Blue ocean social responsibility strategy: Creating competitive advantage through human resource policies

Abstract

Within the corporate world in Asia a tremendous amount of organisational energy is focusing on fulfilling the “social responsibility”. With everyone doing their part of the bit how can organisations create a differentiation for themselves with an impact that will enhance their business is a big question. What is required is strategizing CSR activities and programs in such a way that it gives a competitive edge to the organisation. That is formulating social responsibility strategy to create a blue ocean. And one crucial aspect of this strategy as propounded by the research paper is through HR policies. The research aims at developing a deeper understanding of the role of human resource policies in corporate social responsibility activities in the industrial sector in Bhopal; M.P (India).The study researches the relationship between human resource policies of an organisation, its CSR activities and HR behavioral outcome. Being an exploratory descriptive survey research, it explores the role of HR policies in CSR in the selected five manufacturing organisations and describes the current role being played by the HR department. The research had used the concept of Blue ocean strategy in creating balance between mandatory social responsibility and the business case. The research had significant implications for the organisations to target different CSR stakeholders through HR polices.