Host Europe: Advancing CSR and sustainability in a medium-sized IT company
1. Case Name: Host Europe: Advancing CSR and sustainability in a medium-sized IT company.
2. Problem Statement
The main problem statement of the case is:
How to further improve the ecological and social aspects of sustainability without disturbing the company’s current economic success? Rephrasing, In addition to the implemented CSR activities by Host Europe, what are the other important CSR activities Host Europe can implement to sustain its position as a leading contributor of CSR engagement?
The company is also facing few minor issues on:
How to overcome the other challenges regarding the low proportion of women employees and raising awareness of ecological issues?
How to further reduce the energy issues, e-waste issues and the digital divide?
How to implement the certified environmental or social management program and what are the benefits and drawbacks of it?
What are the benefits of these programs to stakeholder groups? How are these issues quantified?
3. Background
a. Describe the company/department
1) History:
I. Host Europe was founded in 1997 and later acquired by various companies.
II. Even after many acquisitions, the company is run independently by its management.
III. Host Europe has five different product lines which include Webhosting, Virtual Server, dedicated server, cloud hosting and manage hosting.
IV. Host Europe is doing great financially with around 30% growth in revenue
2) Conditions
I. Third largest webhosting company in the German speaking market.
II. Huge growing customer base of more than 175000 private and business customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
3) Culture
I. The company is very employee friendly. It has spent huge amounts of money in helping their employees both professionally and personally.
II. The company has conducted events to encourage women to join IT jobs.
III. The company has flat hierarchies and open door policies which enabled a continuous interaction between employees and
2. Problem Statement
The main problem statement of the case is:
How to further improve the ecological and social aspects of sustainability without disturbing the company’s current economic success? Rephrasing, In addition to the implemented CSR activities by Host Europe, what are the other important CSR activities Host Europe can implement to sustain its position as a leading contributor of CSR engagement?
The company is also facing few minor issues on:
How to overcome the other challenges regarding the low proportion of women employees and raising awareness of ecological issues?
How to further reduce the energy issues, e-waste issues and the digital divide?
How to implement the certified environmental or social management program and what are the benefits and drawbacks of it?
What are the benefits of these programs to stakeholder groups? How are these issues quantified?
3. Background
a. Describe the company/department
1) History:
I. Host Europe was founded in 1997 and later acquired by various companies.
II. Even after many acquisitions, the company is run independently by its management.
III. Host Europe has five different product lines which include Webhosting, Virtual Server, dedicated server, cloud hosting and manage hosting.
IV. Host Europe is doing great financially with around 30% growth in revenue
2) Conditions
I. Third largest webhosting company in the German speaking market.
II. Huge growing customer base of more than 175000 private and business customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
3) Culture
I. The company is very employee friendly. It has spent huge amounts of money in helping their employees both professionally and personally.
II. The company has conducted events to encourage women to join IT jobs.
III. The company has flat hierarchies and open door policies which enabled a continuous interaction between employees and