Top 100 companies not ready to meet social responsibility

A majority of the country`s top 100 companies by revenue fall short of being equipped with measures needed to meet international standards of corporate social responsibility, an industry report showed yesterday.

According to the report on new trade barriers concerning the International Organization Standardization 26000, companies that fail to meet the international standards of social responsibility have the risk of facing a bottleneck in their export line.

The report, released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, comes as the international CSR standards for gauging a company`s CSR level is set to be unveiled by the end of this year. The ISO 26000 is expected to cover the areas of management structure, human rights, labor practices, environment and fair trade.



The report highlighted that only 4.9 percent of the top 100 Korean companies are equipped with the tools necessary to meet the ISO standards. Another 36.1 percent said they are "somewhat" equipped, while another 36.1 percent said they have no tools and are instead following the industry trend by monitoring the moves of their competitors.

Another 21.3 percent said they are "practically unequipped," while 1.6 percent expressed "no interest."

"Although the ISO 26000 would be like a guideline, it can eventually pose as a trade barrier for our companies," the KCCI said in a statement.

"The international standards will not only be applicable to companies, but also the government, civic groups, labor groups and research institutions; therefore, discussions over the roles and responsibilities are necessary between the relevant bodies or personnel," it highlighted.

Experts say the need for setting global CSR standards have heightened in the past decade, as organizations have been feeling a greater need to address the principles of CSR and the tools to define and implement them.

(sohjung@heraldm.com)



By Yoo Soh-jung