Companies assume social responsibility because this enables them to benefit economically and to ensure sustainable development. These are points on which the almost 350 students from Germany and Poland agreed. These were questioned by the RKW Kompetenzzentrum in the summer of 2006 on the topic of »Corporate Social Responsibility« (CSR). The study aimed at sounding the shared attitudes and differences of the value scales of the German and Polish new generation of managers with regard to issues such as CSR and environment.
Students of the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt and of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) were therefore asked to fill in a questionnaire as if they already worked in an executive position in a company.
Those questioned agreed e.g. on the requirement that CSR should be anchored in the corporate culture and management strategy as well as play an important role in investment decisions and internal and external communication. The Polish students, to a much higher extent than their German counterparts, assessed the impact of external conditions influencing the indroduction of CSR measures. For example they consider public pressure on companies or a reaction in response to public shortcomings to be important aspects.
Furthermore, the Polish as well as the German students agreed that in-house CSR measures aiming at promoting employees, the compatibility of family and career as well as safety at work and health protection are more important in the home country of companies than at its foreign offices. This point was particularly stressed by the German students. On the other hand, preservation of resources and equal opportunities are considered to be important both at home and at foreign offices of a company.
Detailed information and talks on the survey can be downloaded free of charge as an e-brochure. 