Corporate social responsibility : from top to bottom. The case of Lithuania

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became a common business practice for western companies many years ago. It is allowed for companies to implement this business strategy and accumulate experience. But even in the western business environment social issues of business varied over the time. In the modern world the majority of business decisions involve different social issues. Still corporate social responsibility definition, as well as practice, is considered controversial. Lithuania has started to implement market economy principles in 1990 after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. A lot of significant changes in all areas of society were done during quite a short period of time. CSR is a relatively new phenomenon in Lithuania, thus there is still lack of understanding about what it actually is. Still the CSR demand in countries such as Lithuania is bigger than in the countries with a set economic system, because fast privatization increased the gap between the rich and the poor, stimulated the outbreak of corruption and evoked a number of social problems, the solution of which the state cannot finance adequately. The economic crisis of recent years has made these problems even more prominent. It should also be signified that in developed European countries the main factors stimulating socially responsible attitude are consumers and public pressure. The undertakers of this kind of initiatives in Lithuania are the government and nongovernmental organizations. The encouragement of CSR initiatives from “the top” is a feature of this process. In such a situation it is important to analyze SCR practice, to understand how Lithuanian companies implement the main principle of SCR in every day business activities and how these initiatives support the solution of social problems and participate in “common goods” creation and delivering.