Social Responsibility of Business: Practical Aspect in the Conditions of Bifurcation

Abstract

The article deals with an actual issue of industrial enterprises’ economical activity – corporate social responsibility – basics of the national economy’s constant development. Continuation of European integration processes and domestic enterprises’ access to the international market have caused a tendency of gradual transfer of responsibility for solving social problems from state to business subjects. It has been proven that the business’ social responsibility in modern crisis conditions is an economic activity that is oriented to satisfaction of not only own, but social needs. The research focused on practices of domestic enterprises’ social responsibility, the main of which are implementation of improving the labor conditions policy, charity, and help to JFO soldiers. We defined the main incentives and motives of corporate social responsibility implementation in Ukrainian enterprises, the most specific value of which have moral considerations, desire for a company’s reputation improvement, and increase of the personnel’s loyalty. The author generalized the indicators of the business’ corporate social responsibility effectiveness estimation from the point of view of the enterprise’s activity aspects characterization, mostly used in international practice. We researched the ways of the international leading companies’ social responsibility by the version of Reputation Institute (RI), the world leader in reputational audit and consulting, the main focus of which is on environment protection programs, the use of ecological and natural raw materials, implementation of charity programs, and social projects. When comparing activity of Ukrainian and foreign enterprises in the sphere of social responsibility, it was determined that activities of the last mentioned are more directed to the problems of the inner environment: improvement of labor conditions, increase of the personnel’s health level. It is shown in modern crisis conditions, with the whole world in such conditions, that corporate social responsibility is approved as a necessary condition of the business’ continuity and is demonstrated with the companies’ initiations in help to hospitals, healthcare, safety of the personnel and their families, and support of socially-vulnerable groups. We have analyzed the ways to help in the fight against COVID-19 by the leading companies of Ukraine and the world and justified the main reasons of the business’ corporate social responsibility implementation necessity in the activity of domestic enterprises. JEL classіfіcatіon: М14 Manuscript received 27.04.2020