Methods and regulations to ensure corporate social
responsibility
Nowadays
business sector is becoming more and more influential and authoritative and
plays one of the key roles in the development of the world society. Because the
impacts of the business are so large, and with potential to be either positive
or negative, governments and wider society should pay special attention to the
fact that business can contribute a lot to the world sustainable development.
And it is necessary to mention that business laws and regulations worldwide are
becoming more uniform in response to economic globalization. The same is true
of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Corporate
Social Responsibility is a form of self-regulation that is integrated into a
business model. CSR is the process with the aim to embrace the responsibility
for the company’s actions and encourage the positive impact through its
activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders
and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as
stakeholders. The term CSR came into common use in the late 1960s and early
1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder,
meaning those on whom an organization's activities have an impact.
Another
approach is garnering increasing corporate responsibility interest. This is
called Creating Shared Value, or CSV. The shared value model is based on the
idea that corporate success and social welfare are interdependent. A business
needs a healthy, educated workforce, sustainable resources and adept government
to compete effectively. For society to thrive, profitable and competitive
businesses must be developed and supported to create income, wealth, tax
revenues, and opportunities for philanthropy.
Many companies use the strategy of
benchmarking to compete within their respective industries in CSR policy,
implementation, and effectiveness. Benchmarking involves reviewing competitor
CSR initiatives, as well as measuring and evaluating the impact that those
policies have on society and the environment, and how customers perceive
competitor CSR strategy. After a comprehensive study of competitor strategy and
an internal policy review performed, a comparison can be drawn and a strategy
developed for competition with CSR initiatives.
Bearing in
mind different approaches to the CSR strategy and existing beliefs that
companies use CSR strategies just to raise their reputation with the public and
with the government or to distract the public from ethical questions posed by
their core operations, the most significant and relevant problem nowadays is to
create some common regulations that will ensure that CSR strategies are used by
most of the companies in fair and effective way.
Corporate
Social Responsibility strategies used by the companies should include measures
and activities pertaining to:
·
corporate
governance and ethics;
·
health
and safety;
·
environmental
stewardship;
·
human
rights (including core labour rights);
·
sustainable
development;
·
conditions
of work (including safety and health, hours of work, wages);
·
industrial
relations;
·
community
involvement, development and investment;
·
involvement
of and respect for diverse cultures and disadvantaged peoples;
·
corporate
philanthropy and employee volunteering;
·
customer
satisfaction and adherence to principles of fair competition;
·
anti-bribery
and anti-corruption measures;