Finland

This paper focuses on corporate social responsibility (CSR) of proactive companies that seriously recognize the importance of CSR and its management inside and outside the company. This is an exploration and learning from the experience of Finnish companies, as well as other actors interested or involved in shaping the course of CSR both locally and globally.

The results of the exploration provide insightful information and descriptions of a roadmap useful in learning and understanding the role CSR in Finnish companies. The roadmap starts with variations of CSR concepts and framing CSR within the corporate responsibility concept. Other roadmap indicators are globalization, stakeholders, and pursuit of sustainable development as the main drivers of CSR, as well as employees, suppliers, community, and customers as key management areas of CSR. The roadmap also indicates the importance of Finnish culture, which has a positive influence on the views, thinking, and management practices of CSR issues, thus making it easy to discuss and understand CSR in businesses.

The experience of selected Finnish companies in implementing CSR policies in the supply chain presents a concrete proactive step in advancing socially responsible practices with suppliers both locally and globally. Despite the problems and complexities, particularly in the global supply chain, managing CSR for Finnish companies presents new opportunities and challenges that are expected to intensify in the near future. The proactive stance of Finnish companies towards CSR is complemented by the active supporting role of important societal actors such as the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These actors embark on various promotional efforts and campaigns, thus making CSR a well-acknowledged concept among Finnish companies and strengthening the synergistic learning of CSR within the Finnish businesses and communities.