Innovative Integration of Social Responsibility in Business Strategy (original) (raw)
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How Romanian Managers Perceive the Corporate Social Responsibility and its Costs and Benefits
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At international level the preoccupations with social responsibility have a long history. In Romania the concept is relatively new, but it has become more visible during the last years. A thorough insight of the benefits and costs of social responsibility highlights a series of aspects. Generally, behind the adoption of certain social responsibility policies there are interests like the improvement of the company's image, the rise in sales and profit and finally the moral purposes. Sophocles used to say that "any benefactor thinks at himself also in a certain degree". As far as the Romanian companies are concerned, this implies that the main purpose of the corporative social programs they develop is the gaining awareness in mass media. Our paper shows that, unfortunately, many companies are only interested in the mass media coverage of such events. The commitment towards community is very often on short term horizon and does not have a solid ground, being mainly a PR exercise. JEL classifications: M14, L21, L26 Keywords: corporate social responsibility, business ethics, sustainability, responsible investments, Romania 2005). The corporate social responsibility concept developed firstly because of the change in the view on business, from a limited model, mainly oriented towards financial performance and profit through the maximum use of resources, to a more open one, largely concerned with the quality of life, preservation of resources and meeting the general interests of society, etc. (Petcu, 2004). In other words, a view included in the sustainable development principles. The sustainable development is commonly understood as the ability of the current generation to meet its needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
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