The Case Study: CSR Reputation of Intel Corporation

Introduction

Intel Corporation is an American worldwide technology company that has its headquarters at Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. Intel is the second highest valued manufacturer of semiconductor chips, after Samsung. It is the creator of the x86 series of microprocessors that are found in most personal computers. The company is ranked as the 46th largest revenue generating company by Fortune 500. However, the company is facing problems such as lack of market for its products in China and failure to meet customers' demands. The stakeholders of the company include customers, employees, suppliers, the community, and investors. Intel employs a corporate social responsibility strategy to support its business.

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Intel has recently reported that there has been a lack of market of their products in China. This has been due to lack of demand in the country since Chinese companies are manufacturing most of their chips and processors. Moreover, a shortage of CPU's has led to manufacturing problems, causing the failure of developing enough processors to meet customer's needs. However, Intel has planned to focus on improving trade with China to ensure it strengthens its business in the company (Hachman, 2019). The company has designed to implement a 10nm manufacturing node. The switch to a 10nm node aims to improve the company's manufacturing rate to meet customers' demand.

Business establishments are accountable in addressing their social impacts on stakeholders (Peloza & Shang, 2011). The stakeholders in Intel Corporation are customers, suppliers, employees, investors, and the community. Corporate social responsibility is vital in businesses due to the effects of stakeholders on organizational performance, through factors such as customer loyalty and brand perception. Intel prioritizes customers. This group of stakeholders is concerned about the pricing and the quality of its products. Customers affect the revenues of the company, and thus its performance. The company has implemented a product stewardship goal by creating high energy efficient products. Investors are vital stakeholders as they influence the availability of capital and the worth of semiconductors business. The main concern of investors is the profitability and growth of the company. Therefore, the company fulfills this interest partly through premium pricing strategy in 4Ps or Intel's marketing mix. High prices of products earn high profits for investors (Hachman, 2019). However, there are CSR issues associated with Microsoft windows dependence, where the profitability of the company depends on the sale of Windows system. Therefore, the company needs to utilize CSR activities to meet the interests of the investors.

Employees are stakeholders that are the core of a company's productivity. Their interests include job security and competitive compensation and career development (Peloza & Shang, 2011). Intel addresses these interests through the company's human resource programs and leadership training to support career development, offering competitive compensation packages, and CSR strategy that involves training programs for higher employee's productivity output. Suppliers determine the capacity of the business (Lindgreen, & Swaen, 2010). Changes in the productivity of suppliers affect the ability of production of Intel. Therefore, CSR strategy must consider suppliers as the primary group of stakeholders. Intel Corporation comprises communities in its CSR strategy. Communities are significant in business as they affect the corporate image and consumer perception. The interests of communities include the sustainability of Intel and organizational support for community development. The company satisfies these interests through Intel foundation and various corporate citizenship programs.

Intel addresses most stakeholders' interests and fears using a CSR strategy. However, the firm can improve its CSR performance by adding more initiatives, especially for the investors' group. The company's dependence on Microsoft windows weakens the company by creating a barrier for rapid business growth and expansion. This makes the business unable to exploit opportunities in the rapidly advancing mobile device market, among others.

A recommendation to Intel is that it should develop new mutually beneficial associations and agreements with other companies other than Microsoft. His might lessen risks aligned with dependence on Microsoft Windows systems. Additionally, Intel should diversify its business to improve its efforts on market risk minimization. For instance, the company can step in other industries through acquisition and business creation outside the semiconductor industry. These recommendations can improve Intel's CSR status and support business growth and flexibility.

Conclusion

Intel is among the most significant computing system companies in the world. Recently the company is facing the challenges of improving the business in China and improving its products to meet the demands of its consumers. The stakeholders of Intel include suppliers, communities, customers, investors, and employees. The company uses corporate social responsibility to meet the interests and demands of the stakeholders. However, the company fails to meet the interests of the investors, which are business growth and productivity. Therefore, the paper recommends that Intel should diversify its business and develop new, mutually beneficial associations and agreements with numerous firms. The recommendations are vital to improving the CSR status of Intel, as well as to improve its performance.

References

Hachman, M. (2019). Intel Addresses Processor Shortages, CEO Hunt after Reporting Disappointing Fourth-Quarter Results. [Weblog]. PCWorld. Retrieved from: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3336444/intel-addresses-processor-shortages-ceo-hunt-after-reporting-disappointing-fourth-quarter-results.html

Lindgreen, A., & Swaen, V. (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 1-7. Retrieved from: https://orca.cf.ac.uk/55309/1/Article%2053.pdf

Peloza, J., & Shang, J. (2011). How Can Corporate Social Responsibility Activities Create Value For Stakeholders? A Systematic Review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(1), 117-135. doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0213-6