University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Outcome and Conclusions
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BLISS was implemented in our partner company, but proved to be too complex to be
fully implemented by the enterprise without the support of an external expert panel.
Yet, the enterprise managed to make the management and staff aware of social
responsibility. Not least due to the social involvement of the owner family the
enterprise still effectuates socially responsible projects. The BLISS concept and
indicators were extended to several enterprises and integrated into a successional
project called “Social Profit” by two of the BLISS partners.
Due to concerns of official Austrian business representatives the Austrian CSR
Quality Seal has not yet been put into practice. They fear that a quality seal could
lead to a distortion of competition in favor of enterprises bearing the Seal due to their
socially responsible behavior. The demand for such a visibility seal from the
enterprises themselves, however, is so overwhelming that sooner or later this seal or
something of the kind will certainly be introduced. Consumer Interest Boards also
claim an official, registered seal. At any rate, the pilot audit met with great
enthusiasm in a medium-sized Austrian food manufacturer who had been practicing
active CSR for quite a long time.
Implementing CSR in an enterprise in a credible way goes along with involvement in
all relevant areas of commitment. It requires an enabler approach that
• clearly defines the purposes and goals that have to be striven for,
• fosters commitment of management AND employees right from the
beginning,
• helps to implement CSR within the enterprise in a fast, uncomplicated and
efficient way,
• builds on CSR activities which have already been accomplished (maybe
without having been realized so far),
• communicates precise ideas of the utilities of the CSR activities.
If a CSR approach has already been well-established in the enterprise and tied to the
strategy system, the enterprise must make its involvement and its responsibility
performance visible to the public. For this purpose, it can use visibility signals that
• allow for effectively communicating CSR activities externally,
• provide access to all the benefits implementation of CSR can offer,
• due to their certification features guarantee reliability to the customers,
• are able to generate a comparative advantage for the enterprise.