothesis developed after a preliminary review of literature is the following:

It is possible that economic activities in the wildlife management business could bring economic benefit to the company and the rural population without posing any threat to the long-term preservation and conservation of the wildlife.

The specific objectives underpinning this research are:

To identify key wildlife management issues that face Abies Hunting in its operations in Romania and Hungary.

To explore the extent to which participants understand issues of environmental protection, sustainability, and CSR.

To explore how sustainability will be achieved while benefiting from wildlife tourism.

To make practical recommendations on how to enhance sustainability and what CSR activities are essential to wildlife management.

4.0 Method and access

4.1 Research strategy

Creswell and Clark (2007) postulate that data is vital to studying any topic, especially in research. The strategy that will be used in the study is a case study of Abies hunting, and it will concentrate on its operations in Romania and Hungary. Given that the case study strategy is adopted, it is essential to define the 'case' in this research study. A 'case' is defined as a contemporary phenomenon that occurs in a bounded real-life context (Miles, Huberman, and Saldana, 2013; Moyeen and Courvisanos, 2012; Yin, 2003). Since it can be a person, organization, event, or another social phenomenon whereby the boundary between the 'case' and its context is not evident, in this research context it will be an organization, which will serve as the main unit of analysis in this research study.

Population and sampling

The researcher will choose a group of professional gamekeepers and conduct interviews with those. The researcher will capitalize on the random sampling technique. This is because, in the random sampling techniques, the data acquired is unbiased (Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight, 2006). The method is preferred as it leads to impartial data, which is vital in enhancing the credibility and validity of the research...