Cross-Country Study of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development in Various Industries

AbstractThere is a wide spectrum of industries and company-level features that influence the application of Corporate Social Responsibility to improve the business’s sustainability. This study aims to examine the understanding of the Corporate Social Responsibility concept and the impact of its implementation on sustainability in companies. Therefore, the research proposed and tested two scenarios where five industries sectors were ranked according to the importance (scenario 1) and implementation (scenario 2) of Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The integrated Entropy-TOSIS method to obtain results was employed. The research data were obtained from interviewing employees from Serbia, Russia, and Bulgaria working in various industries. The findings of this study revealed certain differences in perception and implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility depending on the country where the concept is applied as well as among the industries with their specific needs for sustainable development goals achieving. This research can be useful for engineering managers as a roadmap for reaching sustainable business while fulfilling economic, social, and environmental norms as well as stakeholder expectations.Keywords: Corporate Social ResponsibilitySustainabilityIndustriesCross-Country StudyEMJ Focus Areas: New Product DevelopmentOrganization Development & ChangeOrganization & Work System DesignOrganizational & Performance Assessment AcknowledgmentsThe research presented in this paper was done with the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, within the funding of the scientific research work at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, according to the contract with registration number 451-03-47/2023-01/200131. Sandra Vasković, English Language Teacher, is responsible for the English language in the paper.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.Notes on contributorsAnđelka StojanovićAnđelka Stojanović PhD, is working at the Engineering Management Department, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, as assistant professor. Area of scientific knowledge: production management, decision- making theory, corporate social responsibility and application of statistical methods. She is author and co-author of many papers in international and national journals and conferences.Isidora MiloševićIsidora Milošević PhD, is working at the Engineering Management Department, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, as full professor. Area of scientific knowledge: strategic management, management of new technologies and innovation, Industry 4.0 and application of statistical methods. She is author and co-author of many papers in international and national journals and conferences.Sanela ArsićSanela Arsić PhD, is working at the Engineering Management Department, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, as associate professor. Area of scientific knowledge: operational Research, operational management, corporate social responsibility and quantitative methods. She is author and co-author of many papers in international and national journals and conferences.Ivan MihajlovićIvan Mihajlović PhD, full professor at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Area of scientific knowledge: production management, supply chain management logistics, modeling and optimization in industrial engineering and application of statistical methods. He is author and co-author of many papers in international and national journals and conferences.