The trend of development of corporate social responsibility in new member states of European Union

Corporate social responsibility is a responsibility grounded on the voluntary action. Social responsibility as such is commonly associated with cohesive economic development, the increase of social welfare, the improvement of the quality of life and the creation of corporate competitive advantage. It is so because the question of social responsibility is normally approached through social, economic and environmental matters. The implementation of principles of corporate social responsibility in companies as well as the accessibility of the information on this matter work on voluntary basis as no legal requirements exists in many EU member states. In this case, only the information provided by corporations themselves on voluntary basis is available for further investigations. The United Nations Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative are the main networks for advancing the implementation of the principles involving corporate social responsibility. While these networks were established over a decade ago and continues to enjoy popularity among thousands of corporations from around the world, the participation of new member states of the European Union in these networks remains lukewarm and, in many cases, merely ceremonialEkonomikos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta