The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility Based on Integrating the SDGs into Corporate Strategies: International Experience and the Risks for Profit

Abstract

This paper aims to study the international experience (in the aspect and taking into account the specifics of regions of the world) integrating the SDGs into corporate strategies and to identify the following: (1) supported SDGs (UN standards); (2) implemented measures of corporate social responsibility to support the SDGs and (3) approach from the positions of risks for profit. Based on a sample of 193 countries (seven regions of the world) from 2020–2021 (386 observations) based on the method of structural equation modelling (SEM), it was discovered that the SDGs (UN standards) are supported by companies to a different extent in the different world regions, but, on the whole, they are strongly integrated into the corporate strategies in each region. The largest support of the SDGs from business is observed in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The risks of integrating the SDGs (UN standards) into corporate strategies for profit are low (moderate in the OECD). The commercial approach to integrating the SDGs into corporate strategies is implemented in all regions of the world. The theoretical significance of the results consists in the fact that the discovered differences pointed at the necessity for and set the foundation for the transition from global to regional management of the integration of the SDGs (UN standards) into corporate strategies. The practical significance of the authors’ conclusions and developments consists in the fact that they allow increasing the effectiveness of risk management of the practices of corporate social responsibility for profit.