Consumers Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility Empirical Study in Romanian Retail

Contextualized Literature Review

The European Commission highlights the main three factors that each firm must take into account when it is seeking to obtain a sustainable position on the market: (1) development from a social perspective, (2) development form an economical perspective and (3) development from an ecological perspective (KOM, 2001).

According to Meffert et al. (2005) corporate social responsibility is a holistic approach where a firm considers all its social, ecological and economical opportunities to voluntarily take upon itself the responsibility of its community and to maintain the legal norms (Herchen, 2007).

The concept of corporate social responsibility in the Romanian academic literature has been newer but perhaps more vigorous (Oprea, 2005). The general agreed definition has been the overall attitude that a firm exhibits towards the community in its profit maximization efforts by behaving ethically, paying special care to the environment and taking into consideration the needs and interests of all direct or indirect partners (Oprea, 2005).