Corporate Social Responsibility creates higher value for customers and supports corporate Differentiation Strategy. In this research we define Functional Strategies & Strategic Audit recommendations for the CSR department taking into consideration the company's External and Internal analysis using Pestel, Porter's Five Forces & Diamond Model, as well as Stakeholders' Analysis, Competitive assessment, and SBU performance.

1. SUNY Empire State University
Capstone presentation
by Anastasia Shender

2. Vision
• A leading digital transformation
services and product engineering
company
• providing digital platform engineering
and software development services
• to customers located around the world,
primarily in North America, Europe, and
Asia.
Mission
(Epam Systems, Inc., 2023)

3. Corporate Strategy
• To provide more customized &
integrated solutions to our customers
• where we combine best-in-class
software engineering with
• customer experience design, business consulting
& technology innovation services” .
(Epam Systems, Inc., 2023)
Image courtesy of Lemonsoup14,
Shutterstock

4. Strategic Problem
Due to Black Swan events,
the company must switch from
cost-leadership to
Differentiation Strategy.
Image courtesy of Carolyn Ann
Geason

5. Competitive Analysis
(2022)
Epam, $297,722
IBM, $411,875
Accenture, $229,892
Infosys, $226,083
Cognizant, $89,643
$- $50,000 $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000 $350,000 $400,000 $450,000
1
Market Cap per employee
(EPAM Systems (EPAM) - Market capitalization, n.d.)

6. Stakeholder Analysis
Keep
satisfied
Manage
closely
Monitor
Keep
informed
High
High
Low
Low
Power
Interest
End users
Employees
Customer’s
mid-level
mgmt
Short-term
investors
Customers
C-Suite Mgmt
Partners
Long-term
investors
Government
agencies
Board of Directors
& Management
Suppliers &
Service Providers
Local Communities
& Charities
Society
Competitors

7. Stakeholder Analysis
(Keep satisfied & Manage Closely)
Stakeholder Issues, Opportunities,
Globalization
Corporate Social
Responsibility
Board & Management Considers 50+ countries Defines CSR programs
Long-term investors Provide finances Successful & impactful CSR
Customer’s C-suite
management
Chose around the Globe Same pressure from society
Government agencies Taxation, exchange rates,
global organizations, etc.
Strong CSR for country image,
& Global sustainability
Short-term investors May become long-term Might oppose
Employees From around the Globe Socially responsible company
Customer’s mid-level
management
Give feedback to C-suite See value in CSR, joint
projects

8. Stakeholder Analysis
(Keep informed & Monitor)
Stakeholder Issues, Opportunities,
Globalization
Corporate Social
Responsibility
Local Communities
& charities
Affect brand image Meet their needs through CSR
Partners Global, brand reputation Strong CSR, joint projects
Suppliers & service
providers
Global competition Strong CSR, joint projects
Society Very diverse individuals Require sustainability
End users Primarily from Western
countries.
Benefit from the better World
Competitors Might steal customers &
employees
Monitor to copy or compete

9. TOWS Matrix
Strengths
• Effective management
• Strong financial foundation
• Experienced & capable Employees
• Strong Brand Reputation
• Efficient Global Operations
Weaknesses
• Weak customer relationships due
to competition
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Dependence on USA clients
• Emerging Markets Operations
Opportunities
• STEM is the cornerstone in US
economy
• High Environmental
Consciousness
• High Demand for Digital
Transformation & security
• Best STEM Universities in the US
Strengths/Opportunities (SO)
Global horizontal growth of
sustainable, environmental, and STEM
initiatives & partnerships
Weaknesses/Opportunities (WO)
Build brand loyalty &
increase US operations through
strong CSR.
Threats
• Russian Invasion in Ukraine
• Economic recession
• Global exchange rates
• Legal requirements changes
• Covid-19 pandemic
• Employee’s high power
• Pure competition
Strengths/Threats (ST)
Stability strategy to offset
Black Swan events
(emergency fund/contingency plan)
Weaknesses/Threats (WT)
Reduce threat of competition
through differentiation.

10. BCG Growth-Share Matrix
Travel & Consumer
Emerging Verticals
Financial Services
Life Sciences & Healthcare
Business Information
& Media
Software & Hi-Tech
Market
Growth
Rate
Relative Market Share
High
High
Low
Low

11. SBU Investment
& Business Level strategy
SBU Growth rate
2021/2022
Investment
strategy
Business
Level Strategy
Emerging Verticals 53% 34% Increase Focused
Differentiation
Financial Services 53% 21% Increase Focused
Differentiation
Software & Hi-Tech 34% 19% Invest
Selectively
Defend
Life Sciences &
Healthcare
32% 30% Invest
Selectively
Analyzer
Business Information
& Media
19% 21% Maintain Defend

12. Epam’s CSR
Epam ranked # 94
on the Investor’s Business Daily’s list of 100
Best ESG Companies in 2022
(Doler, 2022).

13. CSR Corporate Strategy
Environmental
- new markets, stock price increase.
Community engagement
- Increase of social capital.
Employee relations
- trust & long-term commitment.
Diversity
- Great reputation.
Global Prospector strategy
(Reimer et al., 2018)
Image courtesy of
Sakorn sukkasemsakorn, Vecteezy.com

14. Corporate Social Responsibility
Functional Strategies
Function Strategies
Marketing • Transnational strategy
• CAGE framework
Operations • Standardized operations
• for best practices across the Globe
Financial • CSR allocated budget
• Volunteer hours
R&D • Incremental innovation
• Voluntary radical innovation
IT • Impact monitoring system
• to keep track of hours & initiatives
HR • Employees as drivers of CSR
• Diversity & inclusion

15. CVF Framework
Primary:
• Clan for the long-term sustainability.
• Adhocracy for finding new ideas faster.
Secondary:
• Hierarchy for measuring.
• Compete for staying focused
in the short-term.
(Jeff DeGraff, 2012)

16. Strategic Audit
Strategy Goal How to measure Target Contingency
Marketing Increase CSR
initiatives
• # of initiatives + 20% annually Partner with non-profits
Operations Process
standardization
• Adoption rate
• Ease of use reports
• +10% annually
• 95% satisfaction
Increase employee training
Financial • Use of allocated
budget
• Volunteer hours
• Dollar amount
• # of hours
• 100% use
• +15% in hours
• Move to the next year
• Allow financial & hours
contributions
R&D Enhance existing
technology
• Satisfaction level +10% Collaboration with external
partners
IT Integrate
information systems
• % of employees using it +20% Use data to understand level of
adoption
HR More diverse CSR
responsible
employees
• % of diversity increase
• # of CSR initiatives
• Volunteer hours
+ 15% Increase employee awareness
through training & education
Ethical Compliance with
laws and standards
• Benchmarking against
other companies
+5 points annually
in IBD’s ranking
Partner with other organizations

17. References
1. Doler, K. (2022, October 24). IBD’s 100 Best ESG Companies For 2022. Investors.com.
Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.investors.com/news/esg-companies-list-top-100-
esg-stocks-2022/
2. Epam Systems, Inc. (2023, February). ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13
OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. EPAM.com. Retrieved March
7, 2023, from https://investors.epam.com/node/15221/html
3. EPAM Systems (EPAM) - Market capitalization. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2023, from
https://companiesmarketcap.com/epam-systems/marketcap/
4. Jeff DeGraff. (2012, June 29). Competing Values Framework Introduction [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45veR-Se-rI
5. Reimer, M., Van Doorn, S., & Heyden, M. L. (2018). Unpacking Functional Experience
Complementarities in Senior Leaders’ Influences on CSR Strategy: A CEO–Top
Management Team Approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(4), 977–995.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3657-5

18. Disclaimer
• The above capstone project represents only the
author’s viewpoint based on the publicly accessible
resources and does not reflect the company’s view
points in any way.
• All images and graphical materials are obtained from
publicly available sources such as the company’s
website, LinkedIn and other marketing materials.