engleski

Development or Stagnation: An Overview of latest CSR Trends in Croatian Business

the paper gives an overview of the latest trends in corporate social responsibility (here- after csr) in the croatian business context. the analysis is done based on the research conducted by croatian employers Association in the summer of 2013 on the subject of csr implementation in croatian companies and the results of the 2012csr index. these analyses show a decrease in the interest and activities related to the implementation of the csr. furthermore, the decrease in interest for responsible business practices can be specifically recorded in the last three years. this paper argues that there is still a lack in understanding csr principles which usually results in declarative implementation of csr without a strategic, integrated business approach. on the other hand, results of csr index 2012 tell us that although the recession took its toll in business results, companies that have participated in the csr index succeed in keeping better results compared to their peers. despite the obvious proof of the benefits of csr, croatian companies still do not use csr as a tool for better corporate governance or risk management, but rather exclusively as a public relations tool. in addition, times of crisis led to budget cuts, which resulted in csr budget downsizing as well. in this paper we will shed light on the causes of such low level of integrated csr implementation in croatia and suggests measures that would speed up the implementation process, as well as the level of awareness about the process and its importance. We will also suggest possible initiatives and changes in policies that would support stronger implementation of strategic csr and raise the sup- port for csr from public and civil sector organizations as well as general public.

Corporate Social Responsibility ; CSR ; CSR Index ; Index Development

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