Difference Between Wish And Need -- Evidence Of Building Csr Index In Croatia

Issues relating to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have taken a centre stage in modern societies. Strategic accent of CSR is strongly emphasized by the new EU Communication on CSR that was issued in October 2011 which puts forward a new understanding of CS. This understanding no longer refers to CSR as a voluntary action beyond compliance but highlights that every corporation causes impacts which it is then responsible for. Contemplation of the concept of corporate social responsibility as a derivative of certain conditions markets create, thus determining the nature of relations between various stakeholders, positions it in the context of major forces in today's economic and social changes. In order to assess voluntary practices of Croatian companies, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the Croatian Business Council for Sustainable Development started developing a benchmarking methodology, which was launched in 2008 in the form of the CSR index of Croatian public and private enterprises. The used methodology for index development was context based, although it was initiated in accordance with similar comparative methodologies such as BITC CR Index. Since 2008, the index was revised, improved and conducted on an every year basis through a voluntary questionnaire that covers six different fields. The principle goal of the project of CSR index was to accelerate development of CSR as a strategic integration tool among Croatian companies and foster a knowledge sharing process among its participants. In this paper we will describe how a project evolved from an idea to an ongoing important national project, and how all stakeholders involved in that process tried to build a benchmark of acceptable corporate behavior among all participants involved.