Natural Choice; Keeping Pets Healthy

By: Deanna Nanni

April 11, 2014

Natural Choice is a dog and cat food company that believes in “feeding pets for a

lifetime of health through the power of nature”. Natural choice is all about health and

making sure pets get the best nutrition possible. Since the company is all about eating

healthy and using natural ingredients; they can add one more thing to ensure dogs stay

healthy. One thing that would make the company stronger is designing a corporate

Social Responsibility plan that would implement dog’s healthy living styles. Eating

healthy is one way for dogs to be healthier, but what about exercise? My plan is to have

Natural Choice create a foundation called “Keep pets Healthy”.

The problem is Natural Choice only offers healthy food for dogs, but that is not

the only way dogs can stay healthy; they need exercise too. So, to make the company

look healthier all around I decided that they need to create a CSR plan where they can

have dogs exercise. The way they can do this is create the foundation and when a dog

item gets purchased one dollar of the item goes towards the “Keep pets Healthy”

foundation. Our goal is to build dog parks one step at a time in the Northeastern area of

the United States. We want to start out with a trial area in the Greater Philadelphia Area

in Pennsylvania. Once that is initiated and we think it is a success our goal is to spread

it to surrounding states such as Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. Our

products are sold in many stores, but the store we want to focus on is Pet Smart.

How will this CSR plan work? We want to build advertisement stands that we can

put in all PetSmart stores. Also, we want to put logos on our products that say, “$1 will

be donated to the “Keep pets Healthy” foundation, see details on back. Then on the

back of the bags we will have all our goals and plans to implement this foundation and

the buyer will know that buying our products will go to a great organization.

We want to make our foundation known, so we will have one of our Natural

Choice workers go to Pet Smart stores the first Sunday of every month. What they will

do is sit at our stand to give out free samples to customers, inform and persuade them

to buy our products. We will have a sheet of information about our plan and next to the

sheet of paper we will have a computer with an online survey. We want to conduct

research on where dog parks are most needed in areas. For instance, it will be a short

survey that consists of these four questions:

• Where do you live? (City, State)

• Does your city need a dog park?

• If so, why?

• If not, what city needs a dog park?

Thank you for completing our survey!

Having an online survey is more beneficial because people can take the survey

at home instead of waiting till the first Sunday of every month to take it with a

representative. We will keep our stand in the stores everyday with the info sheets and

our stand will have pictures and information about our Corporate Social responsibility

initiative. Our stand will be at the entrance of the store so that way people will see our

good quality dog food when they walk in and will instantly buy it.

What happens as more surveys are completed? As more surveys are taken we

will calculate the results of where the high demands for dog parks are. By having these

surveys we will see demographics of where most dogs are. First, with our trial area it

will be easier to establish the dog parks demands because it’s a smaller area. Once we

enlarge it to the other states that will get difficult. As surveys get calculated and turned

in we will have them sorted by the person’s response to make it easier to calculate

where parks are needed. Once we enhance our CSR initiative to the other states we will

see an increase in buyers and brand loyalty.

How long will the trial take? The trial will only last a year because after a year we

will be able to see how popular this is and why we should be doing this. Dog parks are

great for dogs because their natural habitat is to play and get exercise. It also is

beneficial to the dog owners because it is a social interaction for them as well. Since the

trial is only a year long after that the surveys will be gathered and we will come to a

conclusion on where the dog park needs to be. Once it is decided we will announce on

our website where it will be and we will take the further initiatives to implant the dog

park. We need to set the budget and talk to the head council of the neighborhood what

our plans are and as soon as they approve it; the dog park will be in the making. We

believe that dog parks should be mandatory in many cities because a lot of new

construction is starting to take over and builders are forgetting about how important it

should be to have a park.

The best things about our CSR plan is how dogs will have room to play, run

around, and socialize. Dogs should not be cramped up in their houses all day, or stuck

in there fenced in backyard. More importantly, dogs that have leashes on them do not

help them get physical activity. It makes more sense for dogs to have an obstacle

course and an open area to run and play. What makes it even better is combining our

healthy food with exercise is our ideal situation for our dogs to stay healthy. What we

want is to have more dog owners buy our products so they know that we care about

their pets. Buying our products will ensure you that one dollar of your purchase will be

donated to our “Keep pets Healthy” foundation.

Attention: Dog owners who want their pet to eat healthy.

Problem Statement: Natural Choice is not doing any CSR initiative to promote

healthy standards. This will broarden the company’s horizon by showing dogs can have

a healthy living style by eating the food and buying the product to promote dog parks.

What is Corporate Social responsibility?

According to textbook author Paul A. Argenti, Corporate Social Responsibility

describes an organization’s respect for society’s interests, as demonstrated by taking

ownersip of the effect its activities have on key constituencies, including customers,

employees, shareholders, communities, and the enviorment, in all parts of its operations

(111). Company’s should adopt a CSR strategy because it has a lot of benefits for the

company. A good CSR strategy can have large benefits such as enticing customers,

retaining customer loyalty, attracting employees, and reducing costs. The benefits can

vary based on the CSR plan, but CSR makes good business sense and positively

affects the bottom line (118).

There are many different dog food brands, but what makes different brands stand

out? Having a good CSR plan will let different brands stand out to customers when they

are trying to shop. Company’s strive for a unique selling proposition to be that brand

that is more repuitable than another one so customers lean towards that one brand

instead of the other. When a CSR plan is introduced it must be clear to consistuents

and employees so everyone is involved and aware.

Three important steps that companies should follow are: “Don’t hide market

motives”, “serve stakeholders’ true needs,” and “test your progress”(Argentini). Natural

Choice is following these three steps because it is vital to our plan. We want to show

our customers that this is the right dog food to buy and we are trying to initiate dogs

health one step at a time. We want our stakeholders to invest and believe that this CSR

plan will make our company more repuitable. Lastly, We are testing our progress by

doing a trial area and if it is a success we will expand it to the surrounding states.