Social Responsibility of Corporations as a Component of Organizational Behavior in International Business

Abstract

Purpose. The paper is devoted to the study of the relevance and features of corporate social responsibility (social responsibility of business) from the perspective of marketing and organizational behavior in conditions of the activation of international business, which is characteristic of modern Ukrainian entrepreneurship.

The main purpose of the study was to identify the impact of a company's social responsibility to the individual behavior of its employees and candidates for vacancies and on general corporate processes and systems.

In general, the paper analyzes the evolutionary, organizational and motivational aspects of corporate social responsibility (social responsibility of business).

Methods. To implement the established goal of the study, the following methods were used: critical analysis of scientific sources - to substantiate the relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and reputation in international business; to specify the understanding of the category of "corporate social responsibility" (CSR) and identification of the main trends in its implementation as a concept of social and ethical marketing; systemic method - to differentiate the levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its classification according to logical features; synthesis method - to study the relationship between CSR and organizational behavior as an important component of management; the method of scientific abstraction and the method of analysis - to identify the main factors of the expansion of Ukrainian entrepreneurship into foreign markets in the difficult conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war; the method of logical generalization - to understand the relevance and expediency of implementing the concept of social and ethical marketing by companies in modern conditions and to formulate the conclusions of these studies.

Results. The relevance of CSR as a marketing tool in general and, especially, in the conditions of the company's expansion into foreign markets and the development of international business is substantiated by authors. The study allowed to formulate the factors of the transformation of Ukrainian companies into international ones. Factors that are constraining the development of CSR for Ukrainian entrepreneurs are studied. A three-level model of CSR implementation as a concept of social and ethical marketing is suggested. The connections between CSR and individual and general organizational behavior are identified and explained.

Conclusions. The factors of international business development from the Ukrainian business environment at this stage are the loss of traditional markets, in particular, the Russian market; active international integration of Ukraine and altruistic support of democratic countries; migration of a large part of Ukrainian consumers to other countries; reformatting of logistics routes and infrastructure of foreign economic operations in Ukraine; development of direct marketing in conjunction with international delivery structures in the “B2B” and “B2C” models.

Expansion into international markets faces with specific barriers to market entry. As a strategic direction and tactical tools for overcoming such barriers, the reputation of the company is being actualized as its most important intangible asset. Among the components of the business reputation of the enterprise, it is worth to select the “corporate social responsibility”, the role of which in a communicationally developed society is significantly increasing.

Social responsibility is an area that is systematically moderated by the state and supranational structures; primarily through standardization and licensing of business activities and products. However, today it has become an important component of the competitive struggle and is experiencing a boom in development as an image characteristic. Interestingly, in recent decades it has been institutionalized under the patronage of the UN.

The implementation of the socio-ethical concept of marketing determines not only consumer loyalty and partner confidence. This has a significant impact on organizational behavior: in particular, the individual behavior of employees and candidates for company vacancies. The basis for this is the truly motivating needs of employees, among which the need for belonging and the need for participation are called from CSR. Thus, a socially responsible company is able to more actively attract moral and responsible people to its staff: «like attracts like».