The Importance Of CSR And Steps In M&A Process - Essay.

Corporate social responsibility refers to the degree of responsibility that aims to contribute to social activities and goals to support society in the form of charity and other ways. This report, it is being discussed the importance of CSR and why companies are supporting this initiative. Also, discussing the academic views on CSR by four components through example. 

Following are the reasons are as follows-

• Pressure From Consumers- Consumers nowadays have become more aware of the social responsibility that every company has to follow and were demanding to encourage CSRR initiative as soon as possible. So, most companies were now focusing on enhancing these activities and programs in their management to attract more consumers to their policies and mission. Hence, firms that were polluting industries were also emphasizing this value and making a significant move towards that.
• Ethics- This is also another reason why most polluting industries were fully concentrating on improving their image in the market and the government as well through taking various initiatives on CSR. Ethics were something that is not possible to avoid nowadays to stay for a longer period in the market so, they usually look forward to enhancing their CSR task and activities as this has now counted in the ethics of the firm that must be followed by every firm in the market.
• Attract the Investors- CSR is something that usually attracts the investor to invest in their company because it raises the overall standards of the firm. So, heavily pollutant companies were also trying their best to attract the investors like shareholders, governments bodies to take participate in the company. So, all companies were focusing on implementing these CSR policies and rules to ensure maximum participation and engagement of investors.

CSR is being an important part of every small and big organization that helps in improving the ethical and sustainable way to deal with the social trends and impacts. Its emphasis is on operating the human rights, community rights, and environmental practices in the society to achieve effectiveness in the company. Some of the importance of CSR is as follows-

• Helps in Improving Public Image- This is the main importance of CSR that it helps in improving the public image as many consumers used to assess the companies that whether they are performing CSR or not. They want that every firm should follow this practice as they find it most important nowadays as this shows what companies think about their society and environment.
• Enhanced Brand Awareness- If a company is rigorously following this initiative in their management they will be able to improve the brand image and recognition through this. As many consumers will get to know about their brand this helps in creating brand awareness. 
• Cost Savings- Through this, companies were able to achieve a low cost in their operational and manufacturing process such as using less packaging will assist in decreasing low cost. So, this will be a win-win situation for the firm also who use this practice as they can reduce the cost and also get appreciation and recognition from the consumer and market.

Carroll’s pyramid has suggested that every company has to fulfill its four levels are as follows-

• Economic Responsibility- This is the lowest level of the pyramid that tells that this is the prime responsibility of the company which needs to be profitable. The company should earn some profit so that they could run the business operations and could pay amounts to employers. For example, if a company is not able to make a profit then it will not able to survive and also not able to provide products and services to society as well. 
• Legal Responsibility- This is the second level of Carroll’s pyramid that emphasizes that a company has to follow the law and its obligations. The company must follow certain laws which were made by government and regulatory bodies to ensure smooth functioning and will promote a healthy environment infirm. For example, if a company is following all laws and adhere to then it will help the company to grow more business across the market and will nit face not inventions from the government and other regulatory bodies often,
• Ethical Responsibility- This layer focuses on doing things right and being fair in all situations to the employees and consumers of the company. For every successful company, they were following their all rules and regulation ethically and with morality that promotes trust. For example, if the company is not following its rules and regulation ethically then it will lose trust and connection with its stakeholders, supplier, and competitors.
• Philanthropic Responsibility- This is the top layer of the pyramids which indicated the highest level of CSR. Due to balance the negative image of companies who were indulging in pollution and using natural resources then this will help in balancing out the image. For example, if a company is helping out society by giving back then it will promote the positive side of the company.

Conclusion

From the above report, it is concluded that companies should follow the CSR practices in the management to enhance their positive image in the market and to grow more in the industry. Also, it is discussed that compiles should also use Carroll’s pyramid to implement CSR in the management.

Merger and acquisition help in providing many growth opportunities that will lead to many advantages and it involves certain steps. In this report, a Davies.com case study has been given which has a discussion with Smith.com in the process of merger and acquisition. So, it is been discussed about certain steps in this process and the problems that arise during this phase.

Following are some phases of Merger and acquisition are as follows-

• Strategy Development- This is the first step in this process that refers to setting clear expectations from the deal and what must be addressed by Davies.com to achieve this deal. The problems that could arise that what is the purpose and to answer the question of ‘why’ in the whole strategy and to avoid this issue.
• Target Identification- In this phase, legal teams of Davies.com must search and find out the target companies and analyze their whole structure. For example, there is a need to identify whether the company wants to go for a general merger or triangular merger, and accordingly target the subsidiary must be identified. The problems must be encountered through analyzing the targeted entities who can work with the company effectively. For example, Davies, com has to identify and analyze the target and then accordingly take further steps.
• Valuation Analysis- It includes the analyzing the suitability of the target company in line with the strategic plan of M&A and legal team and must access the maximum information of the company. For example, In Davies.com has targeted the company which is Smith.com so it is become necessary to know every little information that whether they comply with all jurisdiction requirement or not to avoid any further issues and problems. So, Davies.com has to avoid further problems by effective valuation analysis.
• Negotiations- This is the negotiation phase with the target company where Davies.com has presented the offer and moves forward into the negotiation phase where every detail has been done. So, there the problem that could be faced by the company is to lack of communication between two firms and unable to communicate properly for many reasons and this will create many issues in the process of M&A. As for Davies.com this is essential steps in this process and has to conduct to avoid any further issues. 
• Conduct Due Diligence- This is the most time-consuming and critical part of any merger and acquisition and this requires the detailed examination and analysis of the target company. Davies.com also has to analyze all external and internal sources of Smith, com and this includes the searches, Document ordering, Fillings. So, the company has to go through all this process and make sure that they will receive all important information about the target also need to verify all searches and complete all liabilities that help in future workflow with the target company. Davies.com also conducts due diligence that deals in maintaining all formalities with the company.
• Deal Closure- After the due diligence, Davies.com and Smith. co make the final decision on moving forward to execute the transaction of the process. For the legal team, it is necessary to do several responsibilities to make this deal effective and fruitful for each other. Davies.com has performed all duties and task and done pre-clearance filings must be done in advance of the closing date and this involve the merger filings, amendments, ordering of good standings. This all must be properly done by the given company so that it can avoid the future problems that might arise.
• Financing and Restructuring- This comes to exploring the financing options during the M&A that includes the all planning process and final details come together after-sale agreement has been complete. Davies.com must appoint the financial manager director to conduct all this task and avoid any issues in the future and for this conducting all formalities and task is necessary. The financial manager will help in oversee all his duties and will helps in managing the smooth functioning with the target company.
• Integration and Back-Office Planning- This include the integration between both companies and needs to be done properly. Davies.com should seamlessly work together and for legal teams, this becomes important to compliance all localities and formalities. This include setting up the consolidation, changing in structure changes, KYC compliance and annual fillings are some changes that have been faced by both companies. In order to conduct smooth functioning there is need of trusted agents to receive services of the process internationally.
• Post Merger Compliance- This is critical task to determine the factor that deal is fail or successful. Davies.com has to compliance with all needs and requirement that is done by the company and should complete all necessary steps to avoid any risk. 
• Business as usual- Davies has to monitor its success of the process and continuously checks all formalitiess and steps that must be taken by both companies so that no issues could emerge. 

Conclusion

From the above report it is concluded that Merger and acquisition are part of the companies lifecycle and will provide many opportunities and growth and options of diversification. To conduct this process from starting to end of M&A there are 10 steps that involves in this phase.