Corporate social responsibility

научный руководитель, старший преподаватель кафедра «Иностранные языки-4»

Финансовый университет при Правительстве РФ

Россия, г. Москва

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to operating a business in a manner that accounts for the social and environmental impact created by the business. At a minimum, it includes environmental issues but it also takes on social, ethical, governance, health, safety, opportunity, training, energy, child labor, forced labor, freedom of speech, remuneration, working hours, disciplinary actions, discrimination and other issues. Potentially, it is a very broad concept to cover, and it is a challenge for the business community. Some see this work as charity, philanthropy, or an allocation of resources that could better be donated by shareholders themselves. Corporate social responsibility has become a standard practice in the modern world, and yet its purpose, rationales, mechanisms and outcomes are still intensely debated. Here are a few of the broad categories of social responsibility that businesses are practicing:

Environment: One primary focus of corporate social responsibility is the environment. Businesses, both large and small, have a large carbon footprint. Any steps they can take to reduce those footprints are considered both good for the company and society as a whole.

Philanthropy: Businesses also practice social responsibility by donating to national and local charities. Whether it involves giving money or time, businesses have a lot of resources that can benefit charities and local community programs.

Ethical labor practices: By treating employees fairly and ethically, companies can also demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. This is especially true for businesses that operate in international locations with labor laws that differ from those in the United States.

Companies that practice social responsibility as part of their everyday business model prove that a dedication to charitable initiatives goes a long way, both for the cause and their reputation. These given businesses are just a few of the countless examples of successful socially responsible companies:

Accessibility Partners – Many people take their computers, smartphones and tablets for granted, but for those with disabilities, using these technologies can present significant challenges. More than 70 percent of the company's employees have disabilities themselves, so the company promotes disability advocacy in all of its operations.

Cole and Parker – This Canada-based company does more than just sell colorful footwear. Company donates proceeds from every sock sale to a fund that is used to provide small loans for entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Headbands of Hope sells made-in-the-U.S. headbands and donates a dollar of each sale to childhood cancer research through the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Out of Africa – Customers of cosmetics company Out of Africa do more than just purchase high-quality shea-butter skin care products; they also help improve the quality of life for West African women and children. A portion of Out of Africa's proceeds is donated to organizations that provide education and medical care to children, and the company regularly donates to women's cooperatives that create jobs in West Africa.

The next company which practices CR is People Water –every bottle the company sells helps to fund one of its global clean water projects, to establish a water purification system in an area suffering from poor water quality.

ON.com – New social networking app ON.com may have been founded on the principle of sharing geo-tagged photos to connect with people, but this startup lets you do well when you post a selfie. Throughout the year, ON.com hosts charitable campaigns in which they donate $1 per site member when someone posts a photo with their hash tag, OnIsFun. For Thanksgiving, the company asked for photos of food and donated $522 to Feed Starving Children.

In conclusion, we consider that CSR is important for the society and the environment, as it helps overcome significant problems arising nowadays.

Taking everything into account, we suppose that CSR is quite modern strategy, quite progressive policy, which is evolving from day to day. Also, it forces people to take not only corporate responsibility, but individual one. Every person involved into this process becomes more responsible with his/her actions that make the society develop and evolve. But actually, this strategy would not be successful without government regulations, because not all companies and not every person would be sticking to the rules of CSR and, somebody, for example would avoid them. Government regulations oblige all the companies to perform in the same way, which would be better for the environment and for society.