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CSR as a Marketing Tool for Tesla, Inc.

(Bachelor Thesis)

Author: Ekaterina Ponomareva

Thesis Supervisor: Ing. Jitka Volfová, Ph.D.

PRAGUE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

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Declaration

I hereby declare that I am the author of the thesis named “CSR as a Marketing tool for Tesla, Inc.”. I marked all the quotations. The used literature and sources are listed in the

bibliography.

In Prague Ekaterina Ponomareva

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Acknowledgment

I hereby wish to express my gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Ing. Jitka Volfová, Ph.D. for her professionalism, guidance and support during the whole process.

I also wish to thank my friends and family that supported me during my studies.

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Introduction

The world, we are living in, is changing at an unbelievable pace. People have different values, companies have different strategies, new products. In order to stay successful, businesses have to adapt to customers’ needs, preferences and even their believes. Even the biggest and long- established companies can lose their market share to the new firms, which can meet the demand of people better.

One of the things that are required from companies is to be socially responsible. Government, investors, customers and employees appreciate that and contribute to the firm’s success more, each in their own way. On the other hand, businesses that are not socially responsible or even worse do harm in some way, will not gain all the benefits from shareholders or even get penalized.

One of the most popular companies at the market right now is Tesla. Among all things its CSR is being highly discussed.

The goal of the thesis is to measure awareness of Tesla’s CSR activities in Electric Vehicles industry and suggest possible changes in communication strategy, which can increase sales. In the whole thesis the focus will be only on activities in Electric Vehicles industry.

I consider this topic relevant because of growing interest in CSR, rising number of companies in EV (Electric Vehicles) industry, the current popularity of Tesla and its activities. It is related to my field of study, because company and its competitors have customers and employees all over the world.

The thesis is divided into 5 chapters.

The first chapter defines the concept of CSR, its current trends, advantages and disadvantages, the criticism of the concept, so that it is clear how to use it as a Marketing tool and understand how Tesla is using it already and discover potential ways of improvement.

The second chapter explains the marketing communication in general and marketing

communication with the focus on communicating CSR, so that all the findings of this thesis could bring the value-added, be implemented and used to the company’s advantage.

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The third chapter gets an overview of the current situation at the market. The company and its competitors are analysed and their CSR activities are examined. The official reports from the companies are used.

The fourth chapter describes the research in details and analyses its outcomes. Together with the monitoring of secondary sources its purpose is to help to fulfil the main goal of the thesis.

Both secondary and primary data were collected and analysed. Quantitative research was conducted. The results were analysed with descriptive statistics. Based on the monitoring of secondary sources, the survey was made to get the missing information and get into specific details in order to fulfil the goal of the thesis. The answers of the respondents were analyzed and the partial conclusions were made.

The fifth chapter summarizes the findings and provides the recommendations.

In the end, the conclusion about the whole thesis is made. It summarizes the most important points. The value-added of this thesis aim to be the recommendations that could be used by the company and serve as an inspiration for other players on the market.

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1 Corporate Social Responsibility

This chapter defines the concept of CSR. It gives an overview of its current trends, advantages and disadvantages, the criticism of the concept.

1.1 Defining CSR

The Corporate Social Responsibility has become an important part of doing business nowadays. It is vital for companies to understand its aspects well and be able to meet the stakeholders’ expectations. However, this concept is pretty new and not fully understood. The companies either do not use it to full extent or even abuse it and cause negativity with that.

What exactly is CSR?

Business Leaders Forum defines it as a voluntary commitment of companies to behave responsibly towards the environment and society in which they operate.¹

Corporate social responsibility, CSR focuses on creating social and environmental value in addition to economic performance, commonly denominated as the people, planet and profit dimensions. Businesses themselves decide to what extent they are willing to assume

responsibility for developmental processes taking place within and beyond the company walls.²

There are characteristic features of the concept. They include:

• Philanthropy – the company is engaged in all the activities voluntarily, not obligated by law.

• Stakeholders are a necessary part of it.

1 BUSINESS LEADERS FORUM. What is CSR [online]. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.csr-online.cz/en/what-is-csr/

2 INGRAM, V. Corporate Social Responsibility: the role of public policy. A systematic literature review of the effects of government supported interventions on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviour of enterprises in developing countries. IOB. [online]. Study. 2013. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.government.nl/documents/reports/2013/05/14/corporate-social-responsibility-the-role-of-public- policy

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• Long-term perspective – CSR activities are implemented long-term and bad economic situation is not an excuse to end it.

• Credibility – “CSR contributes to increased confidence in the company; activities must be transparent, durable and authentic.³”

1.2 Current trends

CSR was commonly implemented mostly by larger, multinational companies, in industry and trade. Most frequently in oil, consumer retail products and agriculture sectors. Many of those have been intensively covered by media and have been a part of academic and societal debates concerning the social and environmental performance of enterprises. However, nowadays CSR appears to be spreading rapidly to companies from emerging and developing countries and among all types of enterprises⁴, including the small ones.

We can see the common patterns among companies engaged in CSR, they include cooperation with government, non-profit organizations, researchers, institution. Fighting against gender discrimination.⁵ Data privacy, which is already being regulated by the government (e.g. GDPR by European Union). Trainings conducted on the national and international levels about issues on the corporate world.

Getting your employees aboard the sustainability journey is a necessary first step to implementing responsible marketing strategies that will have social impact.⁶ Therefore companies are trying to engage their employees in CSR activities or might even take this aspect into consideration when considering employing a new one.

4 INGRAM, V. Corporate Social Responsibility: the role of public policy. A systematic literature review of the effects of government supported interventions on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviour of enterprises in developing countries. IOB. [online]. Study. 2013. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.government.nl/documents/reports/2013/05/14/corporate-social-responsibility-the-role-of-public- policy

5 OECD (2020), Annual Report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises 2019. [online].

[Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from: http://mneguidelines.oecd.org/2019-Annual-Report-MNE- Guidelines-EN.pdf

6 BHATTACHARYA, C.B. Responsible Marketing: Doing Well by Doing Good. GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 05, 2016, vol. 8, no. 1. pp. 8-17 ProQuest Central. ISSN 18655866.

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Customers, on the other hand, are also changing their behaviour and their references.

According to a research conducted by Accenture, certain factors make businesses more attractive. The following were considered the most important by consumers older than 18 years: highly ethical way of resource seeking, supporting societal causes that consumers believe in, minimizing negative impact on environment, being sustainable, transparency. ⁷

1.3 CSR as a Marketing Tool

CSR has become an important part of marketing strategy in various industries. Investment in CSR is a marketing investment.⁸

Hadjikhani in his work is considering CSR as a marketing strategy in foreign markets, which is particularly interesting, since the consumer behaviour can significantly differ among states.

He is studying the case of Korean Multinational corporations in the Chinese market. I consider his findings to be widely applicable.

As important actions of corporations were mentioned proactiveness towards socially responsible marketing, recognition of consumers’ right to information and protection, the need to respond to the customers to adapt to their needs. The business mission was defined in broad social terms rather than along narrow product lines. Marketing managers were

required to be engaged in community service on a daily basis, to invest regularly in the

environmentally friendly products and factories. There are three degrees of specificity in CSR strategy. The first type is a direct commitment towards a specific group, such as consumers, the second type is the commitment towards the general public and the third type concerns employees. “In the first type, the commitment attempted to gain trust and legitimacy, not only from those specific groups, but also they hoped that the diffusion of information would

7 BARTON, R., MORATH, J., QUIRING, K., and THEOFILOU, B. Generation Purpose [online]. rep.

Accenture, 2020. [Accessed 5 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF- 117/Accenture-Generation-P-urpose-PoV.pdf#zoom=40

8 CRANE, A., and DESMOND, J. Societal Marketing and Morality. European Journal of Marketing, 2002, vol.

36, no. 5. pp. 548-569 ProQuest Central. ISSN 03090566. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560210423014.

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indirectly strengthen the position of the firm among the public, local political units and business firms.”⁹

Samsung Electronics China’s (SEC) applied its marketing concepts to non-governmental organizations both in urban and rural areas. “The company has been implementing marketing strategies and concepts to be better able to compete for customers and to improve brand image efforts. Towards this end, SEC has more clearly defined its target market away from value-oriented or price conscious consumers towards style- and technology-conscious consumers of premium brands.” ¹⁰Marketing specialists and advisers were hired to better communicate company’s principles and ideals to the customers.¹¹

Hohnen, Paul a Jason Potts advise to use a part of the marketing budget to associate your business or brand with a social cause. Mostly companies start with giving responsibilities to carry out CSR activities to existing branches in the firm. Most typically, CSR gets directed to senior public affairs, communications or marketing staff. In other instances, it is placed in the human resources, government affairs, environment, health and safety or legal departments. It is a good place to start, but this approach is rather unsustainable, unless the management is strong and the resources allocated accordingly.¹²

Companies nowadays know that social and business realities urge them to be active in CSR activities, adopt CSR practices. On the one hand, the company is forced to do the right thing

9 HADJIKHANI, A., JOONG, W.L., and PARK, S. Corporate Social Responsibility as a Marketing Strategy in Foreign Markets. International Marketing Review, 2016, vol. 33, no. 4. pp. 530-554 ProQuest Central. ISSN 02651335. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.1108/IMR-03-2014-0104.

10 HADJIKHANI, A., JOONG, W.L., and PARK, S. Corporate Social Responsibility as a Marketing Strategy in Foreign Markets. International Marketing Review, 2016, vol. 33, no. 4. pp. 530-554 ProQuest Central. ISSN 02651335. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.1108/IMR-03-2014-0104.

11 HADJIKHANI, A., JOONG, W. L., and PARK, S. Corporate Social Responsibility as a Marketing Strategy in Foreign Markets. International Marketing Review, 2016, vol. 33, no. 4. pp. 530-554 ProQuest Central. ISSN 02651335. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.1108/IMR-03-2014-0104.

12 HOHNEN, P., POTTS P. Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Business.

International Institute for Sustainable Development [online]. 2007, s. 115 [cit. 2021-09- 01]. Available at:

http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf

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and do it better, on the other hand, it has a positive impact on key stakeholders, especially consumers.¹³

1.4 Criticism of CSR

Even though CSR is getting popularity and being highly appreciated by a lot of people, companies and governments, it also gets criticized.

The critique of CSR can be divided into three main groups:

1. Violating obligation to shareholders. Business functions according to the principles of traditional economics theory.

2. Covering wrongdoing. CSR could create distorted view of business. The businesses are considered to be evil for society and executives are thought to only focus on short-term economic profit for themselves. Therefore, to save their reputation the top managers need to do something good.

3. Creating false distinctions. CSR is responsible for creating a set of questionable

dichotomies, such as Economic vs. Social, Business vs. Ethics, Profits vs. Society. They have become adopted by scholars, institutions, they are being taught at MBA programs. ¹⁴However, they are not necessarily true and could lead to potential distorted view of our life.

The criticism has its points and they can be considered as reasonable. On the other hand, it would be wrong to generalize that way and accuse all the companies of these. Also, all these factors do not have to be seen as negative.

Traditional economics theory has its disadvantages and is also being widely criticized.

13 RIVERA, J.J., BIGNE, E., and CURRAS-PEREZ, R., 2019. Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Brand Loyalty. Revista Brasileira De Gestão De Negócios, Jul, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 395-415 ProQuest Central. ISSN 18064892. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.7819/rbgn.v21i3.4003

14 FREEMAN, R.E., and DMYTRIYEV, S. Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory: Learning from each Other. Symphonya, 2017, no. 1. pp. 7-15 ProQuest Central. ISSN 15930300. DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.4468/2017.1.02freeman.dmytriyev.

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Not all the companies and executives consider the profit to be the most important factor. They might do business to bring the good to the world and help others. On the other hand, there are some who do evil and do not try to cover it up with good actions.

Finally, scholars and business schools are themselves responsible for what they believe to be true and it is their obligation to think critically and discover all the possible interpretations.

Therefore, if companies want to carry out CSR activities, they have to be careful not to fall under false accusations. They should do their business integrally and believe in good social impact of their actions.

1.5 Advantages and disadvantages

Doing business in accordance with CSR principles brings a number of advantages:

• increased credibility of the firm,

• higher attractiveness for investors,

• reputation building and the resulting strong market position,

• competitive differentiation,

• brand visibility for customers,

• increasing productivity and employee loyalty,

• better chances to employ the most talented people,

• CSR is vital for determing work-social identity¹⁵,

• reduce the cost of risk-management,

• direct financial savings associated with environmental behaviour (e.g. energy conservation, re-use of waste materials in production),

• increase in turnover,

• increase the quality of products or services¹⁶,

• positive impact on human rights.

Nevertheless, there are also some disadvantages to be considered:

• poor transparency,

• low level of data credibility,

15 MADEN, C., ARIKAN, E., TELCI, E. E., KANTUR, D. (2012). Linking corporate social responsibility to corporate reputation: a study on understanding behavioral consequences. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8th International Strategic Management Conference, 58, (pp. 655-664). Barcelona: Elsevier.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1043

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• government interventions,

• disruption of some industries,

• the company’s motivations for engaging in sustainability is often questioned,

• unless the shareholders are aware of company’s actions, they will not reward it,¹⁷

• consumers might suspect lower quality of products or services,

• the concept of bad and good products is highly contestable¹⁸.

As we can clearly see, the advantages outweigh disadvantages. It is in company’s interest to try to maximize the benefits from being socially responsible and to try to minimize the negative aspects. It would be different from industry to industry and from company to company, but if company pays attention to that, it will beneficial for it and society.

18 CRANE, A., and DESMOND, J. Societal Marketing and Morality. European Journal of Marketing, 2002, vol.

36, no. 5. pp. 548-569 ProQuest Central. ISSN 03090566. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560210423014.

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2 Marketing communication

This chapter explains the marketing communication in general, and marketing communication with the focus on communicating CSR. The goal of the chapter is to discover the essential parts of marketing communication and what should be included, so that the company’s objectives are fulfilled.

2.1 Communication process

To have an effective communication companies should have an understanding of how it works. According to Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris C. L., Piercy, N communication involves nine elements:¹⁹

Picture 1. Communication. Source: Self-made. Based on: KOTLER, Philip, ARMSTRONG, Gary, HARRIS, Lloyd C and PIERCY, Nigel. Principles of Marketing. 7th European edition. Harlow, UK : Pearson Education Limited, 2017.

19 KOTLER, P., ARMSTRONG, G., HARRIS, L.C., and PIERCY, N. Principles of Marketing. 7th European edition. Harlow, UK : Pearson Education Limited, 2017.

Sender Receiver Message

Media Encoding Decoding

Response Feedback Noise

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11 1. Sender

The party, which sends a message to another party.

2. Receiver

The party, which receives message from another party.

3. Message

Symbols that sender transmits.

4. Media

The channel with the help of which the message is sent.

5. Encoding

The way the thought is put into symbols.

6. Decoding

The way the receiver interprets the message.

7. Response

The reaction of the receiver after decoding the message.

8. Feedback

The response communicated from the receiver to sender.

9. Noise

Distortions in the communication process. Unplanned, unforeseen events, which make the receiver get a different meaning from the message.

In order to make the message effective, the sender’s encoding process must correspond with the receiver’s decoding process.

To achieve the best communication process possible marketers should do the following:

determine the communication objectives, identify the target audience, select the media to send the message, choose the message source and get the feedback.

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Customers are very different. Therefore, the target audience must be distinctly identified and for each specific segment there should be separately developed communication programs.

The communicator must choose the communication channel. There are two main types:

personal and non-personal.

In personal communication two or more people communicate directly with each other. Some personal channels are in direct company’s control. However, there are also the ones that are not controlled by the company. These involve independent opinions, such as from bloggers, one’s friends or neighbours and people talking on social media networks about their

experience with the product.

The last form is called word-of-mouth. It has a huge impact. Personal experience of others has a big influence on consumer’s choice, especially when it comes to expensive or risky

products.

Non-personal communication channels are media that carry message without involving personal contact or feedback. These might be major media or events.

The company needs to decide which appeal or theme will cause the desired response. There are three main kind of appeals in marketing: rational, emotional and moral. Rational appeals are connected to the audience’s self-interest. They show that the product or the service will be beneficial for consumer. As for emotional appeals, communicators claim that they may create more belief in the sponsor and the brand and attract more attention. It is based on the idea that customers tend to feel before they think. Speaking of moral appeals, an audience’s sense of what is ‘right’ and ‘proper’ plays the crucial role. They are mainly used to persuade people to support social causes.²⁰

2.2 Marketing communication mix

According to Kotler, et al. ²¹a company’s marketing communications mix – also known as total promotion mix consists of the specific blend of advertising, public relations, personal

20 KOTLER, P., ARMSTRONG, G., HARRIS, L.C., and PIERCY, N. Principles of Marketing. 7th European

edition. Harlow, UK : Pearson Education Limited, 2017.

21 KOTLER, P., ARMSTRONG, G., HARRIS, L.C., and PIERCY, N. Principles of Marketing. 7th European edition. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2017.

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selling, sales promotion and direct marketing tools that the marketers use to engage customers, communicate customer value and build customer relationships.

The five major promotion tools are:

• Advertising

Any paid form of promotion of ideas or non-personal presentation of goods or services by an identified sponsor. Each category has specific promotional tools, which are used to

communicate with consumers. Advertising may be in the form of print, broadcast, mobile, outdoor, online or other.

• Sales promotion

Incentives to stimulate the purchase or sale of a good or service. Sales promotion might be demonstrations, coupons, displays and discounts. Sales promotions tend to have short-term nature.

• Personal selling

Personal interactions with the customers by the company’s sales team with a view to engaging customers, making sales and building customer relationships. Personal selling includes sales presentations, trade shows and incentive programs.

• Public relations. (PR)

Obtaining favourable publicity and dealing with rumours and stories unfavourable for the company. It is essential for building good relations with the firm’s various publics and obtaining good corporate image. Public relations include events, press releases, sponsorships and web pages.

• Direct and digital marketing

Direct engagement with targeted customers and communities in order to build lasting customer relationships and obtain an immediate response. Direct and digital marketing include online and social media, mobile marketing, direct mail, catalogues, and other forms.

However, marketing communication goes beyond the above-mentioned tools. The price, design, packaging, colour, shape also communicate message to the audience. Although marketing communication mix should be the primary way of engaging with costumers and be

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the main communication activity, the entire marketing mix – promotion, price, place and product have to be coordinated to have bigger impact. ²²

2.3 Communicating CSR

To achieve their objectives in regards to CSR communication tools are essential for companies.

They need to demonstrate transparency, authenticity and credibility, in order to inform stakeholders about the specifics of their motives.²³

Traditionally, the main platforms to communicate CSR were public relations, reports and website content. Nowadays, increasing capabilities of information and communication technology give the opportunity to use social media as a channel for communicating CSR ²⁴ and to engage stakeholders into communicative processes, empower and connect them as active collaborators of CSR²⁵.

The companies have no choice but to incorporate social media within their communication mix, since the social media have growing potential. However, it is still not clear how to use these tools best, because there is a limited amount of control compared with traditional communication tools.

Engagement shows a customer’s will to contribute to and collaborate with a company. If consumer engagement happens within network, it can bring a societal perspective via attention to company’s activities that influence other stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is not enough consumer engagement research that studies value outcomes beyond the individuals’

self-interested benefits.

22 KOTLER, P., ARMSTRONG, G., HARRIS, L.C. and PIERCY, N. Principles of Marketing. 7th European edition. Harlow, UK : Pearson Education Limited, 2017.

24 BIRTH, G., ILLIA, L., LURATI, F., and ZAMPARINI, A. (2008). Communicating CSR: Practice Among Switzerland’s Top 300 Companies. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(2), p.182–196.

ISSN 1356-3289. DOI https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13563280810869604/full/html

25 BHATTACHARYA, C.B, Sen, S., and Korschun, D. (2011). Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The

Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value. New York: Cambridge

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The anxieties about Social Media are still common. Companies are concerned of how the Social Media fits into their current communication strategies with already established ideas of how to engage shareholders. They are also worried about the potential reputation risk.

Companies in the market might choose different strategies of how to implement Social Media in their communication process.

It is relatively common in practice to separate CSR channels, which will complement mainstream firm’s Social Media sites.

In spite of the limitations regarding the stakeholders’ engagement online, simply transmitting the positive message is discouraged. Instead, listening to the customers and having

conversation with them is recommended.

Such openness to stakeholders could potentially increase the company’s legitimacy. Learning and changing should be enabled, exploring, being open to new rather than suppressing

disagreement, co-operation.

Another approach is for CSR to be integrated with corporate and brand communications, where Social Media interactions are one element of the mix. In companies with such approach internal processes and structures are adapted to enable communications to be managed by one team, rather than separately.

Thera are also those who tend to avoid using Social Media. They are afraid of risk to the corporate reputation.

Posting messages on CSR activities will improve organization–stakeholder relationships and deliver benefits for corporate reputation. Social Media has the potential for CSR to contribute to company’s strategic goals. Social Media networks provide technical capability for

organizations and other parties to share ideas and be involved in dialogue on CSR.

Nevertheless, progress of incorporating Social Media to communicate CSR is slow;

organizations continue to focus more on internally constructed, strategic rather than moral communications. Even despite growing investment in CSR and some impressive corporate programs, the overall picture of engagement through Social Media is rather disappointing. ²⁶

26 LINDGREEN, A. (Ed.), VANHAMME, J. (Ed.) and MAON, F. (Ed.). (2018). Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Era. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315577234.

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16 2.3.1 CSR awareness

For reaching the goal of the thesis it is really important to understand how to communicate the company’s CSR activities in the best way possible. Why is it important? Will the customers be more aware of these activities if they are communicated more properly?

What is awareness in marketing? Often, we encounter the concept of brand awareness.

According to Lee,²⁷ “Brand awareness is the degree to which customers are aware of the brand as a member of the category, and typified by the link between the brand and the category cue.”

Study by Rivera²⁸ confirms that CSR associations positively influence loyalty directly and also indirectly via their positive effect on satisfaction of consumers and brand awareness.

Jensen²⁹ writes that two things that determine CSR are the customer awareness of brand or company CSR activities and the customer wishes to engage in CSR initiatives.

Lee in the study ³⁰found out that although many firms are involved in CSR activities, consumers' awareness is still low. And even though companies spend enormous amount of money on it, the performance is not satisfactory.

According to Romaniuk³¹, the three most common brand awareness measures are called top- of-mind, unaided and aided awareness. What is more, aided and unaided brand awareness

27 LEE, M.-D.P. (2008), “A review of the theories of corporate social responsibility: its evolutionary path and the road ahead”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 53-73.

28 RIVERA, J.J., BIGNE, E., and CURRAS-PEREZ, R., 2019. Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Brand Loyalty. Revista Brasileira De Gestão De Negócios, Jul, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 395-415 ProQuest Central. ISSN 18064892. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.7819/rbgn.v21i3.4003

29 JENSEN, B., ANNAN-DIAB F., and SEPPALA, N., 2018. Exploring Perceptions of Customer Value.

European Business Review, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 246-271 ProQuest Central. ISSN 0955534X. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.1108/EBR-09-2015-0104.

30 LEE, M.-D.P. (2008), “A review of the theories of corporate social responsibility: its evolutionary path and the road ahead”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 53-73.

31 ROMANIUK, J., WIGHT, S. and FAULKNER, M., 2017. Brand Awareness: Revisiting an Old Metric for a New World. The Journal of Product and Brand Management, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 469-476 ProQuest Central. ISSN 10610421. DOI http://dx.doi.org.zdroje.vse.cz:2048/10.1108/JPBM-06-2016-1242

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measures follow the same quantitative pattern. Therefore, it is possible to measure awareness with the help of both.

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3 Market characteristics

This chapter gives an overview of the current situation at the market. The company and its competitors are analysed and their CSR activities are examined. The official reports from the companies are used. The goal of this chapter is to explore the current trends in CSR by analyzing competitors’ CSR activities and finding common patterns.

3.1 Company’s profile

Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers with a view to proving that electric vehicles can be better, quicker and more fun to drive than gasoline cars.³²

The company claims: “Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.”³³ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla - Elon Musk.³⁴

In spite of unforeseen challenges in year 2020, Tesla significantly increased volumes, profitability and cash generation. Half a million vehicles produced and delivered in 2020.³⁵

“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”³⁶

Tesla is not just trying to build the best electric cars, but striving to build the best cars overall.

Their focus has been to produce products not only sustainable, but also superior to fossil-fuel alternatives in everything.

32 TESLA, INC. tesla.com. [Online] [Acessed 10 February 2021.] Available from: https://www.tesla.com/about.

35 TESLA, INC. Q4 and FY2020 Update. [Online] 2020. [Accessed 20 January 2021.] https://tesla- cdn.thron.com/static/1LRLZK_2020_Q4_Quarterly_Update_Deck_-

_Searchable_LVA2GL.pdf?xseo=&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22TSLA-Q4-2020- Update.pdf%22.

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The key to achieve Tesla’s mission is to make the products available to as many people as possible. Since its foundation, Tesla has been focusing on making the products better and more useful to the customers, while making them a lot more affordable. Tesla believes that one does not have to choose between price, usability, quality and sustainability.

Tesla is committed to safety. Because of that, all Tesla vehicles built since October 2016 have a suite of external cameras, additional sensors, and onboard computing that enable enhanced advanced safety features, that keep improving by software updates. Tesla got a number of Safety Awards.

It is also important for the company to ensure that their vehicles are the most secure on the road. They have a dedicated team of engineers, who every day make sure that the vehicles are as secure as possible.³⁷

37 TESLA, INC. Impact Report. [Online] 2019. [Accessed 11 October 2020.]. Available from:

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2019-tesla-impact-report.pdf.

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3.2 Company’s CSR activities

The first activity to mention is Responsible material sourcing. Tesla sources only the

materials that are produced responsibly. The Tesla Supplier Code of Conduct and its Human Rights and Conflict Minerals Policy have specific expectations to all partners and suppliers involved in working with Tesla. These include safe and humane working conditions in supply chains, ensuring that workers are treated with dignity and respect and that manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible. Tesla suppliers have to provide evidence of management systems that have environmental, social and sustainability best practices in their operations, and to demonstrate commitment to responsible sourcing into their supply chains.

Tesla’s complex supply chain is a unique hybrid of high-tech and the traditional automotive industries, and includes suppliers from around the world. A lot of our Tier company’s direct suppliers do not obtain all of their raw materials directly and but purchase them from their suppliers and sub-suppliers. That is why, it is difficult to reliably determine the origin.

However, the due diligence practices add transparency to the whole process. Tesla’s

automotive suppliers are obliged to register in the International Material Data System to meet regulations of EU and other international regulations that deal with environmental and

material issues. Tesla, together with its partners and independent third parties, conducts audits to observe these principles in action.

Another CSR activity of Tesla is Disaster Relief. Solar and energy storage systems provide zero-emission energy and if there is an electric grid outage, energy storage systems can immediately be an only provider of power to homes, communities, and businesses — this might be especially crucial in case of a natural disaster. In years 2018 and 2019, Tesla helped governments, non-profit organizations, and individuals, who suffered from hurricanes in Florida, North Carolina, and the Bahamas, and during wild fires in Australia and California. A lot of the sites that were supported immediately after a disaster are still powered by Tesla systems.

Tesla is also concerned about People and culture. Tesla is building a culture that is safe, fair, and inclusive for all the employees. The company tries to ensure that everyone looks forward to coming to work every day.

Tesla’s goal is not only to make the safest cars in the world, but also to have the safest car factories in the world. To achieve this goal, Tesla has Environmental, Health, and Safety. The

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team works closely with employees and stakeholders to minimize accidents and strengthen environmental controls. The strategy is based on three pillars:

1. Do the Basics Right. Tesla conducts trainings for all of production associates to ensure employees have the tools and knowledge required to identify issues before they occur. They also launched on-site medical clinics at factories to provide healthcare services to employees.

Apart from that, there is a Return to Work process, which gives an opportunity to employees recovering from an injury or sickness to return to work in a safe and timely manner.

2. Engage the Stakeholders. Tesla meaningfully engages with its employees. With the help of various activities and seminars, employees were encouraged to explore why Environmental, Health and Safety program matters to them, what impact it has on their work, and provide leaders suggestions on the possible ways to further improve safety at Tesla. This has resulted in a 35% year-over-year increase of employee engagements, which has helped the company to minimize injury incidents.

3. Reduce Risk. Reducing risk of injury begins at the design phase of company’s facilities. It is very important to design and construct in a way that minimizes the possibility of workplace injury.

Tesla’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. Is another aspect of CSR. Tesla believes in having a diverse and inclusive workforce full of talented, driven, and authentic individuals.

Tesla values talented individuals who are passionate about and committed to its mission.

Tesla’s Diversity and Inclusion team together with business leaders play a significant role in bringing the commitment of diversity and inclusion to practice in Tesla via recruiting

practices and community engagement activities.

Last but not least is Community Engagement. Tesla is focused on programs that positively impact the communities we live in. Tesla opens doors for factory tours, empowers teachers through new development opportunities and establishes partnership with local organizations that drive change to a brighter future.

Tesla believes that teachers are the necessary and highly important part of development of the next talented generations in communities. Since 2018 Tesla has been hosting high school teachers for multi-day externships to tell them more about the career paths that Tesla provides.

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Investing in Education is also a part of Tesla’s commitment to the community. Tesla has become partners with entities to accelerate robotics and sustainability programming.

Company provides access for students and the community by having workshops, educational activities, and event opportunities as a part of the Factory Tour Program. At factories in California and Nevada, Tesla hosts about 40,000 visitors each year to gain insight into Tesla’s mission and vision for a sustainable future.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is a way to help promote engineering careers to young women. Tesla hosted 200 middle school girls as part of National Engineers Week. At its facilities, about 80 Tesla employees were volunteers at the events, helping to encourage young female students to see technology as a one of the possible ways for their future career.

Employee Mobility and Transportation Programs

Tesla offers alternative, more sustainable way of commuting to its employees to reduce their carbon impact on the environment. Tesla encourages ride sharing via a number of services, such as commuter shuttles. Operation of network of commuter shuttles to and from work helps to reduce not only vehicle emissions, but also time spent in traffic. Because of COVID- 19, Tesla has updated protocols for operating and riding on shuttles. They include provisions that ensure temperature checks prior to boarding, proper social distancing while onboard, and cleaning of shuttles in between trips. Obviously, Tesla encourages its employees to go electric and to help them with that it has hundreds of electric vehicles charging stations located at Tesla’s facilities.³⁸

38 TESLA, INC. Impact Report. [Online] 2019. [Accessed 11 October 2020.]. Available from:

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2019-tesla-impact-report.pdf.

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3.3 Company’s marketing communication

Lately Tesla’s popularity was mainly caused by two factors: word-of-mouth and personal brand of the company’s CEO – Elon Musk.

Tesla Motors' commercialization strategy allows lobbying to change regulations. The company drives sales by the excitement intentionally created by Elon Musk about each

product launch. That creates customer excitement. Also, the company collects paid pre-orders, which reduces market uncertainty. ³⁹

Tesla is consistent with its innovative marketing strategy. It remains clear of paid digital advertising campaigns. The company, unlike other auto companies, does not spend money to reach target audience on social media platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram.

Tesla is focusing on organic growth and organic content on the platforms. In year 2019 they had two million organic engagements. The only company with more engagements is Porsche, having 2.2 million organic engagements.

Tesla is also actively using Twitter for marketing communication, which is rather rare for luxury auto brands.⁴⁰

Tesla spends zero of its budget on advertising. The company is growing organically because of the above-mentioned word-of-mouth, personal brand of Elon Musk and also its own social media. Such a strategy allows them to allocate money to other goals, e.g. offer their

employees higher wages, help local communities and make electric vehicles affordable to as many people as possible.

39 THOMAS, J., and MAINE, E. Market entry strategies for electric vehicle start-ups in the automotive industry – Lessons from Tesla Motors. [Online] 06 2019. [Acessed 01 February 2021.] Available from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334034257_Market_entry_strategies_for_electric_vehicle_start- ups_in_the_automotive_industry_-_Lessons_from_Tesla_Motors.

40 BRANDTOTAL. Ad Strategy Report Auto Industry. [online]. rep. 2019. [Accessed 20 February 2021].

Available from: https://www.brandtotal.com/blog/tesla-spends-zero-on-social-media-advertising

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Picture 2. Tesla's official Twitter page, showing no promoted activity. Source: BRANDTOTAL. Ad Strategy Report Auto Industry. [online]. rep. 2019. [Accessed 20 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.brandtotal.com/blog/tesla-spends- zero-on-social-

3.4 Competitors‘ profiles

Sales of Electric vehicles have increased hugely in the last decade. Electric cars are estimated to have share of about 3.2 percent of the market.⁴¹So, the market is growing, but Tesla has strong competition.

3.4.1 Main competitors

41 STATISTA. Electric mobility - statistics & facts [online]. 2020. [Accessed 20 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/topics/1010/electric-mobility

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According to Statista, Tesla’s biggest competitors by sales worldwide are Volkswagen, BYD, Wuling, BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Volvo, Audi, SAIC. ⁴²

BYD Company Limited and BMW Group are chosen, because Tesla has factories in Germany and China and the chosen companies mostly operate there. So, it is beneficial to know how the things work in those places.

3.4.1.1 BYD Company Limited

BYD stands for “Build Your Dreams”. The Company was founded in February 1995 with headquarters in Shenzhen City. BYD has developed technologies that cover the entire industry chain, electric controls, electric motors and batteries. In year 2019 annual revenue was 1,277.39 RMB billion. Number of employees reached 229,154. The company was ranked 3^rd in the list of Chinese private enterprises top 500. Ranked 32^nd on the “Change the World”

list by Fortune magazine.

Company’s core values are excellence, pragmatism, innovation and passion. And its brand mission is “Technological innovations for a better life” ⁴³

3.4.1.2 BMW Group

In 2019 profit before tax of BMW in € million was 7,118, the number of employees was 133,778.

BMW Group’s core competency is the system integration of various factors that include sustainability, digital services and interfaces, automated driving functions, drive diversity,

42 STATISTA. Estimated plug-in electric vehicle sales worldwide in 2020, by automaker. [online]. 2021.

[Accessed 15 March 2021]. Available from: ttps://www-statista-com.zdroje.vse.cz/statistics/977407/global- sales-of-plugin-electric-vehicles-by-brand/

43BYD COMPANY LIMITED. BYD CSR Report.[online]. rep. 2019. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.byd.com/sitesresources/common/tools/generic/web/viewer.html?file=%2Fsites%2FSatellite%2FBY D%20PDF%20Viewer%3Fblobcol%3Durldata%26blobheader%3Dapplication%252Fpdf%26blobkey%3Did%2 6blobtable%3DMungoBlobs%26blobwhere%3D1600574935250%26ssbinary%3D.

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regulatory requirements, supplier network, dealership network, safety, care for customers, design, high production numbers, complexity of the vehicle, high quality, flexibility for changing market demand, competitive prices, profitability.

BMW Group is the only company in the automotive industry that has been listed continuously on the Dow Jones Sustainability index.

The company engages with capital market, suppliers, networks and associations, political decision-makers, research, mass media, business partners, local stakeholders, employees and customers. It is done via different channels and tools. The main activities to achieve that engagement include dialogue with investors and analysts, technology conferences and workshops, presentations, joint events, participation of company experts in committees, availability to answer questions and provide information, visiting universities and colleges, press releases, trade fairs, discussions with local residents, social media.⁴⁴

3.4.2 Competitors’ CSR activities

The two chosen companies are not only Tesla’s competitors in terms of market share but they also have well-established CSR activities and can they can be looked up to. Another important thing is that Tesla has its factories in China in Germany, as well. So, it is important to

understand how companies in automotive industry work at these markets.

3.4.2.1 BYD Company Limited CSR activities

The firm refuses to accept, produce and issue any defective product and investigates every accident.

Fair business

44 BMW GROUP. [online]. Sustainable Value Report 2019. rep. 2020. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.bmwgroup.com/content/dam/grpw/websites/bmwgroup_com/responsibility/downloads/en/2020/202 0-BMW-Group-SVR-2019-Englisch.pdf.

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CSR is implemented into the entire operation and daily management of BYD. The company is trying to meet expectations of corporate stakeholders, therefore improving management system is an ongoing process. The company’s Code of Conduct explicitly demands compliance to competition, anti-trust and fair-trading laws in countries of operation, and prohibits activities of unfair competition.

Anti-corruption communications

BYD regularly announces anti-corruption policies, news, case notices, and relevant laws and regulations through various channels, such as its website, emails and public notices.

Anticorruption campaigns are held with the help of signing letters of commitment, trainings, quizzes contests, and so-called anti-corruption month. Employees that have key positions might participate in prison tours, so that they can see potential consequences.

BYD also actively contributes to the municipal and even national anti-bribery management systems.

Social responsibility management

In order to have unified CSR organizing and management system BYD has committee responsible for formulating CSR management regulations and work plans.

Supplier management

BYD has specific requirements to their suppliers. They include prohibiting suppliers from purchasing conflict minerals, labour standard, trade safety, environmental protection, anti- corruption and bribery, occupational and health safety.

BYD has established CSR regulations for suppliers. The incoming quality control process examines compliance for materials with such requirements. Materials of high risk are inspected for key humanity and environment metrics. Suppliers undergo CSR review

annually. Depending on the nature of materials, suppliers might also be inspected for conflict minerals.

New suppliers will be investigated by BYD with the help of BYD Supplier Review Sheet.

The object of investigations is record of activities offending laws or regulations and necessary credentials.

Communicating CSR

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The company’s CSR committee hosts meetings, training sessions, and interviews to ease the execution of corporate social responsibility programs. BYD has CSR community groups inside the company that share relevant information, enhance and push forward social responsibilities as a company. Since 2010 BYD has been releasing CSR reports for 9 consecutive years. By providing these reports, company fully discloses its efforts in

economic, environmental, social responsibilities and in improving the industries it operates in.

BYD also actively participates in industry CSR events.

BYD actively engages with stakeholders in order to hear their demands and alter corporate management accordingly. The company organizes a lot of activities with stakeholder participation, such as meetings, events, questionnaire surveys, academic workshops, and different work groups.

Employees first

BYD’s human resources department works in accordance with the principle of “employees first”. The company is trying to create an environment that is fair, just, and open, for their employees to work in an develop career. Among BYD’s employees there are also interns and disabled recruited though the year to work in BYD’s various units.

BYD has developed the BYD Human Resource Management policy in accordance with the guidelines of “equal opportunity, based on capability”. In the recruitment process any

discrimination based on age, gender, geographic location, ethnic group, tradition, social caste, religion, physical disability, and political tendency is strictly prohibited. Child and forced labor are also prohibited. BYD actively advocates for local recruitment to increase employment and stimulate and economic growth.

There is a special program at BYD, called “Rising Dragon Program”. It is a strategic talent management system. With the help of annual performance review the company can identify the best and demote the incompetent fairly and equally. Constantly updated trainings and courses help the talents to improve their skills and capabilities.

In terms of caring for their employees BYD also has a number of activities. The company invests in housing, transportation, child education, and healthcare of their employees.

Another thing BYD is doing to be responsible to their employees is the principle of “sustained improvement” in safety and development. BYD is constantly making their health, emergency, and safety management systems better, taking into account the need of various business

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modules for the occupational health and safety of their employees. For the fulfilment of this purpose company puts focus on carefully selecting all the raw materials, strictly controlling and optimizing all production procedures, effectiveness audits, monitoring for high-risk tasks, educating employees about safety awareness. Moreover, BYD has its own firefighters with emergency fire stations.

Green management

BYD is an active advocate for environmental protection. The company is dedicated to lowering global energy consumption with the help of green products. In the first place BYD focuses on reducing their own direct impact to the environment. BYD’s energy consumption and carbon emissions are continuously reduced because of renewable energy sources,

innovative energy management systems and eco-friendly technology and management approaches.

Contributing to the community

BYD has incentives to help the community. Their main activity is poverty alleviation. The company’s activities in this sphere are divided into the initiatives in education, industry development, consumption, healthcare.

BYD also has Volunteer Association, founded in 2016. It is based on the philosophy of

“helping every single individual with action”.⁴⁵

3.4.2.2 BMW Group CSR activities

BMW Group is convinced that the lasting success of any corporation in today’s economy depend on acting responsibly and ensuring social acceptance. The global challenges of today’s world, such as climate change and urbanization are the factors that inspire and motivate the company to develop innovative products and services.

45BYD COMPANY LIMITED. BYD CSR Report. [online]. rep. 2019. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.byd.com/sitesresources/common/tools/generic/web/viewer.html?file=%2Fsites%2FSatellite%2FBY D%20PDF%20Viewer%3Fblobcol%3Durldata%26blobheader%3Dapplication%252Fpdf%26blobkey%3Did%2 6blobtable%3DMungoBlobs%26blobwhere%3D1600574935250%26ssbinary%3D.

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BMW Group puts focus on three key areas of action: 1. Products and services. 2. Production and value creation. 3. Employees and society.

BMW Group is doing its business in accordance with sustainable value creation and responsible corporate governance principles. The company defined clear guidelines and responsibilities to ensure compliance with these principles across all divisions of the company. These are supported by oversight and incentive systems.

UN’s climate change conferences

The company is involved in the UN’s climate change conferences. It is an important platform to interact with stakeholders. It helps to build trust, understand positions, identify trends as well as build on and consolidate partnerships. Doing so, the firm deliberately addresses critical issues and debates, as well.

Engaging in a transparent dialogue with political decision-makers

Engagement in active and open dialogue with political decision-makers, union representatives and associations, plays a constructive and transparent role in helping to shape the general political framework for business activities. Expertise provided by the company helps to promote fair competition for all involved and find sustainable solutions.

Safety first

Following its principle of “safety first”, the BMW Group offers its clients and other road users the highest safety standards. The active and passive safety systems in the vehicles ensure better safety on the road. Moreover, the firm avoids using of substances dangerous for human health in the production processes. Also, customers are informed about all the safety aspects of the products, being able to recognise and overcome dangerous situations by taking driver safety training.

Emissions of CO2 and pollutants

BMW Group strives for lowering emissions with the help of efficiency technologies and offering more electric models. The company has set a goal to achieve sustainability over the entire life cycle, expand their vehicle portfolio, facilitate rapid charging and improve access to charging stations.

Production and value creation

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The company is conserving resources by optimizing processes and new technologies. In order to minimize waste, the firm is recycling. Life Cycle Engineering makes, the environmentally friendly use of raw materials as early as the vehicle development phase, possible.

Renewable energy

The company uses renewable energy at its plants and promotes renewable energy in the supply chain.

Employees and Society

Employee satisfaction in the year 2019 was 82%, the share of female employees in total workforce in 19.8 %, share of female employees in management positions in 17.5%.

The BMW Group promotes personal responsibility and an accordingly designed work environment in order to preserve the health and the performance of its employees in the long term.

As part of company’s Health Initiative, they have developed an extensive prevention and rehabilitation program, that covers the areas of nutrition, exercise, relaxation and addiction prevention. Moreover, BMW Group runs international campaigns, which increase health awareness of employees. Also, the company has a program that help their employees remain healthy and able to work as they age.

The BMW Group is constantly working towards long-term employee development, seeking out the right employees, making the most of their talents, developing potential and ensuring employability. The main ways to make it happen are: offering attractive overall remuneration, providing work-life balance, offering a variety of training and other education courses, putting focus on improving expertise and leadership skills.

The company is promoting diversity and equal opportunity in the company. Because of that, the company’s competitiveness is increasing and its innovative strength is enhancing. The BMW Group Code on Human Rights and Working Conditions declares that a fundamental principle of its corporate policy is equal treatment of all employees.

Corporate citizenship

The BMW Group is a leading in intercultural understanding. The company strengthens intercultural understanding and facilitates social inclusion, involves and rewards its

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employees. The BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt is an independent corporate foundation. Its activities contribute to the company’s corporate citizenship and its mission.⁴⁶

46 BMW GROUP. [online].Sustainable Value Report 2019. rep. 2020. [Accessed 1 December 2020]. Available from:

https://www.bmwgroup.com/content/dam/grpw/websites/bmwgroup_com/responsibility/downloads/en/2020/202 0-BMW-Group-SVR-2019-Englisch.pdf.

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4 Research

This chapter describes the research in details and analyses its outcomes. Together with the monitoring of secondary sources its purpose is to help to fulfil the main goal of the thesis.

4.1 Research methodology

The goal of the thesis is to measure awareness of Tesla’s CSR activities in Electric Vehicles industry and suggest possible changes in communication strategy, which can increase sales. In the whole thesis the focus will be only on activities in Electric Vehicles industry.

Both secondary and primary data were collected and analyzed. For the secondary sources were chosen only the trustworthy ones. Official documents from the firms, publications in the libraries. The keywords included: CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, Responsible

Marketing, Marketing Strategy. The criteria for narrowing down the number of publications to explore were: 1) how many times this publication was citated 2) the date of publication (the newer, the better); because this bachelor thesis has a lot to do with relevant information and current trends) 3) the abstract of the work.

Primary quantitative research was conducted.

The plan was to study the answers of at minimum 150 respondents as a sample relevant to the target group. The target group is the whole population older than 18 years old, because this can include the existing customers of the company, potential customers, which include the company’s target group and the young generation, that can become customers in the future.

Based on the information collected from the secondary sources, the survey was made to get the missing information and get into specific details in order to fulfil the goal of the thesis.

Firstly, the pilot survey was made. The survey was conducted online. The answers of the respondents were analyzed and the partial conclusions were made. The findings from both primary and secondary research were taken into account for a conclusion and

recommendations.

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4.2 Research questions

• How important are CSR activities for influencing consumers’ behavior?

▪ SRQ1: Do consumers prefer to buy products from socially responsible companies?

▪ SRQ2: Are consumers willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies?

• Do people consider Tesla as a socially responsible firm?

• What CSR activities do potential clients know about?

4.3 Survey

Survey was conducted via Google Forms. Firstly, the pilot survey was made to make sure that questions are logical and understandable. After that, the survey was released to a bigger public to get the answers for analysis.

The survey had screening, content and demographic questions. Answers from those, who did not pass screening questions, were analyzed separately for some questions or were not taken into account. Demographic questions were made so that it would be possible to pay special attention to answers from Tesla’s target group customers.

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4.4 Analysis of results

157 respondents took part in the survey.

Graph 1. Question 10. Source: Own research.

The number of men and women, having taken the part in the research is almost the same.

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Only a small number of respondents commutes to work or university less than once a week. It is important to this thesis, since it is focused on the EV part of Tesla’s business.

The majority of the respondents commutes to work by public transport. However, 44 people use their cars for that. Among the answers „other“ were such things as taxi, walking, working from home.

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As for the screening questions, if the respondents answered that they did not know what CSR means or chose the wrong answer for explaining the abbreviation, their answers were taken into account separately for some questions. Also, if the respondents work with the concept of CSR their answers were not taken into account at all. Or if the respondents worked for Tesla, Inc., their answers would not be taken into account at all.

A great number of respondents does not know what CSR means. So, this question serves not only as a screening question, but also as a factor that should be considered further.

Graph 6. Question 2. Source: Own Research.

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0 20 40 60 80 100 120

No Yes

Do you know what CSR means?

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