Corporate social responsibility in food manufacturing companies - Environmental dimensions

Abstract

The degree of a company's acceptance and integration of the CSR concept is directly reflected in the fundamental principles of the company. Through the environmental sustainability, a company can make a positive contribution to the society and the natural environment. Competitive and cost pressures are the key drivers of sustainable development in the industry. Today, many international food and drink companies are delivering excellent achievements. The present paper tries to highlight how much are food manufacturing companies committed to caring for the environment as a main component of their CSR strategy. In order to fulfill the defined objectives of the paper, the primary and secondary sources of information were collected and used, as well as there was used the method of interview, using a questionnaire (total number of respondents was 100 food manufacturing companies). In our research the highest percentage of large, SMC and micro companies indicated the reduction of negative operational impacts as the most important commitment of companies in relation to environment. Most large companies invest to installing pollution reducing technology to improve environmental quality (67%) and utilizing more environmentally friendly raw materials (51%). These areas indicated the highest percentage as well as for SMC. In the case of large companies there are more visible movements in environmental practices than in micro and small-medium companies.