A multicultural approach to csr (business campus project) (1) by Andreea Emanuela Tamas

BUSINESS CAMPUS PROJECT A MULTICULTURAL APPROACH TO CSR

TORINO 2013

INTERNATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS “The United Nations has long recognised that the imagination, ideas and energies of young men and women are vital for the contiuing development of the societies in wich they live. And since its inception in 1948, AIESEC has contributed to this development by serving as an agent of positive change through education and cultural exchange. In an area of globalisation, your programmes have helped youg people around the world to develop a broader understanding of cultural, socioeconomic and business management issues.” Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations “AIESEC represents one of the most productive efforts to create a better worldwide understanding and to educate the leaders of future.” Robert Kennedy “AIESEC is an effective advocate for young people and their aspirations for the future of their communities. As a student NGO, it has an important voice in the debate on the mission of higher education in the 21st century. It helps form responsible citizens with a worldwide vision. Its members are interested in actively participating, as future leaders in the economic world, in building a better society, helping identify and address issues that affect the well-being of communities and global society.” Federico Mayor, Director-General, UNESCO

2 “For Lufthansa AIESEC represents access to information on the attitudes and preferences of the next generation of managers and customers. We identify AIESEC people as bright, multilingual, who have studied abroad and are therefore likely to be internationally mobile throughout their professional careers.” Matthias Mölleney former Senior Vice President Marketing Division Lufthansa

For more than thirty years, PricewaterhouseCoopers has been a proud supporter of AIESEC. At present, PwC’s partnership with AIESEC involves over 50 territories and is constantly proving successful. Leading in our business means being able to foster positive change by managing complex situations on a global scale. In order to achieve this, we need to be able to reach a high level of understanding of the complexity of the external environment and succeed in operating out of the normal comfort zone. For this we need young people and AIESEC unites a global network of talented and innovative, young people who strive to make a positive contribution to the world celebrating cultural diversity, leadership and teamwork. On behalf of the partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers I am honoured to endorse AIESEC’s vision of “peace and fulfilment of mankind’s potential”. Sincerely, Samuel A Di Piazza Jr - Chief Executive Officer PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited AIESEC Italia – National Office | Via Andora, 4 - 20148 Milano – Italia Telefono: +39 02 3921 0053│Fax: +39 02 3300 2178│info@aiesec.it│Cod. Fisc. 97080730159

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest appreciation to all the companies that supported us during the whole project. Starting from Elena Dallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Amico and Elena Aurora Ferrara, I would like to thank you for all the support and for hosting us in CEIPIEMONTE. Special thanks go also for the organization of the visits in Piazza dei Mestieri and Intesa SanPaolo. I would like to thank also the managers of these companies and institutions that welcomed us in their offices. Thank you Marzia Baldi from Piazza dei Mestieri and Elisa Dardanello from Intesa SanPaolo. An important thank you goes to Laura Corazza, Phd in the Department of Economics and creator of CSR4UTOOL, that helped us to build an excellent network and made our work more valuable. A special thank goes to Tucci Fabrizio, from Iren, that delivered a seminar in the University of Torino to the first year students in Economics, helping us to spread the knowledge of CSR practices, to the younger generation of students. Thank you also for supporting us from the first months that we started to work on the project and for your precious advice. Thank you very much to Anna Laura Ravera, from APS, for making us understand the world of CSR and PMI, and delivering us a seminary on CSR. Thank you for organizing the visit in TNT Italia and thank you to Emanuela Guccione and Stefania Lallai, from TNT Italy. A special thanksgiving goes to Grace De Girolamo that supported us during the project and helped us understand the project CSR Piemonte and the vision of Unioncamere Piemonte. Thank you to Agnese Vellar form Treabit and to the Incubator of Innovative Entreprises of Politecnico, for developing with us the topic of youth entrepreneurship. Thank you to the Incubator of the University of Torino for helping us organizing the event on startups in Campus Einaudi. Thank you to Luca Yuri Toselli for supporting and helping us to organize the final event. Thank you to both my teams: the Italian one and the International one. A special thank you goes to Stefano Bottiglieri who worked hard on the project and helped organizing and managing all the events. Thank you also to Agnese Battaglino, Andrea Silvetti, Qiong Wu, Paolo Caserta and Giorgio Roberto for their work.

Thank you to the international team for their hard work and for the great experience they delivered. Thank you Aryo Prabowo, Sebasti谩n Pinz贸n, Alena Kuznetsova, Maria Gnidenko, Ioanna Zerva, Androniki Kimonos and Laszlo Boruzs. Thank you to Professor Viassone and Professor Damilano, from the University of Torino, for supporting and helping us to find the location for the final event. Thank you to Professor Biancone for his precious advice and for supporting us. Thanks to all the people that participated in the events and helped us to promote the project. Thank you to Claudia Marengo, Francesca Gaglia, Michela Zambolin, Rafael Ono Pasquini, Elisa Laialo and Claudia Maciotta. We started to work on this project in April 2013 and we finished on the 7th of December. We managed to involve nine different companies and institutions, we organized ten events and visits and we strongly believe that we can have a strong impact on a lot of people. The main aim of this project is to sensitize young people on the theme of Corporate Social Responsibility and to make them understand that CSR is a competitive advantage not only for companies, NGOs, non-profit organizations and startups, but also for students. In fact, according to data of the European commission 52% of Italian SMEs will employ green jobs in 2014. CSR can be an opportunity for everyone that want to invest in their future and can represent a model of economic and social development, in which the production paradigm relies on creativity and

knowledge and rewards those who invest on knowledge,

technology, human capital and innovation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 7 2) Corporate Social Responsibility: Definition.............................................................................. 10 3) Are CSR and Startup closely related?.……………………………………………………………………………………… 14 3.1) Some examples of CSR in Start-ups..........................................................................15 3.1.1) Indonesia…...………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15 3.1.2) Romania………………………………….…………………………………………………………………….. 16 3.1.3) Greece………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….. 17 4) Benefits and Costs of CSR policies.......................................................................................... 18 4.1) Benefits………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………19 4.1.1) Some examples………………………………………………………………………………………………….23 4.2) Costs……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………25 5) Are CSR practices profitable or not?........................................................................................... 26 5 6) CSR in Italy ........................................................................................................................ 30 6.1) An example: Lavazza......................................................................................................... 33 7) Examples of CSR policies around the world................................................................................ 35 7.1) CSR in Romania......................................................................................................... 35 7.2) CSR in Poland........................................................................................................... 38 7.3) CSR in Indonesia....................................................................................................... 48 7.4) CSR in Estonia.......................................................................................................... 54 7.5) CSR in Colombia...................................................................................................... 57 7.6) CSR in Greece......................................................................................................... 64 7.7) CSR in Russia........................................................................................................... 75 8) Business Campus Project ..................................................................................................... 77

9) Who are we? ...................................................................................................................... 79 9.1) The Italian team....................................................................................................... 79 9.2) The 8 foreign EPs..................................................................................................... 86 10) Partners.............................. .............................................................................................. 95 References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………106

1) INTRODUCTION

In today's economic and social environment, issues related to social responsibility and sustainability are gaining more and more importance, especially in the business sector. There is a positive flow towards the need of understanding the impact the business actions have. Business goals are inseparable from the societies and environments within which they operate. Whilst short-term economic gain can be pursued, the failure to account for longerterm social and environmental impacts makes those business practices unsustainable. “The business model that Whole Foods has embraced could represent a new form of capitalism, one that more consciously works for the common good instead of depending solely on the ‘invisible hand’ to generate positive results for society” (John Mackey). Over the last decade there has been an apparent shift from adopting more responsible business practices (Hancock, 2005) as a result of regulatory citations, consumer complaints, and special interest group pressures, to proactive research exploring corporate solutions to social problems and incorporating new business practices that will support these issues (Aravossis, K., & Panayiotou, N., 2008).

The term "corporate social responsibility" came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But, the meaning of CSR has changed during the 21st century. Werther and Chandler argues that CSR, as an element of strategy, is becoming extremely relevant for organizations because of certain trends in society, respectively; increasing affluence, changing social expectations, globalization and the free flow of information, and ecological sustainability (Werther & Chandler, 2006).

Corporate social responsibility shouldn’t consider being “just another division” of a company’s activities, but rather an integrated part of its business rationale and the way they understand the ingredients of healthy and responsible entrepreneurship. It should be also considered as a way to convey their main values. The managers of every company should clearly define what Corporate Responsibility means for them, in order to streamline their actions, facilitate a homogeneous understanding by their employees, but also add value to all of their stakeholders.

Some of the drivers pushing business towards CSR include:

The shrinking role of government

In the past, governments have relied on legislation and regulation to deliver social and environmental objectives in the business sector. Shrinking government resources, coupled with a distrust of regulations, has led to the exploration of voluntary and non-regulatory initiatives instead.

Demands for greater disclosure

There is a growing demand for corporate disclosure from stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, employees, communities, investors, and activist organizations.

3. Increased customer interest

There is evidence that the ethical conduct of companies exerts a growing influence on the purchasing decisions of customers. In a recent survey by Environics International, more than one in five consumers reported having either rewarded or punished companies based on their perceived social performance.

Growing investor pressure

Investors are changing the way they assess companies' performance, and are making decisions based on criteria that include ethical concerns. The Social Investment Forum reports that in the US in 1999, there was more than $2 trillion worth of assets invested in portfolios that used screens linked to the environment and social responsibility. A separate survey by Environics International revealed that more than a quarter of share-owning Americans took into account ethical considerations when buying and selling stocks. 5.

Competitive labor markets

Employees are increasingly looking beyond paychecks and benefits, and seeking out employers whose philosophies and operating practices match their own principles. In order to hire and retain skilled employees, companies are being forced to improve working conditions. 6.

Supplier relations

As stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in business affairs, many companies are taking steps to ensure that their partners conduct themselves in a socially responsible manner. Some are introducing codes of conduct for their suppliers, to ensure that other companies' policies or practices do not tarnish their reputation.

The following sections will deepen more to the idea and concept of CSR and its practices. The idea of this e-book is to map out CSR policies in Italy as well as in seven different countries around the world inside and outside Europe.

2) CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: DEFINITION Actually there is not a precise definition about what Corporate Social Responsibility is. There is view that CSR is closely related to the sustainable development agenda launched at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It is also thought to be a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders. So, what does 'Corporate Social Responsibility' mean anyway?

Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.

CSR promotes a vision of business accountability to a wide range of stakeholders, besides shareholders and investors. Key areas of concern are environmental protection and the wellbeing of employees, the community and civil society in general, both now and in the future.

According to the U.S.-based global business organization Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), corporate responsibility (or corporate citizenship) means "... operating a business enterprise in a manner that consistently meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial, and public expectations society has of business." The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, 1999) proposed another definition of CSR: "CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large." Another interesting definition of CSR comes from the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum: "CSR means open and transparent business practices that are based on ethical values and respect for employees, communities, and the environment. It is designed to deliver sustainable value to society at large, as well as to shareholders."

According to the Green Paper, "CSR is essentially a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment" (Commission of the European Communities, 2001b, p. 4) and "a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis" (Commission of the European Communities, 2001b, p. 6). An increasing number of companies recognize social responsibility as part of their identity.

In general, it is understood to be the way through which a company achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Triple-Bottom-Line-Approachâ&#x20AC;?).

11 The concept of CSR is underpinned by the idea that corporations can no longer act as isolated economic entities operating in detachment from broader society. Traditional views about competitiveness, survival and profitability are being swept away.

The organizations with the best CSR practices worldwide engage in a holistic approach to corporate responsibility, aiming at promoting the sustainability of all aspects of their operation and development. The CSR Strategy is implemented by setting objectives at the highest management level, monitoring performance and regularly reporting across the following CSR Perspectives:

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Corporate Citizenship: Focusing on neighborly relations with local communities, advancing social partnership and prosperity in the region, promoting cultural activities and supporting humanitarian causes.

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Environmental Responsibility: Undertaking initiatives and commitments to minimize impact from every company operation and development as well as communicating and raising awareness of environmental issues. To clarify this, each company should develop regulations and policies, using qualitative and measurable quantitative targets, to minimize the ecological footprint of the company, through the limitation of energy consumption, the recycling of materials and the support of environmental Non-Governmental Organizations.

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Employer’s Responsibility: Developing, compensating and engaging the human capital of the company, while maintaining a committed workforce in a safe, productive and fair work environment. The company should adopt policies and practices that encourage personal development and recognize good performance; ensuring equality of opportunities in the working environment and promoting cooperation and implementing award programs to further enhance working conditions.

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Society Responsibility: Continuation of actions and initiatives that contribute to the preservation and protection of social cohesion through support for vulnerable social groups, digital inclusion, cultural heritage preservation and promotion of employee volunteerism; with particular focus on the regions.

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Marketplace: Utilization and further development of technological infrastructures and possibilities, with strong emphasis on providing competitive and high quality services to meet customers’ needs within the new framework of market convergence, thus contributing to the development of new services and investing systematically in bridging the new customers’ needs.

Every company has to determine its pillars of Corporate Responsibility through a process which combines internal analysis and dialogue with their stakeholders.

The objective of CSR is to make businessmen realize that they have an impact on environment and on external social factors that should take into account along with their efforts to make profit. It should not be confused with the idea that CSR is closely related to charity but instead it must be clearly understood that CSR is one of the main factors that contribute to the profitability of the companies.

3) ARE CSR AND START-UP CLOSELY RELATED? Entrepreneurship, innovation and of course creativity are some of the main features that a country’s economy should be consisted of. Start-ups are essential to economic growth and should be definitely promoted and supported by the government and companies. However, starting a new business can be both exciting and frightening. There are many practical things and of course many challenges that need to be considered:

“Will I make it?”

“Where do I start?”

“Is this going to work?”

14 Young people should not be afraid to start something new. The first question that someone has to ask his/herself when he/she starts a business is to question “What for?” Understanding the goal of the startup is very important. Doing a startup is not only for money, but instead there are more important aspects beyond that. The most important behind this is to develop responsibility, self-confidence, communication and organizational skills. The main goal of starting up a business should be to develop yourself and personality. Of course, it should be clearly understood the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for a startup. It is true that startups mostly focus on building up the company and establish a reputation within their respective industry. However, integrating CSR within their business actions is strongly recommended for entrepreneurs. When the startup starts growing and starts becoming recognized by the public, implementing CSR actions can further enhance the both the startup and the society. CSR may be promoted as a means of enhancing creativity and innovation at the startup level and beyond, through pushing entrepreneurs to imagine new business ideas, to discover new materials as well as to create new products and services in order to respond to both economic and social expectations. CSR principles and practices are a key vehicle for opportunity and implementation for both startup and existing companies.

3.1) SOME EXAMPLES OF CSR IN START UPS 3.1.1) INDONESIA Indonesia as one of the most populous moslem in the world have a lot of thing to do about CSR from SMEs company until big company. Moslem have a point that if we give something to each other especially the one who needed we will get more than we earn. So, that’s why the CSR word is popular many years ago. In Indonesia we do CSR before it becomes popular. In the simple way, every business in Indonesia usually have to earn 2,5% of their profit sometimes of their omzet to the other people or organizations who needed. For a big company they usually give 2,5% to their foundation especially social foundation and then the social foundation manage the money to do a lot of social thing. After talking about what big company does for CSR, actually some SMEs do the same thing but in silent way. A lot of Indonesia’s companies especially from small until medium enterprises do not want to have an exposed public but what they do is to take into account the impact their actions have on the city. As you know that Indonesia is a very big country with five big islands and thousand small islands. So, that’s why some small companies especially in the city that is very far from capital don’t really know what they do for CSR. But actually they do a lot of thing for the society because having people close to the company means higher; people near to the company will be willing to help the company and maybe work also in the company when it is needed. “For example, my family business in property developer that used to build and sell the home what we do for CSR is to give an opportunity to the other people to participate in our project who don’t have a job but have a big motivation and also skill. All of that depends on the skill they have. Also, we help these people because we believe when you make this good move is not only helping the other people but also helping us to get improve economically. After we run the company for a few months we also decided to do the renovation for moslem prayer building called mosque. Because we believe when we give to the other people, we also can get more”. Basically, what small and medium companies do is helping the society along with the company and also the company production. So, if every small and medium company does the CSR by helping the society as well as the place of their work such as their office or factory it will firstly have an impact on the region but also to the whole nation.

3.1.2) ROMANIA

Online start-up or dotcom 123ContactForm helps everybody to create web forms and surveys for any webpage as easy as 1-2-3. 123ContactForm is a SaaS that helps everybody to build and administrate mobile and web contact forms, online registrations, surveys, e-commerce forms – as easy as 1-2-3. With 123ContactForm users create their forms visually, get the script in a few clicks and start collecting data on their webpages within minutes. No programming experience is required. Each account is provided with a data repository and statistics facilities. The functionality of forms extends with a set of popular third party apps integrations such as Sales Force, Google Docs and Web Hooks. It’s easy to publish forms on WordPress, Blogger, Facebook pages and virtually any other web platform. All 123ContactForm web forms are 100% mobile optimized. The company was founded in Timisoara, Romania (current Address Bd. Republicii, nr 9 Timisoara, Romania). 123ContactForm is a service developed by a young enthusiastic team located in Timisoara, Romania. Founded in 2008, 123ContactForm has become a worldwide top class online form and survey builder, with a substantial investment in 2011. Currently the company has 25 employees. The mission is to share small businesses’ frame of mind. At 123ContactForm it is started as a two computers business back in 2008. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the majority of the customers are SMEs. This is because 123ContactForm simply understands the spirit of doing small business, and our solutions are tailored accordingly. With 123ContactForm, everybody can create a fully-functional web form without the tedious process of actually coding it. 123ContactForm can be used successfully even by people with no technical experience. There is no programming involved – users simply design the form and copy-paste the code generated onto their webpages.

3.1.3) GREECE

Sociallgreen is a Green tech Startup from Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. The team that consists of young people under 30 years old tries to change the way people recycle, exploiting modern technologies and concepts. At the same time Sociallgreen equips companies with absolute CSR channel, concerning recycling actions. Specifically, Sociallgreen is a Green technological Startup that develops a concept new Recycling approach for Smart Cities worldwide. Sociallgreen's approach integrates game Logic and Social Network theories in order to build a unique game platform for Recycling. For the time, implemented applications enable the interaction of citizens with a Smart Recycling Bin connected to a Cloud Platform. The Green Tech Startup won the 1st award at the International student competition on Digital Entrepreneurship, Innovation and eBusiness. How it works?

4) BENEFITS AND COSTS OF CSR POLICIES As with any aspect of a business's performance, corporate responsibility needs to be measured if it is to be understood and managed. However, unlike the more traditional performance criteria such as growth return on capital, profitability, revenue generation, growth of customer base, etc., corporate responsibility cannot be so easily quantified. Indeed, it has been the lack of absolute measurements that has made more difficult the task of bringing responsibility issues and performance to the attention of both the businesses whose behavior is being considered and the general public whose awareness of this dimension to business performance is essential for any long-term change in attitudes to take effect (Aravossis, K., & Panayiotou, N., 2008). Advocates of CSR reports have put forward some perceived benefits, which an organization may derive from its provision (Crowther, 2003). Typical examples include: increased customer loyalty, more supportive communities, the recruitment and retention of more talented employees, improved quality and productivity and the avoidance of potential reputational risks which may arise from environmental incidents (Idowu S.O. & Towler).

It is vital for the companies that have integrate CSR policies into their business practices to be able to measure with benefits as well as costs of CSR. The costs for implementing CSR can immediately be measured by the companies, while the benefits only materialize in the longrun and they are mainly indirectly induced by the positive actions of the companies and firms. This could be a reason of why CSR has only recently started to gain ground. This section will present the advantages of CSR policies as well as the economic disadvantages.

4.1) BENEFITS Corporate Social Responsibility has many benefits that can be applied to any business, in any region and at a minimal cost. The Advantages of Corporate social responsibility can be seen and felt by all stakeholders; the company owners, suppliers, employees, customers and the wider society. The company owner will achieve in long term a bigger profit and respect of the society, employees will fell as there company what there are a part of is making a positive impact, customers will buy the comp product in order to fell as they contributed to a good cause. Implementation of CSR is beneficial in different aspects:

Improved financial performance A recent longitudinal Harvard University study has found that â&#x20AC;&#x153;stakeholder balancedâ&#x20AC;? companies showed four times the growth rate and eight times employment growth when compared to companies that focused only on shareholders and profit maximizationâ&#x20AC;?.

Enhanced brand image & reputation To have a good reputation with stakeholders is more important than just satisfying the shareholders. Research shows that for example in Romania 60% of consumer rather buy the product of a responsible company. This means in long term more profit. The increased sales and customer loyalty shows this positive trend.

“A company that shows that it supports a good cause is likely to benefit from increased sales and more loyal customers around the world. According to recent research from PR firm Edelman, the good purpose study, over three-quarters (76 per cent) of consumers would buy and recommend products from a company that supports a good cause, and 44 per cent would refuse to buy from a company that does not. It is of great value to a business’s reputation to work for the good of society, as 44 per cent of consumers would criticize a firm to other people if it fails to actively support a good cause When quality and price of a product are deemed equal, social purpose has consistently been the leading purchase trigger for global consumers since 2008, muscling design and innovation and brand loyalty aside”. Large brand name companies It was criticism of the big brand names for using ‘sweatshop’ labour over the last two decades that convinced many of them that they had to improve and monitor supply chain conditions. The risks linked to the loss of positive image and reputation impacting on the brands were clearly seen as too high to ignore. Therefore good CSR has helped large companies to regain and develop a good deal of their credibility. More positively, there are brands who now clearly want to be identified in being leaders in CSR, seeing that as positive for the image and reputation. In publishing reports where they have admitted continued problems in the factories, companies such as Gap and Nike have added to their credibility and trust. To admit to mistakes rather than pretending that everything is perfect is certainly going to be a trend in reporting on CSR activities.

For many of the brand name companies their brand is the core of their business. Therefore, developing a brand which is seen as socially and environmentally responsible is always a good business in a world globalization context. The relationship with the media is an important issue for the large brand name companies. They want to ensure that there is as little scope for bad publicity as possible and therefore need to project a positive image. Good CSR can be part of a process to help avoid this.

Suppliers It is interesting to note that many companies in the supply chain can also benefit from developing a positive image and reputation. As we move away from an audit mentality towards relationships based on trust and cooperation, companies that have an image and reputation as being good employers, environmentally conscious and ethical are going to find themselves as favoured partners. Many companies base their auditing methodologies on risk factors. The more a company is trusted then the less it is going to be audited and inspected and therefore developing a reputation of trust is going to reduce the time and money spent on preparing for audits.

The SME sector Even small companies can benefit from improving their image and reputation. There are some large companies that really want to promote business with the small business sector and they will be looking to identify smaller enterprises that have established a reputation for good quality, well priced products produced in a way that is seen as socially responsible. But increasingly, as large buyers move to consolidating supply chains, smaller companies are going to have to differentiate themselves to gain and retain business in competition with their larger counterparts.

Cost savings One of the easiest places for a company to start engaging in sustainability is to use it as a way to cut costs. Whether it’s using less packaging or less energy, these savings add up quickly. For example, General Mills is on a path to reduce its energy savings by 20% by 2015. According to its 2011 CSR report, after installing energy monitoring meters on several pieces of equipment at its Covington, Ga. plant, the company saved $600,000. Brand differentiation In the past, brand differentiation was one of the primary reasons companies embraced CSR. Companies such as Timberland were able to find their voice and incorporate the company’s values into their business model. However, as CSR has become more commonplace, using it to differentiate your brand is getting harder to do. For example, the “Cola Wars” is one of the longest running rivalries in business. Coke and Pepsi are constantly looking to grab as much market share as they can from each other. Yet they are both adopting similar, although slightly different, approaches to CSR. Both Pepsi and Coke are pursuing strategies of zero net water usage. Both companies offer water bottles made from sustainable packaging as well. In the end, although neither company is necessarily going to see strong differentiation benefits, I see the diminishing returns on brand differentiation as a sign that CSR is taking hold. Customer engagement What’s the point of doing CSR if no one knows about it? For the past few years, Walmart has established itself as a leader on environmental efforts. In 2008, Walmart ran an ad campaign designed to raise awareness about the environment and the product choices consumers could make. Using CSR can help you engage with your customers in new ways. Since the message is about something “good,” it can often be an easier way to talk to your customers. For example, consumers would be willing to pay extra in the knowledge that the products they bought had not been produced by slave labour, had respected the environment, that the technology to produce them had been acquired without corruption payments, and that the human rights of its employees and the local community had been protected.

Employee engagement Along similar lines, if your own employees don’t know what’s going on within your organization, you’re missing an opportunity. Companies like Sara Lee created a crossfunctional, global Sustainability Working Team to help create a strategy for sustainability. At a more grass roots level, the Solo Cup Company created the Sustainability Action Network to activate employees in community service focused on the company’s CSR priorities. Product quality is also likely to be much improved when employees are treated as part of the company rather than as add-ons. Moreover, employees are better motivated and more productive.Employees may stay longer, reducing the costs and disruption of recruitment and retraining. Reduced regulatory oversight To show good behavior makes the state be less suspicious thorns company activity with means less fewer inspections. Maybe an official recommendation/ approval of the state that the product of the company is created or sold in a social responsible way. In the European Union companies with environmentally safe products are gathered on a list of environmental goods and services sector (EGSS). “The EGSS produces the following categories of environmental products: environmental specific services, environmental solepurpose products (connected products), adapted (cleaner) and more resource-efficient goods and environmental technologies” according to the EU commission.

EGSS production, % of GDP, by type of activity (market, non-market, ancillary), latest available year Source: Eurostat

4.1.1) Some Examples Over the years, Molson Coors Canada has used CSR to advance its brand — and is one of the few major corporations to take advantage of social media in doing so. Molson Coors invests more in responsible drinking education than on alcohol-centered events. Molson reaches out to the community to find ways to spread the message of responsible drinking, putting money behind the TaxiGuy program (for those who’ve had one too many) and covering the cost of free public transit on New Year’s Eve. Shell recounts the story of the holiday season of 2008 when the Toronto Transit Authority canceled its New Year’s Eve free-ride transportation because of budget cuts. Molson stepped in and launched a campaign to replace public funding with private sector donations, starting with its own $20,000 donation.

Tyson Foods offers another example of a major company tying its corporate social responsibility efforts to its core mission. Tyson has committed its brand to efforts to relieve and ultimately end childhood hunger, and in the past few years been integrating social media into its hunger relief efforts. Tyson connected with the Social Media Club and began a string of extraordinarily smart and effective efforts to enlist the community. For example, it launched a campaign in Austin in which it agreed to donate 100 pounds of chicken to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas for every comment posted on its blog. They received 658 comments in two hours and loaded up two trucks filled with chicken for the hungry, Beth said. They repeated the success in Boston and San Francisco, launched a user-generated video contest in Minnesota and sponsored a day of service for its social media team.

Molson has a small social media team led by Ferg Devins, who is not only responsible for selling beer but for outreach to communities in need. The team uses Twitter and blogging to initiate community generosity projects.

Starbucks has also been publically lauded for it corporate social responsibility efforts. The coffee giant created its C.A.F.E. Practices guidelines, which are designed to ensure the company is sourcing sustainably grown and processed coffee by evaluating the economic, social and environmental aspects of coffee production.

Tom's Shoes is another notable example of a company that has social responsibility at its core. The shoe company donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased.

Project of BCR the Romanian commercial Bank “Finanţele Mele” My finances. BCR is the biggest bank in Romania handling 17, 1 milliard in EUR. Identification of target groups A. Main: teaching staff, students (15-19 years), volunteer consultants from BCR; B. Secondary students' parents and civil society; Three building scenarios for each of the stages of communication: launch, progress, closure, and feedback below the program (version 2). Define campaign objectives and criteria for evaluation campaign objectives Attracting a 50 teachers and 3,000 students in the program students; C. Educating young people aged 15 to 19 years for planning personal finances

But CSR can be made by small and mid-sized companies as well. For example APS Torino, a company with 12 full time employees which mounts in pavement for industrial clients in Italy to big companies, uses material that are qualitatively and environmentally friendly so in this case the core activity is made in a responsible way by creating trust with clients. But CSR can be a simple act of making your employees’ life easier; for example by opening a child care space inside the company so that employees have a place to leave their children while they will be working. 24

4.2) COSTS The costs of implementing CSR vary depending each time on the CSR policy. There are three different categories of CSR costs.

Sunk costs Sunk costs are actually the costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered in the future. Sunk costs include all the initial costs for investment in equipment, environmental, health and safety systems as well as building and infrastructure. They also include the costs for CSR consultancy and CSR development policies. Moreover, besides the actual invested money, it should be taken into account the opportunity cost investment.

Opportunity costs This category includes all the projects and activities that could not have been undertaken, because labor and capital were invested in CSR activities. Therefore, this could lead to lost revenues.

Recurrent costs Recurrent costs include labor costs such as increased wages, overtime payments, social insurance, training courses, benefits for workers (free meal, medical expenses, accommodation), equipment maintenance and update as well as monitoring and reporting.

Additionally to the costs for CSR implementation, there are also the costs for auditing and certification. It is quite costly for companies to show credible proof of good CSR policies to partners and consumers. However, they should invest on how to credibly promote their policies to suppliers, consumers and partners to a national and international level. These costs are highly variable, since they depend on the company, the number of its employees, the size of the facility and the type of certification or audit.

5) ARE CSR PRACTICES PROFITABLE OR NOT? Corporations that make social responsibility disclosures beyond the norm have something else in common – a tendency to be more profitable over the long term than the competition. It is generally held that corporate social responsibility (CSR) could increase company profits and thus most large companies are actively engaged in it. “Furthermore, we show the economic advantage to be greatest for firms in countries with weaker governance and weaker institutions, suggesting incentives for firms in these countries to excel in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arena and to disclose information about their superior CSR behavior,” says co-author Debra Jeter of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management in the research paper Are CSR Disclosures Value Relevant? Cross-Country Evidence. It is mostly believed that CSR can improve profits. CSR can promote respect for the company in the marketplace which can result in higher sales, enhance employee loyalty and attract better personnel to the firm. Also, CSR activities focusing on sustainability issues may lower costs and improve efficiencies as well. An added advantage for public companies is that aggressive CSR activities may help them gain a possible listing in the FTSE4Good or Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, or other similar indices. This may enhance the company’s stock price, making executives’ stock and stock options more profitable and shareholders happier. Based on the following study, “Profiting from a sustainable business”, by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), November 2008, the corporate citizenship (CC) is another term roughly equivalent to CSR. The EIU study defines CC as “transcending philanthropy and compliance, and is addressing how companies manage their social and environmental impacts as well as their economic contribution. Corporate citizens are accountable not just to shareholders, but also to stakeholders such as employees, consumers, suppliers, local communities and society at large.” The EIU study said that, “CC is becoming increasingly important for the long-term health of companies even though most struggle to show a return on their investment from socially responsible activities… 74 per cent of respondents to the survey say corporate citizenship can help increase profits at their company… Survey respondents who say effective corporate citizenship can help to improve the bottom line are also more likely to say their strategy is ‘very important’ to their business (33 per cent) compared with other survey respondents (8 per cent).”

The study of CSR and its relation to corporate profits is growing. The most recent study on this subject is by Cristiana Manescu. In her thesis, "Economic Implications of Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Investments,” at the University of Gothenburg's School of Business, Economics and Law, Sweden, she wrote on December 6, 2010 that, “the results [of her thesis] reveal that CSR activities do not generally have a negative effect on profitability, but that in the few cases where they have a positive effect, this effect is rather small.” Other studies add further perspectives. For example, defining the experience of CSR in relation to different industries is this study, The Economics and Politics of Corporate Social Performance, by David P. Baron, Maretno A. Harjoto, and Hoje Jo, published on April 21, 2009. The researchers found that, “For consumer industries, greater CSP [corporate social performance] is associated with better CFP [corporate financial performance], and the opposite is true for industrial industries… Empirical studies have examined the relation between CSR and corporate financial performance, and while the results are mixed, overall the research has found a positive but weak correlation.” However, reviewing individual empirical studies can be confusing. But by using the technique of ‘meta-analysis,’ many studies can be statistically analysed to determine collective results. A meta-analysis on CSR and its link to profits won the famed socially responsible investing, Moskowitz Prize in 2004. The study, Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis, was compiled by researchers Marc Orlitzky, Frank L. Schmidt and Sara L. Rynes yielded encouraging data suggesting a positive link between CSR and increased profits. So the research generally indicates that CSR/CC/CSP, no matter how you define it, does offer potential benefit to corporate profits. But there is another unanswered problem, and that relates to causation. Do high profits enable greater spending on CSR, or is it that CSR itself creates higher profits? Referring again to the study, The Economics and Politics of Corporate Social Performance, the researchers write that, “…the direction of causation remains an open question. That is, good CSP could cause good CFP, but good CFP could provide slack resources to spend on CSP. As the Economist wrote, ‘...whether profitable companies feel rich enough to splash out on CSR, or CSR [activity itself] brings profits’”.

On balance, surveys and the research literature suggest that what most executives believe intuitively, that CSR can improve profits, is possible. And almost no large public company today would want to be seen unengaged in CSR. That is clear admission of how important CSR might be to their bottom line, no matter how difficult it may be to define CSR and link it to profits. It doesn’t matter what you sell. People are looking hard at how you do business and the companies that do it best win the CSR race, ahead of those for whom “corporate giving” is the only index of corporate responsibility.

How company can get a profit from landing a flower-bed in a children’s playground? Does it exist or not? Let’s follow this idea by an example from our visit in Piazza Dei Mestieri. As an alternative option of education, Piazza dei Mestieri teaches young adults of 13-18 years old how to cook, draw and make different hairstyles in a professional way. You can make sure in it by yourself, just visiting it. The head of this organization welcomed our team, as it speaks, with open arms. Showed to us all of the rooms and with enthusiasm told about their activity.

It is needed to say that rooms and equipment, at least the ones that were shown to us, were in a level of Intermediate in terms of professional equipment. So, we can say for sure, that the ones, who invest in it, really believe in this project. By the way, who are interested in this project and who does provide a financial support for this organization? Unfortunately, there are no exact data of this information, but as we were told by their manager, Piazza dei Mestieri is funded by government and some big companies. And of course, the role of government is the biggest. Why government is interested in this project? This is not charity as it seems from first sight. Government helped to itself by raising a new people, who are able to pay taxes. Because of different reasons, some teenagers are not able to continue their education in high school. And it is more probable, that it will be difficult for them to survive in this competitive world, that becomes with every each day pickier about level of education. As a matter of fact, nowadays even bachelors’ degree is not enough for finding a good job. Understanding all these facts, government as a wisdom parent, found a solution for it in a form of Piazza dei Mestieri. In addition, acting on this way government helps to raise level of the life of society in general. Thanks to this policy, Italians have no problems with finding a place where they can treat themselves by tastiest brioches and coffee. But what about the usual organizations? What does motivate them to practice CSR policy? Our team had visited several companies asking them the question “What is motivating you to practice CSR?” Maybe, it is surprising, but all of them told, that they are doing it, because of their own choice and there is no special request from government. They said that they feel themselves responsible to do it. Maybe the profit is not seen in financial terms. It is more understood in a moral, social and human aspect.

It’s a give-and-take interaction with the customers, the people, the world.

6) CSR IN ITALY The characteristics of the Italian economy in terms of SMEs and network organizations represent a unique background in which to explore the relationship between CSR strategies and these two industrial specificities. A comparison with average sized European companies in the industry, services and infrastructure sectors shows that the Italian system has an average of 3.9 employees per company compared to an average of 6 overall for the 15 EU member states. In industrial spheres, enterprises with over 250 employees account for 19.7% of the total in Italy whereas 34% of the total for the EU. Another important feature is that the Italian industrial system is characterized geographically in that its activity is concentrated in industrial districts in Northern and Central Italy, along the Adriatic coast and in a few areas of the South (Becattini, 1987; Goodman, Bamford & Saynor, 1989). In some traditional and engineering industries, these districts have a leadership position in the global market and overall account for over two-thirds of total national exports. Italian SMEs are an integral part of the local community and their success is often related to their capability to acquire legitimacy and consensus from local stakeholders such as employees, public authorities, financial organizations, banks, suppliers and citizens. These local networks are based on informal and tacit relationships, whose results are often not communicated or simply not measured. Successful collaboration in one endeavor builds connections and trusts--social assets that facilitate future collaboration in other, unrelated tasks. In this perspective, the intangible assets in terms of reputation, trust, legitimacy and consensus related to the concepts of social capital are at the basis of the long-term performance of Italian SMEs and their districts (Lipparini, 2002). A variety of structural (the predominance of SMEs and the role of local districts) and historical (e.g., importance of the cooperative movement) reasons have remarkably characterized the Italian national economic system and its attentiveness to social relationships as a whole. In this context, several initiatives on CSR have been promoted to face the rising attention paid by public opinion to environmental protection, product safety and the respect of human and workers' rights. In general, Italian companies show a positive attitude towards CSR. Enterprises seem to be engaged in socially responsible activities, using several tools, such as, specific programs concerning social issues, sponsorships, donations, adoption of codes of conduct. According to a study carried out in 2003 by Unioncamere (the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce) in cooperation with the Istituto per i Valori dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Impresa (ISVI - Institute for Corporate Values) only 15.2% of the larger enterprises do not know tools like Green Paper, code of conduct, environmental statement, social statement, against 55% of smaller and small enterprises.

The spontaneous experiences from companies and institutions have been reviewed and classified into three main groups: private, public and corporative association.

Private Sector Experience With regard to the private sector, different ambits show a considerable interest in CSR issues from companies and other players. Depending on the tool adopted and its impact on corporate strategy and processes, the various initiatives can be divided into four main groups: 

Reports/statements and other reporting activities



Managing and certification systems

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Financial experience (ethical investment funds, rating)

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Other initiatives

Public Sector Experience So far, many initiatives have been promoted within the public sector both at the regional and provincial level.

Entrepreneurial Associations Finally, the National System of Chambers of Commerce is particularly sensitive and attentive to promoting CSR among companies working in Italy. In the light of the above-mentioned initiatives, it can be understood that the Italian approach to CSR implies a nationally widespread network of private and public interventions that are highly innovative. It is indeed true that many of the voluntary activities carried out by companies, mostly SMEs, despite a strong relationship with the local community, are scarcely systematic; that is, they are not structured into formal.

According to the Italian full report on “The State of the Art on CSR" for Italian companies the most important benefits resulting from socially-responsible behaviors are: 

Regarding human resources and the company environment, CSR practices contribute to a better, safer and more-motivation-based working environment, in line with the corporation targets of effectiveness efficiency. As a consequence, this increases the corporate capability to attract and keep qualified and motivated human resources



At the international competitive level, which is more and more complex and dynamic, where social and environmental dumping cases trigger competitive imbalances, CSR may represent a qualifying distinctive element by transforming threats into opportunities, in full respect of the market rules and consumers’ sensibility



Easier access to financial funds by virtue of the already-mentioned risk profiles reduction of a socially-responsible company. As far as the final market is concerned, the CSR commitment contributes to the increase of the brand value, through the development of a steady and long-lasting relationship with consumers/clients, on the basis of trust and loyalty to the brand. The care for principles of social and environmental responsibility strengthens the company’s reputation and thus reduces the risk of boycotting by third organizations.

Summing up, Italian companies show a positive attitude towards CSR. Companies seem to be engaged in socially responsible activities using several tools: specific programs on social issues, sponsorships, donations, adoption of codes of conduct. Meanwhile, for several companies CSR is still an occasional topic, not closely related to the business strategy. The need for public support is clearly pointed out by Italian enterprises as a critical factor in fostering CSR behavior. In particular, in addition to fiscal incentives, companies need information on corporate social issues (the lack of publicity on CSR is considered one of the main obstacles to CSR activities). Public Authorities have to develop and spread knowledge about CSR in the business community through promotion and communication.

6.1) an example: Lavazza Lavazza has always been a responsible company which pays close attention to the human, environmental and cultural resources of the countries with which it works. There are various projects that have been launched and supported as part of Lavazzaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CSR (Lavazza Corporate Social Responsibility) program to improve living conditions. In 2002, it was established the Lavazza Foundation, named in honor of Giuseppe and Pericle Lavazza. This charitable non-profit foundation is the operating arm of the socially responsible company, manages social and sustainability projects in Italy and coffee-growing countries. More specifically, the Foundation is a charitable non-profit organization which promotes international social projects aimed at improving the living conditions of communities of caficultores, from sustainable development to social and health assistance and from initiatives for children to protecting the natural environment. The Foundation also supports countries around the world which have been affected by natural disasters, as demonstrated by the initiatives undertaken following the earthquake in the Abruzzo region in Italy, and in Thailand and Myanmar. The Foundation collaborates with various organizations in different areas: public and private institutions, NGOs and trade associations. One example is its collaboration with CeCafĂŠ to set up computer laboratories at elementary schools in the coffee-growing regions of Brazil. The laboratories are used by students during the week and adults on weekends and holidays. In addition to supporting the communities of local producers, the Lavazza Foundation also focuses on helping children, and one of its main partners in this is the Save the Children Fund. Moreover, the Foundation also works on smaller projects that involve coffee-growing countries. Lavazza certainly does not forget the Piedmont region and Turin. Here it organizes and supports charitable work, cultural activities and the development of the region. The most important associations with which it collaborates regularly are Consulta and Adisco.

Consulta for the Promotion of the Artistic and Cultural Legacy of Turin 32 companies and associated bodies, 36 projects completed, investments to the amount of €25 million, the contribution of a great deal of hard work and professionalism in an entrepreneurial spirit, a series of publications detailing the completed restoration projects, and a tried and tested operating strategy: this is Consulta, a solid and now well-established answer to the needs of Turin’s cultural heritage.

ADISCO The Italian Association of Umbilical Cord Blood Donors was formed in October 1995 by a group of women willing to donate blood from their babies’ umbilical cords, which would otherwise have been discarded. The association is open to anyone wishing to support its work. It aims to: 

promote donation of umbilical cord blood, and make the option accessible to women throughout Italy

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raise funds for research, in order to fully complete the huge potential of the use of umbilical cord blood in organ transplants

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enable the setting up of a network of umbilical cord blood donor banks across Italy

7) EXAMPLE OF CSR POLICIES AROUND THE WORLD In this section, different CSR policies will be presented that have been implemented from a range of companies around the world. 7.1) CSR IN ROMANIA The national awards for CRS where handed out in Romania this year in Bucharest 22 Mai 2013 the two winners where Coca-Cola Romania and EcoRom Ambalaje. The 2 companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s represented Romania at the European CSR Award Ceremony in Bruxelles in 25 July 2013. The jury appreciated these two projects the most because they are long term projects and because they can be replicated by others as well. Methodology followed judging criteria as innovation, leadership and partnership. The event was coordinated by CSR Europe and Business in the Community (BITC). ECO - ROM AMBALAJE is an organization established by the industry, acting as an interface in fulfilling a public interest mission: environmental protection by observing the commitments to reach packaging waste recovery and recycling objectives values: leadership, marketing, innovation. The company was founded in 2003 to recycle waste and packaging of products made in Romania or imported in the country. In 2004 the company represents Romania at the Pro Europe event organized for companies working in the recycling and waste management in Europe. Between 2005-2013 Ecorom develops a system of recycling used in all Romania in the 400 localities the comp activates in. At the present time EcoRom has 2600 client from producers to importers of goods in the country. Reaching 9 million people with the recycling infrastructure, making 75% of the recycling demanded by the EU. The company staff is flexible and uses multiple communication channels to reach out to the public. The organizational structure includes 5 departments; marketing which is responsible for promotions and making contracts; operations which is the part of the company that makes the whole procedure of recycling from collecting from the population to the final waste management; communications (PR) which is the development of programs for creating awareness and educating people about waste management; finance which handles all money related activates accounting, bank related activates; law department which analyzes contracts in progress and preparing the new ones. CRS project of ECOROM Educational projects is: Blue for paper, yellow for plastic and green for glass.

The program started in 2008 in just 4 towns and is now reaching 28 localities. It provides teaching to third grade and fourth grade school students to recycle in an appropriate way. The 28 localities are selected from the 70 towns with appropriate selective collection infrastructure. Now the program reaches 100.000 people. The program uses an educational kit "We learn to recycle package" containing a notebook with useful information. The kit includes the Handbook "We learn to recycle package", for 3rd and 4th graders, and the Guide for trainers and teachers. In Romania the CSR movement was initiated in 2006.In Romania you can find a site called csr-romania.ro which is a site managed and founded by Forum for International Communications in Romania. Its purpose is to write all about CSR in the country. Also this foundation is the one that hands out the annual awards in the domain. This site is created in order to promote ethical management. This foundation is private and the organization was established through the effort of individuals and companies, who represent SMEs, large businesses and NGOs and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supported partially by Echo Research from United Kingdom, Institute 4 Sustainability from Germany and Centre for Sustainability and Excellence from Greece. This site is dedicated to CSR professionals in Romania and to businessman. CSR Romania aims to promote social and economic benefits of CSR for society, increase the importance of CSR strategy among corporate leaders and provide Romanian companies and their social partners with a platform for exchanging know-how researches and best practices in the field of sustainable business. Also this is a task with many obstacles because of the economic weakness of the country; the practice of CSR is long term and that for it requires a bigger capital to practice. Also itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unusual to have private foundations doing work and activity only from money from companies and private persons. This shows an interest in this topic from the society. A survey made in 2010 shows that in Romania 60% prefer to buy green brand and there are even willing to pay an extra for it. But the most of this activity is strongly concentrated in the capital. Events like for example Young Entrepreneurs for Sustainability are made only in the capital which is a huge disadvantage for other people living in other big cities. State founding for CSR in Romania: The Government is responsible for creating an environment that encourages the application of the concept of CSR/SR, as the Government is a significant factor influencing economic development and the sustainable development of communities and society. Since joining the EU, Romania began the process of harmonization of law and regulations, which is still ongoing. Significant improvements in legislation were made with regards to environment,

health and safety of employees, skills development, social inclusion and anticorruption. In Romania the concept of corporate social responsibility originates in the 1990s when many NGOs (particularly with humanitarian business objectives) were founded with the assistance of international public or private institutions. This was followed during the 2000s, as preparation for EU integration, by major reforms which influenced the involvement of large and small companies in CSR/SR activities in terms of restructuring their technologies for environmentally friendly production or the adoption of social measures for employees or the society. Due to increasing extensive legislation in this area, there is constant competition concerning technologies used that must ensure the protection of the environment and of employees and promote sustainable development. The private sector’s implementation of responsible practices began to be stronger after EU integration and was mainly led by the engagement of multinational companies who transferred their organizational culture and practices from headquarters at a local level and, later on, also fueled by the opportunity to access EU funds. In Romania, until 2008, a strong motivator ‘to do CSR’ was the possibility to earn customer trust. Many of the companies focused on brand and consumption. Consequently, CSR was seen as an added value meant to increase brand value. A “National Strategy for the Promotion of CSR” was launched in 2011, highlighting priorities, objectives and main directions for implementation however in other countries like Denmark have introduced mandatory CSR reporting for large companies working in the country. In the educational programs CSR is not a standalone program but its studied in university`s on the economics faculties for example as a part management. In Romania the CSR activity is mainly done by big multinational companies who implement there know how in the country small and medium sized companies often don`t get involved in such activities. This is partially because the awareness is not highlighted enough by the local authorities. Also the SMEs don`t have departments to entrust with these activates and there policy is also different than the policy of a multinational. But the ones that participate in CSR activity offer n-kind donations, services or volunteers because often it seems easier. SME`s has just become more and more important because they are the main employers of working force in developing countries. Example for companies doing CSR in Romania: Big companies: Banca Comerciala Romana, Coca-Cola HBC Romania, Coca-Cola System Romania, Danone Romania, IBM Romania, Petrom, Provident Financial Romania IFN SA, Rompetrol, UPC Romania, Ursus, Vodafone Romania. SMEs: Eco-Rom Ambalaje, GolinHarris Public Relations: Food Bank, Media Production Group SRL, Vitrina Advertising. As you can see there are less SME`s than big companies involved.

You can see that most of the companies doing CSR are companies from abroad. These are all the big companies the SMEs are all owned by Romanian citizens.

The United Nations Global Compact, also known as Compact or UNGC, is a United Nations initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The Global Compact is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Under the Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society.

This initiative was founded in 2000 The Global Compact Office is supported by six UN agencies: the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; the United Nations Environment Programme; the International Labour Organization; the United Nations Development Programme; the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

7.2) CSR IN POLAND Responsible business is a huge potential for innovation. It provides a framework for the management of any organization having financial, environmental and social. These activities are distinguished company among others, support the development of products and innovation processes, open new markets, attract and help retain the best employees, reduce the risk of legal problems, reduce insurance costs, contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and reduce the amount of waste company stand out among its competitors, improve image among stakeholders and the public, and finally provide better quality of life. Sustainable development is now an issue strategic for any forward-thinking organization. It is a response to the environmental challenges associated with social and economic issues. The inclusion of social responsibility business strategy and day business operations do not is a burden, on the contrary - encourages the involvement in the innovation process that sets and will set directions business development in the world. The principles of sustainable development become ethical motto of every entrepreneurial organization, which sees people, the world and profits as a coherent whole.

DEVELOP OF CSR IN POLAND Despite that some aspects of business ethics were already present in Poland before II World War, the modern approach was in years 90. XX century, dynamic development CSR is dated

in Poland at the beginning of XXI century and is closely related to the suction a large number of foreign investors. CSR in Poland enjoys a growing interest of managers, business environment institutions, investors and government, gradually becoming a determinant of corporate governance and priority in building a comprehensive business development strategy. The essence of the concept is also noticed by the media, which popularized the wider public, not just industry.

A large number of actions to disseminate CSR has contributed to the awareness of the importance of environmental, social and management (called Environment, Social, Governance ESG) in the conduct of business, as well as the exchange of good practices and the development of grassroots initiatives and standards in the area of sustainable development.

The interest in corporate social responsibility in the management is growing among managers and entrepreneurs in Poland. A number of studies have shown that the majority of executives is convinced that ethical conduct is conducive to success in business. Managers also increasingly understand that corporate social responsibility is a comprehensive business management style, not just single charities. 39 In Poland, the increasingly growing awareness of the fact that companies must play an active and positive role in society. Must therefore focus not only on prices and the quality of its products and services, but also on the effects of social and green its operations. Increasingly that the company will present a more detailed and complete information on the methods of identification and management of risks of social , ethical and environmental, as well as, that determine how these risks affect the value of the short-and long-term. Thinking about responsibility is in terms of mainly of 'charitable ' or ' social' activities. Generally, mainly in terms of philanthropy, is the omission of a significant impact of corporations in the majority of stakeholders. Employees, customers, investors, local communities and the environment natural feel the effects of business decisions taken every day. Companies must therefore face increasing demands to develop management policy issues non-financial. Companies that decide to develop such a social policy generally limited to develop a set of nice sounding statements, for example, that the company "will not tolerate corruption in any form". However, the task involving the implementation of such a policy is sometimes far more difficult and more challenging than expected for entrepreneurs, which exposes them to criticism. In fact, public disclosure of company policy can sometimes increase the risk of attack, because a variety of groups engaged in actively to highlight discrepancies between the declarations of companies and their activities.

As studies show, 50% of companies use a different strategy on CSR. Most companies are aware of the fact that they function in an environment in which the individual actors are linked in various ways. Intensive development dialogue with key stakeholders can be seen in 40 % of the surveyed companies, including 13% of Polish companies in the entire sample. 52% of all companies communicate with stakeholders passively, and stakeholders' priorities are identified. Companies rarely feel the effects of social pressure. In most of the companies, the people who are responsible for CSR are related to the field of public relations, because the cell on CSR is part of this particular department.

Every single year the number of enterprises is growing and international standards are taking purpose of regular communication attitudes towards the concept and assumptions CSR.

In Poland Socially Responsible Investment (called Socially Responsible Investments, SRI), is supported primarily through the exchange of good practice for investment and industry selfregulation.

The concept of CSR has been significantly expanded compared to the historical beginnings and still is the subject of public debate. The essence of CSR with a modern twist faithfully reflects the norm in corporate social responsibility ISO 26000. Despite its efforts, there are a number of challenges in the field of CSR, to be met. The key remains to increase transparency, and build broad public support for the concept of CSR and the development of civil society. These issues are highlighted in the new economic strategy "Europe 2020 - A Strategy for Smart Growth Sustainable and inclusive growth". The EU Member States, adopting a new strategy aimed at creating stable foundations of economic growth enabling the realization of the development aspirations of society and to ensure the competitiveness of the EU in the context of globalization. National Reform Program for the implementation of the strategy "Europe 2020" (NRP) is an element management system, national policy development, and the proposed in its reform efforts, in conjunction with the implementation of long and medium-term development strategy of the country and nine integrated national strategies, will enable a focus on priority areas from the point of view of socio-economic Polish.

GOVERNMENT & CSR

"In the era of increasing competition and customer requirements professional development of business relationships with the business environment and society and building its credibility and reputation become, along with the issue of financial efficiency and quality of our products or services, an important factor in developing a competitive advantage." RafaĹ&#x201A; Baniak Undersecretary of State Ministry of Economy

Since 2004, government representatives take active participation in the work of the various bodies of the European Union -also in the range of tasks related to CSR. Administration has already taken action to increase awareness among the participants the implementation of CSR - not only because of our membership in the EU, but above all the need for urgent and effective reconstruction of the social fabric in the direction of society.

Due to horizontal dimension of liability for CSR implementing the action in specific areas is with various government departments. Purpose of ensuring coherence and coordination initiatives taken for dissemination in the concept was called CSR team for the social responsibility of enterprises covering body of assistant prime minister.

The Remuneration Panel chaired by the minister responsible for economic affairs in the rank of Under-Secretary of State. The tasks of the Group include: 1. Proposed solutions for interagency coordination of public administration in the promotion and implementation of CSR principles. 2. Analysis and use of experiences and good practices of other countries in the area of CSR, in particular the tools developed in the framework of the European Alliance for policy development and implementation of CSR. 3. Creating in terms of better communication and dialogue between government, business, social partners and non-governmental organizations on matters relating to CSR.

For efficient implementation of the tasks of the Group established four working groups focused on: -

development of a system to promote CSR in Poland,

promoting responsible investment,

development of education in the field of social responsibility,

promoting sustainable consumption,

the work of the Group and the aforementioned.

Working in groups involves representatives of a wide range of experts from the government side as well as business partners, civil society organizations, trade unions, and academia.

The Ministry of Economy has launched a government website which constitute not only a kind of center of expertise on current events in the field of CSR, but also a platform for exchange of experience related to the concepts and directions of development of CSR in Poland.

CSR IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES CSR development is not only for large enterprises. Many initiatives popularizing CSR also environmental SMEs contribute to the importance of aspects ESG awareness business, and the exchange of good practices and development grassroots initiatives and standards sustainable development in the area. Furthermore, it is observed that SMEs often have initiative ad hoc practicing CSR unconscious.

KAMPANIA PIWOWARSKA S.A.: a case of CSR in Poland A. ABOUT THE COMPANY KAMPANIA PIWOWARSKA S.A. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is a beer company founded in year 1999. KP is part of SABMiller plc, one of the largest beer producers. The group is present in over 60 countries on six continents, and its portfolio includes more than 150 brands, including premium international beers such as Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as leading local brands such as Aquila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. KP is the largest brewer in the polish food industry.

B. CSR IN KP Activities in the area of corporate responsibility are being considered throughout the company's supply chain, where the emphasis is on dialogue with suppliers and customers for sustainable development, one of the priorities of the strategy Brewing Company. CSR in KP is based on the following corporate values the company: 1. Our people are our enduring advantage 2. The liability of each is clear and personal 3. We work and win in teams, 4. We understand and respect our customers and consumers 5. Reputation we have only one. KP, together with other breweries owned by SABMiller in the world has set a 10 sustainable development priorities, which include: • tackling irresponsible alcohol consumption, • increasing the production of beer using less water, • reducing energy consumption and carbon emission, • recovery and recycling of packaging waste, • responsible waste management, minimization of waste transferred to landfill, • shared with suppliers and customers committed to sustainable development, • respect for human rights, • activities for local communities ( in the framework of the social investment company), • reducing the impact of HIV and AIDS in the areas in which we have influence, • transparency of information on the progress of sustainable development.

Undertaken in connection with these priorities, commitments and targets are monitored by the Board. The Company assesses the progress that has made in key areas of sustainable development in the four-level scale "staircase ". Thanks to the self-assessment can include adaptation priorities and changes depending on local requirements.

EXAMPLE OF CSR ACTIVITIES IN KP

“Warto być za!” (eng. “Worth be pro!”)

44 One of the areas of social activities of KP is an initiative to reduce negative effects of social exclusion due to poverty. The conducted by Pentor Research International research shows that the most common reasons for exclusion in Poland are unemployment, alcoholism and poverty. "Worth be pro!" is a nationwide social program, initiated in 2006, which is a response to occur in Poland, social exclusion, caused by poverty. Its aim is to stimulate and support nongovernmental organizations in the implementation of projects aimed at the poorest. The initiative was announced a grant competition for NGOs - KP has provided 90% funding of projects in the amount of 1.5 million PLN per year. Implementation of the projects associated with improved quality of life and living conditions of several thousand people from across the Polish. The program has created a foundation for partnership between, KP and Polish environmental NGOs. Program is accompanied by expert debate on social exclusion, which, together with experts, looking for a solution to this problem.

In all editions of the competition (since 2006) an assessment team of experts and program council were 230 applications. The board of representatives of the world of science and the NGO sector, but the final say belonged to the local communities who vote for the best projects via SMS, web pages and initiatives through coupons in the local press. The unit is dedicated to the initiative of CSR Manager. CSR Manager Responsibilities included the launch of the next three editions of the project, providing external and internal communication, preparing the ground for substantive evaluation of projects on the forum of the program board and presentation of selected projects for public voting. D. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVES Since the beginning of the project in June 2006, the principles and action plan remain unchanged. Each edition of “Worth be pro!" takes a year and proceeds according to the following plan: • accepting applications from charitable organizations, • evaluation of proposals by the Panel of Experts to prepare the ranking, • nominated by the Program projects that will be put to the vote of the public, • vote, • summary of the results, • hold a press conference combined with a gala finale and announcement of winners, • signing contracts with the winners of the competition, transfer of funds, • implementation of the winning projects, • presentation of the winners of the financial and technical reports, including audit partner supporting – KPMG

E. GOALS OF INITIATIVE The objectives of initiative support the mobilization and public benefit organizations whose activities aim at minimizing the risk of social exclusion due to poverty, which affects, among others, unemployment, low skills, drug addiction, alcohol addiction. As part of the "Worth be pro", it is promoted awareness of social exclusion and ways in which these can be effectively prevented.

F. SECTORS INVOLVED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INITIATIVE 

Governments - representatives of local governments form a partial composition of the Programme - their experience and understanding of local needs have an impact on the selection of projects.



The public sector - the public sector is represented by the office of the Ombudsman, who took the honorary patronage "Worth be pro!". The program was also included in the Organizing Committee of the International Commemoration Day for the Eradication of Poverty. In 2008 was also prepared photographic exhibition "It's Worth", presented in November 2008 at the Office of the Ombudsman and 17 October 2008 in the Seym.



Non-governmental

organizations

representatives

non-governmental

organizations, having casual contact with social assistance, are experts in meetings and discussions are also members of the Program Committee.

G. BARRIERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INITIATIVE One of the problems facing the organizers of the project was to appraise the merits of the applications. KP has no authority to conduct social assistance. Therefore, no assistance in evaluating invited experts and the general public. Selection of projects awarded funding takes place in three stages. Applications were assessed first by experts in the field of grassroots initiatives and social programs, and then the finalists chose the Program Council. Subsequently, by a nationwide vote of 20 projects were selected the top 10. Doubts also affected the disbursement of funds transferred reliable. All projects under the “Worth be pro!" are therefore audited by KPMG at the end.

H. BENEFITS FOR THE COMPANY The program is directed outside the company, so primarily benefit for the company is her image. The initiative received the 2007 “Złoty Spinacz” (eng. “Golden Clip”) in the category of CSR for the best social campaign in Poland. The program allows you to build relationships with local governments and non-governmental organizations through the participation of their representatives in the program and organized discussions. The company responds to the problem of social exclusion due to poverty, which has been designated by the company as a key stakeholder when investing in the local community.

BENEFITS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Benefits for local communities arise from the investment in the projects. Investing is intended to be long-term, which enables the effective fight against the phenomenon of social exclusion and poverty. The activities of education and information, as well as some elements of the call for proposals, as public voting and a nationwide advertising campaign, promote the publicity of the problem. Indirectly, the action contributes to the development of civil society at the micro level through the integration of local communities around the idea of tackling.

VISION FOR THE FUTURE

The social initiative â&#x20AC;&#x153;Worth be proâ&#x20AC;? is a long-term project, the vision of the initiative is correlated with the existing strategy of social investment KP for next years.

7.3) CSR IN INDONESIA Carroll (1979; 1991; 2004) argues that four responsibilities (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) can be distinguished to cover the whole CSR perspective of what society can expect from a company, economically as well as socially. The use and implementation of different responsibilities depends on a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s size, its field of industry and economical conditions. Carroll (2004) further points out that ethical responsibility have a major impact on a company and that ethical standard and norms, especially in developing countries, can be very hard to identify. A company has to operate in such manner that they follow its moral as well as ethical believes and consider that ethical behavior can affect the company as much or even more then legal responsibility.

Government represents laws and regulations that each separate country provides. Indonesia was the first country in the world to state (in 2007) a law that withholds regulations regarding CSR activities for companies (CSR Asia Weekly 2007). In 2007 Indonesia instated a CSR law that makes it an obligation for companies using natural resources to pay 3-5 percent of their profit to the government. The law is according to empirical data, in great need of improvement due to misperceptions and lack of a clear definition. Carroll (1998) describes that companies sometimes see regulations in the opposite way, whereas laws and regulations often hinder rather than help their economical performance. Ernovian (Textile association, interview, 2009-04-01) explains that CSR guidelines in Indonesia are hard to follow, since local and central government look upon the law differently, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the law is not a law; it is more of a mutual agreement between government and enterprisesâ&#x20AC;? (Choirul, Ministry of SME, interview, 2009-04-01). All respondents involved agree that CSR in Indonesia would function better if it became voluntary for all companies, though they believe that the law has created a higher awareness of social and environmental issues in Indonesia.

Empirical data show that CSR in Indonesia has its foundation in cultural and ethical norms. One cannot create CSR standards that can be applied in different regions, though to the high psychic distance dilemmas that exists inside Indonesia. Harmon & Utama (Chamber of Commerce, interview, 2009-04-06) explain that Indonesia has a genius culture and CSR is a really complex and diffuse agenda especially in Indonesia where cultural and religious differences are of great importance.

Doing CSR in Indonesia Trakindo is the authorized dealer in Indonesia for Caterpillar products, the world's largest manufacturer of heavy equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial engines and generator sets. Trakindo was established in 1970 by the founder, Mr. AHK Hamami. The Company became the authorized dealer for Caterpillar in 1971 and now has more than 65 branches throughout the country from Sumatera to Papua. Trakindo is proud to offer a complete line of Caterpillar equipment products designed to work hard and built to last. They have a complete selection of Caterpillar engines with various capacity ratings, a full selection of Caterpillar equipment, and a complete range of genuine replacement parts for every Caterpillar product, as well as new and used Caterpillar parts and equipment. Backed by unbeatable support facilities and an extensive spare parts supply network, Trakindo provides world-class service to its customers in the mining, construction, forestry, agricultural, energy, marine, and other industrial sectors. Trakindo has experienced a remarkable journey of more than 40 years, during which we have grown to become 'The Customer Services Company' and a world–class provider of Caterpillar equipment solutions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities at Trakindo are geared toward fulfilling the needs and interests of its stakeholders, particularly employees and local communities. Understanding the importance of education for the future generation of Indonesians, Trakindo has been active in providing educational support as part of its CSR activities, through regular scholarships to talented children of the employees. Another fine example of how Trakindo serves its corporate mission statement through CSR activities is the educational cooperation programs with Technical High Schools and Polytechnic institutions in Indonesia. Here, Trakindo helped establish Heavy Equipment study programs by providing engines, equipment and multimedia facilities and recruiting qualified students upon graduation. Community healthcare and social programs are also part of Trakindo’s CSR activities. Among our routine programs is the quarterly blood drives organised at Trakindo offices all over Indonesia. Trakindo is also one of the major sponsors of an ongoing program that provides free cleft-lips surgeries for members of local communities in East Kalimantan, the Company’s major operational area. In the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh and earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java, Trakindo actively participated in the relief efforts through heavy equipment mobilizations, as well as donations of cash and basic necessities. Through

its CSR programs, Trakindo aims to provide tangible benefits to local communities and foster harmonious relationships with them. In 2012, a long and proud journey of more than 35 years, during which Trakindo has grown to become â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Customer Services Companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and a world-class provider of Caterpillar equipment solutions. They do a big Corporate Social Responsibilty by helping 40 Schools

have

come

the end

second

phase, in

which 15 schools from

different regions of Indonesia have been successfully refurbished, and in the stage of implementation of training program for teachers to improve quality and provision of scholarships to outstanding students of the schools. Trakindo Utama as a big company not only do CSR by helpin them renovated the school but also they helped their teacher and students by assisting with a training program to improve their people quality. Here is the details of the school that Trakindo Utama helping to renovated the building and assisting their children. 1. Medan, SDN 060932 Medan This school covers 432 students with 18 teaching staff. The CSR program of Trakindo has successfully refurbished: 12 (twelve) classrooms,

1 (one)

staff room, a library, 6

(six) toilets, and the school playground.

2. Pekanbaru, SDN 039 Rumbai Pesisir This school covers 170 students and had only 4 classrooms, so many of the students had to study in other elementary school to conduct their learning activities. CSR program of Trakindo has successfully refurbished : 4 (four) classrooms, a staff room, 3 (three) toilets, and the school playground. Additionally, 3 (three) new toilets and also 2 (two) new classrooms were built to overcome the lack of classroom. 3. Batam, SDN 005 Sekupang This school has 639 students with 29 teaching staff. CSR program of Trakindo has successfully refurbished : 13 (thirteen) classrooms,

1 (one) staff room, a library, 6

(six) toilets, and the school playground. 4. Pangkal Pinang, SDN 40 Kacang Pedang This school has 170 students with 10 teaching staff. Despite relatively small number of students, this school has made outstanding achievement such as: Runner Up of Chess Competition in provincial level (2011) and the winner of Fast Chess Competition in provincial

level (2011). CSR Program of Trakindo has successfully refurbished 6 (six) classrooms, a staff room, a library, 2 (two) toilets, and the school playground. Additionally, 2 (two) new toilets have been built. 5. Tanjung Adaro, SDN 1 Padang Panjang This school owns168 students. Through CSR Program of Trakindo, SDN 1 Padang Panjang, Tanjung Adaro has been refurbished, which consists of: 6 (six) classrooms, a staff room, a library, 4 (four) toilets, and the school playground. 6. Satui, SDN 6 Sungai Danau This school covers 583 students with 22 teaching staff. Through its CSR program, Trakindo has successfully refurbished 6 (six) classrooms, 2 (two) staff rooms, 2 (two) toilets and the school playground. 7. Batu Hijau, SDN 2 Maluk This school has 397 students and 18 teaching staff. Through CSR program of Trakindo, SDN 2 Maluk, Batu Hijau has been successfully refurbished which consists of: 11 (eleven) classrooms, 1 (one) staff room, a library, 4 (four) toilets, and the school playground and school fence. 8. Manado, SDN 043 Manado This school has 185 students with 11 teaching staffs. Through CSR program of Trakindo, SDN 043 Manado has been successfully refurbished and consists of : 7 (seven) classrooms, 1 (one) staff room, a library, 3 (three) toilets, and the school playground. Additionally, Trakindo built a new toilet. 9. Sorong, SD Inpres 44 Klamalu This school covers 205 students and 15 teaching staffs. Through Trakindo CSR program, SD Inpres 44 Klamalu, Sorong had succeed to refurbished 13 classrooms, 1 (one) staff room, a library, 4 (four) toilets and a school playground. 10. Timika, SDN II Timika This school covers 721 people with only 17 teaching staffs. Despite the limitation of teaching staff,

the

teachers and

the

students

have

achieved

some

awards.

One

the accomplishments was when one student of SDN II Timika nominated amongst top 11

nominees in mathematics competition within district level, in 2011.Through CSR Program of Trakindo, Timika II SDN has been successfully

refurbished,

which

consists

of:

(fifteen) classrooms, 1 (one) staff room, a library, a computer lab, 4 (four) toilets, and the school playground. In addition, a soccer field , 2 new toilets and a new parking field were built. 11. Sorowako, SDN 264 Wawondula This schools has 497 students with 25 teaching staff. Through its CSR program, Trakindo has successfully refurbished 15 (fifteen) classrooms, a library, 2 (two) toilets, the school playground and school fence. In addition, it built 4 (four) new rooms to be used for learning activities as well as seminar. Indonesia’s CSR Overview

How is CSR looked upon as a strategy from a managerial perspective in Indonesia?

Local community plays a vital role and has a major impact on companies conducting business in Indonesia, especially in remote and rural areas. Any company conducting business in these areas needs to achieve acceptance and legitimacy in order to carry out their business activities. When entering new areas a company uses CSR to introduce themselves to local inhabitants and other stakeholders. By giving something back to the community, a company can gain acceptance to perform their business. Using CSR as a strategy companies receive protection from locals in the nearby surroundings and thereby reduce the risk for conflicts that otherwise could have occurred. CSR functions as a marketing strategy, since it can create improved image and also increase its reputation. This can result in added stock value or in one way or another contributes to higher profit. CSR is also used in order to meet foreign companies’ demands and expectations, this in order to export. Companies use strategic CSR to gain a sustainable future in order to grow.

Who is considered to be the most important stakeholder for companies in Indonesia performing CSR and in what way do companies meet its stakeholders’ demands?

From the empirical data there are many stakeholders that can be looked upon as very important and influential, though after further considerations local community stands out. Local community is thereby considered the most important stakeholder regarding CSR in Indonesia. They are either affected by, participating in or affects a company’s CSR performance and activities. Without clarification from local community it can be difficult or even impossible for a company to operate in remote and rural areas in Indonesia. This is

where most companies extractingnatural resources in Indonesia operates. Companies satisfy local communities by developing their surroundings in one way or another. This can be done by community development, which includes providing healthcare, education, infrastructure, social activities etc. Some companies also contribute by giving charity to organizations like NGOs who passes the funds on to the local community. One of the major issues can be to employ and use local workforce, which is the main focus among smaller companies

What are the positive or negative aspects of using CSR?

CSR generates something positive for everyone involved, if performed with consideration. CSR has created a higher awareness in Indonesia regarding environmental as well as social issues. Companies can communicate with the local surroundings and gain a good reputation and legitimacy to perform their business. Through CSR companies gain security, become more attractive as an employer as well as on the global market. What can be seen as negative is the law, which forces companies to perform CSR. Because of this, some companies perform CSR by giving careless charity and other activities that creates an unhealthy business environment as well as local communities becoming dependent of a company. Since there still is no clear definition regarding the concept of CSR, misperceptions and misunderstandings easily appear. Due to this some local communities expect companies to increase their living standards, which can be seen as a governmental obligation.

7.4) CSR IN ESTONIA Corporate social responsibility has recently came to Estonia and other Baltic countries. Having gone through many changes and regimes, being the part of nationalism and socialism, Estonia only in 1991 regained its independence. It is obvious that in first years Estonia have focused on a making the transition from a command economy to a free market economy and economic development.

Becoming a part of European Union in 2004 gave to Estonia big opportunity to integrate to European market, where CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) already have been practicing as an important segment of business.

There are several organizations, which promote and propagate corporate social responsibility in Estonia. The most active of them are Good Deed Foundation, Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Open Estonia Foundation and Responsible Business Forum in Estonia.

Good Deed Foundation Good Deed Foundation (GDF) was founded in 2003. The mission of organization is to solve today’s societal problems by increasing the capacity of high-impact organizations. The organization founded by the mission of today's societal problems by increasing the capacity of high-impact organizations. The vision of GDF is to create a model through strategic philanthropy measurable positive change in all areas of support. GDF adheres to the NGO Code of Ethics. The networks includes Eesti Charity Foundation Nonprofit European Union and the Association of Strategic philanthropist. Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established in 1925 to protect and act on behalf of merchants, industrialists, bankers and shipowners. It restored it’s activity in 1989. Chamber oа Commerce and Industry have been living in different times, but always remained the most important business place for Estonian and interested in Estonia foreign entrepreneurs. ECCI is Estonia’s oldest and largest representative business organization. Estonian Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit organization whose members are companies and organizations registered in Estonia. The offices of Regional Chamber of Commerce are located in Tartu, Pärnu, Kuressaare and Jõhvi. The main purpose of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce is promoting entrepreneurship and helping to create and save a business-friendly economic environment. Open Estonia Foundation Open Estonia Foundation (OEF) is a non-governmental charitable foundation, which develops an open society in Estonia (this means an effective participatory democracy, a strong civil society, social justice, respect for differences and equality of opportunity). Fund was established in 1990. Two decades have given impetus to the development of many different fields, from education to civil society and currently, OEF deals primarily with open governance and fundamental rights and social cohesion issues.

OEF struggles for open reign, meaningful dialogue between citizens and government, and guarantee of people's rights. To achieve these, OEF initiates various projects, cooperates with partners in Estonia and Europe and organizes support programs.

Responsible Business Forum Responsible Business Forum (RBF) connects companies that have significant cultivation of sustainable business principles and apply them consistently in their work. RBF provides support to businesses in the implementation of sustainable business and increases public awareness of this issue. Responsible Business Forum has 28 members at the moment. In addition to the network of member companies RBG also cooperates with others interested in the promotion of sustainable business organizations (associations, universities, public and third sector, etc.) and experts. There were 55 companies who participated in the Estonian CSR Index 2010. The results of it show that the average grade was 62 points out of 100. The medium score was 2% higher than a year ago, and an improvement was observed in most areas. This means that there is a consistent development in the field of Estonian CSR. Moreover, the most responsible company in the results’ table of CSR Index 2010 is Coca-Cola HBC Eesti AS, which gained 95,8 points out of ideal 100. That shows that Estonia has companies, which dedicate themselves to socially responsible business and are very successful in that(Responsible Business Forum, 2011). In addition, it can be said, that all these 55 companies, who participated in the Index, set an example to all the others, as they have integrated CSR more or less in their everyday business and took the step by letting their business-actions analysed from a socially responsible standpoint. Therefore, other companies have a lot to learn from them.

This example shows that despite of the today’s small prevalence, due to the help of government, other organizations and informational propagande, CSR has all opportunities to become a part of everyday business in Estonia. 1

Liis Veersalu “The importance or Corporate Social Responsibility in Estonian consumers’ purchasing decisions”. Tallinn, 2011

”

7.5) CSR IN COLOMBIA Talking about corporate social responsibility is talking about a topic that involves too many authorities; privates and public organizations, startups, medium and small size companies and of course multinationals. Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR onward, is a strategic action that involves competitiveness, sustainability, and continue development for the companies without care about the market field or what this company is engaged. These days CSR is very important in order to create profit, positioning and recognition. CSR is an relevant topic in the Colombian agenda, the companies know it and everyday there are more strategic decisions with focus in the combination of ethical and socially responsible practices and with administrative management. In all fields of activity of the organization, these actions are really necessary if the companies want to generate confidence with the people and segments where there are present. With these responsible decisions, companies can understand a little bit more of what the consequences are of each action that they make, how can the companies create positive impacts and of course know about risk, advantages and weakness inside the companies. Colombia attaches to the United Nations Global Compact more known as Compact or UNGC in 2004. It is United Nationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. Since 2004 Colombia is an active participant. If we are talking about the number of companies that have created programs with CSR, more than 180 SME added activities with focus in responsibility and if we have a look to the multinationals, more than 450 have added to the network of CSR in Colombia.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have a look a parallel between some attitudes and activities in the past and the present of those attitudes in Colombia:

In the Past POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

With the revolution industry began to With technological development especially invest in technology and so employees do in the field of production generated higher not physically worked so strong.

processes of environmental contamination and began losing jobs.

Born the Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Human rights were not as much of emphasis for the purpose of advising companies in the management of accidents.

because employment discrimination was evident between others, difficulties in meeting costs of motherhood, reports of discrimination is also evident to reviewers with terminal or contagious diseases. There are also cases of racial discrimination, religious

status,

age

discrimination

exclusion on political affinity. The right to associate is argued. There is In multinational is not known hiring minors. degree of acceptance towards unions.

Volumes tasks exaggerated to the point of being exploitative, with the only goal of being profitable.

The businessman in Colombia, church and volunteer groups have a philanthropic tradition of community support for several decades. Under the concept of corporate social actions around its plants and offices paved streets, managed works infrastructure (potable water, water and sewer), along sponsored

orphanages,

NGOs,

among

others. Companies Strengthened access education building

schools

forth

child(ren)of

reviewers ,or providing scholarships and Aid for payment enrollment or purchase of

uniforms and votes. Companies invested in training plans and training

employees,

multinationals

built

housing

generated

easy

payment

some credits for

its

employees. In an effort to not have on costs or lost production time and others, permitted the establishment of medical clinics and dental facilities within.

The Present POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

Speaking about today social responsibility

In Colombia corporate social responsibility

is invited to reflect and think about

has been accentuated and not born Interest

areas of development such as health,

government

but

instead

strengthened by the private sector. environment and human rights. Responsible Competitiveness is the key to Only until the 50s in Colombia began to growth and consolidation of the companies worry about the health of workers, making roots welfare and sustainable development this work something casual and without any from humans form organizations, and technique. supported by good governance practices. However from 1992 this activity began to develop technically with the creation of a law, by which requires companies to the establishment of the Joint Committee Occupational Safety and Health (COPASO). Forcing develop these policies to be more preventive corrective. Although the law is unfortunately violated. The profitability of companies is no longer measured in terms of money. The indicator

There is no record or control. The income is generated by the payment of royalties to the

for it now is the creation and development state. activities of social welfare, through the needs

employees

and

community

concerns, strengthening and respects the

The work product of multinationals exploit natural resources, which should be invested in health, infrastructure, and social welfare.

differences. Colombia is experiencing a time of transformation compared to the concept of social responsibility as it shows GTC 180 is created. Currently there are two views; the first is the company, which must be committed with

the

country

and

its

citizens,

displaying the development beyond the profitability

and

the

second

the

community that consists of all the social, economic, and political sectors in which the companies are interested and they participate actively by committing with accountability and balances transparency. The strongest to date industry group is led by ANDI, this group of entrepreneurs has led Colombia to engage the interest companies with RS. Although many of them are performing well locally important actions and even at the national level, others were satisfied the only legally required compliance.

Colombian example of CSR: Corona Organization

Organization Corona is a Colombian multinational with more than 128 years of company history. It consists of eight strategic business units engaged in manufacturing and marketing of household products and construction. It has 17 manufacturing plants in Colombia and 2 in the United States, as well as a global sourcing office in China, a marketer of coatings in the United States and in Mexico trading.

It generates more than 10,000 jobs and exports its products to many markets around the world , including USA, Canada, Mexico , Brazil, Chile, Venezuela , Central America , the Caribbean, Italy, Spain , Portugal , Russia , Israel and the UK.

Corona consists of the following business units: • Floor and Wall Corona • Toilets & Sinks Corona • Faucets and Accessories Corona • Supplies and Construction Materials Corona • Gamma - Insulators Corona • Dinnerware Crown • Storage Corona • Sodimac Colombia SA 61 Dress Your Home Program CORONA is looking for their businesses to be profitable, sustainable and replicable, and to this extent they affect positively all its customers and consumers. "You saw your house" is an inclusive business model where different actors can make common cause ally seeking to achieve social and economic benefits. In " Dress Your House " CORONA interacts with social organizations and communities in the localities which are present to the model by developing a new mechanical work , generating different employment opportunities and achieving improved quality of life of people who are part thereof, either as developers, customers or community members . "Dress Your Home " is marketing a portfolio of products for Floor and Wall CORONA through direct presence in localities with properly trained promoters and women who are heads of households belonging to each community at affordable prices, with funding and in small quantities, so that the inhabitants thereof have easy access to a range that allows them to improve their homes or businesses and therefore their quality of life.

Some relevant data: • “Dress your house” was born in Usme (Bogotá ) as a result of market research conducted in 2003 . • To develop the program market research has revealed that the segments with lower coverage were 1,2 and 3 , in which households lacked finishing work ahead . • Dress Your House currently has a presence in 17 locations in the cities of Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Cartagena and Barranquilla. • So far it has benefited 28,000 families in these communities with quality products. • it has generated income to 200 women heads of households in the localities where it operates.

Housing improvement: Before

After

Transforming the objective pursued by the companies leads to an environment conducive with rightly generating social conditions where human growth can be sustainable, efficient and cost-effective inside the company. This will be the ideal scenario stakeholders surrounding the CSR.

7.6) CSR IN GREECE Over the last decade there has been an apparent shift from adopting more responsible business practices. A global CEO survey undertaken by Price Waterhouse Coopers/World Economic Forum found that 70% of chief executives globally agree that CSR is vital to profitability (Fifth Global CEO Survey). In Western Europe, 68% of large companies, report what has been coined the triple bottom-line performance (economic, social, and environmental factors) in addition to financial performance, compared with 41% in the United States (Price Waterhouse Coopers 2002, BSI Global Research Inc. 2002).

Even though there is a global positive move towards CSR, Greece is still in a relatively low level. More specifically, Greece is a country which faces difficulties in its political and social system in the last two decades and the engagement of managers to CSR is on the way to developing an integrated strategy with focus on environmental issues but in a not systematic way. According to the Social Economic Committee of Greece which issued an “Opinion on CSR” (2003) the difficulty of complying with the law and the size of Greek companies which are usually family owned who haven’t the culture or the initiatives from the state to realize the advantages of CSR principles are some of the obstacles to a successfully CSR strategy. Beyond the above difficulties, CSR in Greece starts to emerge and there are encouraging efforts by companies for a responsible behavior along with the help of NGOs and recently with the government as well.

The governmental contribution in promoting CSR in Greece is based on the ancient term “Agora”; political CSR applications arose from a series of discussion processes in which governments sought to involve companies and society stakeholders, debating in groups along with political representatives.

The Ministry of Employment and Social Protection is responsible for coordinating the efforts on CSR policy across Greek society. The Greek Government examines its practices in order to incorporate social and environmental matters and implement the principles of CSR, mainly concerning the internal dimension of CSR (i.e. management of human resources, health and safety at workplaces, and adaptation to change). These practices are not a separate sector of CSR at the moment, but are diffused in laws, programs, projects, initiatives and national action plans, reinforcing, encouraging and promoting CSR beyond the limit of legal duties. The Hellenic Network for CSR, founded in June 2000 by companies, is a major actor. To date more than 60 enterprises have joined the network. The objective of the network is the promotion of the notion of CSR and of the idea of social cohesion in Greece. This objective is realized through a continuous exchange and diffusion of information, collaboration with

enterprises, collectives and other units on every level; awareness raising of the community of enterprises and of the public about social action; contribution of the enterprises on a local national and international level; development of collaboration for the promotion of projects of communal good and shared ways of coping with social problems; and transfer, adoption and diffusion of good practices in the sector of social cohesion and CSR. Several congresses and workshops on CSR for the public sector were being held in Greece in 2007.

The Ministry of Employment and Social Protection applies political measures aiming at full employment, improvement in productivity quality and growth in human capital, having in mind the European Employment Strategy principles and the directive lines. The Ministry's political priorities are: • Attracting and retaining more people in the labor market, increasing the labor offer and modernization of social protection methods • Improvement of work adaptation • Increased investment in human capital with the improvement of education and skills

Moreover, the National Strategy Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, which was coordinated and drawn up by the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, set fundamental political principles which also contribute to fulfilling CSR goals. Specifically, these principles lie at the core of the effort to improve people's quality of life and promote social inclusion. These principles contribute to: • The promotion of equality, equal opportunities, equal treatment and gender equality • The promotion of social solidarity and inclusion • Transparent and democratic management in the development, follow-up and evaluation of actions and policies related to social protection and inclusion

Let’s see two examples of CSR cases in Greece:

ALPHA BANK

The first and absolute priority for Alpha Bank is each individual and the respect of human values. Alpha Bank gives emphasis on building a better community through taking measures in favor of culture, sports, environment, society and education. Alpha Bank provides a separate CSR report.

More specifically, Alpha Bank adopted and implemented, as early as 1994, the principles of corporate

governance,

aiming

at transparency in communication with

the

Bank’s

Shareholders and at keeping investors promptly and continuously informed. Corporate Governance is a system of principles underlying the organization, operation and administration of an incorporated company, aiming to secure and satisfy the lawful interests of all those who relate with the company. Correct corporate structures and procedures result in successful Corporate Governance, which promotes the recognition and reputation of the company. In this context, the Bank has separated the Chairman’s duties from those of the Managing Director and implements a comprehensive system of internal audit for the Group in accordance with international standards and the current regulatory framework. In addition, it has adopted a Code of Ethics for the performance of duties with the purpose to promote the standards required by modern corporate governance and to enhance the efficiency of Internal Audit rules. The Board of Directors has adopted the Corporate Governance Code which sets the framework and guidelines for the governance of the Bank and is reviewed by the Board of Directors.

Society is a primary priority for Alpha Bank. Only in 2012 the social contribution of Alpha Bank was amazingly apparent. Volunteers on behalf of Alpha Bank participated in programs offering clothes and long-life food supplies for all the citizens in need. On the “Alpha Bank Group Volunteer Day” a number of charitable events took place all over Greece aiming to provide food supplies and facilitating “social grocery stores”. A similar to this event has also been taken place in a number of places around Greece named as the “Helping Hand” action. Moreover, Alpha Bank has supported the multi-child families of the Attica Prefecture by offering children and infants’ utensils, food and ware. Also, books and computers are dispatched to schools and other institutions by Alpha Bank and many charity organizations are financially supported or food supplies provided during Christmas period.

The Bank participates actively in cultural life by supporting

activities

aimed

preserving

and

disseminating Greek culture. For a number of years now Alpha Bank has been showing in practice its interest in Art and Culture, not

only

providing

financial

assistance to related events but also through the Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s programs and numismatic and art Collections. There is a unique banknote museum located in Corfu and housed in the building where the Ionian Bank operated for the first time in 1839. Moreover, since 2006 an exhibition space operates in the historical centre of Nafplio, in a building owned by the Bank. Every year, exhibitions are presented in the Centre which are organized by the Art Collection Section and the Numismatic Collection Section. At the same time, exhibitions of an educational nature are organized during the winter. For a number of years Alpha Bank has been showing in practice its interest in sports. Aiming to promote athletic ideals and goodwill, the Bank supports sport-related events and activities. A milestone in the Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sponsorship activities in the area of sports was its appointment as Grand National Sponsor of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, on February 8, 2001. During the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games Alpha Bank hosted 3,700 clients from around the world. The aim of the hospitality program was to offer them a unique and unforgettable Olympic experience and to create a first class hospitality atmosphere for our visitors.

Alpha Bank, always aware of the importance of social issues, has developed a number of initiatives aiming at the protection of environmental conditions. These initiatives are compatible with international rules and practices. The Bank has identified a set of measurable

objectives

whose

implementation

systematically

monitored

and

reviewed. Alpha Bank, always consistent to its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, cooperated with the NGO Philodasiki Enwsi Athinon. As part of this synergy, the Bank sponsors the Kaisariani Aesthetic Park. The events that took place were tree planting, cleaning of paths in the forest of Ymittos, organization of a special environmental event entitled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Olive Pickingâ&#x20AC;?. Within its environmental policy and in order to encourage actions for protecting the environment, Alpha Bank has participated in many recycling programs. According to the Bank's policy on actions developing environmental consciousness, mostly to young people, Alpha Bank has undertaken the support of an Educational School Program, named Watersave, in association with the N.G.O. network Med-SOS, in order to promote active participation in the effort to save water, as an obligation to the environment and to future generations. Also, Alpha Bank supports the "Garbage-free" Program of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, inviting all young people to take the initiative and participate in actions aimed at protecting the nature of Greece from garbage, so that it may continue to be a source of inspiration in the development of our culture. For this purpose, teams of volunteers are established in every Municipality or Community in the country, comprising young pupils, boy and girl Scouts, and sensitized adults. Greece is endowed with countless beaches of striking beauty, surrounded by deep blue seas. Our lives are intimately linked to them. Alpha Bank, demonstrating in practice its increased awareness also in this area, supports the preservation and exploitation of beaches and of the sea, making them safe havens to be enjoyed by all. This is why, for five consecutive years, Alpha Bank has been the Sponsor of the international "Blue Flag" Program, managed in Greece by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature. Î&#x2018;lpha Bank supported in 2007 the environmental program named Ecomobility - Ecological Transfer organized by the N.G.O. Ecocity. The program is based on Greek pupils' personal initiative, having explored and acted voluntarily, as well as suggested solutions on ecological transportations in their own towns.

In 2009 Alpha Bank participated for the first time in the Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI). The CRI Index allows for comparative corporate assessments with respect to their Corporate Social Responsibility performance while helping to identify risks and opportunities. According to the results of the evaluation by the Institute for Corporate Responsibility, in its first year as a participant, Alpha Bank managed to win a distinction in the Bronze category. In order to assess companies, each year a survey is conducted which covers four primary fields (Community, Environment, Market and Workplace) and six major impact areas (three environmental and three social). Alpha Bank’s participation in FTSE4Good Index certifies that the Bank presents an excellent economic performance along with a remarkable social and environmental responsibility. Αlpha Bank is the new member of the United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative, since January 2007. Alpha Bank also was the Lead Sponsor of UNEP FI’s 2nd Meeting on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility of the Banking and Insurance Sector, held in Athens, on January 18, 2007.

COCO-MAT

COCO-MAT is a company specializing on the production of bed line, natural sleep products, towels as well as furniture both for homes and hotels. COCO-MAT was established in Athens in 1989 and today is a recognized leader for natural sleep products. The company has a growing network of stores in now 12 countries (Belgium, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, and United States). The tremendous growth and expansion of COCO-MAT, in combination with its high quality products, has now resulted in the name of “COCO-MAT” being familiar in most European consumer markets. COCO-MAT is one of the 500 nominated companies of Europe’s fastestgrowing, entrepreneurial and job-creating companies, according to Europe’s 500 listing. Furthermore, it is one of the 10 fastest growing companies in Greece.

COCO-MAT is committed to manufacturing the best beds in the world in the most sustainable way possible. The company has implemented the Systems of Quality Management and Environmental Management, whose design and function are based on the requirements of the models of ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 respectively. COCO-MAT’s policy is based on sustainable development and is focused on four main areas: 1. NATURAL - QUALITY PRODUCT 2. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 3. EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION 4. SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION 1. Natural – Quality product & environmental responsibility First of all, COCO-MAT places great emphasis on the protection of the environment, a commitment that is evident in the use of ecological materials and the avoidance of chemical ones. So, the raw materials used for COCO-MAT products are 100% natural, therefore the manufacturing of products and the products are friendly to human being and the environment. Some of the materials employed are: coconut fiber, wood, cactus, wool, natural rubber, horsehair, seaweed, cotton, linen, goose down, lavender and jute. Therefore the packaging of products - mattresses are transported in cotton cases. In addition, all the packaging materials that are used by the company are recyclable and are collected by the company upon delivery of its products to the customers, for returning to the factory for recycling. According to this philosophy furniture is delivered in wooden boxes and, at the same time, the company uses gas for its cars and factories. Moreover, the operation of COCO-MAT’s factory has the minimum possible harmful impact on the environment. The liquid waste of the factory is only that generated by the people and by ordinary cleaning. It should be pointed out that the percentage of rubber foam purity that is manufactured at the company’s premises reaches a level of 96% - for which the company can be proud as it has a worldwide record. More recently, acting on its beliefs COCO-MAT has decided to launch a special program providing motivation to those who wish to take additional action for the protection of the environment and their own health. Since 2011, COCO-MAT employees in Greece earn a 5% increase in their wages by using a bicycle for their transportation to and from work, and a further 3% increase by quitting smoking. Also customers travelling by bicycle to visit a COCOMAT store are given a 5% discount on their purchase.

Over the years COCO-MAT has gained a series of awards most of which concern its environmental policy. In 2010 the company was nominated with the “European Business Award for Environmentally-Friendly Products”. 2.

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the guide and motivation in one for COCO-MAT. For this reason, products and services are designed based on the needs and expectations of the customers. Sustainability and the protection of the environment are part of COCO-MAT’s policy and belief system and putting this philosophy into practice every day by respecting the customer and the environment is a pillar of COCO-MAT’s philosophy. The exclusive use of natural raw materials for the manufacturing of the company’s products aims at being able to provide a high-quality product to its customers and consists of COCO-MAT’s competitive advantage. With this, it leads by example, not only the competition, but also by creating close relationships with its customers who trust a company which puts its words and values into actions. 3. Employees satisfaction COCO-MAT supports and respects human rights by implementing a series of HR policies and taking actions that underlie its philosophy. The company offers equal opportunities by implementing a recruitment and employment policy that provides equal opportunities to everyone. COCO-MAT places great emphasis on people embracing all types of human activity – giving equal chances to everybody irrespective of their nationality, colour, religion, or physical disability. This interest is expressed by the recruitment of people from families with many children and people who face racial, religious and ethnic discrimination.

The

cultural

variation

and

multilingual pattern of its work force are quite evident, as in the company there are 13 nationalities and 9 religions and more than half of the people are refugees; 54% of the personnel are refugees from ex- Eastern Bloc countries such as Russia and a further 12% are from what the company calls “special social groups” which includes

disabled

people.

Colleagues

with

physical handicaps are encouraged to actively participate in the customer service procedure.

Employees receive a number of benefits such as continuous training, recognition and reward of personal achievements (in the form of salary bonuses, promotions and gifts) and recreational activities including Sunday excursions, football games etc. Moreover, COCOMAT supports its personnel by providing flexible hours of work and special leaves of absence for pursuing personal interests and activities (horse riding, football games, Sunday excursions, playing music etc.). Continuous training and further education are encouraged along with the cultivation of a positive view on the part of the employees for the social aspect of their work. For example, the company encourages its employees to learn the English language by providing extra salary for the tuition, as well as employees who want to improve their knowledge on computers may attend lessons funded by the company. Direct communication between the employees and the Management is COCO-MAT’s basic philosophy. COCO-MAT employees are encouraged to communicate their ideas and their problems without censorship. All employees are encouraged to take action and initiate projects. Employees’ involvement in the decision making process is a focal point for the smooth operation of the company. Through their extensive participation in the decision making process, the employees can express their views and problems, take initiatives and suggest any solutions regarding the improvement of the quality of the company’s products and services, the improvement of the production procedures and the working conditions. Moreover, employee career development is directly connected with the company’s development. In this way, the employees’ participation in the improvement procedures draws its motivation from their own prospects of development. According to the company’s policy, at the beginning of each year, leaders of the company, heads of the departments and employees come together to present their attitudes and express their own views for the purposes and the targets of the company. The mission, vision and values of the company are in complete accordance with every employee’s attitude as it is the result of the combination of everyone’s ideas. Through this process the company manages to empower employees’ participation and communicate its targets.

The above graph shows that despite the variations noted in each department, the average employee satisfaction per department is above 97%. In general terms, the company’s effort for motivating its employees is consistent with the formation of a common vision, by everyone for everyone, for the creation of development prospects, perfect working conditions and reduction of the hours of work. As a result of company’s diversity and inclusiveness policies is that absenteeism is virtually zero and turnover is also very low. 4. Social contribution Its sensitivity to social issues is demonstrated by its relationship with social groups and services, such as psychiatric institutions, people with “special skills”, educational institutions, associations of Greeks repatriated from ex-Soviet Union countries. COCO-MAT’s presence in society is also evident in other ways; it participates in the local community providing sponsorships for athletic teams, associations and cultural events, funding environmental activities, information campaigns and supporting people in need (flood victims, old age pensioners, rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, prisoners, refugees etc.). To promote and support its culture of sustainability, COCO-MAT has established partnerships with individuals, social teams, external organizations and professional bodies in Greece and abroad. Examples are COCO-MAT’s partnerships with various Universities in Greece and abroad, EFQM, Cambridge University, UNESCO, WWF, United Nations, CSR Eurochambres in Brussels. The company’s policy is to communicate “best practices” outside the organization through its co-operation with social and educational institutions and the exchange of knowledge and experiences on a theoretical and practical basis.

In conclusion, COCO-MAT has created a sustainable corporate culture that include equal opportunities for all and democratic management. The company achieves high levels of customer and employee satisfaction as well as high quality natural products through effective leadership. Except from employees and clients, who are of major concern, the environment constitutes one of the most important priorities of COCO – MAT; it is seen more as a customer and less as a resource. At the same time, COCO-MAT tries to maintain a family environment where people are free to speak openly and honestly. The company believes it is capitalizing on the variety and freedom of opinion in the company while helping to ensure that its vision and values remain in accordance with employee attitudes. Company’s leaders are role models for its values. They take part in total quality management training, drive the same sorts of cars as employees, donate blood, do not smoke and take exercise. It is important to mention that during the 23 years of its operation, COCO-MAT’s efforts were recognized and rewarded in a yearly basis in different areas such as the social responsibility, the quality and the innovation. COCOMAT has won significant awards and top distinctions, showing extremely positive results on issues of quality, personnel management, protection of the environment, 73 methods of production and its social contribution. Such awards and distinctions demonstrate the recognition of many institutes and organizations concerning company’s environmentally – friendly manufacturing methods and its HR politics and make COCO-MAT proud of its achievements and giving strength to continue its efforts towards excellence.

7.7) CSR IN RUSSIA It is well-known, that Russia as a capital country is a young one, only 20 years old. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why, Russia doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a big experience in CSR practicing and there are not so many companies, who are practicing it. According to a research, what was made by Economist Intelligence Unit, 53% Russians consider that business in Russia is not a social responsible. But as a matter of fact, understanding that practicing CSR gives you a competitive edge, Russian companies becomes interested in it more and more.

It is important to have a feedback of every action that you are doing. And CSR reports can be a good opportunity to get it. Feedback of CSR is presented in a form of social reports. How much do companies speak about their social activity?

There are not so many companies who are making social reports on a regular basis. But the ones who are doing it, they do it in not-formal form and most of the time these reports are oriented on government and not on society.

According of some researches, typical social report consists of revealing following aspects of activity of company: 74 - Systems of payment for labor and motivation of workers. As an example JSK Lukoil has following principles: a consistent policy of payment and motivation of labor for all organizations of JSK Lukoil; establishment a level of payroll rate higher, than minimal payroll rate in state; transparency, objectivity, competitive abilities of payment and motivational system, periodical increasing of salary because of increasing productivity of labor.

- Increasing professional level and qualification of employees, corporate educational programs.

- Protection of health, including of corporate sport, increasing working conditions. As an example Russian JS company, Lukoil has a principle of priority of saving the life and health of worker, creates and supports ways of financial backing of industrial safety, ecology and safety and others principles.

- Programs of optional medical insurance. She helps to provide wider set of services.

- Programs of helping for young employees. Attracting of young specialists helps to provide of renewing of human resources, that is necessary for stable development of company.

- Housing programs.

- Communication with trade unions, that helps to support stable social environment between workers and find the most effective ways of problems.

As it is not difficult to see the process of creating, such kind of reports supposes some financial investments. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why, only companies with big profit are able to do it.

According to data of Russian soviet of industrialists and employers, there were registered 206 reports of different organizations since 2000 till 4th of May of 2010. There are 33 ecological reports, 116 social reports and 57 reports about sustainability. Not so much. Why?

Some surveys shows, that most of Russians (37%) see such types of reports only as an opportunity to create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;goodâ&#x20AC;? brand, 30% consider it as another form of advertising and only 18% think that social report is the way to let to the society to know about your social programs. But, as experience shows, despite of the fact of low number of social reports, usually even small Russian companies are act in a favor of CSR. So, Russia follows also the common trend of developing corporate social responsibility.

8) BUSINESS CAMPUS PROJECT The organization of AIESEC Torino and especially the Business Campus of Torino offer a unique international program that has been organized in order to inform the students of the Economic faculty and of Polytechnic of Turin about the importance and the strategies behind Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how startup can be connected to CSR. The Business Campus Project is actually a program that offers to students from all over the world the opportunity to work all together in order to promote the meaning and importance of CSR as well as to raise the awareness of students about CSR and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the objective of the Business Campus Project is to get close Italian students with the start up world and the startup businesses and to make companies more interested in corporate sustainability development and responsibility issues and to support furthering the concept CSR in society through being the centre of communication of CSR. Business Campus Project aims to change social enterprises and advocate that social entrepreneurship framework in an effective way in order to solve severe social issues though communication, training and lobbying.

There are several events and visits to Italian companies and organizations that are arranged during the period of this project. The goal of these meetings is to inform us, the team of the project, about the CSR actions that businesses undertake as well as to give us advice about how CSR can be effectively promoted. In every visit we have the opportunity to meet the managers of the companies and discuss about their work as well as to ask them any kind of questions that we have. This is of course very helpful and useful, since we can learn and be advised about CSR by highly experienced professionals. This project would not be a reality without the contribution of the Italian team members of the Business Campus Project of course. They believed in that, they tried really hard and in the end they managed to make it real. They offered the opportunity to 8 foreign exchange participants from all over the world to come and work in Turin. Working all together as a team in projects and organizing events in order to promote CSR and raise peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awareness is something that will remain memorable. The following section presents the members of the Italian team as well as the eight exchange participants (EPs).

9) WHO ARE WE? 9.1) The Italian team: ANDREEA EMANUELA TAMAS

I’m a Romanian 23 years-old girl leaving in Italy since I was 11 years old. I’m in my 5th year of University, doing a Master in Economics and International Management. I have lived half of my life in Romania and half on my life in Italy, and that helped me to grow faster and have another type of perspective. Moving from one country to another, means having to build up all again starting from zero, friends, language, life and habits: to build a new world. I had a cultural shock for about 10 years. Last year in November I realized that my student life was almost about to finish, and between studying and working, I wasn’t enjoying it as I should. I wanted to leave Italy and go anywhere else. But then I decided to enter in AIESEC. Something happened and I wanted to stay and change things! At the beginning, I worked with the outgoing exchanges part of the organization, after I worked on a project related to market analysis and statistics about the market penetration of AIESEC programs and products. Then I decided to apply for the position of Vice President, and I was not elected. What I understood is that in life and in this organization is normal to fail, but it is important how you get up from the failure. I decided to stand up again, and try something different. The new challenge was applying for being Project Manager of Business Campus. I started to work with a team of 3 people in April 2013, having no idea on how to do it and being out of my comfort zone. As months were passing by, I understood more and more how to do it, but the time was shorter and shorter. We had no money to pay accommodation, no food, no hosting families, and no companies supporting us. Then three more members entered the project, and summer holidays came, but didn’t stopped working. In September things started to work out and go in the right direction: a lot of meetings with the companies, a lot of emails (771 only in my sent box), a lot of phone calls and a lot of interviews.

After all the hard work, we found everything, and what I really understood is that in life no one is born having already a knowledge, but the most important thing is to BELIEVE in the things you are doing, putting your heart and soul. I had my internship, my exams, my project, my work, my team and my student life back as never before; a lot of things to manage. The trick is to believe!!! The thing that makes you understand that it was all worth is seeing 8 wonderful persons coming from all around the world for this project, because you decided to take that opportunity, because you and your team worked so hard, is the thing that pays you back of all the efforts. You change their life as they are changing yours! They represent the concrete fruits of your work and you hope that you will be able to deliver them the best experience ever, or try to do your best, because they really deserve it. I hope that this project will be just a starting point for us and that this connection can last for the whole life time! Remember: the more you give the more you get!!!!

STEFANO BOTTIGLIERI

I am Stefano Bottiglieri, an italian student from Torino. I will be graduated in a few days in International Trade Management. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always loved travelling and meeting new people, so I decided to join AIESEC and organize the â&#x20AC;&#x153;CSR business campusâ&#x20AC;?, to give the opportunity to international students to visit our amazing town! Fortunately our 8 EPs are beautiful and we can work hard and have fun at the same time! Un saluto!

Stefano Bottiglieri: stefano.bottiglieri@tiscali.it

AGNESE BATTAGLINO Hi, I’m Agnese! I’m twenty years old and I’m attending the second year of the School of Management in Turin. I stay in Turin only in the week and in the weekend I return in my hometown where my parents live and where I was born. Also my brother is away from home: he’s studing engineering in the South of France. The Village where I’ve always lived is called Pollenzo and it’s very nice and small; only about 1.000 people. It’s not far away from Turin only about 1 hour by train. I’ve always been very interested in the social side of companies and for this reason I’ve decided to partecipate at this project and team. We started the CSR project about seven months ago by calling companies and sending them emails. We arranged meetings with their rmanagers and we were talking about our ideas and our offers about the project. It was very intensive for me who have never had the possibility to have a real collaboration with a company. 80 I am studing economics following the CSR direction because I strongy believe that companies don’t have to gloat only over money and profits but also over the sustainability of their actions. The company has to think about the future, about its future in the surrounding environment. The territory where the company works, isn’t an empty space to exploit and then throw away, but it is something to nurture together. I’ve learned a lot of things from this experience and also I’ve improved my knowledge about CSR.

GIORGIO ROBERTO I am 26 years old and I am from Turin. I’m a student of “Scienze Strategiche” here in Turin and a member of AIESEC since 2012. I like very much my department because I can open my mind in lot of arguments.

I have always been interested in environmental issues and I have worked from 2009 to 2012 with the NGO MAIS of Turin. Through the project UNI.COO of the University of Turin I went to Senegal from April to September 2012 to carry out research which its main theme was the acquisition of land on a large scale and Italian companies operating in the agricultural sector, with particular emphasis on those that produce bio fuels. My role in the Green Campus Group is to preserve the contacts with the University and manage and organize events. Also I have to present and show the city to the EPs. With them we go out during the nights, we organize events and study and work all together for the same objective! Turin is one of the most beautiful and biggest cities in Italy, and is very important for the history of the Republic. Turin is crossed by the most important river of Italy and has always been one of the booming industrial centre of the nation. The city has changed a lot as a result of the Winter Olympics in 2006 that led to the international limelight. Turin is a city rich in history and you can have this feeling when you walk under the arcades of the old downtown or visit its historic cafes and shops. The legend says that Turin is also a magical city because it is crossed by the good and bad magic and some specific places of the city summarize in well this aspect of the hidden and unique city.

ANDREA SILVETTI

Hello there!! I am Andrea Silvetti student from Sardinia, after taking a bachelor degree in Sassari I decided to change my way and try to take another path in my life, so I decided to live one year in UK, exactly in Cambridge. After 1 year of a master based on International Trade Management this is going to be my last year at University of Turin. Why not to try new experiences? I started this project in AIESEC because I wanted to learn something different. With who? With someone that I didn’t know before. At the beginning they said to me that I had to run a project about CSR. “Sorry, about what?” Corporate Social Responsibility. Honestly it was something that I knew, but not the way I was d to know. This project gave me some knowledge and information that I did not have. I would like to spend some words about my Project Manager Andrea Tamas, starting from this e-book and ending with the Final Event. We all have to thank her for the organization, the hard work and the responsibility that she put on it. She tought us how to “CSR”. Many thanks even to my Team and obviously by saying Team I mean even the EPs.

I would like to finish saying: “CSR has to have responsibility and the responsibility has to do CSR”.

WU QIONG My name is Wu Qiong, a 23-year-old Chinese girl. I’m now

studying

International

Communication

University of Turin. I used to be an international exchange student with AFS (the biggest exchange organization for high school teenagers) when I was 16. I’ve been to Domodossola (in Italy) for 10 months. There I grown up a lot, I learnt to take responsibilities. And it was the first time that I realized that I should take responsibility of myself and also of the society.

Last year, I became the president of Association of Chinese Students and Scholars of University of Turin. As a president, I should organize all the things, from the big stuffs to the details. And as you know, a good organization needs good communication, and should be co-operated by everyone. 83 These experiences taught me what is CSR, and when I stayed with the EPs, I could see more clearly what the definition of CSR is; cooperation, society and responsibility. Everyone tried really hard. We are a team, and we wouldn’t achieve our final destination without anyone. Last but not least, I want to say thank you to our beautiful boss - Andreea! She’s a really wonderful woman, as the nuclear of the team; she filled all her strength into the project every day and night. She’s a superwoman in my heart and I’m so appreciated of her!

PAOLO CASERTA

I am 25 years old and I am an International Trade Management student at University of Turin. I am a member of AIESEC from 4 months.

I come from Lamezia Terme (Calabria). My city is really different from Turin and its socioeconomical reality. Indeed, there are few possibilities to create projects, international networks and youngstersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; collaborations. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m here to study for this reason: to try new experiences and to find new opportunities. By the end of 2014 I will be graduated and I hope to have the possibility to live some new experiences abroad, maybe even with AIESEC. I want to thank all the members of my team who worked so hard to create this project, especially the group leader Andreea Tamas for her effort. Thanks to my colleagues and to the EPs I understood the real importance of CSR: to improve the awareness about social responsibility that, in my opinion, is to create a relational network not based on the economic interest, but based on the responsibility of everybody to take a position about the common problems.

9.2) the 8 foreign EPs: ARYO PRABOWO SUSILO INDONESIA My name is Aryo Prabowo Susilo 22 years old from Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s good to be in Torino especially learn about today’s business in here. Indonesia is also known as one of the fastest economic growth country in the world located in South East Asia, also largest moslem popularity in the world. Nowadays, Indonesia have more than 250 million people. More than 70 million people in Indonesia is in middle class, who can spend between $2 - $20 in a day and will be doubled in 2020. Today, in my country i have small company about property business and really like to help abroad investor or company to visit Indonesia and seeking business opportunity. Salam, Aryo Prabowo Susilo (aryoprabowo@me.com) 85

AGNIESZKA SMYCZ POLAND I am 22 years old and I am from Poland. I am full of energy and I love travelling and getting to know new culture. I am fascinated about learn a lot of new things! That’s the reason I am now here. Moreover I am very interested in psychology, nutrition and economy. I love dance and snowboard. I have a bachelor’s degree in international economic relations. My thesis was about differences in development between countries in all over the world, development assistance and economic success which thanks it Rwanda made. Before make my master, I decided to make one year of gap year for travel, to develop myself and to get to know people from all over the world. My homeland is quite modern, especially in big cities and also entrepreneurs have big awareness about CSR. Unfortunately, our growth it is now slow, because it is only around 1%.

LASZLO BORUSZ ROMANIA

I am a 21 year old General management student at Partium University Oradea, Romania. I would like to continue this carrier path in marketing, finances and in management. My studies are international but I learn more outside the classroom in foreign country`s culture and mentality. My goal is to become an Entrepreneur. I am a dedicated and ambitious person, always with a positive attitude towards new challenges. I think in life the best thing is traveling and getting to know people. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I participate in youth mobility programs. Travelling and seeing people trying to develop themselves is always inspiring for me.

The most important thing for me is personal development. To be an Entrepreneur you have to be open minded to everyday possibilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in culture, travel and so on. I believe in CSR because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investing in the future. Hopefully in the near future I will have the opportunity to make changes with my own CSR program. To participate in a program like Business campus is a great opportunity to learn about team work and deadlines. Also to connect with people and to build a later useful network of extraordinary people. 86 I think that these extraordinary young people can be the answer for the European crisis.

Romania is a country of 19 million inhabitants from which 17.800.000 are Romanian nationals and 1.200.000 are Hungarian nationals. The country`s capital is Bucharest the second and third most important cities are Cluj-Napoca and Iasi. Romania is divided in 41 administrative territories county`s. The country`s geographical territory includes mountains, seaside, rivers and good quality soil as well for agriculture. Moreover, in most international rankings, Romania is among the first places in the world based on the speed of its internet service. Furthermore, Romanian cuisine is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It has been greatly influenced by Ottoman cuisine but also includes influences from the cuisines of other neighbors, such as the Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks and Hungarians.

Currently the Romanian economy is slow around 1% but before 2009 the economy grew with 8% a year making the country the first in the European Union. Since 2008 many international investors left the country because of financial difficulties Romania was a country that manufactured a large quantity spare parts for final products such as cars, microwaves, these products where mostly produced by southern European company`s but when these company`s got hit by the crisis the need of spare parts became lower making a lot of unemployment in the country.

Final products products that are sold to the end consumer made in Romania are Dacia cars a low cost car sold in Europe. Other products are agricultural products 45% of the population lives in the country side as rural population not in the cities so small agricultural production is usual.

The biggest problem in Romania in the present is the inability to subtract EU fund in special that the 45% of Romania lives in the country side and the EU budget concentrates mostly on the agricultural funds. Also even if in some areas the country is strong there are a lot of weaknesses for example the physical infrastructure is old fashioned and some infrastructure is simply missing. Also the life standard of the citizens is lower than the EU average.

ANDRONIKI KIMONOS GREECE

I am 22 years old and I come from Greece. I did my undergraduate degree in Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business in Greece. I continued my studies by doing my Master in Applied Economics and Financial Economics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. This period I am doing my internship in collaboration with AIESEC of the Business Campus at the University of Torino in Italy. It is a CSR-based internship aiming to raise the sensitivity of Italians about entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility.

Greece

democratic,

developed

country

strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Western Asia and Africa. Full of historical monuments and museums, Athens is the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capital and largest city, with its urban area including Piraeus. Famous for its Mediterranean climate, its cuisine and its beautiful islands with the deep blue waters, Greece has become the first choice for holidays with almost two million tourists every summer.

Greece acts as a focus and basis for activities of the Balkan countries and the Eastern Mediterranean. The economy of Greece enjoys a high standard of living and "very high" Human Development Index, ranking 29th in the world in 2011 and 22nd on The Economist's 2005 worldwide quality-of-life index. Greece's main industries are tourism, shipping, industrial products, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining and petroleum. However, after 14 consecutive years of economic growth, the Greek economy has faced significant problems since 2008, including rapidly rising unemployment levels, an inefficient public sector bureaucracy, tax evasion, corruption and low global competitiveness. Greeks have to work hard and do sacrifices in order these problems to be overcome. I am very glad that I am doing my internship here in Turin. CSR is one of the most important parts for the business sector and it should be well promoted and understood. All the experience is more than worth gaining.

SEBASTIAN PINZON COLOMBIA

Nice

to meet you, my name is Sebastian Pinzon, I am a

Colombian guy and I studied Marketing and Advertising in my country. Right now I am studying direction and strategic Marketing in Buenos Aires Argentina. I am 24 years old and I believe that traveling is the best way to learn much about life, cultures, people and myself. For that reason I have spent the last two years travelling and living for myself, far away my home. I hope that this internship and the experience of being in Italy will help my personal growing and help me in order to develop my awareness about what business and responsibility means. Also all my life I had the curiosity about business, companies and brands. I love brands that can create feelings and brands that can be loved by thousand of people around the world. But these days our world needs to be responsible for economic development of course, if we want to leave an livable place.

I want to tell you a little bit of my country !

Colombia is a tropical country located at the northwestern part of South America. It is the only country of the subcontinent with coasts on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The country shares borders with Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela and maritime frontiers with Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. .

Our official language is Spanish but we have more than 68 dialects and languages. Flowers, coffee, emeralds, coal, petrol and tropical fruits are some of the principal export products.

One of Colombiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest characteristic is its biodiversity potential: ranked first in bird, vertebrate and amphibian species, second in flora and third in fauna.

IOANNA ZERVA GREECE

y name is Ioanna Zerva, I am from Greece, I was born and raised in Athens, the capital of Greece. I am 22 years old and I am currently at my final year of my studies in Management science and Technology department of the Athens University of Economics and Business.

During 2012 I was an Erasmus student in France and I am presently participating in an ambitious CSR project in Torino, Italy. The project is organized by AIESEC and I accepted the challenge in order to gain practical experience during my studies by leading a project and getting in touch with various companies.

CSR is the idea of doing well by doing good and its todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bid idea! Over the last decade there has been an apparent shift from adopting more responsible business practices. 90 In Greece (I prefer Hellas), organizations have taken different courses of action to demonstrate that they care about people and the environment they operate in. There are numerous significant examples of Greek companies that Corporate Responsibility constitutes a fundamental corporate principle, which embraces all of their operations and influences their attitude towards social, economic and environmental issues. The most important economic industries in Greece are tourism and merchant shipping. In fact, about 15 million international tourists visit Greece every year, which makes it the 7th most visited country in the EU and the 16th in the world. As for merchant shipping, Greece has the largest merchant marine in the world as it covers 16% of the world's total capacity. Although the economy of Greece had improved in recent decades due to the industrial development and tourism, presently the country faces a large and severe economic crisis. The country faces a severe debt crisis and has many challenges to face, such as the low rate of development and the large unemployment. In 2013, the Greek economy is restarting after years of crisis. It is estimated that this year the decrease of GDP will end and there will be a return of the Greek economy to positive growth.

Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Western Asia, and Africa

Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Archimedes the four ancient Greek philosophers rank among a list from the MIT of people who have most influenced the planet.

Secret Paradise, Zakynthos, Greece

MARIA GNIDENKO ESTONIA

Capital:

Tallinn

Language:

Estonia

Area:

45,228 km2

Population:

1,340,415

Economy: Estonia is considered one of the most successful examples of practicing fiscal policy and of managing the development of a small economy. Why Estonia is special? ●

It is the size that matters. The small size of Estonia makes travel from one point to another inexpensive and can also accommodate changing landscapes and lot of excitement in a few days trip.

●

Silence is essential. Wild beaches with white sand, as well as more than 1,500 islands mostly untouched by human settlement where you can go onnature hikes and watch numerous bird species – Estonia is second in Europe in the number of visible bird species after Spain.

●

History really matters. Tallinn’s medieval Old Town, belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage, is unique in the world in terms of its entirety. Manors, castles and fortresses all over Estonia are places for children to play and for adults to look at and vividly demonstrate the interpenetration of Estonian and German history through centuries at every step.

●

Relaxation is an experience. In order to know what a pleasure is to jump from a hot sauna directly into a cooling lake or a snowdrift, what a genuine smoke sauna smells like and how enjoyable it is to discuss world matters with a friend in a barrel sauna, you must try all this yourself.

ALENA KUZNETSOVA RUSSIA Hello, my name is Alena. I’m from Russia, a country with an interesting past and great potential for a great future. Of course, you know that Russia as an independent country is a rather young one. It is only 23 years old, the same age as me. As for now we are on such a period of history when we are already not a socialistic society and still not a capitalistic one. People refer to countries like ours as countries with an economy in transitory.

Many people from my country, especially those who are above 40 years old, still miss the USSR and the life that was there. So, they call streets by their old USSR names, they still don’t think about the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States as foreign countries, and they always say that the life in the Soviet Union was much better than now. “I was sure about tomorrow morning in Soviet Union, but now I’m living in obscurity”. That is one of the most widely used phrases in my country. To my question of “Why?”, they just shrug their shoulders and give me the following answer, “because people cared about each other and because they respected each other and so all of their activities were not about money, but about the common idea of a better future“.

I can’t say if the life in Soviet Union was better or not, because I didn’t live there and I have nothing to compare with today’s life. As for me it was just other world, other life with other rules. But I truly liked some ideas of USSR. I like the idea to see a society as a team. A human always was a “team-member” animal. That’s what Aristotle meant when he called us political animals. Whether you catch the mammoth or just a squirrel depends a lot on whom you are haunting with. Also I believe that “better future” can be build only by common efforts and only when we respect other people on the same level as we respect ourselves. Because of various reasons, our government was to refuse the idea of being as a Soviet Union. However, it doesn’t mean that we are refusing all ideas of socialistic system. Our task is to bring some of these ideas to a new world, to help them get on in this new world, to change their form without changing their meaning. Nowadays such ideas of team-member understanding of the life are known under the term “CSR” -- Corporate Social Responsibility. It is not an obligation, but a choice. Companies, which understand that an investment in their team-member is investment in them, choose in favor of CSR. Further information about the practices and the level of CSR in each of the above countries can be founded to the following link: http://www.4shared.com/folder/X7VdlPff/_online.html

10)

PARTNERS

Business Campus of the University of Torino collaborates with many companies and organization across Torino in order to promote CSR and raise the sensitivity of Italian people about entrepreneurship and CSR. These partners are presented below:

Citta di Torino Citta di Torino is a government organization citta meaning city in Italian. The city is responsible of its inhabitants that fore citta di Torino the city of Turin offers a large amount of services for his inhabitants. It has 5 main territories of service: Education and learning, Employment, Health and wellbeing, housing and paperwork. The education and learning is an organization teaching immigrants Italian but also teaching and helping Italians to get a better education in order to became better working force. Employment department helps people to find jobs or to become self-employed connecting people and companies. Health and well-being maybe the most important territory the people of Turin deserve a good health care young and old as well. The city encourages the birth of children. The housing department helps new citizens to rent/buy homes in the city and explains every paper work necessary. All Paper work helps citizens handle there official maters like long time permit and weddings. In general the Offices of Torino will help you live well in the city.

APS APS was founded in 1991 with the ambition to be developed on the Italian market as an alternative to traditional flooring, able to give concrete answers to a constantly changing market, particularly demanding for the introduction of Italian and European regulations. The first challenge has focused on the food industry, where the provisions on hygiene (HACCP) have prompted a decisive enhancement of continuous coatings for floors.

From now APS has decided to focus on the quality of the offer, on the research of innovative materials and a strict selection of suppliers has always chosen the international scene. And in fact it is essential for APS to be able to implement to any market, Italian and foreign, ideas and technologies that, combined with our tradition and experience, will enable progress and ensure that our clients will be provided with the best results and customized solutions.

IREN IREN, a multiutility company listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, operates in the sectors of electricity (production, distribution and sale), thermal energy for district heating (production and sale), gas (distribution and sale), the management of integrated water services, environmental services (collection and disposal of waste) and services for the local authorities. Iren is structured as an industrial holding with its main corporate offices in Reggio Emilia, operating units in Genoa, Parma, Piacenza, and Turin, and separate companies in charge of the individual business lines. Holding company, Iren S.p.A. handles strategic, development, coordination and monitoring activities, while the five operating companies ensure the coordination and development of the business lines: •Iren Acqua Gas in the integrated water cycle sector; •Iren Energia in the electricity and heat energy production sector and the technological services sector; •Iren Mercato as regards the sale of electricity, gas and district heating; • Iren Emilia in the gas, waste collection and environmental health sectors and in the management of local services; •Iren Ambiente in the design and management of waste treatment and disposal plants and in the renewable energies sector.

CEI Piemonte (Centro Estero Internazionalizzazione) YOU NEED, WE ANSWER. TORINO-PIEMONTE: EXCELLENCE, INNOVATION, COMPETIVENESS CEI Piemonte is an agency established in Torino in 2006. It is the first Italian agency dedicated to inward and outward internationalization. Through a free, personalised and targeted approach, Piemonte Agency matches foreign companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs with the local production offer.

Cei Piemonte acts in different sectors: Business promotion It provides updated information on the area and its economic system while encouraging industrial, commercial and technological cooperation. The Agency also manages long-term projects providing a selection of companies, belonging to specific fields of excellence, ready to offer turnkey services and solutions. Tourism promotion The region offers hospitality, services and infrastructure, stunning architectural beauty and breathtaking natural sites. There are the Olympic mountains offering a wide range of outdoor sports. Historical traditions also make Piemonte the ideal place to relax in contact with the heart of European culture.

Agrifood marketing Piemonteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fine wine and food tradition is one of the symbols of Italian excellence rich in quality and variety. Piemonte is a region of great tastes, with a wide range of delicacies of exceptional high quality, based on artisan or semi-artisan techniques, including a wide spectrum of specialties.

Invest in Piemonte Piemonte Agency is the unique, free reference point for companies wishing to locate in Piemonte. The inward investment team can advise you on every aspect of starting and running a business in Piemonte, providing assistance at every stage of the project. The team also supports foreign companies which have already invested in Piemonte, in order to facilitate operations and development in the region.

Foreign trade training Piemonte Agency Foreign Trade Training department helps local and foreign entrepreneurs, managers and officers to be updated on key subjects related to international trade and the most advanced commercial strategies. Seminars, courses and conferences are organised with the aim of harnessing skills and increasing knowledge on both commercial and technical topics (quality, health and safety products, environmental protection and social responsibility), to be more competitive on foreign markets.

CEI Piemonte has developed the “Twinning”, a manual tool that is based on the mutual exchange of ideas and on the pre-assumption that a two-way contamination may bring advantages to both companies and their stakeholders. It is considered as a useful way to encourage a “positive contamination” focusing on CSR between two companies which have different status and mission. “Twinning” is based on equal collaboration without intervening into the businesses of the companies; it is a tool that is focused on the companies’ process and organization issues. Of course, it is difficult to know the final output a priori and it contains main risks such as, a poor knowledge of the other’s context, stereotypes, prejudices, loss of Top Management’s interest. However, it represents a step beyond compared to the traditional types of collaboration between PCs and NPCs. 97

CSR4UTOOL.ORG CSR4UTOOL is the outcome of a European funded project, namely Lessons and Options for an Integrated European approach to CSR (LOIEs),that has been developed in partnership with the Department of Management of University of Turin and is especially dedicated to SMEs. CSR4UTOOL is a web tool to help understand CSR principles and adopt them into organizations as well as to help performances with other companies. It is actually a scientific test that allows companies to assess their practical skills in the field of CSR under a social, environmental and financial framework. The test is a composition of several core questions in the field of CSR and the most important is that it is free of charge!

TNT Italia An international courier company that provides services: Express courier international, national, time definite, freight and special services, withdrawal booking, tracking and online services. TNT Express Italy TNT Express Italy is part of TNT Express NV, one of the world's leading express transport services. Global provider of customized delivery solutions, has a national network with over 100 branches, 14 Hub 3 customer service and more than 1,200 TNT Point. With a fleet of 3,900 vehicles and 4 aircraft TNT Express is able to ensure delivery times are extremely flexible and follow the customers in their local environment with ad hoc solutions with connections all over the world. With 5 national and international airports, TNT Express Italy has an air network that guarantees the coverage of the national territory in 24 hours and solutions worldwide delivery "best-in-class."

TNT Post TNT Post is from 1998, the year of incorporation, the first private postal operator in Italy. Up to May 2011 constituted the Division postal TNT NV, main player in the global mail and express distribution business. May 26, 2011, following the decision to split the entities and Express Mail through the stock quote into two independent companies, PostNL NV, the Mail division of TNT NV, the work on the stock market under the symbol GNP.

Giovanni Agnelli and the Foundation In 1966 Mr. Giovanni Agnelli (the Avvocato) promoted the creation of a cultural and research foundation named after his grandfather, Senator Giovanni Agnelli Sr., the founder of Fiat, in the centennial of his birth.

The Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli was established in December 1966 and Mr. Giovanni Agnelli became its Chairman in 1967. Since then, he chaired uninterruptedly the Board with peculiar sympathy, liberality and farsightedness. Mr. Giovanni Agnelli always inspired the Foundation’s work, encouraging original research and independent judgment, civil and cultural commitment, love for Italy and his city, Turin, as well as openness to Europe and the world. As Chairman, Mr. Giovanni Agnelli represented the Foundation in Italy and abroad, participating in many cultural events promoted by the institute (conferences, exhibitions, seven editions of the Senator Giovanni Agnelli Prize). Mr. Giovanni Agnelli’s speeches as Chairman have been gathered in our archive over the years. A chronological and subject index of such documents will be soon available on this site. Origin, mission, cultural guidelines The Giovanni Agnelli Foundation is an independent non-profit research and cultural institute active in the field of human and social sciences. It is an endowed foundation under Italian law established in 1966 by FIAT and IFI to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the founder of FIAT, Senator Giovanni Agnelli. FGA’s headquarters are in Turin. The Foundation is member of the European Foundation Centre of Brussels and currently has a seat in its Governing Council. The mission of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation is furthering and spreading knowledge of the conditions on which Italy’s progress in economic, scientific, social and cultural fields depends as well as supporting research. It is an operating foundation which defines and carries out its own programmes. For this purpose it has a permanent and internal staff as well as a network of researchers and institutions in Italy, in Europe and in the main countries of other continents. This network of specialists is shaped and adapted to the requirements of the various programmes which are carried out. The FGA runs a number of activities including theoretical and empirical research projects, conferences, journals, books and other publications. Within the Foundation’s structure and cultural guidelines operate the Centro Altreitalie sulle Migrazioni Italiane and the Fondazione Centro di Documentazione sulle Fondazioni.

Piazza Dei Mestieri The Square of Crafts is an attempt to develop the potential, often hidden , of young people during the delicate phase that takes them from adolescence to adulthood. To achieve this it is necessary that there be a familiar place where young people are helped to recover the value of his own person , easier to say "I" , which are conducted to affirm that exist and that this is the most fascinating us can be in the universe. A guy who has never tried to say "I" is as well not exist , or rather, as if all the things around him became nothing , nothing is more interest , nothing worth (there are no more values ) . The Piazza Crafts inspired openly to recreate the atmosphere of the squares of the past, where people, arts and crafts met and , through a process of cultural osmosis , they moved each other knowledge and skills. Continuing the metaphor , the center could also be inspired by the agora of the Greek polis , the chosen place for the exchange of ideas , by comparison of the analyzes and perspectives a view to increasing the common good. The ultimate goal is therefore to create a meeting point for young people where it is obvious educational content and where you can experience a positive approach to reality, from learning to work , the way to use their free time to the enhancement of their talents including introduction to art, music and taste . The creation of the Piazza dei Crafts , its implementation and its operation see young people as protagonists, so that they can see with their own eyes the result of the work of their hands , accompanied by adults who, instead of replacing their responsibilities, solicit their freedom and their commitment . Nothing is more convincing to those who live in situations of "hardship" that see rise to a significant work which contribute creatively.

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INTESA SANPAOLO The new UN Global Compact 100 stock index, launched by the UN Global Compact (which Intesa San Paolo joined in 2007), in partnership with the research firm Sustainalytics, listed San Paolo in the 100 companies which adhere to the Global Compact’s ten principles and globally outstand for executive leadership commitment and consistent baseline profitability. A large banking group as Intesa Sanpaolo has a significant impact on the social and environmental context in which it operates. And therefore its responsibility to act is not only in terms of profit but with the goal of creating value for all its stakeholders - customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, the environment and the community in general. Intesa Sanpaolo confirms the importance of corporate social responsibility as an integral part of its strategy and in the belief that the choices are socially and environmentally sustainable economically successful, believes that it is possible to create value over time through a family firm based on three solid lines - economic, financial, social and environmental - and cemented by a transparent corporate governance.

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The CSR role of Intesa Sanpaolo is to: 

support top management in defining strategies and policies which can work towards integrating sustainability and social and environmental responsibility criteria in the bank's activity;



supply support and advice to the various structures in carrying out specific projects;



smooth the way for the setting up and maintenance of long-term relations with stakeholders;



cooperate with the relevant departments in order to include corporate social and environmental responsibility topics in staff training courses as well as in communications;



define guidelines on environmental matters in order to improve the enforcement of company strategies and policies in this field, with particular attention to energy consumption and relative emissions;



monitor company activities which generate impacts on the environment by providing guidelines for a progressive improvement of the Group's environmental footprint;



maintain and progressively extend the perimeter for applying the environmental and energy quality management Systems;



coordinate the sustainability reporting process by publishing the Sustainability Report;



CSR in corporate governance;



the Code of Ethics, adopted in 2007, expresses the identity of the Bank, its mission and values and the principles adopted in the relationship with stakeholders;



the CSR Unit reports periodically to the Control Committee of the Supervisory Board - which is responsible for guidance, strategic supervision and control - on the application status of the Code of Ethics, on critical elements and on stakeholders’ reports, as well as on the consequent corrective actions envisaged;



assessment of the critical elements is based on the results of periodic analyses conducted by an independent specialized consulting company to assess consistence of the corporate management processes with the values of the Code of Ethics. The report to the governance bodies also includes a summary of reports from stakeholders of any violation of the corporate principles and values

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I3P, the Innovative Enterprise Incubator of the Politecnico di Torino Welcome to I3P!

I3P, the Innovative Enterprise Incubator of the Politecnico of Torino, is the main university based incubator and one of the best at European level. I3Pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to promote the creation of new science-based businesses with validated growth potential, either founded by university researchers or entrepreneurs from outside the university sphere. We provide open spaces and professional consulting services to start your own business as well as a network of entrepreneurs, managers and investors. Founded on 1999, I3P is located in Torino (Italy) and by now has launched 145 start-ups that have been able to exploit the results of research in different fields: from cleantech to medtech, from Information Technology to electronics, mechanical, energy, to other idustrial. In 2011, I3P launched TreataBit, an incubator dedicated to consumers digital projects, such as portals, e-commerce, social networking sites, web and mobile applications. Treatabit is an incubation program targeted to new media entrepreneurs and based on the lean startup model. There will be three services that TreataBit did a creative environment hosted by I3P, in the Cittadella Politecnica, city center of Torino. Business Consulting I3P business and social media consultants help entrepreneurs in defining the business model, identify partners, designing the launch of the product/service. And, the last developing and networking events are targeted to startuppers, students, graduates and digital professionals, in particular developers and designers, interested in making available its expertise to the development of online and mobile services. Every year we collect some 200 new business ideas, examine about 60 business plans in detail, and accept 15 new enterprises. Promoter of important initiatives for technology transfer, incubation and growth of enterprise, the activity of I3P follows the global strategies of Piedmont in order to sustain research, technology innovation and new entrepreneurship.

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MANY THANKS TO Final Event Grace De Girolamo Unioncamere Piemonte Aica Progetti e sciluppo del territorio Tucci Fabrizio Iren S.p.a CSR Responsible Elena Dallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Amico Cie Piemonte Project Manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Training Design & Develpoment Anna Laura Ravera APS CSR & Quality Responsible Business Games Agnese Vellar Social Media Consultant I3P S.C.p.a Incubatore di Imprese Innovative Del Politecnico di Torino Company Visit TNT Italy Stefani Lallai Communication & CR Director Piazza Dei Mestrieri Cei Piemonte Intesa Sanpaolo

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http://www.socialbrite.org http://www.businessnewsdaily.com http://www.csr-romania.ro/ http://www.123contactform.com http://www.havasmedia.com/2011/11/meaningful-brands-havas-media-launches-globalresults http://www.lavazza.com/en/lavazza-world/csr/our_commitment/ http://www.alphabank.al/en/profile/corporatesocialresponsibility/ www.odpowiedzilanybiznes.pl www.undp.org.pl www.csrinfo.org www.mg.gov.pl www.badania.parp.gov.pl www.kp.pl www.pulsbiznesu.pl www.kariera.com.pl www.sprawdzpromile.pl www.abcalkoholu.pl europeancsrawards.eu heategu.ee koda.ee csr.ee oef.org.ee http://www.intesasanpaolo.com/ http://www.piazzadeimestieri.it/ http://www.tnt.it/ http://www.fga.it/fileadmin/storico/1024-1/CN2877.htm http://www.centroestero.org/index.php?lang=ita http://www.gruppoiren.it/ http://www.comune.torino.it/

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http://www.i3p.it/ http://www.apsitalia.it/

Coordinators Italy: Andreea Emanuela Tamas andreea.tamas@aiesec.net; andreea.tamas@tiscali.it Stefano Bottiglieri stefano.bottglieri@aiesec.net; stefano.bottiglieri@tiscali.it

Authors Greece Ioanna Zerva zervaioana@yahoo.gr Androniki Kimonos andronikikim@gmail.com Colombia Sebasti谩n Pinz贸n sebastian8900@gmail.com Estonia Maria Gnidenko maria.gnidenko@gmail.com Indonesia Aryo Prabowo aryo_prabowo@ymail.com Poland Agnieszka Smycz agnieszka_smycz@wp.pl Romania Laszlo Boruzs mikeh226@yahoo.com Russia Alena Kuznetsova nola2004@inbox.ru

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