CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR GOALS ACHIEVEMENT AND SOME THEORETICAL INSIGHTS

Abstract

Achieving a sustainable development should be one of the top priorities for the whole society. However, achieving a sustainable development is a complex function of different economic, social, institutional, political and historical factors. By implementing the corporate social responsibility, companies contribute to a sustainable development of the entire social system. According to the fact that it is not entirely clear at the micro level what corporate social responsibility involves, and that most of the company-level social activities are voluntarily initiated, it is necessary the institutional bodies encourage socially desirable forms of corporate behavior and implement the legal framework to business obligations to elicit responsible business procedures. Though responsible corporate business is highly desirable, companies have to consider the fact that the corporate interests and corporate social responsibility will always be constrained by the profit-maximizing prerequisites and general economic circumstances.

Keywords

• corporate social responsibility
• sustainable development
• business procedures
• profit-maximizing orientation
• legal framework