Impact of corporate social responsibility on sustainable enterprise development

Abstract

Abstract Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a recent entry in the economy of modern enterprise both at global level and for Romanian companies. CSR adds a new dimension to the enterprise’s performance in the social fields, contributing to the sustainable development of economic entities. CSR components are included in an international standard – ISO 26000. The paper presents authors’ experience in implementing this standard. Possible steps of a roadmap for CSR implementation: Top management endorsement and nomination of a complex CSR team Developing formal company CSR policy documents Selecting and engaging the company’s stakeholders as early as possible. Building a Project Advisory Board – useful in every modern managerial tool application should guide the progress toward CSR. An external facilitator would help solve internal conflicts. An audit of what CSR represents for the Company, what are the CSR options, e.g., promoting a “green company” profile, what would be the best impact of philanthropy and community volunteering, etc. Generate a CSR portfolio of actions, setting deadlines, responsibilities and allocating resources, establishing communication, reporting, monitoring and corrective procedures upgrading the sustainable enterprise strategy. The authors experience led to the following conclusions: Critical relevance of top management involvement Stakeholders contacted as soon as possible in the process The Project Advisory Board legitimates the actions taken under the mainframe of CSR Aligning CSR polices to every other policy in the Company and make a system of coherent documents from ISO 9001, 14001, 18001, and 26000 that should work in a holistic manner. Focal company operates in municipal services having constant contact with all stakeholders. The paper substantiates a previous work that analysed modern managerial tools.