Soccer Masidlale Programme

Introduction

Due to past and current rumours regarding spur, the participation of Spur being a part of a CSR programme will help the businesses ROI. By looking at uplifting the community it should allow for consumers to feel they should contribute to this effort. This should in the end increase Spurs return on investment. Spur being involved with a CSR initiative should allow for the employee buy in of the business.

This should ultimately create a positive atmosphere as well as a positive work environment for all employees. This in the end allowing for consumers to feel more welcomed when intending on buying from Spur.Secondary Research30 000 children have so far been reached by the CSI (Corporate Social Investment) program sponsored by Spur:

The Spur Soccer Masidlale Programme (what it does):

• Essential Life skills are taught to the children.

• Disadvantaged areas are the focal point for this programme and to so this initiative will help uplift these areas.

• Children in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth are supported by this initiative.

• Sport is used as their CSR programme which enables them to uplift the community.200 players of mixed boys and girls take part from 10 local schools and each child receives a Spur branded soccer kit which they can keep afterwards.

• The reason Spur has used sport as their initiative, is that it is seen as a “metaphor for life”. A life skills programme is run alongside the soccer initiative and this teaches the children skills needed for life.

The children are equipped further than that upon the sports field. This addresses the socio-economic issues of poverty as it is making it more aware to members of the public, encouraging them to participate in their initiative. This also shows that Spur wants to uplift the community and prove that they want to give back to the community using sport and equipping them with the necessary skills for life.

The Spur Foundation’The Spur Foundation was established on International Mandela Day, 18 July 2012, with a donation of R670 000 by the Spur Corporation, resonating with the ’67 minutes’ theme of Mandela Day, and the founding of the Spur family in 1967.

The Foundation aims to uplift and improve the lives of South African families, especially children, in line with its core value of generosity and Ubuntu’ The foundations motto is ‘Nourish, Nurture, Now!’ This is used to support disadvantaged communities by providing them with education and help fed them. It also provides the basic necessities and amenities for all the children.

“Fill a tummy, feed a mind”.The Full Tummy Fund initiative was launched by the same foundation in 2016 and is used in order to help aid children’s development during their first 2000 days, focusing primarily on their education and nutrition.As stated from the previous socio-economic issue, Spur wants to carry on reaching out to the poverty stricken areas that are in dire need of assistance and help by assisting with the nourishment of their children and to educate their youngsters.

With the Spur Foundation initiative in place, this will help these disadvantaged areas by providing the children with the proper nutrition that is needed and provides education to them, therefore allowing them to uplift their community and be innovative. This ultimately will improve Spurs image and make customers feel more obliged to support them as they will want to be a part of the foundation to help those in need.

These initiatives are relevant to my topic as they provide external information that will be beneficial to my hypothesis and will prove that by Spur conducting CSR it will have a positive impact upon their ROI.By Spur conducting CSR it does good as it will:’Doing good can also be great for business; a growing body of research indicates that a socially responsible company can expect an increase in sales, profitability and value.

Having a well-defined and active CSR initiative can help a company achieve the following:

• Attract and retain qualified personnel

• Enhance employee engagement

• Increase customer loyalty, sales and profitability

• Bolster community goodwill

• Safeguard corporate reputation’

• Bring customers back to the business, especially after recent incidents.

As stated above, by Spur being involved in multiple CSR initiatives it will create a good name for the business and create customer loyalty as consumers will want to have shown that they are interested in what Spur wants to achieve. This will not be seen immediately but word of mouth will develop and over time Spur will experience more support from members of the public.

As more customers are willing to help Spur uplift the community more capital is generated thus allowing for Spurs return on investment to break even and go further allowing for their initiatives to reach further than that of what they have now and perhaps come up with new initiatives.

Similar reasons as to why businesses such as Spur should be involved with a CSR programme:

1. You will have satisfied employees:

-this meaning that the businesses employees will be proud of the organization they are working for thus bringing a good name for the business internally which then gets spoken about externally creating a positive image towards the business in this case Spur.

2. By conducting CSR you will create satisfied customers:

-from past records it has shown that by a business conducting CSR it will improve the customer’s attitude towards the business. If this is gained, the customer will undoubtingly come back to the business and buy the businesses products or services and on top of it, the customer will be less willing to go to another brand.

3. There will be a positive Public Relation:

-CSR will provide an opportunity to share positive stories. This will benefit companies as it is a free form of advertisement. Businesses will not have to fret about having to pay for advertisements. Free publicity is thus generated and is spread by word of mouth.

4. There will be a reduction in costs:

-a CSR programme doesn’t have to cost money, if it is being conducted properly.

Steps for a company to reduce costs are as follows:

• Have a more efficient staff hire and retention system.

• The implementation of energy saving programs.

• The management of potential risks and liabilities more effectively.

• As said by investing more into the traditional marketing way of word of mouth.

5. Business opportunities are created:

-as we know a CSR program is to be pen and allow for an outside orientated approach.

The business must have constant communication between all its stakeholders (customers, suppliers and other important parties).the reason for this communication is that you will then be the first to know of opportunities that your business can be a part of.

6. There is a long term future for the business:

-this means that as a business you are looking at the long term results of the CSR programme and also the businesses continuity. Many large corporations generally refer to this as the shaping of a more sustainable society.

These few extra reasons further support the fact that CSR will create a positive brand image for Spur and allow for a greater desire for them to want to carry on as it will certainly provide them with free marketing strategies thus allowing for more profit that can possibly be used to further invest in their CSR initiatives.

Primary ResearchBar graph representing all answers that were answered either agreeing with questions asked or disagreeing.As seen in the above graph, many of the candidates that volunteered to answer the questionnaire have all agreed with many of the questions.

In the questions it is noticed:

Question 1:

-Most volunteers agreed that by Spur conducting a CSR program it will be beneficial for the business as it will most definitely create a good name for the business.-Volunteers did disagree however saying that the market will not increase as of experiences from the past involving Spur and that has now spread rumours.-In Secondary research, we see that a business will create a good name for themselves by being involved in a CSR initiative. They believe that spread of mouth about Spur will help increase their market share.

Question 2:

-Seen again, all volunteers agree that branding has a huge impact upon the business as they could possibly lose customer loyalty, their brand will not be recognised or trust amongst the consumers towards the business is lost.-Customer loyalty is massive when it comes to a business functioning correctly. If the business has no customers there are no funds to allow the business carrying on with the path that they are on.

Question 3:

-All volunteers have reacted in saying yes that a CSR program will address a current socio-economic factor and it will resolve that matter.-We all know that by a business addressing a current socio-economic factor; it will help in the long term as it will benefit those factors and improve them.

-Many volunteers have replied in the same way saying that by businesses conducting CSR they will uplift the communities and therefore improve the standards of living of all people invested in their initiatives.

Question 4:

-All volunteers have approved in saying that they would most definitely be proud of their business if the business were to conduct CSR.-We know that if the employees of our company are happy with the business and are proud of it they will be more motivated to work and staff morale will increase thus bringing in more profits towards the business as more work is then done.

-Most have responded in saying that they want to be a part of something that they know will uplift and benefit the community. They will be proud that the business is willing to take time out to benefit the community and uplift our standards of living.

Question 5:

-Most volunteers agree that most businesses conduct CSR because it is a free marketing system for their brand to be noticed by external stakeholders. People will be drawn to the fact that the business (Spur) is conducting CSR and will then therefore want to help the business achieve their goals by buying from them and supporting them.

– Few volunteers disagreed saying in the long run this CSR initiative is more expensive than advertising. Some believe that it should involve passion and emotion.

-We learned that in the Secondary research that CSR is a free form of advertising for the business and we all know that advertising fees are expensive so businesses us CSR initiatives to their advantage.

Question 6:

-All agreed in saying that Spurs CSR initiatives will improve the standards of living if they carry on.

-Some have mentioned that perhaps more effort is needed in order to make more of an impact. They may believe this as there is many people suffering in disadvantaged areas and perhaps Spurs initiatives need to be expanded in order to care for even more people.

Question 7:

-All have agreed that it would be more beneficial if they were to know that Spur conducted a CSR program thus making them want to help in the initiative.

-Communication is key in a business as if there is no communication members will not know what beneficial work they are involved in.

Question 8:

-Few have answered in saying that Spurs initiatives will have an impact upon society but most lean to saying no as they would need to increase their efforts to make a really large effect.

– Volunteers who agreed said that every bit counts, this will not ultimately uplift the community but as said every little bit does count when uplifting the community.

-For majority to have said no, it could possibly also mean that there is no communication from the business to the external market in saying that they do conduct CSR initiatives and to so many are unaware as to what spur des and are not willing to wanting to support.

Question 9:

-Most volunteers have agreed that businesses should conduct CSR to benefit the community. Yes it is a free way to market the business but the community is the main focus and this is what the whole point of a CSR initiative stands for.Three volunteers have replied saying no and the reason is that a CSR program is expensive and it could possibly disadvantage the business.

-The main focal point of CSR is to benefit the community and the planet as well as making a profit, so in a sense the business is saving money by conducting CSR as they do not have to pay for advertisements. This money however can be used to further more improve their CSR initiatives or perhaps invest into new initiatives.

Question 10:

-Majority of the volunteer answers agreed saying that the “Fill a tummy, Feed a mind” initiative should only focus on children. They agree in saying that children are most in need as they have no control over their current situation thus need the support that Spur id offering them. Although they did add ideas in saying that Spur should extend the time period of this project for the children as they say that 2000 days is not enough for the children as it is only five years.

-Volunteers did disagree with the initiative and say that they should not only focus primarily on children. Many people are in dire need of education, life skills and food as our economy is so poor so therefore they should have access to it as well. Volunteers added as well that it is also quit taxing on the business as 2000 days is quite a long time to look after a child, not just one but many.

-For a business it can be quite taxing to their profits especially when they are providing for more than 20 000 children. Although it can be quite taxing perhaps in some cases Spur can be flexible in allowing to extend the 2000 days’ time period especially if they are in dire need and have no assistance.

This Primary Research has furthermore proven that the CSR initiatives undertaken by Spur are beneficial to the business as a whole. It will help benefit the business from marketing strategies through to eradicating bad stigma about past incidents which have brought the Spur franchise name down.

This will help the business be recognised and allow for more consumers to feel more encouraged to support Spur.

Conclusions

The Primary research as well as the Secondary research helps prove that Spurs involvement with its CSR initiatives does have an impact upon their business which ultimately will improve their ROI.

We see in the primary research that many of the volunteers feel that if the business is willing to give back to the community and are willing to help, consumers will feel more encouraged to help support the businesses and help uplift their community as well as looking at the possible opportunity to uplift the nation as a whole (in the long term).

In order for Spur to possibly improve their CSR they can look at:

• The practice of transparency towards its consumers and their employees. Make it part of their organisational structure. Inform the larger community about all ventures of the business. This will help consumers understand everything that is being conducted within Spur.

• Encourage innovation within the business as well as the community. This will allow for new ideas for the business and new ideas for the business to get itself involved with.