Presently, the issue of corporate responsibility is among the most vividly discussed issues in the business world. This can be explained by its significant role in the social development. Many companies have realized that it is impossible to achieve success in business in an isolated environment. That is why the integration of the principle of corporate responsibility in the strategic development of a business is among the leading goals of corporations throughout the world. Modern world is characterized by sharp social problems, which makes the importance of corporate responsibility even more perceptible. The notion of corporate responsibility has emerged on the basis of understanding that the success in business plays a key role in the development of various countries all over the world.
Today, corporate responsibility is a rather controversial issue with both negative and positive sides. Generally speaking, different organizations define the notion of corporate responsibility differently, which leads to debates between different businesses. Overall, corporate responsibility stands for the achievement of commercial success with the use of major ethical principles that imply respect for people, community and external environment. Among the positive sides of corporate responsibility is the fact that it brings benefit not only to one’s own business, but also to the whole society greatly contributing to the social and economic development of the state. This is achieved by means of a positive influence of business on the society and minimization of negative outcomes.
In fact, corporate responsibility has a multi-level nature. Its basic level suggests that salaries and taxes should be paid timely and new workplaces should be created. The second level implies the provision of adequate work conditions to the employees. This should be realized by means of enhancing the qualification of workers, providing medical services and developing the social sphere. This is what corporate responsibility stands for. The highest level of corporate responsibility implies charitable activity. However, the negative side of corporate responsibility is that it is hard to realize all of these goals to full extent. The existence of corporate corruption greatly hinders the process of achieving managerial goals.
Among the positive motives for using corporate responsibility in business are the following. First, the improvement of work conditions allows avoiding the turnover of employees. It also attracts the most qualified specialists to the given corporation. Second, corporate responsibility encourages the growth of productivity within the company. Third, it improves the image and reputation of a company. Fourth, it allows advertising goods and services in the best possible manner. This is realized with the use of mass media, which is highly beneficial for the development of a company. Furthermore, it guarantees stability of the company’s development in the long run. It also gives an opportunity to attract investments in comparison with other companies working in the given industry.
However, it is often hard to realize all the goals of a company in terms of corporate responsibility. This happens for several reasons. First of all, the priorities of the company’s social policy should be defined. Second, a special structure of managing social programs should be elaborated, which is often hard to achieve. Third, the employees should be educated in the sphere of corporate responsibility and this is associated with additional costs. Furthermore, the results of implementing social responsibility should be predicted and evaluated. In this regard, it should be noted that honest business practice is a must, which is hard to put into practice because of ever-growing corporate corruption in the business sector. All these factors are likely to influence the decision of the company in terms of corporate responsibility. It is because the negative factors associated with corporate responsibility often outweigh the positive ones. This provokes vivid debates about the role played by corporate responsibility in the business sector.