Corporate Social Responsibility In Italy: State of The Art

Abstract

The Italian Corporate Panorama is permeated by various corporate socialresponsibilities initiatives, both at private and public level, that derive from differentapproaches and tools. The general framework for corporate social responsibility(CSR) behavior and strategies consists of the Green Paper presented bythe European Commission in July 2001. Within this framework, the paper aims atanalyzing three main issues: spontaneous experiences from companies and otherplayers; the innovative project called Corporate Social Responsibility - SocialCommitment, developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which aimsat promoting the involvement of Italian enterprises in CSR activities, with particularregard to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises; and lastly the main and mostinteresting outcomes of a survey that is the starting point of an ongoing process ofinvestigation regarding CSR attitudes in Italy.