Taking corporate social responsibility seriously
Introduction
You have in your hands a handbook on corporate social responsibility, which is intended primarily for all active citizens in non-governmental organizations and trade unions in the new member countries of the European Union, intended for citizens that are not indifferent and do not just stand by while corporations push through their private interests to the detriment of public interests – that means to the detriment of all – and who want to stop this selfishness and hypocrisy.
The public in new EU member countries is not all that aware of what social responsibility really is and what to expect from corporations and what to demand from them. That is why we have prepared this handbook. It is divided into two basic parts. The first contains a description of voluntary social responsibility and a summary of useful tools to implement it. The second part presents many practical recommendations regarding strategic steps that can be taken to rectify the irresponsible behaviour of corporations.
Social responsibility founded on the voluntary fulfilment of above-standard obligations in the field of sustainability is primarily promoted by corporations (primary multinational) that in essence state: “We do not need any coercive measures in order to behave responsibly towards society, we do this voluntarily”. However, there exists much evidence that corporations often do not voluntarily fulfil their obligations. Their private interests come first and they continue in the destruction of our Planet in an unchanged degree along with diminishing the protection of human rights. That is why this kind of “responsibility” can be dangerous, because it lulls the public into thinking that “things are being taken care of”. Fulfilling one’s obligations within the scope of voluntary social responsibility can be an effective means of resolving the growing environmental and social crisis; however, only under certain conditions. One of these is the public control of corporate behaviour. This handbook is precisely intended to help in this: to give you instructions in how to carry out this active control.
This entire handbook was created in a demanding time, a time when we were hard at work labouring on individual cases of corporate irresponsibility. Unfortunately, that resulted in it being hurried due to unmerciful project deadlines demanding that the entire text be completed. That is why we hope you will overlook certain imperfections and we hope that our handbook will help lead you to success.
Pavel Franc and Jiří Nezhyba
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