Corporate Social Responsibility In Russia

Uppsala University Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Government Research paper in political science 10 points/ 15 ECTS credits Spring semester 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility in Russia A five case study Hanna Söderbaum Supervisor: Li Bennich-Björkman Table of contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2. Purpose .................................................................................................................. 3 1.2.1. Plan................................................................................................................. 4 1.3. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 4 2. What is CSR? ........................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Codes of Corporate Conduct ................................................................................. 8 2.2. Welford’s frame of reference ................................................................................ 9 3. Survey..................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. LUKOIL .............................................................................................................. 13 3.2. ALFA-BANK...................................................................................................... 21 3.3. VNESHTORGBANK ......................................................................................... 24 3.4. SUAL GROUP.................................................................................................... 25 3.5. SEVERSTAL GROUP........................................................................................ 29 4. Analysis.................................................................................................................. 32 4.1. CSR in Contemporary Russia ............................................................................. 37 5. References .............................................................................................................. 40 1 1. Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is undoubtedly a disputed concept. At the micro-level, there are diverging perspectives as to what CSR really is, what it should be and what its driving forces are. At the macro-level, forms of CSR vary between different institutional and political cultures. For example, the concept is understood and applied in different ways in Western Europe1 and in the US. The relatively low level of legal obligations for companies in the US has demanded a more urgent development of CSR. However, this particular political institutional climate has also led to the conceptualisation of CSR as a philanthropic responsibility. In Western Europe, on the other hand, high levels of taxation are connected with the idea that the government is the prime provider of cultural services, education and health care among other things, which is why there is less cause for businesses to engage in philanthropic action.2 This essay is a study of the image of CSR in contemporary Russia. The introduction of a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union theoretically entailed an abrupt change in produc