Implementation of CSR Policies by Russian Oil Companies

The importance of natural resources and of the oil industry in particular in post-soviet Russia is beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, the nature of this industry poses a threat to the environment and the society. The objectives of this research were to examine the current state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation by oil companies in Russia and to evaluate the availability of voluntary CSR reporting by the same organizations. In the theoretical framework the paper introduces main concepts that describe the CSR and evaluates the existing research on the topic. Qualitative method was utilized by the author of this study, based on the interviews with the managers from two leading Russian oil extracting companies and on the content analysis of the annual reports voluntarily published by four petroleum corporations. The results of this Bachelor’s thesis reveal that still there is a room for improvement in terms of CSR of the Russian oil organizations. Certain recommendations concerning the applicability of social responsibility policies are made based on the findings of this research, considering the social, political and environmental factors of the Russian Federation