Responsible entrepreneurship involves ensuring long-term competitive advantage and continuity of business by servicing customers and nurturing new ones, by developing new products and services, and, above all, by being profitable. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can help us in achieving all of these goals.

Corporate Social Responsibility is a complex-sounding term for what is in fact a relatively simple idea. The European Commission defines CSR as “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interactions with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis”.

I therefore agree that at this point in time, Corporate Social Responsibility should not be a mandatory obligation defined by strict legislation but it should take off as a campaign in which sustainable development is the core focus of business.

Sustainable development can be defined to be of the kind that meets the requirements of the present without diminishing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Therefore this concept is all about opportunities, not about obligations or new rules. It is about ways where one can add value to his/her business by taking a closer look at some of the social and environmental aspects of his/her operations. In fact many SMEs already implement Corporate Social Responsibility activities without being familiar with the official CSR concept.

Responsible entrepreneurship should not shift the focus of businesses but rather it should revolve around the core business of a company. While I definitely agree and understand that companies are there to make profits, an approach which integrates environmental and social considerations should be based on dialogue with stake holders to ensure the long term sustainability of businesses in society.

In view of gauging responsible entrepreneurship in Malta I have also been presented with research results by a local company – eco-pro – which were intended to determine whether the industrial sector has a definite responsibility with regards to sustainable development in general, and in preserving the environment for present and future generations.

I was very satisfied that the overwhelming response from those surveyed agreed that governments are not solely responsible for sustainable development and taking care of the environment but such an issue is the responsibility of both government and industry.

Local industry indeed acknowledges that those engaged in the production of goods or services are aware that they also have a societal duty-of-care responsibility with regards to the well-being of the environment.

The main concern of my ministry is competitiveness. I would therefore like to put an emphasis on the convergence between the quest for competitiveness and the application of environment-friendly methodologies of management.

I think that sustainable development practices should go further than the customary ‘basic’ protection arrangements like simple pollution control and the lessening of health and environmental risks. The pursuit of sustainability seeks to promote ‘top-line’ benefits and developmental goals that constitute powerful drivers for stimulating corporate performance, enhance economic efficiency, and ultimately, boost competitiveness, without jeopardising the vitality of our sources of wealth and social well-being.

Socio-environmental management systems are very much akin to innovative approaches regarding market mechanisms that are considered valuable in stimulating the private sector’s initiatives in the pursuit of sustainability. The main reason for this is that both tactical postures take as a point-of-departure the introduction of best practices.

Thus, socio-environmental management systems can also be looked upon as a pathway for ensuring sustainability. One determining factor in this regard is capacity-building. An individual entity opting to adopt a socio-environmental management system must of necessity assume new policies for promoting and ensuring unambiguous accountability within its domain, and also between itself and civil society. This prerequisite calls for new forms of technical innovation in modern entrepreneurship that may also create new market opportunities within the context of sustainable development.

Within the context of responsible entrepreneurship which seeks to reconcile the interests of society and entrepreneurs without interfering with profitability, I must point out that the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility was first introduced at the Lisbon Summit of 2000 and reinforced by the European council the following year.

Locally the adoption of environmental management systems remains a voluntary option. In this regard I wish to affirm my own conviction that under normal circumstances, the business world reacts with more pragmatism to approaches that generate new opportunities, as opposed to regimes of command and control that may constitute constrains to entrepreneurial dynamism.

While everyone concedes that a regulatory underpinning is, in a number of cases, essential, I am of the opinion that what would be ideal, is a prudent mix of required obligatory and non-obligatory policies which work well in conjunction with market-dictated tactical platforms.

I, as Competitiveness Minister, cannot but encourage and applaud any effort by private enterprise that voluntarily commits itself to corporate social responsibility. In the same manner, my ministry cannot but support endeavours aimed at:

• Curbing consumption of natural resources;

• Making rational use of energy and water;

• Minimising environmental risk;

• Systematically displaying leadership in identifying and effectively tackling pollution-prone situations;

• Searching for opportunities to reduce wastes;

• Streamlining efforts for responding to customer or shareholder demands for (continually) improving the environmental performance;

• Striving to establish a congenial insertion within the neighbourhood of the site of activity.

However I also believe that information is the most important tool in encouraging business to make a leap towards corporate social responsibility. I say so because all this is in line, not only with the government’s declared efforts to raise awareness about the environmental and social issues that concern us, but also because this is an instance where actual and tangible measures are thought out, custom-designed and implemented.

A Pan-European awareness campaign on this topic should be launched soon. I believe that this is a right step in informing businesses about initiatives which promote Corporate Social Responsibility.

Censu Galea is Competitiveness and Communications Minister