The Influence of the Selected Factors of the Ecological Aspect of CSR on Competitive Advantage of the Enterprises Operating in the Area of the Silesian Voivodeship

Changes taking place in the environment of modern enterprises affect the evolution of the main success factors on the market. Nowadays, one of more important issues which concern building permanent competitive advantage is the application of more and more sophisticated strategies and methods of management. Technological progress and also the globalization processes, product development, fast innovation flow are only some of the factors influencing the competitiveness of enterprises. Apart from the necessity of competing in the area of prices, technical and organizational fields, there is a need to present an enterprise as a credible, reliable and honest business partner. With regard to such expectations the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility came into being. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the philosophy of running a business activity which involves creating permanent clear relationships with all interested parts. CSR is a new direction of changes used in management which affects creating useful conditions for economic, social and ecological development. There are three domains of an enterprise activity in the field of interest of CSR and they refer to: the economic aspect referring not only to generating maximum profit but also creating innovations or increasing competitiveness of an enterprise, the ecological aspect, referring to the protection of the natural environment against the activity of an enterprise, the social aspect, on the one hand, referring to employees as the most important resource of an enterprise, and on the other, to the society in which an enterprise functions