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У .У СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ЭКОНОМИКА: ПРОБЛЕМЫ, ТЕНДЕНЦИИ, ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ, № 9, 2013 г. SOVREMENNAA feKONOMIKA: PROBLEMY, TENDENCII, PERSPEKTIVY, vol. 9 : 2, 2013
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF CORPORATIONS UPON THE M1 ARKETING2 FROM ROMANIA
Tanase Tasen^e1, Nicoleta Ciacu2 (PhD student1; Assist. Professor, PhD Student2)
University of Bucharest 1 (Romania)
2
Constantin Brancoveanu University of Braila (Romania)
[email protected] nicoleta_ciacu @ yahoo .com Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
The objective of the research is to provide an overview of social responsibility campaigns developed by corporations from Romania. Thus, we propose to identify in our analysis the most attractive areas for the development of social campaigns made by the companies. Meanwhile, the study aims not necessarily achieve a ranking of active companies in CSR from Romania and especially to identify the companies that developed the most campaigns. The research methodology is based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of case studies available on the website www.responsabilitatesociala.ro. Thus, in our analysis we have pointed out that the most social responsibility campaigns are conducted in the social domain and the fewest were developed in sport or human rights areas. Another relevant aspect of the research concerns the massive involvement of multinational companies in this field, but followed by the Romanian companies.
Keywords: social responsibility; social investment; CSR; Romania; social campaigns; Romanian companies.
Additional data:
UDC 005.31:519.83 GRNTI 06.58.55 JEL Code Z130 Received 16 June 2013 Accepted 02 July 2013
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The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
As well as the individual activities of a person at his workplace or in the society is assessed in terms of ethics, the organization's activity and in particular the corporate activity is assessed in terms of social responsibility.
Social responsibility is the obligation of a company beyond of legal obligations or of those imposed by economic constraints, to pursue long-term goals which are for the benefit of society (Ganescu, 2011). The aim of companies in supporting responsible behaviour is, on the one hand, improving the image and, on the other hand, promotion of management based on values prevalent in the organization.
The concept of "corporate social responsibility” dates back to the early nineteenth century (Oprea, 2005), when first corporations began to appear. The managers from those days assumed not only a business status in the community in which they lived, but also that of "responsible people" involved in all sorts of the construction project in houses, schools, libraries, museums and universities. Thereby, they got to find that their individual image of "responsible people" was reflected by the hallo effect on organizational image, developing thus the concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).
According to the author Archie B. Carroll, Corporate Social responsibility has become in theory, research and practice after 1950, when the author considered as "early modern era of social responsibility." (Archie, 1999). In fact, the first authors rather refer to the concept of social responsibility (SR) than at the corporate social responsibility (CSR). The work of Howard R. Bowen (1953) entitled "Social Responsibilities of the Businessman" marks the beginning of the modern period in literature dedicated to this concept, which makes us appreciate him as "the father of CSR".
In the opinion of Archie B. Carroll, Corporate Social Responsibility includes four categories of responsibilities (Rwigema H., Venter R., 2004):
• economic responsibility (obligation of stakeholders to generate profit through consumer satisfaction with products and services at competitive prices, through appropriate use of shareholders' investments by solving local problems by promoting innovation);
• legal responsibilities (compliance with laws and regulations);
• ethical responsibilities (conducting business in the right and just way, respect for human rights in relationships between colleagues, clients, other companies or the local community);
• philanthropic responsibility (volunteering to help the community, donations, local cooperation).
In recent years, the concept of corporate social responsibility has become a new form of governance in business, enjoying global recognition and being regulated in the European Union by the Lisbon Strategy. European Union pays attention to conceptual development and practical implementation of corporate social responsibility. Thus, in 2001, the European Commission established multilateral European Forum on CSR.
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According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, CSR has been defined as "the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development by working with employees, their families, the local community and the society at large to improve their quality of life” (Oprea 2005). CSR is a fundamental concept - such as freedom and equality - which is continuously redefined to meet needs that are also in constant change from one generation to another.
In another sense (Rogojanu, Tasnadi, Hristache 2010), social responsibility is the term of "civic responsibility" of the organization. This requires the creation of high quality products, whose reputation in the field generate trust of buyers. On the other hand, social responsibility of each company is reflected in terms of relationships, and it contributes positively to social-economic and political health of the society. The European Union has contributed to the definition of the CSR term, arguing that it is an instrument "whereby a company voluntarily integrates the concerns about the social and environmental issues in the business operations and in their interaction with stakeholders" (Rogojanu, Tasnadi, Hristache 2010).
Rogojanu, Tasnadi, Hristache (2010) proposed a practical guide for companies, institutions, organizations or corporations who have are willing to integrate the issue of corporate social responsibility in their own business strategy:
- The companies need to focus on individuals - CSR focuses on all stakeholders, but it will be evaluated in terms of its implications on individuals (employees, managers, customers, etc.);
- The companies must build a conceptual corporate "legacy", integrating ethics in to the learning and training process and establishing process by which ethics will be reflected in all organizational activities.
The authors also argue (Rogojanu, Tasnadi, Hristache 2010) that companies need to implement following strategies:
- The companies must rank first, in order of priority, their employees, cherish them as the most valuable assets and the best ambassadors of the organization. Eventually, even human resources specialists have agreed that the concept of "human resources" is outdated, and they have replaced it with the term "human capital", a term that includes not only the human factor, but the professional experience, skills and abilities and, in general, a wider range of variables;
- The companies need to know every community in which they operate, including culture of the community, as a whole, but also of the organization;
- The companies should establish a system whereby debates about social responsibility remain transparent and continue;
- The companies must perform strategic partnerships, constructive and wise - not only for the sake of publicity or appearances of conjecture, but to achieve the true objectives of CSR;
- The companies must measure accurately, with all its communicational tools, the impact of what they do for their community and their employees, but to be able to justify all actions taken in the past;
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- The companies must report the results obtained also outside of the company, but in a way that information will reach all stakeholders, target audiences, and not just those from the e-mail recipient list or those who have access to Internet.
Stages of social responsibility integration in the company management system
According to Mirvis and Googins (2006, p.104), the companies have different behaviour from one stage of development to another. The authors identify five stages of social responsibility development.
In the first stage of development, the elementary one, company is carrying out social responsibility with sporadic, with no clear structure. In the second stage, the involvement, the company is more aware of what social responsibility involves having the support of the management team. The main actions that involves are the philanthropic and environmental friendliness.
Table 1
______Stages of social responsibility development__________________________________________
Stage of development
Dimension Level 1 Elementary Level 2 Involved Level 3 Innovative Level 4 Integrated Level 5 in transformation
Company citizenship Demand jobs, profit, paying taxes Philanthropy, environmental protection Management of stakeholders Sustainable development Reformulation of business
Strategic intent Legal compliance Maintaining operating license Entailed by the business Integration of values in business Creating new markets / social change
Leadership Minimal Business support The top problems Foresight Visionary
Organization Marginal Functional property Cross- functional coordination Alignment of organization Integrated in the usual
Case Management Defensive Reactive Sensitive Proactive Definition of causes
Relationship with stakeholders Unilateral Interactive Mutual influence Alliances and partnership Multi- organizational
Transparency Reduced Public Relations Public reporting Insurance Total transparency
Source: Mirvis P., Googins B., Stages of corporate citizenship, California Management Review vol. 48, no. 2. p. 126
In the third stage, the innovative, the company is expanding the scope and integration of social responsibility. The company begins to realize social responsibility reporting to stakeholders.
The fourth stage, integrating social responsibility shows in a very advanced
stage in the company. The last stage, the transformation represents a shift of business
to another level approach, in which the company is rethinking the entire set of
processes and activities based on social responsibility. Level of organization, social
responsibility will be a normal function in the company, and the social problems that
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SOVREMENNAA feKONOMIKA: PROBLEMY, TENDENCII, PERSPEKTIVY, vol. 9 : 2, 2013 the company will address, will be made clear in its agenda. Another element is that the company will communicate with stakeholders what makes, what's not and what it wants to do.
Another staging comes from Professor Crowther leaving the three important principles of social responsibility: sustainability, accountability and transparency. Based on the three principles, Crowther identifies seven stages of development with corporate social responsibility (Table 2).
First stage of development of social responsibility is more declarative one. Therefore, it is reported in the literature under the name "painting the fence”. Company who is in this stage performs an embellishment of its reports by including specific terms of social responsibility. In this regard we can mention that many companies in Romania are in this stage of development.
In the second stage, the perspective of incorporating social responsibility came from the area of the company's costs. Thus, for economic reasons, companies are taking steps to streamline their resource consumption in the production process. Here are included reductions in energy consumption of raw materials in the premises of the company.
The third stage company stakeholders are involved in its activities. For this, the company is developing a performance measurement of its activity, called in the literature "balance scorecard". It is a strategic planning and management used by companies to align the economic activities to the vision and strategy of the organization to improve internal and external communications and monitor the company's performance in achieving strategic objectives (https://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSCResources/AbouttheBalancedScorecard/tabi d/55/Default.aspx)
In the fourth stage, the company performs a complex measurement and reporting system for its own and initiates social responsibility reporting. Next phase of development involves the transition from corporate social responsibility to sustainable development. Thus, the effects of company activities are designed longterm in an attempt to minimize the negative effects.
Sixth stage the company developing its social responsibility activities throughout the value chain. Last and the most advanced stage, involves a reconfiguration of the value chain by including a complex system of indicators, methods of measurement, accounting and reporting to help the company to develop more open to public.
Table 2
Stages in the maturation of social responsibility activities
The stage The dominant element Specific activities Examples
1. Painting the fence Rehabilitation of company reports Changing words and titles, using specific language of social responsibility
2. Cost control Rethinking business specific processes Energy efficiency programs
3. Involvement of Development of a Research on customer and
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stakeholders performance measurement system to identify and improve internal company functions and outcomes and its external effects (Balance Scorecard) employee satisfaction
4. Measurement and reporting Complex measures to quantify Reporting of social responsibility
5. Durability Defining durability: rethinking processes Reports of social responsibility
6. Responsibility Concern for supply chain: the issue of social responsibility standards for suppliers Human rights policies: reducing child labour
7. Transparency Reconfiguring the value chain Reallocation of added value generating activities in developing countries
Source: Crowther David, Standards of Corporate Social Responsibility, Convergence within the European Union, 2006
Types of social responsibility programs
The American specialists in marketing, Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee (2005, p. 80), have ranked CSR programs in six categories: promoting a cause, a cause related marketing, social marketing, philanthropy, volunteering in the community, socially responsible business practices.
By "promoting a cause”, the aims of an organization are to contribute with money or other resources in order to support a particular campaign. This includes:
- Arousing public concern for a cause (e.g. by presenting statistics on problem areas, even catastrophic that has to be resolved urgently);
- Convincing the public to learn more about an issue (e.g. joining a website, participating to a seminar or debate) - Convincing the public to donate time to support a cause (e.g. environmental action, Earth Hour);
- Convincing the public to donate money for a cause (e.g. television donating campaigns);
- Convincing the public to donate non-financial values (e.g., clothes, appliances, books, toys, etc.);
- Convincing the public to participate in a way or another to join a cause (e.g. sign a petition to attend a memorial event, etc.).
Cause related marketing is a type of a CSR program through which the companies donate for a cause a certain amount, but that amount depends on the sales they make in a while. Thus, the case is closely related to the marketing process of a company, and this involves an offer, creating a partnership with a non-governmental organization or other partner with regard to legitimacy on the case and the ability to manage money. Typically, this type of CSR is practiced only in certain conditions, such as:
- Companies have products that address large customer base;
- Companies have extensive and well-developed distribution channels;
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- Companies need to differentiate products from the competition. The companies or rather, marketing departments within the companies, when they realize a CRM campaign must consider the attractiveness of the program for a broad range of public. Therefore, the companies prefer general causes, such as:
- Major health problems (cancer, AIDS) Issues that affect children (education, domestic violence, discrimination), severe social problems (natural disasters, people who have no place to live, poverty) Environmental problems.
Social marketing is a type of CSR program through which the companies aim to change a negative behaviour or belief of the public, and to adopt a positive behaviour. Assuming that changing the mentality or the behaviour of the public is very difficult, the companies usually resort to present a widespread social problem and explain that this problem is imperative. Typically, the most common problems are related to:
- The threat to life or safety of the citizens (e.g., domestic violence, drug prevention, prevention of excessive alcohol consumption, etc.);
- Health (e.g. breast or cervical cancer, HIV-AIDS, the preparing for floods or earthquakes, etc.);
- Environment (e.g., Earth Hour, usage of pesticides, etc.);
- Civic involvement (e.g. blood donation, voting, etc.).
Philanthropy is another type of CSR program through which the company contributes directly with money or products in order to support a cause. When compared to the other types of CSR programs, where the goals are closely linked to marketing of the company, this type of action is voluntary, pro-bono for the society. Through this type of CSR, the companies tend to create a long-term partnerships (with an NGO or institution) rather than to have a formal involvement in a cause. Thus, the companies are expanding their options regarding donations from money to other resources (e.g. excess products, technical expertise, providing distribution channels etc.), and involve more deeply in the selection of causes.
The philanthropic activities can "wear" various forms, as follows:
- Donations of money (e.g. to homelessness, for people from Haiti, victims of the earthquake in early 2010, etc);
- Financing (e.g. launch a funding program that environmental NGOs can subscribe);
- Grants (e.g. for gifted young people, but coming from poor families);
- Donations of products or services (e.g. medication and clothing donations for flood victims in Moldova);
- Providing expertise (e.g. a polling institute helps a company to conduct a study that will result in a philanthropy);
- Access to distribution channels, locations and equipment of the company (e.g. a transport company offers its cars to carry supplies to flood victims).
The volunteering in the community is a type of CSR program through which the companies encourage their employees to volunteer in order to support the community or a cause. There are several actions that companies can take into account to stimulate their employees to volunteer, among which we can mention the following:
- Promoting voluntary action as an organizational value through internal communication;
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- Attracting and training a team of volunteers;
- Providing paid time off used by employees for being volunteers in the CSR program;
- Recognizing and rewarding of the employees who distinguished themselves in the volunteer program.
Socially responsible business practices are initiatives through which a company aims at improving voluntarily mode, the operating mode, so as to contribute to the general welfare of the community and the protection of the environment. The most important variable for this type of CSR is the voluntary. If a company adopts such a CSR program as a result of some external pressures (the central or local authorities, NGOs or consumers), we can not include it in this type of CSR program.
There are several areas where changes can be made such as:
- the appearance / design operating locations (e.g. design of the headquarters)
- improving of the production processes (e.g., reduction of toxic substances)
- the withdrawal of some products that could be considered harmful, even if
there are not illegal (the gesture of McDonalds Company in 2004 to withdraw the "Supersize" portions of fries and soft drinks, according to
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040303/mcdonalds-halt-supersized-food-portions?src=rss_foxnews);
- providing objective information about products (e.g. packaging contains information about: potential adverse effects of the consumption, the amount of physical activity needed to burn calories or the fat contained in a product, etc.).
- developing of programs aimed at the welfare of employees (e.g. recreation and sports facilities, etc.).
- ensuring some responsible marketing policies especially in respect to children (e.g. online sales are not allowed for the minors)
- improving access to products marketed for the people with disabilities (e.g. ramps in stores, accessible websites and so on).
The quantitative analysis on social responsibility campaigns from Romania The research objectives
This study is guided by three objectives:
O1: to identify areas of activity most often exploited by selected Romanian companies to develop social responsibility campaigns.
O2: to identify Romanian companies which have implemented the largest number of social responsibility campaigns in different areas.
O3: to describe aims that the Romanian companies use when they develop social responsibility campaigns in different areas.
The research method
The data were collected from www.responsabilitatesociala.ro website, specifically from the section dedicated to social responsibility campaigns developed by the companies from Romania. They were grouped into six categories, namely: Social, Education, Environment, Culture, Human Rights and Sports. The collected ISSN 2222-6532 www.meconomics.org
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SOVREMENNAA feKONOMIKA: PROBLEMY, TENDENCII, PERSPEKTIVY, vol. 9 : 2, 2013 data were grouped into these categories and we have calculated the percentage of the areas that are most often used by the companies to implement communication campaigns. The next step involved a more-detailed description of each area, with a particular focus on the companies that have conducted the most significant number of campaigns, and the objectives they were trying to achieve in their implementation.
The gathering and the analysis of the data
From all social responsibility campaigns (125) registered on www.responsabilitatesociala.ro website, in Case Studies section, we have found that they do not proportionally reflect various thematic fields studied. Thus, we see that most social responsibility campaigns (41.6%) are devoted to the Social area, followed by the campaigns in the field of Education (24.8%), Environment (19.2%), Culture (6.4%), Human rights (4.8%) and Sport (3.2%).
Table 3
Thematic distribution of social responsibility campaigns among selected Romanian companies
No. Domain No. of campaigns % from total of the campaigns
1. Social 52 41,6%
2. Education 31 24,8%
3. Environment 24 19,2%
4. Culture 8 6,4%
5. Human rights 6 4,8%
6. Sport 4 3,2%
TOTAL OF CAMPAINGS 125 -
Source: The data were collected from www.responsabilitatesociala.ro website
Figure 1. Thematic distribution of social responsibility campaigns among selected Romanian companies
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Campaigns from Social domain
Most studied social campaigns were conducted and developed by the bank BRD Groupe Societe Generale (7), followed by the mobile phone company Vodafone and the bank transfer company Western Union with 4 social campaigns each. The following companies, Rompetrol Group and Orange have conducted 3 campaigns each in social domain.
BRD Groupe Societe Generale developed a campaign in partnership with UNICEF, where 4,500 employees of all agencies in the country have promoted UNICEF to customers of the bank and convinced them to become long-term donors for the international organization. Other social campaigns aimed at building by the BRD employees, a house for a needy family in the Radauti village, donating toys and books to children from single parent families on the occasion of June 1st, encouraging the blood donation, improvement of life and care of children and young people with autism, providing medical and care assisting to adult homeless persons and distributing monthly food packages for 100 elderly from Bucharest.
The social campaigns developed by Vodafone aimed the donation of a quantity of blood required to save the lives of 70,000 persons and building houses for 10 poor families in Cluj, in which were involved 300 employees of the company. Other campaigns, conducted in partnership with Salvamar and SMURD aimed at purchasing aquatic rescue equipment, medical equipment for providing first aid and radio communications equipment, namely to support the provision of telemedicine solutions.
The objectives of the campaigns developed by Western Union focused on funding with $ 50,000 for the Agapedia Moldova Foundation, allowing it to reach the poorest communities in Moldova and offering protection solutions for the children from needy families. Also, Western Union have funded with 25,000 $ for building a house for a poor family from the village Cumpana and they have given donations to families and children in need, but also for communities affected by flooding.
The social campaigns developed by The Rompetrol Group focused on financing of 10 charities, during the Christmas holidays, proposed and voted on by the public, who had 700 beneficiaries, especially disadvantaged and suffering children . This included also some community projects from the health or the environment domain, offering benefits to more than 140,000 people.
The mobile phone company Orange has implemented jointly with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology a social project to facilitate the access to information for rural residents. Other social campaigns aimed the involvement of company's employee in childcare activities with sensory and providing support and assistance to the homeless.
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Table 4. Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the social domain
Company Campaign No. of campaign
BRD Groupe Societe Generale 1. BRD and UNICEF in Solidarity Week 2. Euro2007 Habitat Build 3. The Children and Parent’s Day in Botanical Garden 4. Donate for Life 5. Alliance for Persons with Autism 6. Samusocial 7. A bridge between people 7
Vodafone 1. A Chance for Life (2008-2009) 2. "10 houses in a week!" 3. Vodafone and Salvamar - Partnership for Life 4. A partnership for life 4
Western Union Romania 1. Partnership with Agapedia Moldova 2. Partnership with Habitat for Humanity - Cumpana 3. Support for families and children in need 4. Donation for flood-hit communities 4
The Rompetrol Group 1. Together for each people, 2009 2. Together for each people 2010 3. Do a good deed for the holidays! 3
Orange 1. Access to communication 2. You and the community 3. Help for the homeless 3
Campaigns from educational domain
The most social responsibility campaigns in education are run by SIVECO Romania (4) and RBS Romania (4), followed by BCR with 3 campaigns.
SIVECO organized national competitions that awarded the best educational software, challenging the teachers and students to imagine the future of the computerized education. Through another project, nine conferences were held in over
1,000 Romanian high schools in which students discussed issues related to democracy with public figures. Other social campaigns conducted by SIVECO aimed to provide residents in the village Breasta with the opportunity to benefit from technology and modern training methods, through establishing a lab computer, IT and AEL courses and helping to develop the potential of young computer scientists in the field of e-learning.
The education campaigns organized by BCR Romania aimed at promoting entrepreneurship education among the 200 students who had the opportunity to run for 3 months, their “business driver” and involved more than 100 employees interacting with 3573 volunteer students from 52 high schools, inspiring them and helping them to understand the practical concepts studied.
RBS Romania has implemented campaigns through the curricular offer for third year students of the Faculty of International Relations of the Academy of Economic Studies, supported by 18 employees of the bank, which provided young people with
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SOVREMENNAA feKONOMIKA: PROBLEMY, TENDENCII, PERSPEKTIVY, vol. 9 : 2, 2013 relevant information about what it means to work in a bank. Other campaigns followed involving 2,000 high school students and students in educational activities and accessing online resources MoneySense by 30,000 adults and over 13,000 euros were spent in training, workshops and seminars attended by over 500 students from all country to learn how to achieve and implement sustainable development projects that solve problems for their communities.
Table 5.
Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the field of education________________________________________________________________________________
Company Campaign No. of campaigns
1. SIVECO Cup, 2008
SIVECO Romania 2. Civic conferences 4
3. Learning to learn 4. Virtual Centre of Excellence SIVECO
RBS Romania 1. European Values 2008 - 2009 2. Education for Sustainable Development 2007 - 2008 3. European Values 2005-2006 4. Launch of RBS MoneySense in Romania 4
Banca Comerciala Romana 1. START! Business 2009/2010
2. My finances 2008/2009 3. BCR Hope 2009 3
Campaigns from environmental domain
Most environmental campaigns are developed by the Carpatcement Holding (4), followed by Tuborg (3) Orange and UniCredit Tiriac Bank, with 2 campaign each.
The campaigns realized by Carpatcement Holding Romania aimed to change Romanians’ attitude towards the environment and educating children about protecting it, planting a forest protection curtain in Bucharest in Cornetu town, on a land previously used as a warehouse of uncontrolled storage of household and industrial waste, in which were involved both customers and employees, but also business partners and journalists. Another campaign aimed to inform the population about the responsibility, the company has towards environmental protection and about the protection rules in the protected areas.
During a campaign run on multiple editions, Green Umbrella, the Tuborg company has developed a broad caravan for responsibility towards the environment, in many cities from Romania, 300,000 people were involved in ecological actions, attended concerts were they received ecological messages and they were informed about recycling strategies and practices.
The environmental campaigns organized by Orange aimed to provide assistance in order to identify new opportunities for market products and to diversify economic activities through biodiversity conservation and for development of rural communities in southeastern Transylvania. These campaigns conducted in 3 years were considered to boost the economic development of the targeted region by
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UniCredit Tiriac Bank has conducted campaigns in which employees were engaged in activities of planting 2,000 seedlings in to a deforested area from National Park Piatra Craiului. Another campaign aimed at opening bike rental centers, and the service became financially self-sustainable.
Table 6.
Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the field of environment______________________________________________________________________________
Company Campaign No. of campaign
Carpatcement Holding 1. Together for Nature 2007 2. Together for Nature 2006 3. Bucharest is Breathing 2007 4. Bucharest is Breathing 2006 4
1. Green Umbrella 2010 - Green Capital of Romania
Tuborg Romania 2. Green Umbrella 2009 - For now, the city is greener! 3. You and Green Umbrella - Always Close 3
Orange 1. Orange-Adept Work Camp, 2008 2. Orange-Adept Work Camp, 2005-2007 2
UniCredit Jiriac Bank 1. Cicloteque, 2010 2. Our forest 2
Campaigns from cultural domain
In the cultural domain, the most campaigns were developed and implemented by two banks, UniCredit Tiriac and BRD - Groupe Societe Generale - with two campaigns each.
UniCredit Tiriac Bank implemented 2 editions (2009 and 2010) of a campaign in which 241 young people have participated in contests of poetry and prose written by them. They were judged and they received feedback from some figures of literary criticism. 3 of the awarded persons were published in a volume of Humanitas Publishing House.
The campaigns organized by BRD aimed to bring back chamber music to the attention of the Romanian public by organizing an annual festival that gathers prestigious international performers, but also by involvement in promoting of the Romanian cultural values and historic monuments.
Table 7.
Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the field of culture_________________________________________________________________________________
Company Campaign No. of campaign
UniCredit Tiriac Bank 1. Literary Debut competition UniCredit, 2009 2. Literary Debut competition UniCredit, 2010 2
BRD-Groupe Societe 1. SoNoRo Festival, 2007 2
Generale 2. Cultural heritage - discover its value!
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SOVREMENNAA feKONOMIKA: PROBLEMY, TENDENCII, PERSPEKTIVY, vol. 9 : 2, 2013
Campaigns from Human Rights domain
The most social responsibility campaigns related to human rights protection were developed by the pharmaceutical company A & D Pharma. The company has implemented 5 campaigns of this type.
The campaigns conducted by A & D Pharma focused on awareness of over
45,000 users of social networks from Romania in the fight against extreme consequences of violence against women and domestic violence: female crime. Through this campaign, over 30,000 people have worn white ribbons to protest against violence against women, also they have placed a wall in the Center of the Bucharest on which were written the names of women killed by their husbands in the past two years in Bucharest and they lit 500 candles in memory of the women, victims of domestic violence. Also, in a campaign made by Sensiblu Foundation, they have build center for protection and counseling for women and children affected by domestic violence.
Table 8.
Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the field of human rights______________________________________________________________________________
Company Campaign No. of campaign
1. The campaign V-Days 2009 - Nuepoveste.ro
2. The campaign V-Days 2008 - At home you are not in a
A&D Pharma prison
3. The campaign V-Days 2007- The wall of indifference
4. The campaign V-Days 2006 - Silent witnesses
5. Casa Blu
5
Campaigns from sports domain
BRD - Groupe Societe Generale has most frequently conducted campaigns in sport (2). The other companies, like Vodafone and MOL Romania have implemented one such social responsibility campaign.
The communicational campaigns in sports domain developed by BRD aimed to promote tennis in various national sports centers, and to create strong links between children from two orphanages in Bucharest.
Table 9.
Companies with the greatest number of social responsibility campaigns in the field of human rights_____________________________________________________________________________
Company Campaign No. of campaign
BRD-Groupe Societe 1. 10 for Pavel, 2008 2
Generale 2. Through sport in society
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У .У СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ЭКОНОМИКА: ПРОБЛЕМЫ, ТЕНДЕНЦИИ, ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ, № 9, 2013 г.
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Conclusions
The social responsibility has become an essential element not only in raising the image capital or increasing the corporate reputation, but also for the involvement of the society in activities aimed at the common interest.
In Romania, the companies have been encourage to involve in community issues through the sponsorship law, by which they can donate more than 3% of their profit tax, but not more than 20% of income tax. Actually, only big companies, with major business activities, can afford to make sponsorships, not the small and medium enterprises. This would be a first limitation of Romanian companies involved in social responsibility programs.
The second important policy supporting social responsibility campaigns is a possibility to donate 2% of tax payers’ income to NGOs, churches, foundations, associations. Another significant step was made in 2007 when CSR Division was established, under the supervision of the Secretary of State. The division is responsible for CSR policy development, in cooperation with the NGOs, civil society to promote CSR concept among the local and Romanian companies.
Following the survey, we find that the social responsibility campaigns were implemented in Romania especially by the multinational companies. The multinational companies are mostly involved in CSR activities because the best practices of management were transferred from the parent companies to local branches in the country.
We also note that the most campaigns (41.6%) were achieved in the social field through donations of money, blood or otherwise, by assisting and improving the lives of disabled and homeless, etc.
The education campaigns are quite numerous in Romania and are promoting youth entrepreneurship education through courses, seminars, contests or centres of excellence. Protecting the environment is another relatively frequent topic used in social responsibility campaigns in Romania. It is interesting that the leading companies in this field represent mobile operators and banks not the industrial entities responsible for environmental pollution.
Areas such as culture, human rights and sport are the least exploited by the Romanian corporations for the purpose of social responsibility campaigns. However, among them we can mention the organization of competitions and cultural festivals, campaigns to protect women who have been victims of domestic violence and campaigns to promote sport among young people by involving personalities from this field.
In conclusion, we hold that corporate social responsibility in Romania is still in growth. There is a greater involvement in this area of the multinational companies but CSR begins to be common practice and successful for Romanian companies too. Some companies already publish CSR reports or include in their annual report socially responsible activities they have undertaken. The Romanian companies use CSR as a tactical tool and, therefore, most CSR projects in Romania are short-term. Media and NGOs are not all too active in promoting this concept, at the level of the government, CSR strategy has been mostly imported from the EU.
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ВЛИЯНИЕ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ОТВЕТСТВЕННОСТИ КОРПОРАЦИЙ НА
РЫНКЕ РУМЫНИИ
Тасентце Тэнасе1, Чиаку Николета2
Бухарестский университет (Румыния)1 Университет Константина Брынковяну (Румыния)
Аннотация. Целью настоящего исследования является обзор разработанных компаниями осуществления Румынии. Так, мы стремимся определить в нашем анализе наиболее привлекательных области для развития социальных проектов, осуществлённых организациями. Тем не менее, целью исследования не является определение рейтинга активных компаний в области КСО (корпоративной социальной ответственности) Румынии и, особенно, выявление компаний, которые разработали большее количество мероприятий. Методология исследования основана на количественном и качественном анализе тематических исследований, доступных на авторитетном румынском аналитическом сайте (www.responsabilitatesociala.ro). Таким образом, в нашем анализе мы отметили, что большинство социально ответственных кампаний фокусируют своё внимание на социальной сфере, а менее всего на спорте или в области прав человека. Другой важный аспект исследования касается массового вовлечения транснациональных компаний в этой области, а впоследствии и румынских.
Ключевые слова: социальная ответственность; социальные инвестиции; корпоративная социальная ответственность; Румыния; социальные кампании; румынские компании.
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