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IMPLEMENTING CSR: BEST PRACTICES by Smes and Bros

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IMPLEMENTING CSR: BEST PRACTICES by Smes and Bros CSR_report_cover:Layout 1 8-06-2009 10:31 Pagina 1 This project is funded by the European Union IMPLEMENTING CSR: BEST PRACTICES BY SMEs AND BROs CNIPMMR BSP - IMPLEMENTING CSR: BEST PRACTICES BY SMEs BEST PRACTICES BSP - IMPLEMENTING CSR: AND BROs This programme is implemented by Confapi. This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. Business Support Programme for Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. 2008-2009 Business Support Programme for Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey Promotion of Environmental Certifications and Corporate Social Responsibility towards EU legislation adoption and SMEs competitiveness Disclaimer: 1. Each author is responsible for the content of his/her own part 2. All information are updated until December 2008 Dissemination of Corporate Social Responsibility in new EU members and in candidate countries The EU enlargement process is also raising the issue of promoting CSR principles in the new member states and in candidate countries. This is actually the general objective of the European program “Business Support Programme – BSP”, leaded by Confapi and launched in the kick off conference in Rome on 6th February 2008. Since 2000 up to now the initiatives for CSR have highly increased: the progress Italy and other EU countries have made in these years are real. This process hasn’t been so easy and a long way remains towards the desired results. But, actually, a gap still exists in respect of new members and, even more, of candidate countries. This explains why the transnational priorities in EU policies also include the dissemination of CSR principles in these countries, including the beneficiaries of this project: Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey. It appears really urgent to focus on sustainable and responsible development models in order to transfer and spread their basic principles. First, the concept of “sustanaibility of local development”, that means the will to promote a system suitable for responding to the current generations’needs, without any prejudice to future generations’ well-being. This principle is completed by the definition of Corporate Social Responsibility referring to the integration, on voluntary basis and beyond binding legal provisions, of social and environmental aspects into business activities and companies’ relations with all their counterparts. Policies for CSR are usually addressed to social, environment and economic issues. These three pillars intertwine and cannot be actually separated. It is really important that CSR policies are defined and implemented basing on a mutual coherence and in compliance with social, environmental and economic objectives in order to guarantee effectiveness and sustainability in the future. The prominence given to CSR is based on several different reasons and making a synthesis is not so easy. Nevertheless, the origins of such an attention seem to be related to the concept of stakeholder, meaning the persons involved, in different ways, in the company activities (referring to single enterprises and the whole entrepreneurial structure) and in the management of the territory. Therefore, CSR focuses on the individual with an “economic dimension”, being able to influence the performance of a company and the development of economic policies through his/her free will. Stakeholders can influence company and territory’s activities, but can also be affected by them and suffer their consequences. This explains why stakeholders’ attention has raised in these last decades and the involvement of civil society is becoming more and more active, even through the increase of associations pointing out the demand of a socially responsible behaviour. BSP Project gave the opportunity to disseminate knowledge and skills from “old Europe” and make SMEs in beneficiary countries compliant with European standards, considering that stakeholders are principally interested in the most concrete aspects of CSR: work, health and safety, environment. We should be aware that BSP Project is not the arrival, but a starting point towards a common development that could be healthier, fair and more sustainable. The President of Confapi Paolo Galassi Special thanks to: Armando Occhipinti Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Industry – CONFAPI – Italy Guido Alberto Valentini Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Industry – CONFAPI – Italy Alessandro Perfetti Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Industry – CONFAPI – Italy Silvia Zanotto Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Industry – CONFAPI – Italy Anikó Gábor Hungarian Enterprise Development Network Consortium - MVHK- Hungary Pénzes Marianna Hungarian Enterprise Development Network Consortium - MVHK- Hungary Majda Dobravc Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Slovenia Laurent Westermeyr International Federation of Cleaning Service Contractors – FIDEN - Germany Zlatko Zlatev Confederation of employers and industrialists - CEIBG - Bulgaria Maja Stanojević Pokrovac Croatian Employers’ Association - HUP - Croatia Denissa Chitescu National Council of Small and Medium Sized Private Enterprises - CNIPMMR - Romania Nezih Kuleyin Turkish Foundation for small and medium business - TOSYOV – Turkey 1 INDEX EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................6 PART I GENESIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF CSR ........................................................................................................8 1.1 GENERAL FRAMEWORK ON CSR ......................................................................................................................9 1.1.1 CSR definition, benefits, risks and strategic elements ..........................................................................9 1.1.2 The CSR topics in the globalised economy .........................................................................................11 1.2. MAIN POINTS OF REFERENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA ...................................................................12 1.2.1. The United Nation Global Compact ..................................................................................................12 1.2.2. The International Labor Organization declaration ...........................................................................13 1.2.3. The OECD principles.........................................................................................................................13 1.3 EUROPEAN UNION’S MOST IMPORTANT INITIATIVES.........................................................................................15 1.3.1 The Green Paper on CSR....................................................................................................................15 1.3.2 The European Commission Communications .....................................................................................16 PART II THE NATIONAL SCENARIES ON CSR ISSUES............................................................................................19 ITALY ...............................................................................................................................................................19 2.1. A NATIONAL OVERVIEW ON CSR ISSUES ........................................................................................................19 2.1.1 The I-CSR Foundation ........................................................................................................................20 2.1.2. The experience of the local entities: Umbria and Tuscany................................................................20 2.1.3 The case of Italian Chambers of commerce and the observatory of CSR..........................................21 2.2. THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION ON EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR SECURITY ..........................................................22 2.2.1 The basis of the Italian Legislation.....................................................................................................22 2.2.2 The historical process .........................................................................................................................22 2.2.3 Today’s panorama ...............................................................................................................................23 2.2.4 A glance at the labour market.............................................................................................................24 2.3. THE ASSOCIATION MEASURES FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CSR MEANINGS .........................................26 2.3.1 The experience of Confapi ..................................................................................................................26 2.4. SMES’ KNOWLEDGE AND APPLICATION OF THE CSR ISSUES ..........................................................................27 2.4.1 Case studies ........................................................................................................................................28 ANNEX I ................................................................................................................................................................39 ANNEX II...............................................................................................................................................................41 TURKEY ..........................................................................................................................................................43
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