Help increase your social and environmental awareness and responsible business leadership skills...

What is Responsible Business?

A responsible business is one that is aware of its social and environmental impact and actively manages its operations to minimize negative consequences for society and the environment and optimize positive ones.

Your World, Your Business Video

Young entrepreneurs from Estonia, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden explain how they run their businesses responsibly. Click here to watch the video.

Golden Rules for conducting a responsible business

When setting up your JA-YE student company, take some time to consider how you could integrate those Golden Rules into your company wherever possible.

1. Formulate the company mission and values

Responsible business conduct should be deeply integrated into the way your company does business and therefore it should be included in your company mission and mirrored in your company values. Make social and environmental responsibility part of your strategy.

2. Be committed to responsible business at all levels

The management of your company must regard Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a priority and communicate that accordingly. All employees should be aware of your company's responsible business activities and should be engaged in the process where possible. Working together on activities which benefit the whole community develops a sense of belonging and motivates employees, but also offers them the possibility to gain new knowledge and skills.

3. Identify your core stakeholders and their needs

A stakeholder is any person/group/institution etc. which affects or is affected by your operations and activities in any form (positively or negatively). Look around you and see how different people/groups are affected by your corporation, your products/services and your activities. See what their needs are and try to address these accordingly. Be transparent when engaging with your stakeholders. Show what you are doing and be open to discuss any issues. That helps you avoiding bad feedback. If serious criticism arises, be honest and solve the issues together with your partners.

4. Define your code of conduct and business principles responsibly

Your code of conduct and any policies or business principles that you might have should include directives for conducting business in a responsible way. When drafting a code of conduct and business principles for your company, take into account the expectations of your stakeholders, especially employees, and engage them in the development of your code of conduct. You should also anticipate the potential risks to your company and how they can be minimized with the help of a code of conduct and business principles. Your policies and your code of conduct should be clear, short and easily understandable.

5. Link your social activities to your core business

When it comes to philanthropic activities, every company can simply donate some cash for a good cause. However, a good corporate citizen links its social activities with its core business and its core competencies since this is where a company can make the most difference. Linking your projects to your products or services shows that you are really making an effort to give something back.

6. Responsibility starts with your products

When designing and producing products, always keep in mind the impact that they might have on society and the environment. Evaluate the life-cycle of your product and mitigate risks by reducing negative impacts in all stages of the life-cycle: all the way from the design through to raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life (reuse/recycling) phases.

Useful Link

European Commission - Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign for Small and Medium Enterprises

On this website you can find helpful information on how small enterprises - such as your JA-YE student company - can implement good responsible business practices