Monographie Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF COMPANIES – THE CSR COMPETENCE CENTRE
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Meanwhile, Corporate Social Responsibility (abbreviated
form: CSR), which refers to the social responsibility of
companies, plays an important role not only in large
companies but increasingly also in small and mediumsized
companies. To support them with their commendable
dedication and so as to win additional actors, one of
five country-wide CSR competence centres has been
established in Bonn.
Freedom and performance alone do not yet make for a
good economic system. The merchants in the Middle Ages
already knew this. To steel themselves against suspicion and
threats, they used a code of honour to distance themselves
from fraudsters. By means of this, the “Mission Statement of
the Honourable Businessman” was born. It stands for a
pronounced awareness of the responsibility for the own
company, society and the environment. Probably the bestknown
“honourable merchant” of universal literature was
created by Thomas Mann: Johann Buddenbrook. He wrote
in the family register of the successor of his company: “My
son passionately conducts business by day but only the kind
of business that ensures we can sleep peacefully by night!”
To this very day, this maxim has not lost any of its topicality.
For numerous medium-sized companies in the Bonn/Rhein-
Sieg region there is absolutely no doubt that they must treat
their employees and business partners in accordance with
social principles, and become involved in society. What is
more, many of them have always aligned their economic
actions to satisfy sustainable and ecological principles.
The modern name for this conduct: “Corporate Social
Responsibility” (CSR). Meanwhile, CSR is a part of the corporate
philosophy in plenty of small, medium-sized and large
companies; a mission statement that is underpinned by
both employees and managers. The individual attitude
constitutes the strategic alignment for the respective company.
How does it actually work – CSR?
Many and here especially smaller companies sometimes
have a hard time implementing CSR in their own company.
How, quite concretely, does a company actual assume social
responsibility? Is the annual transfer of money to the local
sport club already CSR? And how does a company link
entrepreneurial activities in different areas of activity with
the company strategy and company objectives?
Because CSR is so much more than the sponsoring of neighbouring
clubs and associations, and it is in particular smaller
companies in the region that are in need of support, the