Ethics and Governance Leading to Sustainability Case Study

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Introduction

In the contemporary business world, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are common elements that cannot be overlooked. Both CSR and sustainability aim to contribute to society's goals through various approaches (Lim and Greenwood 2017). This paper presents a case study to establish CST and sustainable approaches utilized by the company SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics Co., Ltd, based in China. The analysis will be done using a responsible innovation inventory to determine the various aspects of CSR and sustainability used by the company. The general analysis of the company's responsible innovation will be done through the responsible business mindset framework.

Case description

SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics Co., Ltd is a Jiangsu-based company with its operations in the discrete devices and integrated circuit packaging businesses. The company's primary products are diodes, surface-mounted devices, bridge rectifiers, photovoltaic bypass integrated modules, quad flat no-lead (QFN) package integrated circuits (IC), and dual flat no-lead package IC products ("About Us" n.d.). Also, the company offers solar silver products and accelerometers. 

These products' consumption is mainly in the aerospace, green lightings, automotive, information technology, housing appliances, large industrial products, and other electronic device fields. The markets for the products manufactured by Good-Ark are both the domestic Chinese market and the international market. The company had been founded in November 1990, and it is listed as one of the top ten best-known high-tech companies manufacturing semiconductors in the Chinese electronics industry. The firm has yearly sales of approximately USD 125 Million, based on 2011 figures. More than 2,800 employees in its ten companies make up the SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics corporate family.

This case is considered a suitable selection for the study objective because many CSR and sustainability approaches have focused on the large multinational. There is little research that targets industries in the electronics manufacturing industry, particularly semiconductors. This study and the findings made, therefore, are considered an eye-opener because; 1) the selection of the case study that has operations in the semiconductor industry, and 2) the fact that the company is located in China and it targets the international market (Tang et al. 2018). The Chinese market is considered interesting, mainly because of the Chinese market's culture and traditions (Tourigny et al. 2019) and the political environment of the China People Republic.

Responsible Innovation Inventory

Identify the most significant innovations in the company for tackling social, ethical, and environmental issues

SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics Co., Ltd has developed eight models that are considered to be innovative strategies for tackling social and ethical issues; 1) humanistic care, 2) human-centered education, 3) adoption of green practices, 4) promotion of health, 5) philanthropic actions within the society, 6) voluntary services, 7) record and do public practices that are human-centered, and 8) fulfillment of the company's role responsibilities ("Suzhou Good-Ark Electronics" 2019).

To meet the time's environmental issues, the company has made innovations and committed to environmental sustainability by adopting environmental policies that align with the various aspects of the company's practices. Canon and Sony approve the company as a Green Partner. Good-Ark conducts sustainable growth and employee well-being. The company supports the RoHS Directive and meets REACH requirements. Devices from the company are halogen-free and lead-free by design. Also, products do not contain tin, tungsten, tantalum, or gold. The company complies with Automotive Electronic Council (AEC) Q100/Q101 Automotive Reliability Testing standards and can support the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) ("Our Certifications," n.d.).

Describe & characterize the most significant innovations in the company for tackling social, ethical, and environmental issues

One of the significant innovations by Good-Ark is the eight models designed to promote happiness among her employees and, thus, qualify it as a "happy company." This social and ethical innovative strategy is primarily founded on the collective aspects of Chinese society. The company's founders aspired to make Good-Ark a "one big family" (Pingping & Longfeng 2014).

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To achieve this aspiration, the founder made "employee happiness" one of the company's missions. 

The company also emphasizes learning the "sage culture" (Pingping & Longfeng, 2014). Beginning with human-centered care, Good-Ark has made significant investments in educating its employees about classical Chinese teachings, e.g., Confucius' Analects ("Corporate Social Responsibility…" 2015). Most importantly, to determine how happy an employee is, the company determines how well he/she perform responsibilities that are unrelated to his/her job, e.g., how well he/she takes care of his/her child.

On the environmental sustainability innovations, Good-Ark has developed products that are meant to align with one of its practices and operations as per ISO9001 and TS16949 ("Our Certifications," n.d.). Since its formation, the company has a quality policy that guides its products' design and manufacture. The management policy is to have Japanese quality (the best quality), Chinese price (the competitive price possible), six-star service (exceeds the expectations of the…

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…end-of-life.

The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh models are all targeted towards the societal CSR approach. The company targets to improve society's health, undertake philanthropic and voluntary initiatives, and make public some of their humanistic practices. These initiatives create real value for the community (Serafeim 2020). This extensive emphasis on the societal approach is credited to the collective nature of Chinese traditions and culture (Lai 2019). Essentially, the founder of the company incorporated the traditional values of the Chinese culture into the business.

The company's CSR strategy's eighth model targets the economic approach by fulfilling the company's responsibilities. Being a for-profit entity at the core of the company is to run its operations and generate profits for the various stakeholders. To achieve this objective, Good-Ark has developed various innovative semiconductor products that serve its international clientele (Nidumolu et al., 2009). The company has also adopted sound business strategies that ensure that the company has stakeholders that drive the company towards profitability (Currás?Pérez et al., 2018).

In summary, it would be argued that SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics Co., Ltd is a sustainable company. This is centered on the understanding that sustainability is not as simple as recycling or adopting green strategies (Gu et al., 2016). More importantly, the company's CSR approach indicates that there is a clear sustainable mindset set up by the company's founder.

Sustainability in this context refers to the consideration of environmental aspects. This includes issues affecting the people living and working within the company and how they affect and impact their consumers. The company has adopted quite a thorough sustainability approach that includes care for employees, check on their environmental footprint (Griese et al. 2004), the cost and quality of the products they offer, and involvement in the issues affecting their immediate society Jiangsu.

Conclusion

Based on the Responsible Innovation Inventory findings herein, this paper concludes that SUZHOU GOOD-ARK Electronics Co., Ltd has a healthy and effective CSR approach.  The company's founder designed these eight models to reach all the four approaches targeted by CSR initiatives; stakeholder approach – particularly the company employees, societal approach, economical approach, and environmental approach. 

The company has established care and educational programs, e.g., education on the sage culture, which ensures that employees are supported not just to meet their job obligations but also their personal lives. The company has adopted various environmentally friendly strategies, including the….....

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