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Business Leaders Forum , 2013

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the


Czech Republic: Current situation and trends

The state of CSR

The concept of CSR in the Czech Republic has evolved significantly during the last few
years. An increasing number of companies is engaging in responsible activities, the public
awareness of CSR is rising, and customers are giving higher importance to CSR of companies
in their choice. Despite the situation has been changing, CSR still remains as unknown or not
well understood term for large portion of both the public and business sector. The real CSR
that is derived from the company’s values and stems from its vision and mission is
misinterpreted by many who consider the CSR to be donations to charity solely. Apart from
the problem with misinterpretation, there exist many companies for whom the CSR is only a
tool of marketing and public relations, and they do not engage in the real responsible way of
doing business. In order to improve the situation it is needed to bring the CSR closer to public
so that they put a higher pressure on companies to adopt CSR policies.1

Government
The Czech government support of CSR is represented by the Strategy of National Quality
Policy for 2011-2015, which is the basic document, approved by the Ministry of Industry and
Trade, supporting the development, implementation and specification of policy to promote
quality of life and competitiveness of the Czech Republic.

Renewed EU Strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility is being currently


prepared to implement and for that the National Action Plan for CSR is being created. The
Plan is being designed together by representatives of government, academia, European
Parliament, and associations of socially responsible companies, and will recommend areas of
CSR that the Czech Republic should focus on.

Business sector
The domain of CSR in the Czech Republic was traditionally reserved for multinational
companies that have had CSR embedded in values of the foreign corporations. Nowadays the
1
Srpová, J., Kunz, V., Mísař, J., 2012, Applying The Principles of CSR in Enterprises in The Czech Republic,
Ekonomika a Management Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 1-14
number of Czech companies interested in the responsible way of doing business is growing
and companies realize that CSR is something they should engage in.

According to CSR Research 2012 conducted by Ipsos2, for 75% of customers it is important
that the company is responsible. The same is true for 86% of employees who appreciate the
corporate social responsibility of their employer3. In the years 20104 and 20115 we could have
observed an increasing interest of public in CSR. Nevertheless, according to Ipsos, the
percentage of people considered to be actively engaged or interested in CSR has dropped in
the year 2012 by 6 percent to 54% of the population. According to Ipsos, people start to give
more importance to areas of CSR that directly affect them: such as whether the information
about the products companies sell is true, or how do companies treat their employees. On the
contrary, the interest of public in broader topics of social responsibility lose on attractiveness.
(celospolečenská témata se přesouvají do ústranní)

Non-governmental organisations
The leading organisations that support companies in their CSR activities, promote the
sustainable ways of doing business and engage in cultivation of the society are:

 Business Leaders Forum


 Forum of Donors
 Czech Society for Quality

Media
Some of the traditional media start presenting CSR topics, but the amount is till minimal and
interest of media in this topic is still very low in general. The exception is the magazine CSR
Forum published by agency Publicon which focuses on topics from CSR. This agency also
organizes an annual CSR summit, where the most recent issues in the field of CSR are
discussed. In the Czech Republic also exist a few competing CSR Awards: Czech National
Award for CSR, Top Responsible Company of the Year, and other. There also exist surveys
in the field of CSR – CSR Research is a survey conducted yearly plus other studies are prepared
mainly by NGOs.

2
Ipsos, 2013, CSR Research 2012, available at: http://www.ipsos.cz/tiskove-zpravy/lid-nejsou-lhostejn-k-ot-zk-
m-csr-ani-v-dne-n-nelehk-dob [accessed on 14/06/2013]
3
Ipsos, 2013, CSR Research 2012, available at: http://www.ipsos.cz/tiskove-zpravy/lid-nejsou-lhostejn-k-ot-zk-
m-csr-ani-v-dne-n-nelehk-dob [accessed on 14/06/2013]
4
Ipsos, 2011, CSR Research 2010, available at: http://www.tambor.cz/tiskove-zpravy/populace-i-odborna-
verejnost-v-cr-si-velmi-vazi-spolecenske-odpovednosti-firem, [accessed on 14/06/2013]
5
Ipsos, 2012, CSR Research 2011, available at: http://www.ipsos.cz/tiskove-zpravy/lidem-v-cr-jsou-temata-
spolecenske-odpovednosti-stale-blizsi, [accessed on 14/06/2013]
Research and education in CSR
The number of such researches that focus on the topic of CSR has been increasing and there
exists an award for the best thesis in CSR, despite the fact that the courses on CSR are not
taught widely among Czech universities. Nevertheless, the number of conferences and
specialised seminars has increased recently.6 One example is Business Leaders Forum that
organizes specialised lectures for students, where the front people of the Czech business
environment and academia present and discuss with students on various topics.

Engagement of businesses in CSR

According to a study conducted by Business Leaders Forum in 20127 the concept of corporate
social responsibility was known to 43.1% of surveyed companies. The least aware of the
concept were small (30.2%) and medium-sized enterprises (36.0%), while the most aware
were the largest firms (64.0%).

The interpretation of CSR differs between companies. The following list shows meanings that
companies attribute to CSR as the most important8: (Za hlavní projevy společenské
odpovědnosti své firmy považují zejména to, že se snaží:)

 be ethical and transparent (35 %),


 be a good employer (22 %),
 donate and help local communities (13 %),
 be responsible to the environment (12 %),
 offer quality products and services (10 %),
 maximise profits (8 %).

The key drivers behind the companies’ decisions to adopt CSR identified were:

 ethical and moral aspects (56.1%)


 keep up with competitors and market requirements (34.6%)
 effort to increase economic results (29.4%)
 effort to attract and retain the best employees (29.4%)
 effort to increase the loyalty of customers (25.5%)
 effort to gain a competitive advantage (24.8%)

6
Srpová, J., Kunz, V., Mísař, J., 2012, Applying The Principles of CSR in Enterprises in The Czech Republic,
Ekonomika a Management Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 1-14
7
Fialová, J., 2012, Corporate Social Responsibility of companies operating in the Czech environement in 2012,
available at: http://www.csr-online.cz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/CSR_Pruzkum_2012_Vysledky.pdf,
[accessed on 14/06/2013]
8
Srpová, J., Kunz, V., Mísař, J., 2012, Applying The Principles of CSR in Enterprises in The Czech Republic,
Ekonomika a Management Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 1-14
The most significant barriers companies consider to be impeding is the implementation of
CSR activities with an insufficient government support, an unfavourable legal and tax
environment, undue bureaucracy and also low economic benefits of the activities.9 Also a
global financial crisis has limited the amount of CSR activities in 36% of companies.10

National trends in CSR


The most significant trend is the change in understanding of the concept of CSR. Companies start
to view CSR from the strategic point of view and incorporate the responsible way of doing
business in their daily business activities. Also, many companies realize that the responsible
approach is the way how they can achieve sustainability of their business.11 Another trend is that
companies increase the transparency of their business and incorporate information about their
responsible approach into their annual reports, or prepare special reports focused on CSR.

Standards used
Companies in the Czech Republic use the following international norms and standards as
references for their CSR activities:

 OHSAS 18001 – (System of management of occupational health & safety)


 EMAS – (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme)
 ISO 14001 – (System of Environmental Management)
 SA 8000 – (Social Responsibility)
 ISO 26000 – (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Reporting of CSR

Transparency in doing business is one of the current trends in CSR in the Czech Republic.
Companies start to include information about their CSR activities on their web sites, in their
annual reports, or in specialized reports on CSR they create. The number of companies that
create a specialized report is still very limited. In fact, many branches of multinationals send
data to their mother companies that prepare a report for the whole region where they operate.
Up until now, not many companies have used standardized reporting frameworks to create
their own local reports. Only a few companies use the Communication on Progress as part of
their participation in the Global Compact, or use the AA1000 Standards, and there has been
only a one company that uses the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report. Currently,

9
Fialová, J., 2012, Corporate Social Responsibility of companies operating in the Czech environement in 2012,
available at: http://www.csr-online.cz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/CSR_Pruzkum_2012_Vysledky.pdf,
[accessed on 14/06/2013]
10
Srpová, J., Kunz, V., Mísař, J., 2012, Applying The Principles of CSR in Enterprises in The Czech Republic,
Ekonomika a Management Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 1-14
11
Srpová, J., Kunz, V., Mísař, J., 2012, Applying The Principles of CSR in Enterprises in The Czech Republic,
Ekonomika a Management Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 1-14
companies start to realise the benefits of creation of a local GRI report and there is a potential
that this new trend of reporting will extend in the near future.

In the Czech Republic the support for GRI is provided by PricewtaerhouseCoopers Czech
Republic, which is the Certified Training Partner of GRI, and by Business Leaders Forum that
provides information about GRI, offers guidance and support in writing the GRI report and
offers the companies to conduct a stakeholders’ dialogue. In May 2013 Business Leaders
Forum organized a pilot information session for companies interested in GRI and a new
project of GRI reporting presentation and support is planned to be launched in autumn 2013.

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