The impact of corporate social responsibility on business competitiveness

Abstract

Research background: The social and environmental problems of the current globalised world are primarily targeted on the South and Southeast Asian business environment. However, according to the idea “think global, act local”, practices of Czech local business also contribute to the global environment. Purpose of the article: The Czech Republic is classified as a small open economy in the final stage of a transformation into a market economy, and on the top of that, it is also a member of the European Union. Thus, the Czech Republic is very dependent on the global market. Firstly, this paper is focused on analysing the Czech businesses’ attitude to competitiveness with special emphasis on corporate social responsibility. Secondly, there is predicated the future approach of the Czech managers to CSR. Methods: Primary research is based on individual structured interviews with Czech managers on the top and middle level (n=15). The interviews were conducted from February to May 2020 via a combination of face to face and distance communication. Findings & Value added: The results indicate that the Czech business mostly does not perceive CSR as a key factor of corporate competitiveness. However, the significant part of the interviewees considers CSR as moderately important and what is more, they predicate the upward trend of this factor. In addition, corporate social responsibility is often associated with other factors of competitiveness – more precisely to customer loyalty and innovation capability. Moreover, all the corporations stated that they apply at least some of the CSR principles in their ordinary course of business.

The Decision-Making Process of People With Disabilities Employment in the Context of Occupational Safety and Sustainable Development

“…At the same time, due to the lack of statistically reliable information on sick-leave certificate payments for employees with disabilities, they were taken in 1.5-3 times more than accidental payments for employees without disabilities, depending on working conditions. The implementation of corporate social responsibility practices in the development of business processes shows that positive changes, both long-term and shortterm, are observed in most cases, but it is difficult to evaluate them numerically [16][17][18][19]. In this regard, the assessment of the role of corporate social responsibility was determined based on the data that consumers of products who are aware of the company's desire to carry on their business in accordance with social responsibility choose this particular product or service, which is estimated by an increase in sales revenue by 2.8 % [19].…”

Perception of CSR by Czech consumers

“…A study by Kožená and Mlázovský (2021) found that most Czech companies do not consider CSR as a critical factor for their competitiveness. The results of our study show that Czech consumers make distinctions in their purchasing decisions, albeit more implicitly, which may be necessary for determining CSR strategies.…”