Autor: Anda Sebesi

1. 8 CSR
www.business-review.ro
Business Review | April 15 - 21, 2013
Transparency slowly
emerges on local CSR market
∫ ANDA SEBESI
Long-term programs with a significant
impact on communities and the envi-
ronmenthavereplacedtemporaryones
withshort-termresults.Educationinall
its forms, the environment and the so-
cial economy are some of the areas of
interest for many large companies in
Romania. But what do the figures say
about the investments made in this
field on the local market?
Companies have invested EUR 28.5
millions in CSR projects in Romania in
the past two years, of which over 50
percent was spent in 2011, according to
a study conducted by CSRmedia.ro
based on public statements, interviews,
CSR reports, press releases and other
communications from companies be-
tweenJanuary2011andDecember2012.
The research also found that the major-
ity of CSR investments in 2011 were
made by companies in the oil, telecom-
munications and banking industries.
Dragos Tuta, managing partner at
The CSR Agency, a management con-
sultancy company specialized in CSR
andsustainability,saysthatatpresentit
is mainly multinational companies op-
erating on the local market that follow
theprinciplesofsustainabilitywhende-
signing their CSR strategies. “They do it
either at the recommendation of the
group’srepresentativesorbecausethey
have a very determined and ambitious
CSR coordinator,” says Tuta. In his
opinion,theonlyemployeethatcande-
termine a company’s degree of “re-
sponsibility” to its stakeholders is the
general manager. “Without a deter-
mined and well trained CEO in the field
of sustainability, we can’t talk about an
involved management team, clear re-
sults and objectives for a CSR coordina-
tor or strategic priorities and efficient
projects. As a result, an involved CEO is
theminimumconditionforresponsibil-
ity in an organization,” adds the con-
sultant.
Social economy gains ground
Whileinothercountriessocialenter-
prisesplayasignificantroleintheecon-
omy, Romania is still far from being a
flag-bearer for the social economy. But
there is great potential for the future as
thelegalframeworkthatregulatesthese
concepts is becoming clearer. This po-
tential has started to be capitalized
upon by several companies that have
decidedtoinvestindedicatedCSRproj-
ects.Forexample,attheendofJanuary
PetrominpartnershipwithNESstFoun-
dation launched the Fabricat in Tara lui
Andrei competition, which aims to de-
velopsocialbusinessesinlocalcommu-
nities in Romania. In March, a jury
selected 20 finalists from 512 applicants,
with the companies who got the nod
drawn from agriculture, the textile in-
dustry, education, wood-processing,
vulneraryherbs,food,constructionma-
terials, manufacturing and furniture.
The 20 finalists will be provided with
consultancytohelptransformtheiridea
into a business plan and will receive
EUR 1,500 to conduct local research in
their communities. By the end of this
year, the 10 program winners will re-
ceive a total grant of EUR 350,000 to
start their social businesses with help
from Fabricat in Tara lui Andrei experts
in fields such as financial management,
legal,marketinganddistribution.“Fab-
ricat in Tara lui Andrei has two major
objectives:tocreatejobsandameliorate
some social problems facing Romanian
communities,” says Mona Nicolici,
manager of community relations at
Petrom. “We designed this project as a
complex competition that, first, edu-
cates participants in the spirit of social
entrepreneurship and, second, offers
them financing to start a sustainable
business. I think that social businesses
canintimebecomearecipetosolvethe
problems of Romanian society.”
Elsewhere, UniCredit Tiriac Bank
hasalsodecidedtosupportsocialecon-
omy projects. Last year the lender,
along with NESsT Foundation, gave fi-
nancial support to four projects se-
lected through the Your Choice, Your
Project competition. It provided exist-
The Romanian corporate social responsibility (CSR) scene has changed steadily over the past few years, making
significant strides toward maturity. Companies have started to take a more strategic approach to CSR projects,
with social economy programs and other long-term schemes coming to the fore.
Green planet: the environment has become a staple of local firms’ CSR efforts

2. CSR 9
www.business-review.ro
Business Review | April 15 - 21, 2013
ing social enterprises that proved their
worth with financial support for ex-
tending or consolidating their activity.
The winners received EUR 7,500 each
while UniCredit’s employees voted for
one of them to receive an additional
award of EUR 2,000. “During this diffi-
cult time, social entrepreneurship is an
efficient solution through which we
can intervene in areas that need sup-
port, involving the targeted beneficiar-
iesdirectly,”saysAncaNuta,directorof
identity and communication at Uni-
CreditTiriacBank.“Itisanexcellentex-
ample of using business tools to
generate social effects and contribute
to the development of the community
we are part of. Although social enter-
prises are new in Romania, UniCredit
Foundation has been developing proj-
ects since 2007.”
Companies and NGOs join
hands
Currently,manycompaniesonthelocal
market are working in partnership with
NGOstodevelopenvironmental,health,
educational and cultural projects for
local communities. Meanwhile, local
communities, through NGOs, have
adopted new forms of fundraising to
support local development. This is be-
cause the Romanian state has been un-
able to finance NGOs’ projects, while
the number of social problems has in-
creased significantly. “A partnership
between a company and an NGO is the
result of a natural step in the develop-
ment of the community and CSR proj-
ects initiated by companies. Through
such partnerships, NGOs help commu-
nities that cannot support themselves,
while companies develop sustainable
CSR projects through ongoing and
long-term sponsorship programs,” say
representatives of Vodafone Romania.
Over time, the company has worked
with many NGOs, supporting emer-
gency services such as Salvamont
(since 2004), SMURD (since 2005) and
Salvamar (since 2007). The Vodafone
Foundation has also supported various
NGOs in fields including health, educa-
tion and the prevention of family aban-
donment since it was set up, back in
1998.
Volunteering is the key to
success
Companies across a range of industries
have started to engage their employees
in various stages of their CSR projects,
with Raiffeisen Bank and BRD-Groupe
Societe Generale two such examples
from the banking industry. “The proj-
ectswesupportwouldnothavebeenas
successful without Raiffeisen Bank’s
volunteers.Ourcolleagues’supportand
involvement in our projects and their
expertise in different fields of activity
havehelpedustoincreasetheimpactof
our contribution to the community,”
say representatives of the lender,
adding that the number of employees
involved in volunteering has increased
from one year to the next. “Over 200
RaiffeisenBankemployeesparticipated
involunteeringactivityandspentanav-
erage of one working day on commu-
nityprogramsin2012–threetimesmore
than the previous year.” United Way
and financial education programs are
the most popular among the lender’s
staff.
Involving your employees in your
CSR programs has an even greater im-
pact. According to Raiffeisen Bank data,
volunteering has helped employees to
improve their personal, management
and work efficiency and had a signifi-
cant individual impact. For example it
increased widely workers’ ability to
solve problems (20 percent) and com-
municate(40percent),andimprovedto
some degree their negotiation skills (28
percent), decision-making (58 percent),
leadership abilities (43 percent), atten-
tion to the company’s objectives (48
percent)andattentiontocustomers(38
percent).
Companies reap benefits of
sustainability reports
So far, several companies publish their
sustainability reports on the local mar-
ket, including Coca-Cola HBC Romania,
Heineken, GlaxoSmithKline and Raif-
feisen Bank. Publishing a CSR report
should be a crucial step for the stake-
holders of all companies. But Tuta of
TheCSRAgencysaysthatthelocalmar-
ketisdifferent.“Nooneaskscompanies
for a CSR report and in my opinion they

3. 10 CSR
www.business-review.ro
Business Review | April 15 - 21, 2013
won’t for the next three-five years in
Romania.WhiletheEuropeanCommis-
sion will ask for this reporting to be
compulsory, this will not change the so
called ‘state of the nation’,” says Tuta.
Inhisopinionthemainbenefitofre-
porting is an internal one. “Companies
learn to measure the impact and iden-
tify much more easily the strategic di-
rections they need to take. In the first
twoyearsofreportingthenon-financial
results, every company makes an effort
tolearn,adaptandunderstandboththe
technicalissuesandsustainabilityprin-
ciples,”addsTuta.Theconsultantnotes
that it is compulsory to use reporting
guidessuchastheGlobalReportingIni-
tiative (GRI) or Global Impact because
only with a precise set of indicators and
clearreportingprinciplescanyoumeas-
ure and see the impact every year.
Laura Sgarcitu, CSR coordinator at
Coca-Cola HBC Romania, says that
more and more companies have got in-
volved in CSR activities in the past few
years, and a more strategic approach in
this field has emerged. “Companies are
presenting evidence of more planning
and vision in their involvement in CSR
projects. That’s why I think that the
next natural step will be to start report-
ing these activities,” says Sgarcitu.
Coca-Cola HBC Romania, for exam-
ple, launched its first country sustain-
ability report last year. It is also the first
such report in the FMCG industry that
meets the international regulations in
the field (GRI). The GRI reporting stan-
dard is a system based on indices,
which enables the company to see
progressfromoneyeartoanother.“The
sustainability report helps us to evalu-
ate better our local actions and get pre-
ciseandrelevantresultsforourareasof
interest. It is also proof of transparency
and commitment to the community.
Through it we can inform all of our
stakeholders about the projects with
which we intend to amend things: to
protect sources of water, increase the
recyclingrate,supportthedevelopment
of communities or encourage a bal-
anced lifestyle,” says Sgarcitu.
Another company that has pub-
lished its sustainability report is
Heineken Romania. The brewer
launched its first issue back in 2010 and
its objective is to track the progress the
company has made against its Brewing
aBetterFutureAgenda.“BrewingaBet-
ter Future represents our long-term
global ambition to become the world’s
greenest brewer by 2020,” says Onno
Rombouts, managing director at
Heineken Romania. “We have imple-
mented this sustainability strategy in
Romania and we have added local am-
bitions and programs to it. Our annual
sustainability report measures our on-
going evolution against the targets set
both at global and local level, and out-
linesourplansineachofthethreemain
areas of the sustainability agenda: the
environment, society and the commu-
nities where we operate.”
In his opinion, companies that al-
readypublishtheirsustainabilityreports
with clear and relevant information
prove their transparency and respect to
their external stakeholders. “The fact
that companies in Romania have al-
ready started to publish sustainability
reports sets a standard that will be fol-
lowed by the companies that start pub-
lishing their own sustainability report.
Infact,theareaofsustainabilitywillbe-
come more and more competitive and
thiswillgenerateprogress,”predictsthe
managing director.
A sustainability report is the best ar-
gument to show how CSR is part of a
company’s business strategy and inte-
grated in its sustainable development
plan. “In this context I would say that
sustainability reporting is a sign of the
maturity of the Romanian CSR market
and of the responsibility of the whole
local business market,” adds the repre-
sentative of Coca-Cola HBC.
HR in CSR
Tuta of The CSR Agency says that there
are three major challenges in the train-
ing of CSR specialists on the local mar-
ket: the lack of success models and
valuable debate about this field, lack of
educationandexperienceinthefieldof
management and specialized know-
how.“ThosewhogetonworkinginCSR
do so accidentally,” says Tuta, of the
state of the local market. In order to
counteractthissituationandtosupport
the development of the market, The
CSR Agency has initiated two projects
aspartoftheCSRThinkTank(theCom-
munity of CSR Coordinators in Roma-
nia): CSR Juniors and CSR Debates.
WhileCSRJuniorseekstoprovidetrain-
ing, practice and professional support
for youngsters who want to start a ca-
reer in this field, CSR Debate intends to
create themed debates between the
CSR coordinators of the largest compa-
niesinRomania.“Lastbutnotleast,the
internet is full of articles, books and
courses about CSR and sustainability.
The problem comes just from the huge
amount of information, lack of organi-
zationswithauthorityandmanywrong
approaches in the field, which appear
reasoned in detail and sometimes even
credible on the internet,” adds Tuta.
Environment and education
lead the way
Many companies are focusing on envi-
ronmental and education projects as
these seem to be among Romanian
society’s top priorities. Carpatcement
Holding’s CSR strategy consists of
several main areas of action: involve-
ment in the local communities where
the company operates (education,
environment, infrastructure), the envi-
ronment, ensuring a proper work envi-
ronment, promoting human rights,
permanent improvement of work,
health and safety conditions for its em-
ployees and ensuring freedom of asso-
ciation and collective negotiation.
“Quarry Life Award was one of the
most important environmental proj-
ects developed by Carpatcement in
2012. It was a scientific and educational
competition developed at interna-
tional level that sought to discover new
ideas about the preservation and pro-
motion of biodiversity. The project will
also continue this year too,” says
Bogdan Arnautu, communication
manager at Carpatcement. He adds
that another area of sustainable
development for the company is
using alternative fuels in the cement
manufacturing process. “Carpatce-
ment was the first cement producer in
Romania that used alternative fuels in
its plant in Deva, back in 2004,” adds
Arnautu.
Apa Nova Bucuresti is another com-
pany that has the environment as a pri-
ority in its CSR strategy, because it is
the subsidiary of Veolia Eau in Roma-
nia, the water division of Veolia Envi-
ronment group. “The group is
remarkable in the fields of sustainable
development and environmental serv-
ices. On top of that, we work with a
precious natural resource, essential for
all forms of life, which is more affected
by the impact of human activities on
the environment,” says Oana Ersova-
Ranetti, public relations specialist at
Apa Nova Bucuresti – Veolia Apa. The
company’s environmental projects in-
clude: Veolia Park in Tulcea (EUR
30,000); populating the Danube Delta
with sturgeons (EUR 10,000); the re-
pair of the Sfantu Gheorghe water
treatment plant and addition of a new
chlorination station (EUR 30,000); the
repair of the bulrush netting workshop
in Mahmudia (EUR 10,000); forestation
campaigns conducted individually and
in partnership with Viitor Plus Associ-
ation (EUR 15.000); supporting the
campaign, Saving the Curly Pelican in
the Danube Delta (EUR 10,000); Reci-
clonada (collecting all types of recycla-
ble waste); and the Recicleaza Pentru
Copaci internal project in partnership
with Viitor Plus Association. “Environ-
mental issues in Romania are ex-
tremely pressing. It is no different from
Europe or worldwide, but Romania
needs to mobilize more to protect it in
a concrete manner with tangible re-
sults in this field,” urges Ranetti.
Education is another priority for
many local companies. For Actavis, it
has been a significant part of the firm’s
CSR strategy since the beginning. “In-
vestment in educational programs be-
came a natural priority of our CSR
activity. The first step we made was 20
years ago with the Actavis Sustine Per-
formanta project, devised to reward
the high marks achieved by students at
the International Chemistry Olympiad.
We decided to extend the project to
universities this year,” says Ana Maria
Draganica, communication manager at
Actavis. With the Actavis operations
team (Sindan Pharma manufacturing)
the company will support the medi-
cine section of the Studentul Anului
project, helping students from the
medicine and pharmacy faculties. “In
an extremely competitive and dynamic
environment, CSR programs help us to
position ourselves correctly and secure
loyalty to the Actavis brand,” con-
cludes Draganica.
Remit of a CSR
specialist:
l To understand the way a com-
pany, market and the business
environment works;
l To understand the principles of
sustainability and the way they
reflect on the business environ-
ment and company;
l To know from the start that
CSR is not a communication field
and does not mean sponsorship,
donations, planting trees, recy-
cling or cleaning up polluted
areas;
l To take charge of management
activities;
l To coordinate department man-
agers in stakeholder engagement
and research activities, helping
them identify and set strategic
objectives, and find the most effi-
cient strategies and projects in
order to achieve their goals;
l To evaluate and report the im-
pact for each indicator and to fol-
low up with the company’s
stakeholders.
Source: The CSR Agency