Introduction

The theme of my test: "Social responsibility and business ethics: formation, development, practical application."

Business ethics as an applied field of knowledge was formed in the United States and Western Europe in the 1970s of the XX century. However, the moral aspects of business attracted researchers already in the 60s. The scientific community and the business world have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to increase the "ethical awareness" of professional businessmen in their business operations, as well as the "responsibility of corporations to society." Particular attention was paid to the increasing cases of corruption, both among the government bureaucracy and among the responsible persons of various corporations. A certain role in the development of business ethics as a scientific discipline was played by the famous "Watergate", which involved the most prominent representatives of President R. Nixon's administration. By the early 1980s, most business schools in the US, as well as some universities, included business ethics in their curricula. Currently, the course of business ethics is also included in the curricula of some Russian universities.

There are two main points of view on the correlation of universal ethical principles and business ethics: 1) the rules of ordinary morality do not apply to business or apply to a lesser extent .; 2) business ethics is based on universal universal ethical standards ah (be honest, do no harm, keep one's word, etc.), which are specified taking into account the specific social role of business in society. Theoretically, the second point of view is considered more correct.

The issues of the relationship between ethics and economics have recently begun to be actively discussed in our country.

The purpose of the control work is to consider issues of social responsibility and business ethics.

Tasks: 1) social responsibility formation, development,

practical use.

2) business ethics formation, development, practical

application.

Question number 1. Social responsibility and business ethics: formation, development, practical application

Social policy is one of the most important areas state regulation economy. It is an organic part of the internal policy of the state, aimed at ensuring the well-being and comprehensive development of its citizens and society as a whole. The significance of social policy is determined by its influence on the processes of labor force reproduction, increasing labor productivity, educational and qualification level labor resources, per level scientific and technological development productive forces, on the cultural and spiritual life of society. Social policy aimed at improving working and living conditions, the development of physical culture and sports, reduces the incidence and thus has a tangible impact on reducing economic losses in production. As a result of the development of such systems in the social sphere as public catering, preschool education, frees part of the population from the sphere household, increased employment in social production. Science and scientific support, which determine the prospects for the country's economic development, are also part of the social sphere and their development and efficiency are regulated within the framework of social policy. The social sphere not only regulates the processes of employment of the population, but is also directly a place of application of labor and provides jobs for millions of people in the country.

The main objectives of social policy are:

1. Harmonization of social relations, harmonization of the interests and needs of certain groups of the population with the long-term interests of society, stabilization of the socio-political system.

2. Creation of conditions for ensuring the material well-being of citizens, the formation of economic incentives for participation in social production, ensuring equality of social opportunities to achieve a normal standard of living.

3. Providing social protection for all citizens and their basic state-guaranteed socio-economic rights, including support for low-income and vulnerable groups of the population.

4. Ensuring rational employment in society.

5. reducing the level of criminalization in society.

6. Development of sectors of the social complex, such as education, healthcare, science, culture, housing and communal services, etc.

7. Ensuring the country's environmental safety.

The social responsibility of business is the conduct of business in accordance with the norms and laws adopted in the country where it is located. It's job creation. This is charity and the creation of various funds to help various social strata of society. This is ensuring the protection of the environment of their production, and much more supporting the social status in the country.

Business assumes the functions of the state and this is called social responsibility. This is primarily due to the lack of an appropriate state policy in the field of corporate social responsibility. The state itself cannot determine the model of relations with business.

There are two points of view on how organizations should behave in relation to their social environment in order to be considered socially responsible. According to one of them, an organization is socially responsible when it maximizes profits without violating laws and government regulations. From these positions, the organization should pursue only economic goals. According to another view, an organization, in addition to economic responsibilities, must take into account the human and social impact of its business activities on employees, consumers and local communities in which it operates, as well as make some positive contribution to the solution. social problems generally.

The concept of social responsibility is that the organization performs the economic function of producing products and services necessary for a society with a free market economy, while providing work for citizens and maximizing profits and rewards for shareholders. According to this view, organizations have a responsibility to the society in which they operate, beyond and beyond providing efficiency, employment, profits, and not breaking the law. Organizations should therefore direct some of their resources and efforts through social channels. Social responsibility, unlike legal, implies a certain level of voluntary response to social problems on the part of the organization.

The debate about the role of business in society has given rise to arguments for and against social responsibility.

Business-friendly long-term prospects. Social activities of enterprises that improve the life of the local community or eliminate the need for government regulation may be in the self-interest of enterprises due to the benefits provided by participation in society. In a society that is more prosperous from a social point of view, conditions are more favorable for business activities. In addition, even if the short-term costs of social action are high, they can drive profits in the long run, as consumers, suppliers, and the local community develop a more attractive image of the enterprise.

Changing needs and expectations of the general public. Business-related social expectations have changed radically since the 1960s. In order to narrow the gap between new expectations and the real response of enterprises, their involvement in solving social problems becomes both expected and necessary.

Availability of resources to assist in solving social problems. Since the business has significant human and financial resources, he should have transferred some of them to social needs.

A moral obligation to behave socially responsibly. An enterprise is a member of society, so moral standards should also govern its behavior. The enterprise, like individual members of society, must act in a socially responsible manner and contribute to strengthening the moral foundations of society. Moreover, since laws cannot cover every occasion, businesses must act responsibly in order to maintain a society based on order and the rule of law.

Violation of the profit maximization principle. The direction of part of the resources for social needs reduces the impact of the principle of profit maximization. The enterprise behaves in the most socially responsible manner, focusing only on economic interests and leaving social problems to state institutions and services, charitable institutions and educational organizations.

Social Inclusion Expenses. Funds allocated for social needs are costs for the enterprise. Ultimately, these costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. In addition, firms that compete in international markets with firms in other countries that do not incur social costs are at a competitive disadvantage. As a result, their sale on international markets is reduced, which leads to a deterioration in the US balance of payments in foreign trade.

Insufficient level of reporting to the general public. Because managers are not elected, they are not accountable to the general public. The market system controls the economic performance of enterprises well and poorly controls their social involvement. As long as society does not develop a procedure for direct accountability of enterprises to it, the latter will not participate in social actions for which they do not consider themselves responsible.

Lack of ability to solve social problems. The personnel of any enterprise is best prepared for activities in the fields of economy, market and technology. He is deprived of the experience that allows him to make significant contributions to solving problems of a social nature. The improvement of society should be facilitated by specialists working in the relevant public institutions and charitable organizations.

According to studies on the attitude of executives to corporate social responsibility, there is a clear shift towards its increase. The executives interviewed believe that the pressure to increase corporate social responsibility is real, significant and will continue. Other studies have shown that senior management of firms began to participate in the work of local communities as volunteers.

The biggest stumbling block to developing social responsibility programs is cited by executives as the demands of front-line workers and managers to increase earnings per share on a quarterly basis. The desire to quickly increase profits and incomes makes managers refuse to transfer part of their resources to programs that are driven by social responsibility. Organizations are taking numerous steps in the area of ​​voluntary participation in society.

business ethics

Business ethics as an applied field of knowledge was formed in the United States and Western Europe in the 1970s of the XX century. However, the moral aspects of business attracted researchers already in the 60s. The scientific community and the business world have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to increase the "ethical awareness" of professional businessmen in their business operations, as well as the "responsibility of corporations to society." Particular attention was paid to the increasing cases of corruption both among the government bureaucracy and among the responsible persons of various corporations. A certain role in the development of business ethics as a scientific discipline was played by the famous "Watergate", which involved the most prominent representatives of President R. Nixon's administration. By the early 1980s, most business schools in the US, as well as some universities, included business ethics in their curricula. Currently, the course of business ethics is also included in the curricula of some Russian universities.

In business ethics, there are three main approaches to the moral problems of business, based on three ethical areas: utilitarianism, deontic ethics (ethics of duty) and "ethics of justice". Presented in the works of American scientists M. Valasquez, J. Rawls, L. Nash, they can be reduced to the following.

The word "ethics" (Greek ethika, from ethos - custom, disposition, character) is usually used in two senses. On the one hand, ethics is a field of knowledge, a scientific discipline that studies morality, morality, their emergence, dynamics, factors and changes. On the other hand, ethics is understood as the totality of moral rules in a particular area of ​​behavior of a person or organization. As a designation of a special field of knowledge, this term was first used by Aristotle. The concept of "ethos" refers to the agreed rules and patterns of everyday behavior, way of life, lifestyle of a community of people (estates, professional group, social stratum, generation, etc.), as well as the orientation of any culture, the hierarchy of values ​​adopted in it.

The direct connection of ethics with life practice is well traced in the field of so-called professional ethics, which is a system of moral requirements for professional activity person. One of the types of professional ethics is business ethics. It arose relatively late on the basis of general labor morality. In turn, the main place in the ethics of business relations is occupied by the ethics of business (entrepreneurship). It includes management ethics (managerial ethics), ethics business communication, ethics of conduct, etc.

Business - initiative economic activity, carried out both at the expense of own and borrowed funds at one's own risk and under one's own responsibility, the purpose of which is the formation and development of one's own business for profit and the solution of social problems of the entrepreneur, labor collective, society as a whole.

business ethics – business ethics based on honesty, openness, loyalty to the given word, the ability to function effectively in the market in accordance with applicable law, established rules and traditions.

Two main points of view of the principles of business ethics:

the rules of ordinary morality do not apply to business or apply to a lesser extent. This point of view corresponds to the concept of the so-called ethical relativism, according to which each reference group (i.e., a group of people whose opinion about their behavior this subject is guided by) is characterized by its own special ethical norms;

Business ethics is based on general universal ethical standards (be honest, do no harm, keep one's word, etc.), which are specified taking into account the specific social role of business in society.

Business ethics issues are as old as entrepreneurship. However, they have become especially acute in our time, when the market has changed a lot, from fierce to fierce competition. Now all over the world the issues of ethics of business relations are widely studied, serve as the subject of scientific discussions and forums, are studied in many higher and secondary educational institutions providing training for the labor market.

The Importance of Ethics in Business

Experts believe that the concept of "business ethics" has entered into mass use relatively recently - as a result of the process of globalization of the economy, an increase in the number of firms and an increase in their level of responsibility to society. However, the basic principles of ethics that can now be applied to business were formulated thousands of years ago. Even the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero limited himself to the statement that big profits are made by big deceit. However, today this axiom sounds more and more controversial. The civilized economy that has emerged in developed countries requires a civilized approach to doing business from entrepreneurs. In fact, the goal of their activities remained the same, but there was a weighty caveat: big profits, but not by any means.

In the language of economists, moral values ​​are an informal institution. This is a kind of intangible asset, the treatment of which is not prescribed by the letter of the law. However, this feature does not diminish their importance for business. For example, it is moral factors that significantly affect the amount of transaction costs.

The International Institute of Business Ethics has formulated four areas in which companies must operate in order to strengthen their reputation. First, it is honest work with investors and consumers. Secondly, improving the situation within the team - increasing the responsibility and motivation of employees, reducing staff turnover, increasing productivity, etc. Thirdly, professional work over reputation, since the deterioration of reputation inevitably affects the results of the company. Fourthly, competent work with regulations and finances - only strict adherence to the "spirit" and "letter" of the law makes it possible to create a long-term future for a company in international business.

Ethics in the modern sense becomes a kind of additional resource of the enterprise. For example, in such an issue as personnel management, in the conditions of global competition, the mere use of economic and financial incentives is no longer enough. To keep the company at the level of modern information and communication technologies, the company needs to learn how to influence the staff with the help of cultural and moral values. These values ​​also play an increasingly important role in relationships with partners, clients, intermediaries, and finally, with society itself.

Attempts to link moral and ethical criteria and business practices in the field international business are constantly being undertaken. Despite the shortcomings of today's ethical prescriptions for business representatives, every year more and more organizations are trying, sometimes of their own free will, and sometimes as a result of outside pressure, to create their own own rules business.

The principles of international business are the global ethical standard, according to which one can build and evaluate behavior in the field of international business.

Honesty, decency and reliability are the most valued principles of business ethics around the world and in Russia, since following these principles creates the basis for effective business relationships - mutual trust.

Mutual trust is the most important moral and psychological factor of business, which ensures the predictability of business relations, confidence in the obligation of a business partner and the stability of a joint business.

Features of introducing ethics into business

In practice, when building a company's ethical space, as a rule, an alliance of company ethics specialists, consultants and theorists is formed. Together they seek to understand the values ​​that underlie the company's activities, describe the concept of its ethical management, and then develop and implement ethical programs.

The criteria and concept of the company's ethics are "prescribed" in ethical documents - provisions on the mission, values, codes, standards of conduct, business conduct. Once adopted and discussed, documents acquire legitimacy and become a tool for ethical management.

Ethical documents are usually introduced as the same for all employees of the organization - regardless of position, length of service, and the like. Arrogance towards ethical standards devalues ​​the idea. Often, the codes explicitly state that it applies to all employees of the organization without exception. One of the important principles of compliance with the code is its implementation by company leaders. Norms are translated "from top to bottom". If management violates the provisions of the code, it is quite logical that employees will not comply with it either.

Ethical management is carried out at three levels: strategic, regular and risk management. In order for documents not to remain only on paper, but to become a real tool for organizing corporate life, understanding its ethical and moral aspects, companies develop business ethics programs, the nature of which depends on the strategic objectives and vision of top managers and owners.

Integrating business ethics programs in an organization, developing policies to help implement them, involving stakeholders in the process of discussing and implementing the provisions and requirements of the code of ethics, sharing responsibility for resolving ethical issues and problems among employees, managers and departments of the organization - these are the most difficult for Russian companies spheres of interaction with corporate ethics. But, the biggest difficulties lie in wait for domestic firms when trying to introduce an infrastructure of corporate ethics and establish its work. This is where the cross-cultural differences between Russia and Western countries come into play. In American and European transnational corporations, there are business ethics departments, positions of ethics commissioners, ombudsmen; special secure communication networks, telephone hotlines, hot e-mail, a special Internet portal, appropriate software, electronic databases on acute problems. Many companies outsource (the performance of these functions by a third party) the maintenance of "hot lines", the training of personnel on ethical issues.

Ethics and modern management

Increasing indicators of ethical behavior.

Personal values ​​(general beliefs about good and evil) are at the core of the problem of the social responsibility of business to society. Ethics deals with the principles that determine right and wrong behavior.

Business ethics touches not only the problem of socially responsible behavior. It focuses on a wide range of behaviors of managers and managed. Moreover, in the focus of its attention are both the goals and the means used by both.

The reasons for the expansion of unethical business practices of business leaders include:

1. competition that marginalizes ethical considerations;

2. an increasing desire to report the level of profitability in quarterly reports;

3. failure to properly reward managers for ethical behavior;

4. a general decline in the importance of ethics in society, which gradually excuses behavior in the workplace;

5. pressure from the organization on ordinary employees in order to find a compromise between their own personal values ​​and the values ​​of managers.

Organizations are taking various measures to improve the characteristics of the ethical behavior of managers and ordinary employees.

These measures include:

1. Development of ethical standards;

2. Creation of ethics committees;

3. Providence of social audits;

4. Teaching ethical behavior.

Ethical standards describe the system of shared values ​​and the rules of ethics that, in the opinion of the organization, its employees should adhere to. Ethical standards are developed with the aim of describing the goals of the organization, creating a normal ethical atmosphere and identifying ethical recommendations in decision-making processes.

ethics committees. Some organizations set up standing committees to assess daily practice from an ethical standpoint. Almost all members of such committees are top-level executives. Some organizations do not create such committees, but employ a business ethicist called

ethics lawyer. The role of such a lawyer is to exercise judgment on ethical issues related to the actions of the organization, as well as to perform the function of the “social conscience” of the organization.

Social revisions proposed for evaluating and reporting on the social impact of an organization's activities and programs. Supporters of social audit believe that reports of this type may indicate the level of social responsibility of the organization.

Although some companies have tried to use the principles of social audit, the problems of measuring direct costs and benefits from the implementation of social programs have not yet been resolved.

Teaching ethical behavior. Another approach used by organizations to improve ethical behavior is through ethical behavior training for managers and employees.

Employees are introduced to business ethics and are made more receptive to ethical issues that may arise.

Embedding ethics as a subject in university-level business courses is another form of ethical behavior education that helps students gain a better understanding of ethical business conduct issues.

Conclusion

Summing up, the following should be said. Ethics is becoming an integral part of business practices. corporations should conduct periodic "ethics impact reviews". Ethics must be an essential element of the planning process. The problems created by the behavior of multinational corporations in the absence of such analysis become subject to regulation by the government of the host country. Therefore, it is in the interests of each organization to establish uniform ethical principles for operations in all regions, and at the highest possible level, and strictly and consciously follow them.

At the same time, there is no single “template” of a moral standard: each person has his own understanding of ethical norms, and companies “construct” concepts of their own ethics, which must be coordinated with both external and internal interested groups.

Standards of ethical behavior vary from country to country. Behavior is often determined by the means by which the law is enforced, rather than by the actual existence of the law. Ethical behavior has no "upper" boundaries. Multinational organizations are characterized by a high level ethical responsibility and controllability. The attention of the country to ethics increases with the growth of the level of economic well-being.

Introduction

Among the complex of management problems, the problem of improving the management of the company's personnel plays a special role. The task of this area of ​​management is to increase the efficiency of production through motivation, incentives and compensation through the comprehensive development and reasonable use of the creative forces of a person, increasing the level of his qualifications, competence, responsibility, initiative.

At present, the attitude towards the main productive force of society - the working man - is changing. The role of man in the process of economic development is constantly growing. This fully applies to our country. Russia has been going through a period of social change for more than a decade. Such changes affect not only political, economic and social structures society, but also inevitably have an impact on people's consciousness. There are transformations in the value and motivational structures, that is, in people's understanding of what it is worth living and acting for, what ideals to rely on. With the transition of Russia to a market economy, it became obvious that the laws of a market economy require people to have completely different motives and values ​​than the economy of a socialist society. In this regard, the question arises of the importance of studying by Russian managers accumulated over a long period of existence in the market conditions of foreign experience in the field of personnel management, theories of motivation, specific methods and principles of stimulating employees, enhancing their activities and increasing labor efficiency.

The revolution in property and the transformations of the economic institutions of society that accompanied it led to the fact that millions of people who were previously engaged in organized, planned professional

Question number 2 Motivation and compensation: similarities, differences, features of the Michael Porter model

With the transition of Russia to a market economy, it became obvious that the laws of a market economy require people to have completely different motives and values ​​than the economy of a socialist society. In this regard, the question arises of the importance of studying by Russian managers accumulated over a long period of existence in the market conditions of foreign experience in the field of personnel management, theories of motivation, specific methods and principles of stimulating employees, enhancing their activities and increasing labor efficiency. It is necessary to transform value, motivational and compensation structures, that is, in people's understanding of what it is worth living and acting for, what ideals to rely on.

The economic reforms being carried out in Russia have significantly changed the status of the enterprise as the main link in the national economy. The market puts the enterprise in a fundamentally new relationship with government agencies, partners, and employees. New economic and legal regulators are being established. In this regard, relations between the heads of organizations, between managers and subordinates, between all employees within the organization are improving.

Way to good governance personnel, to enhance its activities and increase its effectiveness lies through understanding the motivation and compensation of people. If you understand well what drives a person, encourages him to act, what he strives for. By performing certain work, it is possible, in contrast to coercion that requires constant monitoring, in such a way to build the management of the company's personnel, that people themselves will actively strive to do their work in the best and most efficient way in terms of achieving the organization's goals.

The similarity of motivation and compensation is that the totality of internal and external factors that, continuously affecting him, encourage him to perform certain actions. At the same time, the connection between these forces and specific actions of a person is determined by a very complex system of interactions, individual for each person.

Motivation and compensation stimulate a person to act because there will be a reward for efforts. For example, a firm can reward its employees - this is money (salary) that can satisfy a range of needs. However, salary is a stimulating factor only if people attach great importance to it and its value depends on the results of work.

An increase in wages must then necessarily lead to an increase in labor productivity. In order to establish the relationship between salary and results achieved in the end labor activity, the following system of remuneration is proposed. The meaning of such a system is that motivating growth wages increases the efficiency, for which the employee's salary compensation will follow.

But we should remember the fickle nature of motivation through money. Upon reaching a certain level of well-being or in certain situations, the monetary factor of motivation reduces its influence on the behavior of the employee. In this case, in order to meet the needs, it is necessary to use non-material rewards and benefits.

The difference between motivation lies in the fact that Motives are incentives, causes, forces, passions that cause or stimulate the activity of a person, encourage him to behave in a certain way. The behavior model depends on the reaction to these incentives, and compensation is the remuneration of their employees:

Money (salary) that can satisfy a range of needs. However, salary is a stimulating factor only if people attach great importance to it and its value depends on the results of work;

A reward is something that can satisfy a person's needs. The manager deals with two types of rewards: internal and external;

Compensations are cash payments established in order to reimburse employees for the costs associated with the performance of labor or other duties provided for by federal law (Article 164 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Types of compensation payments for labor law the following: business trips, for moving to work in another area and for the wear and tear of your tool or other personal property.

No one knows exactly how the mechanism of labor motivation works, what strength a motivating factor can be and when it works, not to mention why it works. All that is known is that each worker works for a monetary reward and a set of compensatory and incentive measures. Monetary remuneration and other components of compensation provide the necessary conditions for the survival, development and leisure of the employee, as well as give confidence and high quality life in perspective.

Research over the past 30 years has shown that the true motives that make work give maximum effort are difficult to determine and extremely complex. But having mastered modern theories and models of labor motivation, the manager will be able to significantly expand his capabilities in attracting an educated and wealthy employee of today to perform tasks aimed at achieving the goals of the company.

feature of Michael Porter's model

Harvard professor Michael Porter presented his three strategies for strengthening a company's competitiveness back in 1980 in his book Competitive Strategy. They have a fairly general appearance, practical subtleties are a private matter for every entrepreneur.

The main essence of Michael Porter's strategies is that for the successful functioning of the company, it needs to somehow stand out from the competition so as not to be everything for everyone in the eyes of consumers, which, as you know, means nothing for anyone. To cope with this task, the company must choose the right strategy, which it will subsequently adhere to. Professor Porter identifies three types of strategy: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. At the same time, the latter is divided into two more: focusing on differentiation and focusing on non-costs.

M. Porter's approach to generating alternative strategies is based on the following statement. The stability of the company's position in the market is determined by: the costs with which products are produced and sold; irreplaceability of the product; the scope of competition (i.e. the amount of market processing).

An enterprise can achieve competitive advantages and strengthen its position by: ensuring lower costs for the production and sale of goods. Low costs refers to the ability of an enterprise to develop, produce and sell a product with comparable characteristics, but at a lower cost than competitors. By selling its product on the market with the prevailing (or even lower) price, the company receives additional profit; ensuring product indispensability through differentiation. Differentiation means the ability of the enterprise to provide the buyer with a product of greater value, i.e. greater use value. Differentiation allows you to set higher prices, which gives you more profit.

In addition, the company is faced with the choice of which "wide front" market to compete: in the entire market or in any part of it (segment). This choice can be made using the relationship between market share and the profitability of the enterprise, proposed by M. Porter.

Enterprises that do not have the ability to gain market leadership should concentrate their efforts on a certain segment and strive to increase their advantages relative to competitors there.

Success is achieved by large enterprises with a larger market share, as well as relatively small highly specialized enterprises. The desire of small enterprises to duplicate the behavior of large enterprises, regardless of their real capabilities, will lead to the loss of competitive positions in a critical area.

For such enterprises, in order to succeed, the rule should be followed: “Segment the market. Narrow production program. Achieve and maintain the maximum share in the minimum market.

Based on this, to strengthen the position of the enterprise, M. Porter recommends using one of three strategies.

1. Leadership through cost savings: Enterprises that decide to use this strategy direct all their actions to reduce costs in every possible way. An example is the company "British Ukraine Shipbuilders" (B-U-ES) for the construction of bulk carriers. The manufacture of ship hulls will be carried out by low-paid workers of Ukrainian shipyards. Cheap Ukrainian steel will be used in the production of ships. The filling of the ships will be supplied mainly by British companies. Therefore, it is expected that the cost of new vessels will be significantly lower than the price of similar products from European and Asian shipbuilders. Thus, a PANAMAX-class dry-cargo vessel with a displacement of 70,000 tons is estimated at $25-26 million, while a similar Japanese-built vessel costs $36 million.

Prerequisites: a large market share, the presence of competitive advantages (access to cheap raw materials, low costs for the delivery and sale of goods, etc.), strict cost control, the ability to save costs on research, advertising, service.

Advantages of the strategy: enterprises are profitable even in conditions of strong competition, when other competitors suffer losses; low costs create high barriers to entry; when substitute products appear, the leader in cost savings has more freedom of action than competitors; low costs reduce the influence of suppliers. Strategy Risks: Competitors may adopt cost-cutting techniques; serious technological innovations can eliminate the existing competitive advantages and make the accumulated experience of little use; focusing on costs will make it difficult to detect changes in market requirements in a timely manner.

Conclusion

In the context of the formation of new economic mechanisms focused on a market economy, industrial enterprises face the need to work in a new way, taking into account the laws and requirements of the market, mastering a new type of economic behavior, adapting all aspects production activities to the changing situation. In this regard, the contribution of each employee to the final results of the enterprise's activities increases. One of the main challenges for businesses various forms property - search effective ways labor management, ensuring the activation of the human factor.

The decisive causal factor in the effectiveness of people's activities is their motivation.

Managers put their decisions into practice with the help of available human resources, the company's personnel, applying to people the basic principles of motivation, acting as a lever to motivate themselves and others to work to achieve both personal goals and the goals of the organization.

If you understand well what motivates employees, what motivates them to labor actions, what they strive for when performing certain work, it is possible to correctly, that is, individually, with a focus on the personal characteristics of subordinates, form a strategy for revitalizing the activities of the personnel of this company.

This strategy will help the manager to build the management of the firm's personnel in such a way that people themselves will actively strive to do their job in the best and most effective way in terms of achieving the organization's goals.

Bibliography

1. Meskon, M., Albert M., Hedouri F. Fundamentals of management [Text]: textbook / Per. from English. – M.: Delo, 1998.

2. Radugin, A.A. Fundamentals of Management [Text]: tutorial for universities / Nauch. ed. A.A. Radugin. - M .: "Center", 1997.

3. Ouchi, U. Methods of organization of production. Japanese and American approaches [Text]: textbook / U Ouchi - M., 1984.

4. Popov, S.A. Strategic management [Text]: Proc. allowance. - 2nd ed. / S.A. Popov - M.: UNITI-DANA, 2004.

5. Smirnov, E.A. Management decisions [Text]: textbook / E.A. Smirnov - M.: INFRA-M, 2001.

6. Rumyantseva Z.P. General management organization [Text]: Theory and practice / Z.P. Rumyantseva - M.: INFRA-M, 2004.

7. Travin, V.V., Dyatlov, V.A. Fundamentals of management [Text]: textbook / V.V. Travin, V.A. Dyatlov - M .: Delo, 1995.

8. Organization management [Text]: Textbook / Ed. Dan. A.G. Porshneva, Z.P. Rumyantseva, N.A. Salomatina. - 2nd ed. – M.: INFRA-M, 2003.

A business that is focused on interacting with society is a model that has become quite popular in developed countries. On the territory of the CIS, such an approach to one's own business is only gaining momentum, but still moving in the direction of development.

Benefits of socially oriented entrepreneurship

Before considering in detail such a topic as the social responsibility of business, it is worth paying attention to both the advantages and disadvantages of this model of interaction between entrepreneurs and society.

It is logical to start with the positive sides. First of all, these are longer-term and favorable prospects. this format business compared to the usual business model, which does not take into account the interests of society. If a particular enterprise has a noticeable positive impact on the everyday life of the inhabitants of the region in which it is located, then the loyalty of the representatives of the target audience increases significantly, and the brand becomes more recognizable and is associated with a positive image. Obviously, for any company, such processes are beneficial.

Continuing the theme of perspective, it makes sense to pay attention to the fact that in a society that can be called prosperous, favorable conditions are created for sustainable development business. An obvious conclusion follows from this: even tangible short-term costs associated with social activity can stabilize profit growth in the future.

Public expectations

Another positive factor that implies the economic social responsibility of business is the satisfaction of the expectations of the general public. When enterprises engage in the process of solving social problems, they actually do what members of the public already expect from them. In other words, the company is expected to be active, and when expectations are met, loyalty to the enterprise again moves to a new level.

It is quite simple to explain this perception of business by the public - people are always looking for help from those who are able to provide it. And who can help if not entrepreneurs who own significant funds.

As a fixing positive facet of the social activity of business, one can define a change in the moral character of the enterprise. It is both about the perception of the company by society, and about changing the philosophy of the employees themselves. The enterprise, in fact, is part of society and, therefore, cannot ignore its problems.

Possible disadvantages

First of all, you need to pay attention to the fact that the principle of profit maximization is violated. In other words, the income of the enterprise becomes less due to the constant direction of a certain part of the funds for social projects. In order to compensate for such losses, companies raise prices, which is already a negative consequence for consumers.

The second disadvantage, which is worth paying attention to, is the insufficient level of knowledge and experience to effectively overcome social problems, even with the fact of funding in the right amount. On the this moment in various organizations there are enough employees with high qualifications in the field of economics, technology and the market. But many of them are not trained to work effectively with society. As a result, the company spends finances, but does not achieve its goals in the field of helping society.

The third negative side, which is hidden by the process of introducing into business a focus on the problems of society, is the lack of accountability to the general public of the managers themselves and those who perform the functions of managers in the company. As a result, with proper control of the economic indicators of the enterprise, the process of social involvement does not receive due attention.

Social responsibility of business in Russia

This issue has been one of the most pressing in Europe for several years now, and it is receiving more and more attention in Russia as well. At the same time, in the CIS, the process of the emergence and development of this phenomenon had some differences compared to the experience of Western companies. If in Europe and the USA the degree of responsibility of business representatives to society was influenced by society itself, then in the post-Soviet space the situation looked somewhat different. The social responsibility of business in Russia was a consequence of the initiative taken by market leaders in various segments.

As for the first steps in this field, they were made in the mid-90s. It was then that the first codes were fixed, implying the presence of a certain ethics of companies. An example is the Code of Honor of members of the Russian Guild of Realtors or the Code of Honor of Bankers.

If you look at the fact that the social responsibility of business in Russia looks like today, you will notice that in the vast majority of areas entrepreneurial activity adopted professional codes of ethics. And many companies are already developing them. That is, the issue of the relationship between business and society is not deprived of the attention of Russian entrepreneurs.

In order to keep the bar high, various commissions on corporate ethics are organized in the above direction.

What determines the ethics and social responsibility of business

If we talk about Russia, then it is worth paying attention to such factors as the expansion of the sales market for large domestic companies. We are talking about trade outside the country. The result of such activities is the need to take into account the requirements of foreign partners. Those, in turn, pay attention to the fact that business transparency should be maximum.

But there are other reasons why the social responsibility of business within the CIS is constantly moving in the direction of development.

First of all, it is necessary to touch upon the peculiarities of the mentality of the population of the CIS and traditions corporate governance. These are the following factors:

Sufficiently high social expectations against the background of low activity of the population.

Evaluation of a particular employee or group of employees is not so much in terms of productivity as in terms of loyalty to management.

The low degree of adequacy of the media in relation to the efforts of Russian business representatives aimed at supporting society.

Linking an employee to a particular company by providing the latter with access to social institutions that belong to the organization or cooperate with it (sanatoriums, hospitals, kindergartens, etc.). However, wages remain low.

The social responsibility of Russian business is still moving towards formation for reasons related to both historical and geographical factors. First of all, this is a large territory of the country and, as a result, a significant distance from each other of many settlements. We should also not forget the fact that the bulk of the capital is concentrated in regions that are characterized by a low level of development and difficult climatic conditions. This is the northern part of the country, where aluminum, oil, gas and nickel are mined.

Political and social factors

This group of processes that influence the philosophy of business in Russia deserves special attention.

We are talking about the following features of Russian life:

• significant dispersion of many social problems in the regions;
• government pressure on companies to allocate those resources to various projects that are in no way connected with the interests of the company;
• perceived levels of poverty in various regions;
• corruption;
• the lack of the necessary state infrastructure and experience as such to overcome a number of urgent problems (an increase in the number of homeless people, drug addiction, AIDS, etc.).

If we analyze the conducted studies, we can conclude that the development of social responsibility of business in Russia is not at a high level. We are talking about the opinion of the Russians themselves: 53% of those surveyed in the course of research believe that at the moment business cannot be called socially oriented. Of the top managers who participated in the surveys, only 9% believe that the social responsibility of business in the CIS will be able to stimulate increased competitiveness, and the corresponding reports will be a clear demonstration of the open policy of organizations.

It is worth mentioning the fact that after analyzing more than 180 of the reports mentioned above, a rather vivid picture has formed: a large and medium business cannot boast of the dynamic development of social responsibility.

Public opinion

Many Russians pay attention to how the social responsibility of modern business is developing in the conditions of the post-Soviet market. And if we analyze the ideas that citizens have managed to develop about the responsibility of companies to society, then three key positions can be distinguished:

• Corporate social responsibility is work aimed at overcoming various problems in society. The so-called moral consequence of owning wealth is defined as a motive in this case.
• According to the second position, the social responsibility of business is nothing more than producing products, paying taxes and making a profit.
• The third position includes elements of the second, but at the same time considers the participation of companies in various social programs as a manifestation of responsibility to society.

In any case, it is obvious that the population expects representatives of Russian business to be active in the framework of interaction with society. Such activity can be expressed in the training and retraining of personnel, the creation of new jobs, support for public organizations, various initiatives, etc.

What should organizational ethics look like?

In order to clearly understand what ethics and social responsibility of business are, it is necessary to consider the essence of this phenomenon and the methods of its application in developed countries. This will help to more objectively assess the state of this process in Russia. Initially, the following should be noted: the focus of business representatives on interaction with society is one of the core problems in the globalization process. This confirms the fact that representatives of the so-called Club of Rome are making a lot of efforts to provide a qualitative impact on the formation of the international concept of social responsibility of business. The structure of this organization includes both European scientists and entrepreneurs.

At the same time, the main emphasis is placed on the priorities fixed in the Global Pact: these are labor legislation, environmental safety and, of course, human rights.

The very same ethics and social responsibility of business come down to the following concept: a corporation/company must have a planned development in three interrelated aspects. We are talking about social programs, ensuring the profitability of the organization and caring for the environment.

Inevitable Difficulties

It is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the principles that contain the social responsibility of business, organizations and companies should be defined as obvious and follow them. But not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance.

Many companies are bogged down in a variety of strategic and technical management issues. These include solving the following problems:

• periodic attempts to convince investors that new long-term investments are needed;
• maintaining harmonious, as far as possible, relations with local authorities, while being aloof from the constant solution of complex neglected problems;
• maintaining competitiveness against the backdrop of significantly increased social costs.

Finding effective solutions for this set of problems is not so easy. For this reason, experience and knowledge within the framework of the topic “problems of social responsibility of business” are in great demand in the post-Soviet space.

Current Approaches

If we pay attention to the form of implementation of the responsibility of entrepreneurs to society, we can see that it has changed significantly.

Previously, preference was given to the strategy, according to which the highest priority was the proper management of the enterprise and compliance with legal norms.

Now everything looks a little different. First of all, social responsibility is expressed in taking into account the interests of that group of society that affects the functioning of the organization and is in the zone of its influence. The consequence of this approach is to change the social contract and understand it as such. That is, in addition to employees and owners of enterprises, all interested persons who in any way influence the work of the company are taken into account.

Such a concept forms a vision of interaction with society that is different from the one that shareholders have. Even with a cursory analysis, the practical value that such a social responsibility of business carries in itself is obvious. Approaches that have the right to exist and are capable of producing the desired results should be designed to work with the maximum number of social groups, which implies taking into account their interests.

For example, the fact of the closure of an enterprise will be considered already from the standpoint of gain or loss not only for shareholders, but also for suppliers, the local population, workers and consumers. This approach is really responsible in relation to society.

Conclusion

The problem of social responsibility of business in Russia definitely has its place. But in order to get a truly worthy level of interaction between companies and society, it is necessary to summarize the experience of domestic companies in this segment and conduct up-to-date research on an ongoing basis. In addition, it will be extremely difficult to implement the strategy of responsibility of entrepreneurs to society if the level of corruption does not decrease, and tangibly.

Definitions and comparison of the concepts of "social responsibility" and "business ethics"

Perhaps today it is difficult to find a more fashionable word among domestic entrepreneurs than "business ethics", and most recently the word "social responsibility" has been added to it. In this paragraph, I will try to understand what they mean and how they differ.

As you know, there is a universal ethics as a system of norms of moral behavior of people, their relationship to each other and to society as a whole. But along with this, some areas of professional activity have developed their own specific ethics.

To begin with, let's define the very concept of "business ethics", or "business ethics". Professor P.V. Malinovsky interprets this term in this way:

“Business ethics in a broad sense is a set of ethical principles and norms that should guide the activities of organizations and their members in the field of management and entrepreneurship. It covers phenomena of various orders: ethical assessment of both the internal and external policies of the organization as a whole; the moral principles of the members of the organization, i.e. professional morality; moral climate in the organization; patterns of moral behavior; norms business etiquette- ritualized external norms of behavior” Business Ethics. A.N. Dyatlov, M.V. Plotnikov: federal educational portal. URL: http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/db/msg/203213.html (date of access: 03/15/09).

Thus, business ethics is one of the types of professional ethics - it is the ethics of people working in the field of entrepreneurship. When they talk about the business ethics of any companies, they mean the ethical foundations of business, implemented through managers. Under the business culture of the company refers to intra-company traditions and rituals; common values ​​shared by its employees; communication system, including informal relations; established methods of business practice and organization of work. The business culture of the company is closely related to the ethical principles of business, which are its integral elements.

Thus, we can conclude that business ethics is a system of general principles and rules of conduct for business entities, their communication and work style, manifested at the micro and macro levels of market relations. The basis of business ethics is the doctrine of the role of morality and morality in business relations, which reflect the material conditions of society.

Business ethics is also a system of knowledge about labor and professional morality, its history and practice. This is a system of knowledge about how people are accustomed to treating their work, what meaning they give to it, what place it occupies in their lives, how relationships develop between people in the process of work, how people’s inclinations and ideals ensure effective work, and which ones hinder to him.

Business ethics regulates, inspires and at the same time limits the actions of business entities, minimizing intra-group contradictions, subordinating individual interests to group ones. Makeeva V.G. Entrepreneurial Culture: Proc. allowance for universities in economics. specialist. -- M.: INFRA-M, 2002.p.154.

There are several related concepts. For example, economic ethics (or entrepreneurial ethics) deals with the question of what moral norms or ideals can be important for entrepreneurs in a modern market economy Homann K., Blome-Drez F. Economic and entrepreneurial ethics // Political and economic ethics M. , 2001.p.89..

Entrepreneurial ethics timatises the relationship of morality and profit in the management of entrepreneurs and deals with the question of how moral norms and ideals can be implemented by entrepreneurs in a modern economy.

The purpose of entrepreneurial activity is profit maximization.

The principles of ethics of business relations are a generalized expression of moral requirements developed in the moral consciousness of society, which indicate the necessary behavior of participants in business relations. Kibanov A.Ya., Zakharov D.K., Konovalova V.G. Ethics of business relations. M., 2002. S. 21

In general, business ethics can be defined as the scientific discipline that studies the application of ethical principles to business situations. Most topical issue in business ethics is the question of the relationship between corporate and universal ethics, the social responsibility of business, the application of general ethical principles to specific situations.

Business ethics, in the part that deals with the question of the compliance of the entrepreneur's activity with the framework order or the problem of perfection of the framework order itself, the degree of responsibility of the entrepreneur to society, etc., can be considered as part of social ethics.

Business ethics, in the part that discusses the practical issues of the behavior of leaders and managers, relations between company employees, consumer rights, moral standards and value conflicts, is one of the types of professional ethics.

At the macro level, business ethics refers to the ethics of the social order.

At the micro level, it is the doctrine of the goals, values ​​and rules of entrepreneurial activity.

So, modern business ethics is based on the mutual agreement of three major provisions:

1. Creation of material values ​​in all variety of forms is considered as an initially important process.

This is what every business is for.

2. Profit and other incomes are considered as the result of the achievement of various socially significant goals.

3. Priority in resolving problems arising in the business world should be given to the interests of interpersonal relationships, and not to production. Kibanov, Zakharov, Konovalov. Ethics of business relations, M., 2003, p.8.

In turn, De George identifies the following levels of analysis of business ethics:

1. If we consider business ethics in the American context, it focuses on the macro level mainly on the moral assessment of the American free enterprise economic system and its possible alternatives and modifications.

2. The second level of ethical analysis - and today it attracts the closest attention - is the study of business within the American free enterprise system.

3. The moral assessment of individuals and their actions in economic and commercial transactions within the framework of organized corporate activity forms the third level of business ethics research.

4. Finally, as business becomes more and more international and global, the fourth level of analysis of its ethics is international in nature and considers the activities of American and other transnational corporations.

Thus, I came to the final conclusion that business ethics encompasses five activities:

The first is the application of the principles of general ethics to specific situations or business practices.

The second type of her studies is metaethics, which deals with the consistency of ethical concepts.

The third area of ​​business ethics research is formed by the analysis of its initial premises - both moral ones proper and premises based on moral positions.

Fourth, wedged external issues sometimes force researchers of business ethics to go beyond ethics and turn to other branches of philosophy and other branches of science, for example, to economics or organization theory.

The fifth is to characterize morally laudable and exemplary actions as separate business people and specific firms.

In conclusion, I would like to outline the importance of business ethics in the modern world. So, business ethics can help people:

· to consider moral problems in business in a systematic and more reliable way than they could do it without using our science;

· it can help them to see problems that they would not notice in their daily practice;

· She can also encourage them to make changes that they wouldn't have thought to make without her.

In my opinion, it is very important that the concept of "business ethics" is applicable both to an individual manager or entrepreneur, and to the company as a whole. And if for a businessman it means his professional ethics, then for a company it is a kind of code of honor that underlies its activities. The main principles of business ethics include, first of all, such traditional values ​​developed over the long history of global business as respect for the law, honesty, loyalty to the word and the concluded agreement, reliability and mutual trust. A relatively new principle of modern business ethics is the principle of social responsibility, which began to be seriously thought about in the West only a couple of decades ago, and in Russia not so long ago at all. All these principles should underlie all types of business relationships.

In order for the company's behavior to be recognized as socially responsible, i.e. ethical in the modern sense, it is not enough just to comply with the law or be honest with consumers or business partners. If legal responsibility is the norms and rules of behavior defined by law, then social responsibility (also called corporate social responsibility, responsible business and corporate social opportunities) means following the spirit, not the letter of the law, or the implementation of such norms that have not yet been included the law or exceed the requirements of the law.

There is no generally accepted definition of the social responsibility of business in international practice, which gives reason to understand the term "social responsibility of business" to each in his own way.

The social responsibility of business means charity, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, social marketing programs, sponsorship, philanthropy, etc.

Summarizing, we can say that the social responsibility of business is the impact of business on society, the responsibility of those who make business decisions to those who are directly or indirectly affected by these decisions.

This definition social responsibility of business is rather ideal, and cannot be fully translated into reality, if only because it is simply impossible to calculate all the consequences of one decision. But, in my opinion, the social responsibility of business is not a rule, but an ethical principle that should be involved in the decision-making process.

Thus, we can conclude that the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility" correlate as general ethical foundations of business with a particular principle.

At the beginning of the twentieth century. the first attempts to show social responsibility in business can be called charitable activities. For example, John D. Rockefeller donated $550 million to various charitable causes and founded the Rockefeller Foundation. The head of the American corporation Sears Robert E. Wood in 1936. talked about social obligations that cannot be expressed mathematically, but can be considered, nevertheless, of paramount importance. He was referring to the influence that society has on an organization operating in a market economy. One of the first Western entrepreneurs, Sears recognized the “multi-layered general public” that the company serves, highlighting not only such a group as shareholders, the relationship with which was traditionally important for any company, but also consumers, employees themselves and local communities. He was also a supporter of solving social problems not only by the state, but also by the management of corporations. However, Sears acknowledged that it was difficult to quantify the costs and benefits of corporate social responsibility to society. His views did not receive wide support, in particular, because in the 30s. 20th century - the years of the Great Depression - all sectors of society faced the urgent issue of survival, and business was expected above all to profit.

The controversial motives associated with the concept of social responsibility of business will be discussed in the second chapter of my work.

So, some entrepreneurs believed that wealth obliges, i.e. we need to share it with our neighbors, and we spent a lot of money on charity, directed, among other things, to our employees. For example, George Cadbury, the founder of a food production company of the same name, paid various benefits to his employees at the beginning of the last century (for example, according to ability to work). William Lever, the founder of the now world-famous Unilever, did the same.

Entrepreneurs who were engaged in charitable activities, in fact, became the founders of the idea of ​​​​individual charity and business responsibility.

Saint Petersburg State University

Faculty of Philosophy

Department of Ethics

Business ethics and social responsibility

Graduation work of a student

Fourth year full-time

Gavrilova Kristina Igorevna

Scientific adviser:

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor

Perov Vadim Yurievich

St. Petersburg

Introduction

We live in an era of innovation, growth free markets and the world economy. In the light of new technologies, the changing role of the state and the emergence of new players on the world stage, new opportunities, requirements and restrictions are emerging. That is why, under the influence of the market and society, the role and responsibility of business is increasingly increasing. And while the goal of making a profit in business is clear and understandable, people no longer accept it as an excuse for ignoring norms, values, and standards of behavior. Modern businesses are expected to use public resources responsibly, acting not only for the benefit of their companies, but of society as a whole. By doing business responsibly, firms build the necessary social capital of trust and fairness.

Over the past decades, governments, international institutions, transnational organizations, trade unions and civil society have engaged in a dialogue about business responsibility. New standards and procedures are being formed in the world, and business expectations are emerging. Companies and markets that are not familiar with them or cannot build their future around them will not be able to participate as equals in the global dialogue and risk being left behind as the global market economy develops. Businesses around the world are creating and implementing business ethics programs to address legal, ethical and environmental issues. Such enterprises not only satisfy the needs of their employees, shareholders, communities, but also contribute to the economic well-being of their countries.

In this regard, over the past twenty years, the problems of business ethics have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers, managers and public figures. Mandatory ethics courses are taught in all leading business schools. Ethical judgment and reputation play an important role today in the conclusion of transactions, the choice of business partners, the application of regulatory sanctions, etc. A relatively new principle of modern business ethics is the principle of social responsibility.

The social responsibility of business is beginning to be actively and successfully implemented all over the world. Companies do not just solve the problems of society by investing in the development of education, medicine, science, production, supporting socially vulnerable groups and taking care of environmental measures - they receive certain benefits from this activity. In Western countries, the social responsibility of business functions as a stable social institution, it is rational and effective. Despite the fact that there is a steady interest in the phenomenon of corporate social responsibility in domestic science, there is still no consensus among Russian scientists regarding the main characteristics of corporate responsibility, factors and conditions for the development of corporate social responsibility, which was one of the reasons for this study.

In my opinion, the interdependence of society and business implies an objective choice of business in favor of a socially oriented and moral economic strategy. In addition, it is important to note that the fate of many people often depends on the actions of managers, on what decisions they make.

In the light of the above, the chosen topic of the thesis seems to me very relevant. The purpose of my research is to reveal the meaning of the concept of social responsibility in modern business, to consider the main controversial issues related to social responsibility, as well as the application of this principle in practice, using the example of codes of ethics and reports on corporate social responsibility.

The implementation of this goal involves the solution of the following tasks:

· To trace the history of the development of the concept of responsibility as a moral category;

· Define the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility";

· Compare these two concepts;

· To analyze two approaches to the study of social responsibility of business on the example of the opinions of Milton Friedman and Michael Porter;

· Consider the arguments "for" and "against" social responsibility in business;

· Provide examples of corporations that have held different points of view on this issue;

· Provide an overview of the concept of sustainable development and compare it with the principle of social responsibility;

· Review the codes of ethics of TNK-BP and LUKOIL;

· Outline the main goals and significance of social reporting;

· Consider the basic principles of corporate responsibility reporting outlined in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines;

· Outline the prospects for the development of Russian business in the field of social reporting;

· Analyze the implementation of the principle of social responsibility in practice on the example of the report of the company "LUKOIL";

In the chapter "The Development of the Concepts of Business Ethics" and "Social Responsibility" I reviewed the history of the development of the concept of responsibility as a moral category. Thus, the first part of the chapter is essentially a generalization of theoretical material in its historical sequence. This chapter uses the works of such philosophers as Aristotle, Kant, Bentham and Mill, Weber, Nietzsche, Sartre, Jonas, Parsons, Lenk. In addition, in the first chapter, I gave a number of possible definitions of the concept of "business ethics", through the prism of which the problem will be considered, as well as the areas of its possible application and an analysis of how comparable the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility" are.

In general, I would define business ethics as the scientific discipline that studies the application of ethical principles to business situations. The most pressing issue in business ethics is the question of the relationship between corporate and universal ethics, the social responsibility of business, the application of general ethical principles to specific situations. I also came to the conclusion that the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility" correlate as general ethical foundations of business with a particular principle.

The second chapter, entitled "Business Social Responsibility and Controversial Motives", focuses on two main approaches to the study of social responsibility, as well as arguments for and against social responsibility in business.

Analysis of the literature allowed me to identify two main approaches to the study of this problem. So, according to the concept of M. Friedman, social responsibility leads away from the fundamental economic role of business. The representative of the second approach is M. Porter, who claims that there is a strong economic justification social responsibility of business, and corporations gain numerous benefits from working for a broader and longer-term perspective than their own momentary short-term profit. In theoretical and methodological terms, the author of the diploma shares the approaches to the study of the problem of corporate social responsibility, laid down in the works of M. Porter.

In the final chapter “Corporate reporting in the field of sustainable development”, I have made an attempt, synthesizing the conclusions of the previous chapters, to give an overview of the concept of sustainable development and compare it with the principle of social responsibility, set out the main goals and significance of social reporting, consider ethical codes of companies, and also analyze the report on corporate social responsibility of OAO LUKOIL.

In the course of writing this chapter, I have come to the conclusion that sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of natural resources, the direction of investment, the orientation of scientific and technological development, the development of the individual, and institutional change are aligned with each other and strengthen the current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. It includes consideration of economic, environmental and social factors, as well as their relationship when the organization makes management decisions and activities in general. Social responsibility is closely related to sustainable development, as the overall goal of a socially responsible organization should be to contribute to sustainable development.

In addition, I came to the conclusion that the corporate social report is a tool for informing shareholders, employees, partners, customers, society about how and at what pace the company is implementing the goals set out in its strategic development plans regarding economic sustainability, social well-being and environmental stability. Moreover, such reporting, other things being equal, is regarded as a competitive advantage and is of great importance for the company's business reputation. I reviewed the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in more detail. This system is by far the most used in the world in the preparation of non-financial reports.

In the course of my analysis, I also came to the conclusion that the codes of TNK-BP and LUKOIL, which include specific obligations of the company in relation to its employees, investors, customers and voluntary initiatives in the field of charity, look very solid, declare quite sound and feasible on practice, the purpose of the activity and correspond to the level of similar codes of large foreign oil companies.

After analyzing the corporate responsibility report of OAO LUKOIL, I can also conclude that this is a good non-financial report that corresponds to the C+ level of the GRI classification. It contains information that allows assessing the quantity and quality of the organization's intangible assets, its capabilities, potential and management features. Information about approaches in the field of management is described in three components: economic, environmental and social activities.

The work consists of 3 chapters, 8 paragraphs, Introduction, Conclusion and References of 50 titles.

The general philosophical basis for studying the phenomenon of responsibility was the works of Aristotle, I. Kant, I. Bentham, J. Mill, M. Weber, F. Nietzsche, H. Jonas and others. responsibility of business, such as K.Homann, F.Blome-Drez, T.A.Aleksina, D.J.Fritzsche, R.De George, M.L.Luchko, V.G.Makeeva, V.N. Nazarov and others, as well as Internet resources.

Chapter 1. Development of the concepts of business ethics and social responsibility

1.1 The history of the development of the concept of responsibility as a moral category

I would like to start with the fact that the significance of responsibility as a socio-philosophical category was determined relatively late. X. Jonas explains this by the fact that the measure of responsibility corresponds to the measure of power and knowledge, and they were limited in the pre-industrial era. As a result, the question of the consequences of actions was resolved in a "natural" way - as these consequences occurred. From the standpoint of classical philosophy, responsibility was studied mainly indirectly - through such ethical categories as morality (morality), duty, good and evil, freedom and necessity.

Aristotle is the author of the aretological concept of responsibility, according to which due is paid to both the benevolent and the malevolent. Aristotle does not use the special concept of "responsibility", but, describing certain aspects of arbitrariness and guilt, he quite fully reveals the phenomenology of responsibility. A person has the power to perform both beautiful and shameful deeds, it depends on him what kind of deeds he performs, according to his will a person is just or unjust, and in accordance with the deeds he is honored or punished by the court. Responsibility, therefore, implies that a person is aware of the conditions of action and the requirements that are placed on him.

Immanuel Kant is one of the first thinkers who already in the XIIIV century used the categories “responsible” and “responsibility”, the meaning of which he defined as following the categorical imperative and the absolute moral law.

The most prominent representatives of utilitarianism, J. Bentham and J. S. Mill, believed that the criterion of rationality is “benefit” for the object of responsibility.

In the XIX - XX centuries. responsibility is considered directly - as a problem of imputation. Here we can turn to the conceptualizations of responsibility by M. Weber and F. Nietzsche - it was these thinkers who formulated the most important ideas regarding the origin of responsibility and the principle of responsibility. Their approaches to understanding responsibility differ in the degree of subjectivity. Unlike Nietzsche, M. Weber did not consider responsibility a subjective construct. He emphasized the historical transformation of man's responsibility to God into a secular form of man's responsibility for his own decisions, justified only by individual conscience.

J.-P. Sartre argued that "our responsibility is much greater than we might imagine, since it extends to all of humanity ...". Acting in a certain way, a person thereby, as it were, chooses in himself a person who strives to fulfill his duty to the end, or to prove himself as a completely free person. Moreover, the feeling of full and deep responsibility, according to J.P. Sartre, is the result of a person's awareness that, making a choice, he chooses the whole of humanity along with himself.

In the 60-70s of the XX century. the ethics of responsibility is put forward as an independent part of ethics thanks to the work of Hans Lenk. He defines responsibility as a concept that is expressed in the relational imputation of the norm through the evaluation of controlled expected actions. An analysis of the problems associated with attribution (attribution) and the measure of responsibility is contained in the work Reflections on Modern Technology.

Hans Jonas expounded his views on this issue in his famous work The Principle of Responsibility. Experience of Ethics for the Technological Situation”.

According to Jonas, in connection with the possibility of future man-made disasters, traditional ethics has exhausted itself and a new ethics is needed, based on the principle of responsibility. All ethical concepts must be replaced by an ethics of responsibility. Responsibility is the central concept of modern ethics.

Jonas identifies two types of responsibility:

natural (vocation), which is an integral prescribed status;

contracture (duty), i.e. achieved social status of the individual

The reasons for the emergence of the "ethics of responsibility":

· The immeasurably increased technological power of man (ecology, dependence on technology);

"Dynamization" of life circumstances in the industrial world ( modern man does not have time to think);

· Threat to nature and living things (including man himself) due to side effects of industrial processes.

That is why, according to Jonas, it is necessary to reconsider the concept of "responsibility". He puts forward the idea of ​​expansion from the moral grounds of the concept of responsibility by transition:

· From the concept of responsibility of the perpetrator to the responsibility of the "human guardian" ("ethics of care");

From calling for responsibility ex post (“after that”) to concern for responsibility and preventive responsibility (precaution responsibility);

· From past-oriented responsibility for the result of action to future-oriented self-responsibility, which is determined by the ability to control and the ability to wield power.

Thus, the main ideas of G. Jonas can be briefly formulated in the following paragraphs:

· “Responsibility for the future” (industrial enterprises are the main source of pollution);

· Responsibility “for”, not “before” (area of ​​responsibility);

Not just accountability (but responsibility to everyone);

· Self-accepted responsibility as a universal duty.

Responsibility acquires a special sound in the middle of the 20th century, when the result of economic activity is not only material goods consumed by individuals, but also the essential features of the socio-economic structure of society, “consumed” by society as a whole. To realize the priority of the interests of society as a whole, the problem of sustainability was of particular importance. social systems, their integration and stability, developed by T. Parsons.

By the end of the 20th century, the category of responsibility began to be replaced by such concepts as "local determination" (J.-F. Lyotard), "temptation" (J. Baudrillard), "self-care" (M. Foucault). F. Fukuyama put forward the idea of ​​"the end of history" and "the last man", for whom responsibility disappears altogether.

In the XX century. comprehension of responsibility as a fundamental principle of human action leads to the understanding that not only an individual, but a social group, community, class can “be responsible”. Arises new category- “social responsibility”, implemented both through forms of social control and through understanding of their social role by the subjects of responsibility. Social responsibility is attributed not to a single individual, but to an individual as a representative of a social community.

The approach, which is based on the priority not of private interests, but of the whole, is reflected in the concept of social responsibility of business. It is based on the fact that the contradiction between the private interests of business (profit, profit) and the interests of society (stability, successful development for the majority) should be resolved by business in favor of society as a system of which business itself is a part. The main provisions of this concept developed in the 30s of the XX century.

Levels of social responsibility of business:

1. Basic level (“legality”): compliance with legislation and standards, timely payment of taxes, payment of wages, ensuring labor safety, and, if possible, creating new jobs.

2. The second level is to provide workers with adequate conditions not only for work, but also for life: improving the skills of workers, preventive treatment, housing construction, development of the social sphere, etc. (creation of social capital).

3. The third, highest level of business social responsibility is charitable activities and patronage, social marketing programs, sponsorship, philanthropy, etc. plus socially significant programs.

It is about the main problems associated with the concept of social responsibility of business that will be discussed in the second chapter of my work.

1.2 Definitions and comparison of the concepts of "social responsibility" and "business ethics"

Perhaps today it is difficult to find a more fashionable word among domestic entrepreneurs than "business ethics", and most recently the word "social responsibility" has been added to it. In this paragraph, I will try to understand what they mean and how they differ.

As you know, there is a universal ethics as a system of norms of moral behavior of people, their relationship to each other and to society as a whole. But along with this, some areas of professional activity have developed their own specific ethics.

To begin with, let's define the very concept of "business ethics", or "business ethics". Professor P.V. Malinovsky interprets this term in this way:

“Business ethics in a broad sense is a set of ethical principles and norms that should guide the activities of organizations and their members in the field of management and entrepreneurship. It covers phenomena of various orders: ethical assessment of both the internal and external policies of the organization as a whole; the moral principles of the members of the organization, i.e. professional morality; moral climate in the organization; patterns of moral behavior; norms of business etiquette - ritualized external norms of behavior ".

Thus, business ethics is one of the types of professional ethics - it is the ethics of people working in the field of entrepreneurship. When they talk about the business ethics of any companies, they mean the ethical foundations of business, implemented through managers. Under the business culture of the company refers to intra-company traditions and rituals; common values ​​shared by its employees; communication system, including informal relations; established methods of business practice and organization of work. The business culture of the company is closely related to the ethical principles of business, which are its integral elements.

Thus, we can conclude that business ethics is a system of general principles and rules of conduct for business entities, their communication and work style, manifested at the micro and macro levels of market relations. The basis of business ethics is the doctrine of the role of morality and morality in business relations, which reflect the material conditions of society.

Business ethics is also a system of knowledge about labor and professional morality, its history and practice. This is a system of knowledge about how people are accustomed to treating their work, what meaning they give to it, what place it occupies in their lives, how relationships develop between people in the process of work, how the inclinations and ideals of people ensure effective work, and which ones hinder to him.

Business ethics regulates, inspires and at the same time limits the actions of business entities, minimizing intra-group contradictions, subordinating individual interests to group ones.

There are several related concepts. For example, economic ethics (or entrepreneurial ethics) deals with the question of what moral norms or ideals might be relevant to entrepreneurs in a modern market economy.

Entrepreneurial ethics timatises the relationship of morality and profit in the management of entrepreneurs and deals with the question of how moral norms and ideals can be implemented by entrepreneurs in a modern economy.

The purpose of entrepreneurial activity is profit maximization.

The principles of ethics of business relations are a generalized expression of moral requirements developed in the moral consciousness of society, which indicate the necessary behavior of participants in business relations.

In general, business ethics can be defined as the scientific discipline that studies the application of ethical principles to business situations. The most pressing issue in business ethics is the question of the relationship between corporate and universal ethics, the social responsibility of business, the application of general ethical principles to specific situations.

Business ethics, in that part of it that considers the question of the compliance of the entrepreneur's activity with the framework order or the problem of perfection of the framework order itself, the degree of responsibility of the entrepreneur to society, etc., can be considered as part of social ethics.

Business ethics, in the part that discusses the practical issues of the behavior of leaders and managers, relations between company employees, consumer rights, moral standards and value conflicts, is one of the types of professional ethics.

At the macro level, business ethics refers to the ethics of the social order.

At the micro level, it is the doctrine of the goals, values ​​and rules of entrepreneurial activity.

So, modern business ethics is based on the mutual agreement of three major provisions:

1. Creation of material values ​​in all variety of forms is considered as an initially important process.

This is what every business is for.

2. Profit and other incomes are considered as the result of the achievement of various socially significant goals.

3. Priority in resolving problems arising in the business world should be given to the interests of interpersonal relationships, and not to production.

In turn, De George identifies the following levels of analysis of business ethics:

1. If we consider business ethics in the American context, it focuses on the macro level mainly on the moral assessment of the American free enterprise economic system and its possible alternatives and modifications.

2. The second level of ethical analysis - and today it attracts the closest attention - is the study of business within the American free enterprise system.

3. The moral assessment of individuals and their actions in economic and commercial transactions within the framework of organized corporate activity forms the third level of business ethics research.

4. Finally, as business becomes more and more international and global, the fourth level of analysis of its ethics is international in nature and considers the activities of American and other transnational corporations.

Thus, I came to the final conclusion that business ethics encompasses five activities:

The first is the application of the principles of general ethics to specific situations or business practices.

The second type of her studies is metaethics, which deals with the consistency of ethical concepts.

The third area of ​​business ethics research is formed by the analysis of its initial premises - both moral ones proper and premises based on moral positions.

Fourth, wedged external issues sometimes force researchers of business ethics to go beyond ethics and turn to other branches of philosophy and other branches of science, for example, to economics or organization theory.

The fifth is to characterize morally laudable and exemplary actions, both of individual business people and specific firms.

In conclusion, I would like to outline the importance of business ethics in the modern world. So, business ethics can help people:

· to consider moral problems in business in a systematic and more reliable way than they could do it without using our science;

· it can help them to see problems that they would not notice in their daily practice;

· She can also encourage them to make changes that they wouldn't have thought to make without her.

In my opinion, it is very important that the concept of "business ethics" is applicable both to an individual manager or entrepreneur, and to the company as a whole. And if for a businessman it means his professional ethics, then for a company it is a kind of code of honor that underlies its activities. The main principles of business ethics include, first of all, such traditional values ​​developed over the long history of global business as respect for the law, honesty, loyalty to the word and the concluded agreement, reliability and mutual trust. A relatively new principle of modern business ethics is the principle of social responsibility, which began to be seriously thought about in the West only a couple of decades ago, and in Russia not so long ago at all. All these principles should underlie all types of business relationships.

In order for the company's behavior to be recognized as socially responsible, i.e. ethical in the modern sense, it is not enough just to comply with the law or be honest with consumers or business partners. If legal responsibility is the norms and rules of behavior defined by law, then social responsibility (also called corporate social responsibility, responsible business and corporate social opportunities) means following the spirit, not the letter of the law, or the implementation of such norms that have not yet been included the law or exceed the requirements of the law.

There is no generally accepted definition of the social responsibility of business in international practice, which gives reason to understand the term "social responsibility of business" to each in his own way.

The social responsibility of business means charity, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, social marketing programs, sponsorship, philanthropy, etc.

Summarizing, we can say that the social responsibility of business is the impact of business on society, the responsibility of those who make business decisions to those who are directly or indirectly affected by these decisions.

This definition of the social responsibility of business is rather ideal, and cannot be fully translated into reality, if only because it is simply impossible to calculate all the consequences of one decision. But, in my opinion, the social responsibility of business is not a rule, but an ethical principle that should be involved in the decision-making process.

Thus, we can conclude that the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility" correlate as general ethical foundations of business with a particular principle.

At the beginning of the twentieth century. the first attempts to show social responsibility in business can be called charitable activities. For example, John D. Rockefeller donated $550 million to various charitable causes and founded the Rockefeller Foundation. The head of the American corporation Sears Robert E. Wood in 1936. talked about social obligations that cannot be expressed mathematically, but can be considered, nevertheless, of paramount importance. He was referring to the influence that society has on an organization operating in a market economy. One of the first Western entrepreneurs, Sears recognized the “multi-layered general public” that the company serves, highlighting not only such a group as shareholders, the relationship with which was traditionally important for any company, but also consumers, employees themselves and local communities. He was also a supporter of solving social problems not only by the state, but also by the management of corporations. However, Sears acknowledged that it was difficult to quantify the costs and benefits of corporate social responsibility to society. His views did not receive wide support, in particular, because in the 30s. 20th century - the years of the Great Depression - all sectors of society faced the urgent issue of survival, and business was expected above all to profit.

The controversial motives associated with the concept of social responsibility of business will be discussed in the second chapter of my work.

So, some entrepreneurs believed that wealth obliges, i.e. we need to share it with our neighbors, and we spent a lot of money on charity, directed, among other things, to our employees. For example, George Cadbury, the founder of a food production company of the same name, paid various benefits to his employees at the beginning of the last century (for example, according to ability to work). William Lever, the founder of the now world-famous Unilever, did the same.

Entrepreneurs who were engaged in charitable activities, in fact, became the founders of the idea of ​​​​individual charity and business responsibility.

Chapter 2. Social responsibility of business and controversial motives

As discussed in the previous chapter, business social responsibility is the concept that organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, local communities and other stakeholders, and on the environment. This obligation goes beyond the statutory obligation to comply with the law and involves organizations voluntarily taking additional steps to improve the quality of life of workers and their families, as well as the local community and society at large.

The practice of corporate social responsibility is the subject of much debate and criticism. Defenders argue that there is a strong business case for it, and corporations reap numerous benefits from operating for a broader and longer term than their own immediate short-term profits. Critics argue that social responsibility detracts from the fundamental economic role of business; some argue that this is nothing more than an embellishment of reality; others say it is an attempt to replace the role of governments as controllers of powerful multinational corporations. This discussion is the subject of a separate part of my work.

2.1 Two approaches to studying the social responsibility of business

The practice of corporate social responsibility is the subject of much debate and criticism. Defenders argue that there is a strong business case for it, and corporations reap numerous benefits from operating for a broader and longer term than their own immediate short-term profits. Critics argue that social responsibility detracts from the fundamental economic role of business.

Thus, there are two main approaches to studying the social responsibility of business. On the one hand, this is the concept of M. Friedman, which are based on formal (instrumental) rationality. On the other hand, representatives of the second approach are researchers based on substantive rationality. They recognize that the social responsibility of business is complex and cannot be reduced to pure economic interest.

Before dwelling in more detail on these two opposite approaches to the study of corporate responsibility, I would like to note that the leaders and managers of modern companies are increasingly aware of the positive impact of socially responsible behavior on achieving not only the strategic, but also the financial goals of their business.

Milton Friedman is against social responsibility in business.

Nobel Prize winner, monetarist advocate Milton Friedman, in one of his articles, sets out the following view of business responsibility:

“When I hear businessmen talking emphatically about the ‘social responsibility of business in a market economy’, I involuntarily recall a story about a Frenchman who, at the age of 70, suddenly discovered that he had been speaking prose all his life. Businessmen believe that they are defending the market economy when, not without pathos, they assert that business is connected not only with making a profit, but also with achieving certain goals. social outcomes that business has a special "social conscience" and that it has a responsibility to provide employment, eliminate discrimination, prevent pollution and anything else that is in the lexicon of the current generation of reformers. They are actually preaching - or would be preaching if they themselves or anyone else took it seriously - pure and undisguised socialism. Businessmen who think this way are puppets of the forces that have undermined the foundations of a free society over the past decades.”

Friedman then goes on to define the very concept of "social responsibility". He argues as follows: “In a market economy system based on private property, the corporate manager is employee towards business owners. He is directly responsible to the owners and his employers. This responsibility lies in doing business in accordance with their desires, which, generally speaking, can be reduced to obtaining the maximum possible profit within the accepted rules in society, enshrined in laws or ethical standards. Of course, it may happen that his employers do not share this goal. A group of people can set up a company for charitable purposes, such as a hospital or a school. The manager of such a corporation will have as a goal not the receipt of monetary profits, but the provision of certain services.

In any case, the key point is that in his position as the manager of a corporation, he is the spokesman for the interests of those who own the corporation or set it up for charitable purposes, and his primary responsibility is to them.

In each of these cases, the manager will spend someone else's money in the name of the general public interest. As soon as his actions, carried out for reasons of "social responsibility", reduce the income of shareholders, he spends their money. As soon as his actions lead to higher prices for consumers, he spends consumers' money. As soon as his actions reduce the salaries of some employees, he spends their money.

Shareholders, consumers and employees could manage their money as they wished. The manager acts more out of "social responsibility" than acts as a spokesman for the interests of the same shareholders, consumers, or employees if he spends their money differently than they would do it themselves.

It is impossible not to agree that it is extremely difficult to choose areas for the manifestation of social responsibility of companies. In addition, according to Friedman, the manager of a corporation becomes a public employee, a servant of society, although formally he remains an employee of the private sector.

Milton Friedman's ideas may appeal to some entrepreneurs. But his arguments sometimes work against his own concept of a kind of social indifference. For example, the author himself advocates compliance not only with laws, but also with ethical standards, but does not consider this a manifestation of social responsibility.

Most likely, Friedman means by the social responsibility of the company, first of all, charitable programs, which, in his opinion, should be implemented either by individuals or public organizations.

Friedman also argues that the manager is not a public servant. As for serving the community, the big Japanese businessman Kazuma Tateishi has written well about it. He argues that the very growth of a company should be understood as an increase in opportunities to contribute to the development of society.

It turns out that all the main groups of its stakeholders are interested in expanding the company's activities: its employees, consumers of branded products, shareholders, the local population, and business partners, whose activities, other things being equal, will also develop successfully in parallel with the development of the key company. And Kazuma Tateishi writes that in a concentrated form the idea of ​​service to society finds its expression in the following postulate: the one who best serves society wins the most. If a company is not capable of serving society in its most perfect form, then it does not deserve the right to exist. And it would only be fair to liquidate such companies. On the other hand, those companies that best serve society deserve "oxygen" for their growth and every possible encouragement.

Michael Porter: Why it pays to be socially responsible.

Not everyone agrees with the views of M. Friedman, both among scientists and entrepreneurs themselves. In recent years, social responsibility in business has come to be explicitly referred to as the “social advantage” of a company. This idea was first proposed by Harvard Business School professor and author of the theory of competitive advantage Michael Porter in his 1999 article in the Harvard Business Review, Philanthropy's New Challenge - Creating Value.

Porter points out that social programs are used by companies today mainly as a form of "public relations" or for advertising purposes. For example, the tobacco company Philip Morris (USA) spent $75 million in 1999 on various donations, and then spent another $100 million on them. advertising company.

According to the author, critics of the implementation of the principle of corporate social responsibility put forward two main arguments. First, the social and economic goals of the company are clearly different from each other, so spending on social programs is a cost in terms of achieving economic results. Second, companies that are engaged in social projects do not bring more public benefit than individual donors. These statements are true if social corporate programs are fragmented and unfocused, which is typical for many companies. However, there is another way to implement socially responsible business: companies can strengthen their competitive positions by improving the quality of the business environment in the places where they operate. As M. Porter notes, the use of philanthropy as a company's competitive advantage makes it possible to link social and economic goals and improve the long-term prospects for its development.

A study of the practice of companies that implement their social projects in the context of competitiveness indicates that both economic and social goals are achieved. In the long term, these goals do not contradict each other, but are closely interrelated. This does not mean that every investment a company makes will bring social benefits, or that every social project will improve its competitiveness. Most of the investments have positive consequences only for business, and various kinds of donations - only for society. However, there is an area where "convergence of interests" occurs. In this case, the social activity of the company becomes truly strategic.

The problem of "strategic philanthropy," as Porter called it, lies in the early nineteenth century. in determining in which areas it is necessary to focus its social activities in order to improve the competitiveness of the company and how to do this effectively.

Unfortunately, it should be noted that the management approaches of the majority modern corporations, including transnational ones, have so far changed little in line with new ideas.

An example of a social program implemented within the framework of old approaches is one of the projects of Avon Products (cosmetics). In 2002, 400,000 people were involved in a door-to-door campaign (when company representatives go from house to house) to raise funds to fund a breast cancer prevention program. A total of $32 million was collected. Despite the social significance of this project, it did not lead to an increase in the company's competitiveness, although it was aimed at the main category of its consumers - women. Trying to help the health of all women, and not just certain categories of consumers of Avon products, seems to be an attempt to solve a global problem, although it would be best to narrow the field of action and focus our social strategy.

A positive example is IBM, whose social activities are clearly strategically oriented. In particular, as early as 1994, an educational program for retraining in the field of computer technology began to be implemented, intended both for teachers and for schoolchildren and students. Working in close coordination with city schools, colleges and government education departments around the world, IBM employees organize teacher development and student learning and retraining. An independent examination showed that the level of computer training of schoolchildren and students has increased significantly.

The same approach is used by Johnson & Johnson.

It is important to understand that new approaches to the manifestation of social responsibility in business are not easy to implement in practice, they should not be considered by management as some short-term companies - they are designed for the long term and should gradually expand and develop. The more closely connected social responsibility in business is with the goals of achieving competitive advantages, the more social benefits will be received by the company's stakeholders. Thus, the new business paradigm proposed by M. Porter, in my opinion, can become the basis strategic management both national and transnational corporations in the 21st century!

2.2 Arguments for and against social responsibility in business

In the social responsibility literature, there are different opinions about whether or not corporations should bear the burden of social responsibility.

Arguments for":

1. Expecting higher business profitability in the long run.

The image of a socially responsible company is an investment in its business reputation. Indeed, other things being equal, people are more willing to work for a socially responsible company than for a socially irresponsible one; buy its goods, services or shares. Suppliers and business partners will also be more interested in working with a firm with a high business reputation. Thus, in the long term, when the various groups of stakeholders are convinced of the correct behavior of the company, it is likely to increase its income.

2. Create more favorable environment for business.

It is easier for socially responsible companies to expand their activities in an external environment that is not hostile to me, but benevolent.

3. Positive attitude from the outside government agencies.

The fact is that companies that behave as socially responsible economic entities have not only fewer claims from social regulatory authorities, but also some other benefits, such as participation in the execution of government orders.

4. Relationship between power and responsibility for power.

“In the long run, socially irresponsible use of one’s power inevitably leads to the loss of that power” (Iron Law of Responsibility).

5. Ability to prevent problems in the future.

It must be admitted that the socially responsible behavior of a company can allow it to be, as it were, one step ahead of those companies that follow only the letter, and not the spirit of the law. Thus, when legislation is changed in the direction of adopting more stringent standards for the quality of goods and services, or environmental pollution standards, or advertising rules, socially responsible companies are more prepared to implement them than their competitors, which gives them unconditional advantages.

6. The feeling of "ownership" of the employees of the company.

The awareness by the company's employees of their belonging to a socially responsible organization leads, as a rule, to the formation of a favorable climate in the team, additional labor motivation.

In foreign literature, there is an opinion that companies, especially large ones, have the necessary financial and other resources to implement social programs. This argument is put forward as an additional plus in favor of corporate social responsibility. It seems to me that this argument is incorrect, since the availability of funds does not mean that there is an incentive to spend them in one way or another.

Arguments against":

1. Violation of the principle of profit maximization.

The essence of this argument is that the direction of part of the profit for socially significant purposes reduces its volume, which violates the principle of profit maximization, which is fundamental in business. I note that in the short term, deductions from profits associated with the implementation of the principle of social responsibility in business really reduce the profits of the enterprise.

2. Increasing production costs.

The percentage of social burden in the price of a good or service is quite small, and the increase in costs due to this fact is greatly exaggerated.

3. Insufficiently effective system of social reporting.

Indeed, a company's financial statements are subject to close internal and external audits. Ethical or social audit began to develop not so long ago, even in Western corporations, not enough experience has been accumulated to form a clear system that takes into account all expenses and incomes in this area.

4. Difficulty in choosing priorities.

If, for example, the prices of a company's products are reduced, its consumers will be very happy, but its shareholders are unlikely to be happy if this is not followed by an increase in dividends. The installation of additional environmental protection equipment will certainly have a positive impact on the state of the environment and healthier people in specific regions, but it will increase production costs and, accordingly, prices for goods and services, etc.

5. Responsibility for making decisions in the field of social responsibility.

Typically, in large corporations, these issues are resolved by middle or senior managers, in family firms, by their owners.

6. The difficulty of constantly following the standards of "high" business ethics.

The public as a whole also becomes accustomed to a certain model of behavior of any company and reacts painfully to the lowering of its ethical bar.

7. Involvement in the "ethical race".

The bar of public expectations is rising higher, and in order to keep up with competitors, it is necessary to apply the same, or more effective, means to win the favor of their stakeholders.

Undoubtedly, being a socially responsible company at all times and in everything is not easy. For example, among the obstacles to socially oriented investment at the last World Economic Forum were, in particular, difficulties in defining the concept of corporate responsibility; lack of an effective business model linking investments in social projects and returns from them; lack of specialists in the field of business ethics and social responsibility (!); lack of a clear long-term strategy for companies; the payoff for social responsibility can take the form of lower wages, lower dividends, reduced investment in R&D departments, in renewal and improvement production capacity, reduction of accounts payable, etc. In addition, the adoption of social responsibility can mislead the members of the organization regarding its main goals, etc. At the same time, pursuing only economic goals and observing the laws and norms of state regulation, the organization: a) satisfies consumer demand for goods and services; b) creates jobs; c) pays taxes; d) provides a certain level of return on capital (in the form of dividends); e) creates new social wealth and values. Thus, the organization is already involved in the closest social interaction and makes a certain contribution in the above areas.

Nevertheless, one must understand that being socially responsible in our time is not only fashionable, but also necessary to build an effective business model not for an hour or a year, but for a long time.

To show the difference between ethical and unethical behavior in practice, I will give two examples from the sphere of company relations with customers.

Johnson&Johnson Company (USA).

On September 30, 1982, three people in the Chicago area died from the cyanide contained in the Tylenol capsules they had used. The connection between the deaths of these people and the use of the capsules was established very quickly, and the authorities notified Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Tylenol. As the number of deaths increased—it eventually reached seven—the firm faced a crisis and the prospect of total collapse. Tylenol, the most commonly used pain reliever, was Johnson & Johnson's single major new product, accounting for 7.4% of its revenue and 17 to 18% of its revenue.

Several company executives who had to decide how to respond to this case did not know whether the cyanide was introduced into the Tylenol vials during the manufacturing process or later, whether the reported deaths were isolated or only links in a long chain, whether these cases were limited only the Chicago area or they took place in other cities. American Quality Assurance Authority food products and Medicines issued a warning about the dangers of Tylenol use, but the government did not require the company to take any special action. Perhaps the deaths were only local in nature and their number will not go beyond the already known seven. Perhaps the authorities will not require the removal of the drug from sale. Perhaps a temporary suspension of sales until the true causes of deaths are clarified will be enough to prevent harm to people.

These assumptions were countered by quite certain prospects: withdrawing the drug from sale would mean a loss of up to $ 100 million for the company; sums insured will not cover this loss; the news of the drug being withdrawn from the market will cause such damage to its reputation that the company's leaders will no longer have the confidence that Tylenol will ever again be able to win the trust of consumers and regain the 37% market share it achieved; the news of the withdrawal of the drug from sale and the loss of the company will inevitably lead to a sharp drop in the price of its shares (in fact, it has already fallen by 15% in the first week of October); competition in the analgesic market is very strong, and Johnson & Johnson's competitors will try to turn the withdrawal from the sale of Tylenol to their advantage. These were the prospects, everything else is just guesswork and assumptions.

However, when faced with seven deaths and the possibility of new cases, Johnson & Johnson is known to have immediately ordered all Tylenol off the market. The company put the safety of consumers in the first place, i.e. acted as prescribed by the Creed proclaimed by her. The inevitable damage to the company, although very tangible and undesirable, was put in second place.

This incident has become a legend, and the company's reaction to it

Johnson & Johnson has become a textbook example of how to respond to a tragedy. The point is not only that the company's decision was quite correct from a moral point of view, but also that it masterfully coped with the consequences of the tragedy. She provided the general public with full information about what happened and within 18 months regained 96% of the previous market share.

James Burke, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson Corporation, who was later praised for his decision, commented on it as follows: firstly, it was in fact the only possible one from the standpoint of the company's Credo, and secondly, he was surprised that people might have expected a different solution from the company.

However, he was fully aware that not every company would have acted the way Johnson & Johnson did, although its decision was morally correct.

Thus, in this example, maximum efforts were made not to hide the poor quality of their goods, but to completely and as soon as possible declassify what happened. Despite the losses incurred, the company managed to maintain the main thing - its business reputation and the trust of customers, who highly appreciated the company's social responsibility. Guided by the rule “it is better to lose a little than to lose everything”, the company not only retained old customers, but also attracted new ones. By the way, a thorough independent medical examination after the seizure of the goods found that the death of consumers was not the fault of the company.

Despite the example set by Johnson & Johnson, a few years later, when a customer found a shard of pottery in a Gerber baby food can, the firm vehemently denied fault and refused to withdraw its products, as did a number of automotive companies in response to complaints about unsafe cars.

Firestone Company (USA).

There have been many complaints from consumers about car tires from this company. Due to defective tires, 34 people died and 50 were injured. Representatives of the company insisted that the causes of the incidents were the careless behavior of drivers, and not the quality of the tires. But even after that, the company tried to obtain an injunction against the publication of the report prepared by the National Office. As a result, at the request of state authorities, the company was forced to return 13 million of its products from the distribution network, and its actions received a negative public assessment.

The above examples vividly illustrated two possible approaches for companies to conduct their business and showed that a socially responsible business is profitable business. In my final chapter, I will try to consider how the principle of social responsibility is implemented in practice in the conditions of modern Russian reality.

Chapter 3. Corporate Sustainability Reporting

social responsibility ethics business

3.1 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, the generally recognized goal for the entire world community, individual countries, regions, cities, enterprises and corporations was the movement towards "sustainable development" (eng. sustainable development), which refers to the preservation of the environment and the saving of natural resources in unity with social and economic well-being for present and future generations. At the company level, the concept of sustainable development actually coincides with the implementation of the concept of corporate social responsibility.

The principle of sustainable development was first mentioned in the 1987 report "Our Common Future" and was called "a global agenda for change". The goals of this program are the eradication of poverty, health care for all, as well as meeting the needs of society in a planetary ecological space.

If giving general definition concept of sustainable development, it is a process of change in which the exploitation of natural resources, the direction of investment, the orientation of scientific and technological development, the development of the individual and institutional changes are aligned with each other and strengthen the current and future capacity to meet human needs and aspirations. Here, in many ways, we are talking about ensuring the quality of life of people.

The concept of sustainable development emerged as a result of combining three main points of view: economic, social and environmental.

1. Economic component.

The economic approach to the concept of sustainable development implies the optimal use of limited resources and the use of environmentally friendly environmental, energy, and material-saving technologies, including the extraction and processing of raw materials, the creation of environmentally friendly products, the minimization, processing and destruction of waste. However, when deciding what capital should be retained and to what extent different types of capital are substitutable, problems of correct interpretation and calculation arise. Two types of stability have appeared - weak, when it comes to natural and produced capital that does not decrease in time, and strong, when natural capital should not decrease.

2. social component.

The social component of development sustainability is human-oriented and aimed at maintaining the stability of social and cultural systems, including reducing the number of destructive conflicts between people. An important aspect of this approach is the fair sharing of benefits. It is also desirable to preserve cultural capital and diversity on a global scale, as well as to make fuller use of sustainable development practices found in non-dominant cultures. To achieve sustainable development, modern society will have to create a more efficient decision-making system that takes into account historical experience and encourages pluralism. Within the framework of the concept of human development, a person is not an object, but a subject of development. Based on the expansion of options for choosing a person as the main value, the concept of sustainable development implies that a person must participate in the processes that form the sphere of his life, facilitate the adoption and implementation of decisions, control their implementation.

3. Environmental component.

From an ecological point of view, sustainable development must ensure the integrity of biological and physical natural systems. Of particular importance is the viability of ecosystems, on which the global stability of the entire biosphere depends. Moreover, the concept of "natural" systems and habitats can be understood broadly to include human-made environments, such as, for example, cities. The focus is on maintaining the self-healing capabilities and dynamic adaptation of such systems to change rather than keeping them in some "ideal" static state. Degradation of natural resources, pollution and loss of biodiversity reduce the ability of ecological systems to self-heal.

In my opinion, reconciling these different points of view and translating them into concrete actions as a means of achieving sustainable development is a task of great difficulty, since all three elements of sustainable development must be considered in a balanced way. The mechanisms of interaction between these three concepts are also important.

Modern business is faced with the task of securing a strong position in the domestic and foreign economy, which creates the basis for sustainable development. In the context of globalization and open markets, such opportunities largely depend on the level of competitiveness of companies. Competitiveness today is determined by the efficiency of using not only production assets and financial resources, but also the intangible assets of companies, the quality of non-financial risk management.

As already mentioned, the activities reflected by non-financial indicators reflect a wide range of issues, among them:

Quality management;

Ethics of business conduct;

The structure and effectiveness of social investments related to the development of personnel, maintaining health at the workplace, and creating a favorable environment in the areas of presence.

These factors determine the public image of the company, and increasingly influence the formation of its business reputation, which has quite definite economic consequences.

Large companies are the first to face and recognize this problem, but in modern conditions business development, it becomes relevant for many of its representatives who seek to strengthen their positions in the market and have real prospects for the future. This creates favorable conditions for the implementation of long-term business development strategies based on maintaining a balance of interests of all stakeholders.

I cannot fail to note that sustainable development is a concept that is fundamentally different from the concept of sustainability or viability of an individual organization. Sustainable development refers to methods of meeting the needs of society. The resilience of an individual organization may or may not be consistent with sustainable development, depending on how the organization is managed and operates.

Comparing the principles of sustainable development and social responsibility, I can say that social responsibility has much more modest goals, and is aimed at specific organizations, and not the entire globe. However, social responsibility is closely related to sustainable development, as The overall goal of a socially responsible organization should be to contribute to sustainable development. An organization's responsibility for the impact its decisions and activities have on society and the environment is manifested through transparency and ethical conduct, which in turn:

promote sustainable development, health and welfare of society;

take into account the expectations of all stakeholders;

· comply with the requirements of the legislation and international standards of conduct; and

integrated into all areas of the organization and are used in the process of interaction with the external environment.

So, we can briefly summarize what advantages a socially responsible company operating in accordance with the principle of sustainable development has over other companies. The responsibility of an organization allows it to:

Demonstrate to all stakeholders the commitment of the organization's management to the requirements for social responsibility;

to ensure the implementation legal requirements in the field of social responsibility;

Enhance and protect the company's image;

Enhance brand image;

integrate social responsibility management with existing management systems

manage risks arising in the social sphere;

improve working conditions, increase the interest of employees, the moral climate in the team;

· receive significant economic benefits from reducing the cost of paying fines for violations of legislation in the field of social responsibility;

· to attract new investments as a socially oriented company;

· get Free access to additional markets, the requirement for entry into which is an internationally recognized system of social responsibility;

· improve the company's relationship with the state, gain an advantage when participating in government projects;

Modern international standards of corporate social responsibility and not financial reporting in the field of sustainable development provide for the principles and processes of effective and sustainable sustainable development. Thus, one of the most popular in the world and in Russia, the АА1000S standard thus represents a model of consistent and systematic interaction of a modern socially responsible company with its stakeholders.

Another international standard - the Global Sustainability Reporting Initiative, GRI - provides for a system of indicators in all areas of sustainable development in accordance with the concept of the "triple bottom line". Already the third generation of this G3 reporting standard (introduced at the end of 2006) includes 121 standard reporting elements, including 9 economic, 30 environmental and 40 social indicators, allowing primarily stakeholders, as well as the general public, to correctly assess the level of social responsibility one company or another.

More details about the GRI sustainable development standard will be discussed in the part of my work devoted to social reporting.

As of the middle of 2007, international reporting in the field of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development has already covered more than 3,900 leading companies in the world, including Russian companies. This process is actively supported by the RSPP, which has developed the Social Charter of Russian Business and also created a national register of non-financial reports of Russian companies. In addition, the RSPP is the main "conduit" of the ideas of the UN Global Compact with its ten principles of responsible business conduct, coinciding with the fundamental elements of the concept of corporate social responsibility and the principles international standards GRI and AA1000S.

In Russia, social responsibility is considered and used as an important area of ​​corporate activity by many companies. However, as a rule, corporate social responsibility is interpreted narrowly and unsystematically: as charity and sponsorship, as assistance to socially vulnerable groups in the regions of presence, as one-time support actions in the areas of culture, sports and education. It is no coincidence that CSR is an integral part of PR in most of these companies.

But over the past five years, a group of leading Russian companies has emerged that implement CSR in accordance with international standards, using it as the latest tool for managing capitalization and their non-financial risks in the corporate governance system. This group includes approximately seventy oil and gas, energy, metallurgical, chemical, pulp and paper and food companies, including LUKOIL, TNK-BP, etc.

The social responsibility of Russian companies is determined in accordance with legally stipulated and voluntary actions that are in a constant process of improvement. Here it seems to me appropriate to propose a new, more systematic definition of corporate social responsibility, emphasizing the specific and applied nature of this activity of companies. CSR is a system of consistent economic, environmental and social measures of the company, implemented on the basis of constant interaction with stakeholders and aimed at reducing non-financial risks, long-term improvement of the company's image and business reputation, as well as increasing capitalization and competitiveness, ensuring profitability and sustainable development of the enterprise .

Based on this understanding of corporate social responsibility, corporate governance is a system and process of relationships, as well as a set of principles, rules and procedures for interaction between the owners (shareholders) of a company, its board of directors, its management and other stakeholders within and in the external environment of the enterprise. The hierarchy of corporate social responsibility tools in corporate governance can then be represented as follows:

· Mission and values, Code of corporate ethics;

· Company strategy, including sustainable development goals (economic, environmental and social);

· The concept of non-financial risk management and interaction with stakeholders;

· Measures on CSR and sustainable development;

· Social (sustainable development) reporting;

· Communications (PR, Internet, cross-sectoral partnership).

Thus, in the course of writing this chapter, I came to the conclusion that sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It includes consideration of economic, environmental and social factors, as well as their relationship in the organization's management decisions and activities in general. Social responsibility is closely related to sustainable development, as The overall goal of a socially responsible organization should be to contribute to sustainable development.

3.2 Codes of conduct

As already mentioned in the previous paragraph, the mission and values ​​of the company, set out in ethical codes, play an important role in the hierarchy of corporate social responsibility tools. Their implementation also requires considerable material investments.

The approximate cost of the budget for social programs for large multinational companies is on average about 100-150 million dollars a year. For example, in recent years, IBM has been spending significant funds annually to support education, including higher education, in all regions of the world; for the supply of new technologies, computer equipment and software; rendering technical expertise, various kinds of services. In addition, the corporation allocates funds for programs for the development of healthcare, culture, environmental protection, etc. In the IBM code of ethics, one can read, in particular, that "no company can succeed if it is part of a dysfunctional society, and there can be no prosperous society if it lacks educated people" .

Code of Ethics TNK-BP

Having cited the ethical codes of foreign companies as an example, I cannot fail to mention Russian codes.

Consider the code of ethics of an oil company that was formed through the merger of the Russian Tyumen Oil Company and part of the assets of British Petroleum (BP). The TNK-BP Code was developed based on the business practices of its three predecessor companies, TNK, Sidanco and BP.

The preamble to the code states that TNK-BP expects all employees of the company, regardless of position and place of work, to be well aware of and comply with the provisions of this code. The code itself has been agreed upon and adjusted by the top management of the company and consists of three levels. At the first level, five Program Commitments are presented, in in general terms outlining the strategic vision of the company.

The company's business practice includes five areas:

· Business ethics.

· Employees.

· Relationships with third parties.

· Occupational health, safety and environmental protection.

· Control and finance.

These program commitments are the foundation upon which TNK-BP will build and operate.

As part of the second level, the Company's Policies have been developed, which describe in more detail the ways of implementing program obligations. They set out a framework of acceptable practice for all areas of TNK-BP's activities, and also explain what can be expected from cooperation with TNK-BP; at the third level, protocols, operating procedures and instructions are presented, which, in particular, describe in detail the implementation of the Company's Policies.

Here are excerpts from the program commitments formulated in the TNK-BP code relating to business ethics, employees, labor protection, safety and environmental protection.

Business ethics.

TNK-BP operates on the basis of an impeccable reputation, respect for other cultures, dignity and human rights in all regions of the company's operations. In its activities, TNK-BP will:

1. strictly observe the legislation of the Russian Federation;

2. promise only what she is able to do, take on only those obligations that she will certainly fulfill;

3. not intentionally mislead anyone;

4. not condone corruption;

5. not engage in any unacceptable activities;

6. Avoid violence and never intentionally harm anyone.

The Company will require third parties acting on TNK-BP's behalf to comply with similar obligations.

Employees.

All employees and managers are required to use the company's assets only to strengthen and develop the company's business, not seeking personal gain through abusing their official position. TNK-BP respects the rights and dignity of all employees. TNK-BP recognizes and appreciates the contribution of all employees to the creation of a strong and successful company. Combining the professional skills, abilities and creative potential of employees will allow the company to:

1. stimulate the emergence of new opportunities for business development;

2. create an inspiring working atmosphere in which each employee will feel responsible for the performance and reputation of the company;

3. build a new one corporate culture built on the solid foundation of the structures on which TNK-BP was founded;

4. to create a working environment where mutual trust and respect will reign.

Employees have the right:

1. know your official duties;

2. have an open and constructive discussion about the quality and effectiveness of their work;

3. receive assistance in the comprehensive development of their abilities and professional growth within the company;

4. receive recognition and appreciation of their services to the company;

5. make proposals aimed at improving the efficiency of the team;

6. count on the attention of the company to their personal circumstances in the performance of official duties.

Safety, Health and Environment.

All TNK-BP employees are responsible for meeting safety, health and environmental requirements in all regions where the company operates. Strict compliance with the requirements, safety, labor protection and working conditions of all employees of the company plays a key role in the success of its activities. The goals of TNK-BP in the field of safety, health protection and the environment are very clear - these are, first of all:

1. no accidents at work;

2. no accidents at work;

3. respect for the environment.

The Company will constantly strive to reduce the impact of production activities on the environment and the health of workers by reducing production waste, as well as economical use of energy. TNK-BP will produce quality products that are safe for consumers. It will comply with transport safety standards. All managers of the company will be responsible for achieving goals and meeting requirements in the field of safety, health and environment, clear distribution of roles and responsibilities, allocation of resources and taking the necessary measures, analysis and continuous improvement of safety, health and environmental practices in TNCs -VR.

Even from the above excerpts, it is clear that the TNK-BP code looks very solid, declares quite sound and practicable business goals and corresponds to the level of similar codes of large foreign oil companies.

LUKOIL Code.

In another major Russian oil company, LUKOIL, there is not an ethical, but a social code, which deals directly with the company's social responsibility. It is one of the most detailed and well developed codes of its kind. The preamble to the Social Code of OAO LUKOIL states that the company is a “responsible corporate member of society and a conscientious participant in the market economy. Combining these two missions, OAO LUKOIL (hereinafter - the company) voluntarily and on its own initiative assumes the following obligations for socially responsible behavior towards all parties whose interests are affected by the company's activities. The LUKOIL Social Code itself consists of three parts.

1. Corporate social guarantees for employees and non-working pensioners of the LUKOIL Group.

Socially responsible regulation of labor issues, employment and industrial relations, including the policy of remuneration and motivation of labor, labor safety, social policy in relation to young workers, health protection of workers and their families, housing policy, health insurance, pension policy and many other issues.

2. Socially responsible participation of the company in the life of society.

1) Development of single-production settlements.

2) Environmental activities.

3) Development of science, education, technology and innovation.

4) Preservation of national and cultural identity.

5) Support for culture and sports.

6) Promoting social groups and public associations in need of support.

7) Charitable activities of the Company and employees.

3. Economic basis of social initiatives.

Control over social spending, forms of participation in the maintenance of social facilities, increasing efficiency social services, socially responsible investment, etc.

Such a code, which includes specific obligations of the company in relation to its employees, investors, clients and voluntary initiatives in the field of charity, in my opinion, is quite worthy of the company itself. You can be sure that everything that is declared there is actually carried out.

3.3 Social reporting

No matter how plausible and solid the codes look, the main point of the socially responsible activity of companies is the social report.

Social reporting in the broadest sense is a company's reports that include information not only on the results of economic activity, but also on social and environmental indicators.

The corporate social report is a public tool for informing shareholders, employees, partners, customers, society about how and at what pace the company is implementing the goals set out in its strategic development plans regarding economic sustainability, social well-being and environmental stability.

This is especially important if we are talking about large corporations, city-forming enterprises or manufacturers with an extensive network of branches and divisions. The information contained in social reports testifies to the commitment of such companies to the concept of corporate responsibility, which includes caring not only for their employees, but also participation in the socio-economic development of the territory of their presence. Many companies treat such expenses as social investments aimed at improving the quality of life, improving the mechanisms of socio-economic development and increasing the competitiveness of regions, which creates favorable conditions for the development of the business of these organizations themselves.

A non-financial (social) report is one of the tools for improving the quality of corporate governance, including planning, monitoring and evaluating the company's activities. At the same time, it can serve as a means of increasing the transparency of the company's activities and improving the dialogue with social partners. Also, a social report is a way for a company to communicate with the outside world, it demonstrates the ability to see risks and take timely and adequate actions to reduce and prevent them.

The first social reports were made by European companies back in the 70s of the last century. Over the past forty years, the number of non-financial reports in different industries and countries has continued to grow.

Non-financial reporting has received the greatest distribution in Europe (the leader is Great Britain) and North America. And in Canada, this process was even more active than in the United States. In the Asian region, Japanese and South Korean companies have actively joined the reporting process. Australia is also active. Understanding that in the global economy to stay away from common processes, - a sure way to loss of competitiveness, significantly expanded the geography of non-financial (social) reporting. Russia has also joined this process.

A number of guidelines and reporting standards have been developed by leading experts in the field of social responsibility, which serve as the main principles of social accounting, auditing and reporting:

· AccountAbility Institute responsibility standard (Institute for Social and Ethical Accountability) АА100, based on John Elkington's triple bottom line reporting principle;

· Incorporation of a sustainability-related reporting system;

· Guidance on reporting on sustainable development of the Global Reporting Initiative;

· Verite Monitoring Guide;

· International standard of social responsibility SA8000;

· Green globe certification (standard);

· Environmental management standard ISO 14000;

· The UN Global Compact helps companies report in the Progress Report format. The progress report describes the company's implementation of the ten universal principles of the Treaty.

· Intergovernmental working group experts on International Accounting and Reporting Standards UN provides voluntary technical guidance on indicators economic efficiency, corporate responsibility reporting and corporate governance disclosures.

As for Russia, depending on the goals and development of companies, reporting on corporate social and environmental responsibility is carried out in our country in five main types:

a special section in the annual report;

· a social report that brings together all social, charitable and sponsorship projects of companies, compiled in a free and, as a rule, convenient form for companies, outside the format of international standards of corporate social responsibility;

environmental report describing priorities and main directions environmental policy companies, the system of environmental management, monitoring and control, indicators and costs of environmental policy;

· a report on corporate social and environmental responsibility with partial application of the principles and indicators of international standards, including, along with a description of the mission, values ​​and strategic goals of the company, its social activities and projects implemented as a response to dialogues with stakeholders;

· a sustainability report prepared in accordance with the principles and performance indicators of the GRI Guidelines, AA 1000S standard and including all aspects of the company's social mission, its corporate strategy, culture, social and environmental policy.

In Russia, social and environmental reports are predominantly issued today. They come out in separate editions and are also published on the company's website. Due to the fact that the release of non-financial reports in our country is a voluntary initiative, companies independently determine which reporting systems and indicators to use. It can also be noted that the analysis of the reports carried out by the Department of Corporate Social Policy of the RSPP shows that in the reports of domestic companies much attention is paid to charity and sponsorship, issues of social and environmental policy, as well as territorial development programs.

GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

I would like to cite as a model that corporations can rely on when compiling their annual report on the work done in the field of social responsibility, the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

This system is by far the most used in the world in the preparation of non-financial reports. GRI guidance helps the company to meaningfully analyze its contribution to the development of society. It is an internationally recognized system of reporting principles and indicators. Any company, regardless of size and type of activity, can use the GRI guidelines and combine it with other systems: AA 1000 and the global contract, which complement each other. The GRI methodology provides for several levels of reporting, which allow you to gradually implement the approaches laid down in it when preparing reports.

The GRI Guidelines consist of reporting principles, reporting guidelines, and standard reporting elements, including performance indicators. The main principle on which the GRI is based is the voluntary provision of information. In addition, principles are outlined for determining the content of the report and for ensuring its quality. According to the GRI methodology, the key principles for ensuring the quality of the information provided are comparability, balance, accuracy and clarity. Respect for materiality, completeness, comprehensive coverage of stakeholders, taking into account the context of sustainable development allows you to determine the content of the report.

According to the GRI guidelines, it is recommended to include information in the report according to the “three-one bottom line principle”, which implies the inclusion of information on the economy, ecology and the social sphere. For each of these components, a specific set of indicators is provided.

All indicators are subject to external verification and verification by auditors. However, the GRI does not restrict entities in this area, nor does it preclude the use of additional metrics at the discretion of the reporting entity.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that GRI does not strictly determine the scope and form of the report. The main thing is that it should use the performance indicators of the company. The organization has the right to determine the concept and structure of the report. Although, of course, it is necessary to take into account the standards of information disclosure, which affect the following aspects:

strategy and characteristics of the company;

· approaches to management;

performance indicators.

Very important, in my opinion, is that the report should not be a foreign document. He needs to answer strategic goals company, was included in corporate governance and consistent with its mission.

The GRI methodology provides for several levels of reporting, allowing you to gradually implement the approaches laid down in it when preparing reports. In order to meet the needs of both beginners and experienced organizations, as well as those in an intermediate phase, three levels of application of the guidance have been introduced: C, B and A. A report will be recognized as GRI compliant if the organization itself declares the level of application. At the same time, she can add a “+” sign to the selected level, which will indicate the use of external confirmation.

At each level, standard reporting elements are used differently. So, for example, information about management approaches is required only if levels B and A are met. Performance indicators for the initial level C are minimal compared to higher levels B and A. For levels C and B, it is enough to use information on 10 and 20 performance indicators, respectively. At the same time, a Level A report must disclose each of the main GRI indicators. The characteristics of the company at each next level also require more disclosure. If, for example, for level C, a minimum of information on the company's activities is acceptable, then for levels B and A this is no longer enough. Thus, we can conclude that the C and C+ levels indicate the initial degree of development of GRI reporting. B and B+, in turn, about developed and expanded reporting, and levels A and A+ indicate the inclusion of additional non-financial information in it. For example, the sustainability report of LUKOIL, which I will discuss in more detail in the next paragraph, corresponds to the C+ level. It highlights key operational and financial indicators, major events during the reporting period, describes strategic priorities and goals related to sustainable development, large-scale trends that have had an impact on the organization during the reporting period. In addition, the report examines the main risks from the company's activities that affect the development of society, and also describes the mechanisms for managing these risks. Information about approaches in the field of management is described in three components: economic, environmental and social activities. The report also describes the practice of the company's interaction with stakeholders. Of the indicators characterizing the company, those that show the scale of the organization are most fully disclosed. They are supplemented by information on the economic efficiency of the enterprise.

As for the information provided, the level of its disclosure is determined by the companies themselves. There is a choice here. As a result, the company can announce some indicators, but not others. This rule is very relevant in Russian conditions when, when disclosing some information, there may be a danger of drawing excessive attention to the company from the regulatory authorities. Although, of course, for large organizations, whose shares are listed on the leading stock exchanges of the world, this is no longer relevant, since the existing procedure for inclusion in the listing of the exchange provides for a list of data that must be disclosed. Such companies have already achieved a certain degree of transparency and are not intimidated by the prospect of non-financial reporting. Moreover, such reporting, other things being equal, is regarded as a competitive advantage and is of great importance for the business reputation of the company, the attitude of investors and analysts towards it.

Obviously, the preparation of non-financial reporting is of interest exclusively to large and medium-sized businesses, because for small firms it only entails additional troubles and costs. Such reporting can be used by enterprises of different turnover and areas of activity. However, its compilation is most relevant for large companies that occupy leadership positions in the industry. In almost all countries, they were the first to publish non-financial reports. If we talk about the sectoral structure, then the enterprises of the oil and gas industry, the metallurgical complex, the timber industry and the electric power industry are most actively involved in the reporting process. At the same time, the level of capitalization of the company and the market share that it occupies are not the main criteria for making a decision on the preparation of such reports. Each company independently evaluates and weighs all the advantages and disadvantages of such a project and makes its choice.

In the next paragraph of my work, I will consider the application of the principles of the Guidelines in practice using the example of the LUKOIL report.

3.4 Analysis of the report of OAO LUKOIL

The leading Russian oil company LUKOIL actively entered into this practice a few years ago by preparing a Sustainability Report for 2003-2004. Thus, in fact, for the first time in the country, the main principles and indicators of international standards АА1000 and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines for Reporting in the Field of Sustainable Development were applied. This, according to the general public, has become an important milestone on the way to a new quality of corporate governance, an expression and confirmation of the company's responsibility in pursuing economic and social policy.

LUKOIL ranked first among Russian oil companies in the Corporate Responsibility Rating compiled by the Institute for Social and Ethical Accountability (Account Ability, UK).

Recently OAO LUKOIL has prepared and published the second Sustainability Report in the Russian Federation for 2005-2006. It is noteworthy that in the context of considering corporate cases, the company positions itself as an integral part of the country, and considers its interests and successes to be inseparable from the interests and successes of Russia as a whole. The huge responsibility that Russia has assumed for the stable supply of energy to other countries of the world, including half of Europe, the company perceives as its own responsibility.

To date, LUKOIL has issued the third Sustainability Report. When preparing the report, international documents are used - the AA1000 standard (1999) and the Guidelines for Reporting in the Field of Sustainable Development of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), version 3.0, the Global Compact and the Social Charter of Russian Business. The report is confirmed by an independent auditor - CJSC "Bureau Veritas Rus". The Company's report has been included in the GRI database, and is also included in the National Register of Corporate Non-Financial Reports, which is administered by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and has been noted in Russian and international reviews and ratings. In addition, LUKOIL is included in the list of 100 largest companies in the world international ranking Corporate Social Responsibility Accountability Rating and ranks 3rd in its Russian version. LUKOIL plans to issue such reports every two years and gradually introduce the principles of sustainable development into its daily practice.

The content of the report is presented in four sections: “OJSC LUKOIL's activity”; "Socio-economic partnership and sustainable development of Russian regions"; "Social politics"; "Responsibility for the environment". The consistency, completeness and reliability of the presentation of the material will allow not only me, as a narrow specialist, but also any interested reader to easily find, evaluate, analyze materials related to large-scale practical activities in the oil and gas business.

The company's goal is a dynamic, sustainable development that will turn it into one of the leaders in the global oil and gas business. It is important to note that the company is not moving towards its goal in any way: there is clearness in the means and methods used. They a priori fit into the mainstream, determined by the principles of national orientation and social responsibility. The foregoing is very intelligibly illustrated by the company's strict compliance with laws on the payment of taxes to budgets of various levels, and considerable taxes at that.

Through the report, the idea is consistently conveyed that all corporate activities are deployed in accordance with the conviction that the main competitive advantage in the 21st century has become the possession of not cheap material resources, but intellectual and scientific potential. True professionals are actively involved in the company, the personnel motivation system is aimed at achieving the personal interest of employees not only in improving the efficiency of their enterprise, but also in the steady expansion of its capabilities, in constant development.

An unbiased eye will certainly find in the report a lot of confirmation of the company's real responsibility to society, responsibility for the proper maintenance of the living environment shared with it. Here and special attention to the issues of nature protection, increasing the level of utilization of associated gas. This includes the use of "zero discharge" technology when working on the shelf, the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere during oil refining, the transition to European fuel quality standards.

The consulting support of the Agency for Social Information helped in many ways to maintain the required quality in the preparation of the report. The clarity of the company's transparent reporting was noted by experts. Thus, the veracity and reliability of the statements, arguments, and illustrations given in the report are certified by experts from an independent professional company. In her audit opinion, she provides detailed evidence of which corporate documents were used, which areas of the company's operations were visited, which facilities were inspected, and with whom purposeful dialogues were held. Characteristically, the audit assurance, by definition, is limited to the reporting period of 2007-2008. At the same time, attention is drawn, on the one hand, to the assertion of independent experts that the current report is a balanced presentation of economic, environmental and social aspects the performance of the company. On the other hand, it is impossible not to notice that these aspects, according to them, determine sustainable development indicators in the context of the adopted Strategic Development Program of the LUKOIL Group for 2008-2013.

I cannot but agree that such an assessment, firstly, organically takes the process beyond the bounds of the past reporting period. And secondly, it makes this period a kind of launching pad, aiming the many thousands of the company's staff and everyone who is interested in its prosperity for future responsible accomplishments.

In my work, I set myself the goal of analyzing the non-financial report of LUKOIL.

The results of the analysis reflect the trends and specifics of the development of social reporting, characterize the ideas of the business community about corporate responsibility and corporate practices that comply with the principles of socially responsible business conduct. The review is my first attempt at an end-to-end analysis of non-financial reports and a generalization of the information contained in them.

There is no doubt that one of the most important tools for improving the quality of corporate governance, including planning, monitoring and evaluating the company's activities, is a non-financial (social) report. At the same time, it can serve as a means of increasing transparency in the company's activities and improving dialogue with social partners.

The development of non-financial reporting is directly related to the problem of information openness of companies. The company I analyze has its own corporate website, where they clearly clarify their position on the issue of corporate social responsibility, publish their own ethical and social codes, as well as corporate responsibility reports.

Today, the leaders of non-financial reporting are the largest companies in Russia, occupying the top lines of the ratings and making the greatest contribution to the welfare of the country, as their direct economic activity and implementation of approaches to corporate responsibility. Among them, one of the leading positions is occupied by LUKOIL, whose corporate responsibility report I reviewed in the course of my work.

The content of a company's non-financial report reflects the company's decision on which issues should be given the most attention, based on the goals and objectives that the company sets for itself when starting to prepare the report. The decision on the nature of the information included in the report is significantly influenced by the requests and expectations of stakeholders, the interaction with which the company considers the most relevant at this stage. It is important to keep in mind that the report is reader-oriented in general. As a rule, it is addressed to specific target audiences, each of which should find a reflection of their interests in the report. Proper consideration of these interests, adequate selection and disclosure of information is an important element in the preparation of the LUKOIL report.

An analysis of the report reveals distinct specifics in the disclosure of information that Russian companies consider significant and significant: a lot of attention is paid to issues of social policy in relation to employees, development programs in the territories of presence, as well as charity and sponsorship. Companies are investing heavily in these programs. Thus, in 2004, the costs of the three leading Russian oil companies for solving socially significant problems amounted to more than 16.5 billion rubles. which in total corresponds to 0.1% of GDP.

A significant part of the company's report is devoted to presenting the results in the field of effective personnel policy and social programs for employees: increasing professional level and qualifications of employees, educational programs, systems of motivation for productive work; personnel health protection and improvement of working conditions; voluntary medical insurance programs; corporate pension funds and systems.

The company has to deal with a large number of problems related to the environmental consequences of its activities. Investment programs for technical modernization, as well as environmental programs, occupy an important place in LUKOIL's plans.

Industry specifics are reflected in the report in only a few topics, among which the most common are product quality and customer relations, as well as environmental activities.

I would like to emphasize that the comparison of the nature of the information reflected in the report with the GRI principles shows a high degree of compliance, which indicates the practical implementation of these principles in business practice, even when the company itself does not indicate this. Following the principles of socially responsible business conduct in the interests of its own sustainability is a long-term process of movement. At different stages of the development of the company, the degree of progress in the implementation of these principles may be different. It is important that they are actually reflected in corporate strategies and embodied in the daily activities of the organization, as evidenced by the results of the analysis.

The results of the analysis confirm that the Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting (GRI) can serve Russian companies as a universal platform for reporting and be used along with other documents recognized in world practice.

The information presented in the LUKOIL report demonstrates that the company has built an extensive educational system, through which an employee can receive and improve professional training and make a career based on their ambitions and capabilities. Corporate spending on employee training removes the financial burden of millions of rubles a year from citizens and the state, which is a significant contribution of the corporate sector to solving national problems of developing labor potential. Internal programs are supported by financing of external programs to support the development of middle and higher education, as well as university science and scientific developments. Based on the available information, we can speak about the comprehensive contribution of LUKOIL to the development of education.

In order to improve the health of employees and their families, the company uses a range of programs ranging from voluntary medical and pension insurance and disease prevention measures to developing corporate sports and organizing summer holidays for employees' children. The report convincingly presents the scope of this activity within a single reporting organization.

In conclusion, I would like to conclude that the corporate responsibility report of OAO LUKOIL is a good non-financial report that contains information that makes it possible to assess the quantity and quality of the organization's intangible assets, its capabilities and potential, management features and management quality. Investors, partners, customers and own personnel can obtain information from the report that, along with information about financial results help them make the necessary decisions regarding LUKOIL. It can be assumed that in response to the challenges of the time and public expectations, such an approach to business decision-making will become common. All the more valuable is the experience of LUKOIL, which was the first in Russia to start preparing and publishing its non-financial reports. This experience paves the way for others and contributes to the formation of modern ideas about corporate practice and business ethics in the Russian business community.

The company's experience with non-financial reporting has shown that it should be viewed not simply as a description of charitable and environmental activities, but as part of a broader definition of organizational strategy. It involves an ongoing process that does not begin with the publication of the report, and certainly does not end with it. This process can stimulate the company to improve corporate governance and improve management efficiency. It sums up certain results on the way to sustainable development and sets new goals to improve the results obtained.

Conclusion

In the course of my work, I considered in detail the tasks assigned to me.

In the first chapter of my work, I traced the history of the development of the concept of responsibility as a moral category, paying special attention to the concept of G. Jonas.

In addition, I gave definitions of the concepts of "business ethics" and "social responsibility". Then I compared these concepts and came to the conclusion that they correlate as general ethical foundations of business with a particular principle. As examples of corporations that were among the first to apply the principle of social responsibility in their business, I cited such companies as Sears, Unilever.

I devoted the second chapter of my work to the consideration of problems and controversial motives associated with the concept of corporate responsibility. First, I discussed two approaches to the study of corporate social responsibility using the opinions of Milton Friedman and Michael Porter as an example. Second, I looked at the arguments for and against social responsibility in business. After that, I gave examples of corporations with different points of view on this issue: Johnson & Johnson and Firestone.

In the process of writing the final chapter, I came to the conclusion that sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of natural resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of scientific and technological development, the development of the individual and institutional changes are aligned with each other and strengthen the current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. It includes consideration of economic, environmental and social factors. Social responsibility is closely related to sustainable development, as the overall goal of a socially responsible organization should be to contribute to sustainable development.

In addition, I came to the conclusion that the corporate social report is a tool for informing shareholders, employees, partners, customers, society about how and at what pace the company is implementing the goals set out in its strategic development plans regarding economic sustainability, social well-being and environmental stability. I reviewed the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in more detail. This system is by far the most used in the world in the preparation of non-financial reports.

In the final third chapter, I also reviewed the ethical codes of foreign and Russian companies such as IBM, TNK-BP and LUKOIL, compared them with the principle of social responsibility and came to the conclusion that all the principles proclaimed in the preambles are actually implemented.

I also analyzed the implementation of the principle of social responsibility in practice on the example of the report of the company "LUKOIL" and traced the extent to which it complies with the principles set out in the guidelines for compiling social reporting. I came to the conclusion that the social responsibility report of this organization corresponds to the C + level according to the international GRI classification and can take a well-deserved place among the reports of international oil companies.

LUKOIL was the first in Russia to start preparing and publishing its non-financial reports. All the more valuable is his experience, which paves the way for others and contributes to the formation of modern ideas about corporate practice and business ethics in the Russian business community.

I would also like to express my opinion when answering the question: is a business generally responsible, or is its only goal profit. Most likely, I am a supporter of the affirmative approach. In my opinion, the managers and employees of an organization are responsible for balancing the company's pursuit of the common interest: the economic interests of the organization, the interests of stakeholders, and the global public interest. In my opinion, organizations should bear voluntary obligations to society and direct part of their funds to improve it.

In conclusion, I would like to note that a deep understanding and acceptance of business ethics as an internal norm today is mandatory for a manager of any level, and especially for an entrepreneur. Management, being a very specific activity, obliges managers to take care of the limits and consequences of their actions. Recently, for many business representatives, it has become obvious that the sustainable development of companies, combining economic, social and environmental factors, leads to a reduction in entrepreneurial risks, strengthens competitiveness, increases staff efficiency and consumer loyalty, improves the reputation of companies, creates a positive contribution from the business community. into economic and social development territories of their presence. This creates favorable conditions for the implementation of long-term business development strategies based on maintaining a balance of interests of stakeholders. This is the essence of socially responsible business conduct as the basis for sustainable development of companies.

I would like to make a small contribution to the development of the problem of social responsibility of business through my work.

Bibliography

1. Aleksina T. A. Business ethics. #"#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""> Jonas, X. Principle of Responsibility. Ethics Experience for Technological Civilization / X. Jonas. - M.: Iris-press, 2004. p. 196

Modern trends in business development have long confirmed the need for a social orientation. Entrepreneurs strive not only to make a profit, but also to provide all possible assistance to society in solving social problems. But there is an important component in this direction, which not everyone takes into account. Any socially oriented event should bring benefits, tangible or intangible, but necessarily beneficial in the future. There are several strategies that allow to achieve this effect, entrepreneurs should know and apply them in practice.

What is the social responsibility of business

The social orientation of doing business involves the implementation of certain measures aimed at the benefit of society, carried out at the expense of the organization. With their help, socially significant programs are implemented to improve the lives of certain segments of the population or for employees of their company. The results of such companies contribute to the growth, improvement of the image, development, increase in the profit of the contractor, that is, the enterprise.

The social action plan has its own distinctive features. It is constantly reviewed and modified in accordance with current trends development of society. Such a plan is adopted by the individual enterprise independently and voluntarily. It may also be coordinated with other project stakeholders. As a result of socially oriented activities, the following goals are achieved:

• improving the reputation of the company at the level of the designated target audience and the entire locality;
• improving the company's image;
• increase in the volume of manufactured and sold products;
• improving the quality of services or goods of the enterprise;
• development and strengthening of the corporate brand;
• the emergence and strengthening of new partnerships, ties with representatives of business, government, civil associations and organizations.

It should be understood that the social responsibility of business is not the same as charity. Also, social responsibility cannot be associated with the following concepts:

• PR and self-promotion;
• political activity and promotion of the individual;
• state projects and programs;
• economically oriented state programs.

How social responsibility is assessed

This concept has a clear evaluation structure, it is carried out at several levels.

The first level means compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation, according to which business performs certain social functions. For example, the registration of employees according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and the full payment of taxes means the removal of tension in society, guarantees of stability. Also, work at this level means compliance with the laws of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and conducting business activities in the legal field.

The second level of social responsibility of business involves conducting activities that make the work of the enterprise attractive for investors and consumers. This is the creation of such a product or service that contributes to the growth of the well-being of citizens, strengthening their health, etc. And the attractiveness of a business for investors means an increase in the image of the whole country.

And the third level of responsibility involves the planning and implementation of such activities that are aimed at relieving social tension, strengthening the image of the enterprise, but at the same time - the lack of profit in monetary terms.

The entrepreneur himself decides at what level he works, but it should be noted that the implementation of the highest level is impossible if the previous one is missing. For example, participation in serious events at the regional level is impossible if your employees receive “black” wages and work illegally, without paying full taxes.

Corporate responsibility models

Corporate responsibility can be implemented in four forms. All of them are aimed at the well-being of the company, therefore they are worthy of attention.

Manipulative model- involves the processing of public opinion to achieve the goals of the company.

information model- Achievement of the company's goals by constantly informing about the company's intentions in a variety of ways.

Mutual Understanding Model- explanation of the line of behavior of the enterprise and understanding of the line of behavior of employees.

Model of social partnership– study and analysis of the entire social environment and public sentiment in general.

Each country has its own preferences for corporate partnerships and responsibilities. In Russia, these concepts are still at the stage of formation. Analysts say that positive results and achievements are already visible. It traces the features of the European model (when the state takes an active part in shaping the company's strategy) and the British one (with participation in the policy of the enterprise of the voluntary initiative of employees).

Forms of social responsibility

Social responsibility can be hidden and open.

open strategy involves the behavior of the organization when the enterprise takes responsibility for solving issues of concern to society. This form of social responsibility is chosen independently, behavior and all measures are formed voluntarily.

Hidden the form affects all institutions of the state - official and unofficial. All activities and plans are coordinated with these institutions. The norms, rules of conduct, values ​​and even the mission of the company are formed in full accordance with the interests and objectives of the state, achieving its personal results, such a company works primarily for the goals and objectives of the whole society and the institution of the state. Moreover, the goals are not only social, but also political and economic.

Basic principles of social responsibility marketing strategies

In order for the principles of social responsibility to be unconditionally visible and accepted by society and business partners, certain rules should be followed. The first is to always keep all your promises, to do what you say. Such an attitude, without further ado, demonstrates respect for consumers, partners, impeccable ethics in business circles.

The second principle is honesty in advertising. Never promise in videos and texts what you cannot implement in your products or services. Honesty and lack of exaggeration in this regard, consumers will definitely appreciate and begin to respect your company.

The third principle is to demonstrate ethical standards in your products or services. For example, the inscription on the product that it is produced without harming the environment is very important. It is also important to honestly indicate the composition, and it is very good if it does not contain harmful substances both for the human body and for nature. Or, for example, many indicate the term for the disposal and decomposition of packaging, methods for its harmless decomposition into components that are safe for nature.

Efficiency of socially responsible business

The chain of business growth that is socially responsible is quite simple. Track the effect of activities that have social orientation, not difficult. Positive effects can be seen after some time, an instant effect should not be expected. The first stage in the implementation of such a strategy is the full monitoring of the situation in society, the preparation of the so-called social profile. Based on the identification of problems and critical points, an action plan is formed. In the course of its implementation, business tasks are expanding, production is developing. Which ultimately leads to an increase in consumer respect for the enterprise, an increase in sales, and an increase in profits.

Confirmation of the growth of loyalty to socially responsible enterprises according to studies of various organizations:

• citizens prefer to buy products of companies that have proven their social responsibility, in the US this figure is 83%;
• young professionals prefer to work in companies with high proportion social responsibility, especially in those that are attentive to environmental issues;
• three-quarters of working citizens are convinced that if an enterprise deals with issues of social responsibility, then it is certainly interested in their personal development;
• The Institute of Business Ethics provided figures that show that companies with a high degree of social responsibility have success rates - 18% higher than those of ordinary companies.

What is the social responsibility of business

Internal responsibility:

• creation of conditions for labor safety;
• stable wage payments, the level of which is considered acceptable and above the average in the industry;
• medical care for employees and additional measures to maintain their health;
• training and professional development of employees;
• providing material assistance to employees who find themselves in difficult living conditions.

External social responsibility:

• providing sponsorship in promotions and programs;
• participation in measures for the revival of natural resources and environmental protection;
• close contact and cooperation with the local community and authorities;
• participation in crisis situations of the city;
• responsibility to consumers in terms of the quality of a product or service.

Social responsibility quite often takes the form of volunteering. It is expressed in the form of visits to specialized institutions and assistance to them, these are orphanages, nursing homes, hospices, animal shelters.

Interesting forms of responsibility to society are the appointment and payment of special scholarships and bonuses to talented citizens, pensions to deserving people, participation in the formation of funds to support certain areas of society's life (sick children, talented performers, etc.).

Remuneration of socially oriented enterprises by the state is also an expected, but not a mandatory factor in this activity. Sometimes such enterprises are exempted from certain types of local taxes, sometimes they are given priority in competitions and tenders. But such measures are not guaranteed to anyone, they are not an end in themselves for businessmen.

Elena Shchugoreva is a business consultant, trainer in oratory and speech technique, head of the Orator Master online school. She can be contacted at e-mail [email protected] or through a Facebook group