The European experience of corporate social responsibility and the reality of Georgia

Abstract

In European countries, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has long been an integral part of national economic policy. Since the 90s of the 20th century, approaches to social responsibility of business have undergone significant changes. Until this period in European countries, the state established labor, environmental protection, and social security standards for businesses, which on the one hand significantly raised the requirements for social protection and ecological safety of the population, On the other hand, it limited the business, fundamentally changed the fundamental principle of its responsibility - the voluntary nature. To date, the modern system of the European Union (EU) has become the result of joint efforts to integrate business and supranational institutions. This process started in 2001, with the publication by the European Commission of the European Union Green Paper: "Building a European System of Corporate Social Responsibility", which presented a new conceptual approach to this phenomenon. According to this document, (CSR) implies consideration of environmental and ethical standards, respect for human and consumer rights, as well as relations with all stakeholders working on these issues. The document fully complies with the concept of sustainable development, which allows for a broader interpretation of CSR. Based on the analysis of accumulated European experience in the field of CSR, the common features are clearly revealed  which are typical for EU countries, where the degree of state involvement and the importance of regulation in this field are higher than in other regions of the world. For EU countries, the most common areas of CSR are employment, education and health issues. However, in the process of selecting CSR programs and areas of application, European countries use diametrically different approaches to the most common areas of CSR. Actualization of the problem of social responsibility of business in Georgia started in 2005. Based on the agreement of non-governmental organizations and the business sector on this issue, a memorandum on cooperation in the social sphere was adopted. In 2007, the representation of the UN Global Program - "Global Compact" was launched in Georgia "Global Compact - Georgia", which unites more than forty organizations. The purpose of this initiative is to popularize the problems of social responsibility of business in Georgia and to introduce the practice of producing international social reports. Implementation of the principles and practices of social responsibility of business in Georgia is necessary for the stable  development of the business sector, as it is an important tool for the sustainable development of business and raising its reputation. However, we sound also admit that the current approaches to CSR in the country are imperfect and need to be revised. In this context, studying and generalizing the rich experience of European countries in the field of CSR is an important task for Georgia, the realization of which at the same time brings positive economic and social results.