On the basis of our experiences we can make the following basic claims about how multinationals are exercising their CSR policies in the new Member States:

a) CSR is conceived of in the new Member States primarily as a method for creating good relationships with the public, without, however, any essential changes occurring in their approaches for the sake of promoting of the main interests of that society.

example:

Despite the fact that Toyota Motor Company´s CSR policy emphasises the proper implementation of an Environmental Impact Assessment, in the case of their building a new factory in the Czech Republic this process was carried out very superficially; it did not even correspond to EIA Directive standards. Construction of the factory caused dramatic changes to the landscape and generated serious traffic problems in the region; it was only after construction was completed that the company inititiated its first steps towards realising its own CSR policy, and these steps, compared to the scale of the changes already caused, are relatively minor.

b) CSR is used to greenwash
CSR is often understood by corporations only as a PR tool, not as an important aspect of a company´s business overall.

example:

In the Czech Republic, the ČEZ utility is the biggest donor to charity and has the best-developed promotional activities, all conducted in such a way as to increase the company’s visibility. Currently they are advertising themselves as selling what they term energy from renewable sources. However, in reality ČEZ primarily promotes energy policies in the CEE region based on nonrenewable energy sources.

c) Local management does not respect existing CSR policies
Despite the fact that multinationals have CSR policies that have been worked out in detail, and despite the fact that multinationals are capable of realising these policies in their headquarter countries, in other countries they do not promote them sufficiently. They do not place sufficient emphasis on training their management in them, and they not introduce their CSR policies into the overal business strategy with the thoroughness necessary to guarantee actual realisation of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

example:

Even though Ahold has developed a policy to include a segment of organic farming products in its product line, it does not implement this thoroughly through retailers in the new Member States.

d) Multinationals do not inform the public about their CSR policies

A completely basic, burning issue is the fact that multinationals operating in the new Member States normally do not inform the public of their CSR policies. These policies are available only on the web pages of the parent company and are therefore not available in the language of the country where the company is doing business. 

e) No open dialogue exists between multinationals and civil society.

Multinationals are not willing to conduct a dialogue with civil society on a peer basis as they would in the EU-15.

conclusion

Despite the fact that multinationals are changing the face of society and of the landscape in the new EU Member States, they are not sufficiently implementing their publicly declared CSR obligations, not informing the public about the existence of such obligations, and not integrating responsible behaviour into their strategic decisions. Therefore the area of CSR policy in the new Member States, but for a few exceptions, has narrowed down to a few actions primarily intended to improve the company´s reputation.