Vulnerable Stakeholders and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Conceptual Analysis

Váradi, Ágnes (2025) Vulnerable Stakeholders and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Conceptual Analysis. In: Proceedings of IAC 2025 in Vienna. Czech Institute of Academic Education z.s., Prága, pp. 55-60. ISBN 9788088203438

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Abstract

The European Commission recognized already in 2001 that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies send a strong signal about the overall approach of companies to a variety of social, environmental and economic pressures. In this spirit, CSR shall react also to new social challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital divide, environmental catastrophes, economic crises and migration trends, significantly affecting vulnerable stakeholders. The current paper aims to discover whether a general concept of vulnerability can support the more efficient inclusion of the needs of the most vulnerable stakeholders into CSR strategies with special regard to the protection of rights, and what kind of guidance do international and EU standards give for business actors. The synthetizing description encompasses recommendations and policy documents, relevant pieces of EUlegislation, the case-law of European fora as well as findings of the secondary literature. Thus, it intends to contribute to a conceptual framework in the context of CSR, which is sensitive to global challenges, social trends and individual vulnerability, and thus simultaneously promotes the respect for rule of law, human rights and economic development.

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