Roundtable on “Corporate responsibility: how to evaluate what business contributes to the development of society?"
07/11/2008
On November 6, 2008, Russian Managers Association, Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University and Publishing House «Kommersant-Ukraina» organized a roundtable entitled “Corporate responsibility: how to evaluate what business contributes to the development of society?", at Regency Hyatt, Kyiv. The primary purpose of it was to facilitate the exchange of experience in the area of corporate social responsibility at the time of crisis and discuss the main problems related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) that major Ukrainian, Russian and international corporations are facing. The event was part of the preparation for the first Eurasia CSR Summit to be held on January 27-28, 2008 in Kyiv.
Top-managers of Russian and Ukrainian companies responsible for corporate social responsibility matters, including Tatyana Sabitova, PR Director of Vasil Kisil & Partners Law Firm, representatives of international organizations and state regulatory authorities, consultants and industry experts met to establish efficient interaction in terms of corporate social responsibility between the state, business and community in view of current difficult circumstances.
According to Alexey Miroshnichenko, Vice-President of Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, the crisis is the moment of truth when socially responsible businesses have to strive to maintain production levels, respect employees' rights, and apply legal instruments to mitigate the employee's losses, to as much as possible. Mr. Miroshnichenko also emphasized the importance of social dialogue between government, employers and trade unions.
Alexander Bim, Adviser of General Director of SUEK, a major Russian coal energy company, Russia’s first ranking and world's seventh largest player by volume of power-generating coal production, shared the experience of generating social responsibility reports which eventually help companies establish principles of targeted social policy, boost efficiency of interaction with concerned parties and perform transition from social expenses to social investments. Mr. Bim noted that with the existing global crisis and absence of "spare money", CSR principles have to integrated into company’s strategy. Now, it is important to directly acknowledge problems and their causes, develop efficient crisis-proof programs and exercise well-balanced consideration for stakeholders interests in the anti-crisis development.
Top-managers of Russian and Ukrainian companies responsible for corporate social responsibility matters, including Tatyana Sabitova, PR Director of Vasil Kisil & Partners Law Firm, representatives of international organizations and state regulatory authorities, consultants and industry experts met to establish efficient interaction in terms of corporate social responsibility between the state, business and community in view of current difficult circumstances.
According to Alexey Miroshnichenko, Vice-President of Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, the crisis is the moment of truth when socially responsible businesses have to strive to maintain production levels, respect employees' rights, and apply legal instruments to mitigate the employee's losses, to as much as possible. Mr. Miroshnichenko also emphasized the importance of social dialogue between government, employers and trade unions.
Alexander Bim, Adviser of General Director of SUEK, a major Russian coal energy company, Russia’s first ranking and world's seventh largest player by volume of power-generating coal production, shared the experience of generating social responsibility reports which eventually help companies establish principles of targeted social policy, boost efficiency of interaction with concerned parties and perform transition from social expenses to social investments. Mr. Bim noted that with the existing global crisis and absence of "spare money", CSR principles have to integrated into company’s strategy. Now, it is important to directly acknowledge problems and their causes, develop efficient crisis-proof programs and exercise well-balanced consideration for stakeholders interests in the anti-crisis development.