Development of the corporate social responsibility of industrial enterprises in the Voronezh Region: institutional and organisational aspects

Abstract

Subject. The current decade has been recognised by the world community as “a decade of decisive actions” aimed at combating numerous social and environmental issues. Solving these problems is impossible without mobilising the efforts of the business community. In this regard, corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes highly important as well as the issue of integrating its principles into business activities. Since the industrial sector is characterised by the most significant impact on the environment and the local community and involves substantial labour resources, the implementation of CSR by industrial enterprises is of particular interest.
Purpose. An analysis and assessment of the prospects for the development of corporate social responsibility among industrial enterprises in the Voronezh Region.
Methods. The study involved a quantitative strategy for collecting and analysing information. The empirical basis was data from a survey carried out at 30 industrial enterprises in the Voronezh Region.
Results. The empirical study allowed shaping the big picture of how CSR is understood and implemented by industrial enterprises in the Voronezh Region in terms of: the composition of the main CSR programmes and addressees; international and national CSR standards used in the activities and the formation of internal institutions for the CSR development; the nature and forms of interaction between enterprises, the state, and non-profit organisations; and assessing the prospects and barriers to the development of CSR.
Conclusions. The social responsibility of non-public regional industrial enterprises remains fragmentary. There is a gap between the actual CSR content, its understanding by the management personnel of enterprises, and the current implementation of social programmes in practice. All activities of industrial enterprises in the field of CSR continue their technical and technological processes or business processes. Enterprises pay little attention to non-production activities. Enterprises are not interested in disclosing information about their activities, reducing any adverse impact they have on the environment, contributing to the sustainability of the territories where they are located, and the formation of civil society. Businesses act as closed systems that exist outside society. In order to develop the CSR of regional industrial enterprises, a set of measures (financial and economic, organisational, informational, and educational) has been proposed, which ensures the relevance of the content of regional industrial policy.