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Corporate Social Responsibility

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Introduction and the TRIGOS Rating
A recent study published by Ernst and Young (2011) stated that 80% of top companies in Austria do not report their performance in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility. Reports that are published are not well integrated in the annual financial statements and are often not verified by external auditors. However, more and more companies adopt standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and become more and more aware of the importance of these issues.
In identifying businesses that embrace a CSR concept, the TRIGOS award for companies with good CSR offers a well known and reliable source of information. Although Porter and Kramer (2006) criticize Ratings for having widely differing rankings and …show more content…

The reason for the unavailability of explicit statements might be the rather small size of the business or the fact that this is not required by law in Austria. Credibility for CSR activities is achieved by having products assessed by various agencies such as FAIRTRADE and the Swiss Institute for Market Ecology (IMO). (Whole Trading Company, 2012) In addition to these core principles, the company is also supporting local initiatives in supplying countries (detailed information can be found on the company‟s webpage, but will not be laid out in detail here). Finally, on the one hand, it seems that the company is performing well in doing business in a socially responsible way, but on the other hand, the business lacks an open disclosure of documents as well as more explicit statements about their activities. Moreover, there is a high degree of subjectivity applied within the company, since decisions about CSR activities are taken by the founder only. Applying the work of Porter and Kramer (2006), it can be said that the company achieves a competitive advantage through strategic CSR despite its shortcomings and areas for improvement in terms of disclosure and external evaluation.
Responsive Corporate Social Responsibility and the Case of OMV
Another Austrian company follows a more responsive approach to CSR. OMV, operating in

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