Development of a Corporate Social Responsibility (csr) Concept for Croatia

As a country in the process of stabilisation and accession to the European Union, Croatia is under strong pressure to bring itself into line with EU policies. One policy concept, which is rapidly growing in importance in European markets, is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). At the same time, Croatian enterprises, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are under pressure to show customers and potential clients within the EU and elsewhere in the OECD countries, that they are practicing CSR. In order to respond to these twin needs to promote the concept of CSR in Croatia, the former UNIDO Director-General Carlos Magariños and Croatia's Minister for Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, Branko Vukelic, signed an agreement on the Development of Corporate Social Responsibility in April 2004. Since 1992 UNIDO has undertaken more than 20 projects in Croatia, mainly in the field of environment protection. This new project that emerged aimed at presenting evidence of the positive impact that CSR has on SMEs and the society, promoting the exchange of good management practices and of experiences on CSR, building capacities in CSR and disseminating a practical methodology with supporting tools that SMEs in Croatia can use to implement CSR concepts in a cost effective manner.