Corporate social responsibility: theories and regulation tools. The case of Benetton Group.

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility is a very significant and discussed topic in the international scenario. Economic actors are more aware of the social and environmental changes that are taking place and for this reason they recognize, more than in the past, the importance of CSR and the value it can take. It is no longer possible to separate economic action with social consequences. Long-term success is mostly determined by the implementation of CSR policies that affect the entire surrounding environment and stakeholders. The analysis will have as a prism of observation the supranational dimension and will follow a managerial and legal perspective, in the first and in the central part, respectively. As a matter of fact, the first chapter includes an overview of the CSR from a managerial point of view. The second chapter, instead, focuses on the definition of CSR at European level and on the implications on workers and labor law. Can we say that CSR practices improve the condition of workers? We will try to give this answer through the analysis of the most relevant tools: self-regulation and hetero-regulation tools. Besides, there will be a focus on the relationship, sometimes complementary and sometimes opposite between CSR and labor law. After analyzing the workers' perspective, the focus shifts to companies and to the obligation to communicate non-financial information in their financial statements, according to the European directive 2014/95. This is the subject of the third chapter. Finally, a concrete case is presented, that is the case of Benetton Group. In this last chapter the analysis of the CSR tools will be put into practice and some reflections will be made on the behavior of the company in relation to the topic.