Csr And Sustainability

One of the most fundamental questions that are made about the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – and in a broader sense about Sustainable Development (SD) – is whether these concepts can help to boost competitiveness in organizations. This question is of utmost importance if you want to promote the development of CSR actions in enterprises since it would provide a very powerful reason for its implementation. There is no single answer to this question. There is a growing body of evidence showing that businesses which tended to apply SD have competitive advantages in various aspects with respect to companies that are not involved in the issue. However this result cannot be generalized to, or are easily adoptable by all organizations since there are many factors, both internal and external, that affect the competitiveness of a company, sector, region or country. To properly analyze the phenomenon of competitiveness arising from sustainable development, we must investigate various factors that are interdependent, which makes the performance in certain areas of a country or region directly influence firms embedded in it. This paper analyzes which are the key elements of CSR influencing competitiveness at both macro (country, region) as micro level (company, organization). Competitiveness factors are explained in a theoretical model that we called Sustainable Competitiveness Pyramid. The first Part of the Sustainable Competitiveness Pyramid is given by the macro-level capabilities of national governments. It consists of a competitive base that conforms to the government's ability to create appropriate macroeconomic environment to attract investment. The second stratum of Sustainable Competitiveness Pyramid consists of generating government institutions with a greater image of transparency so as to ensure legal certainty and effectiveness. The third level of the pyramid formed by the competitive Apex emphasizes technology, information and communications infrastructure. The other part of the Sustainable Competitiveness Pyramid is related to the usufruct by the companies of the conditions set by governments for a better development of productive activities. Sustainable competitiveness of organizations is determined by its ability to properly leverage the competitive windows generated by the CSR actions and involve in Sustainable Development.