Corporate social responsibility is a multidimensional concept
with shifting definitions.
Despite its ambiguity, CSR is intrinsically connected wit
h human rights, providing a
channel
for
enterprises to manage their societal influence and promote
the respect
for basic human rights.
In the globalized
business
market
of today, companies are
progressively gaining power, which inevitably generates
an
analogous responsibility.
The International and European community have
,
for
some time
now
,
recognized the
societal
impact of
enterprises in their spheres of influence
and, thus
,
attributed to
them equivalent responsibilities by forming a soft law framework of CSR initiatives,
guidelines and principles.
Greece has only recently become engaged in the development of CSR
and is gradually
showing a certain level of commitment towards the realization of a CSR policy
framework
.
However, the Greek CSR is still in
its infancy
and the relevant
engagement
of domestic enterprises
is significantly low, partially due to a variety of obstacles that
the internal Greek environment entails.
The results of
the
empirical research
,
conducted for the purposes of this study
,
show
that Greek companies
are actively
participating in the promotion of human rights through materialistic contributions
to
not only the wider Greek community, but also to refugees.
Nonetheless, the overall
CSR awareness of
the Greek business sector is low and the
CSR
engagement of
its
predominant part is minor. Future research should focus on
the issue of human rights
promotion and propose
ways
of enhancing
the
relevant
level of awareness and
engagement of
the Greek business community.
This dissertation was written as part of the
Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Transnational
and European Commercial Law, Mediation, Arbitration and Energy Law at the
International Hellenic University.
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