Social Responsibility Education in Latvia

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to companies taking responsibility for their impact on society. As evidence suggests, CSR is increasingly important to the competitiveness of enterprises. It can bring benefits in terms of risk management, cost savings, access to capital, customer relationships, human resource management, and innovation capacity. Economic activity always affects the environment, but the potential degree of this impact is significantly influenced by consumption and production patterns. During recent decades, social entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly important area of interest and study in European faculties. The development of social enterprises that are mainly values based, driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, and focussed on social aims, is a tendency that can be observed in countries with differing levels of economic development. The BA School of Business and Finance (Latvian: Banku augstskola, acronym BA) pays great attention to issues of CSR and is incorporating them into study programmes. The objective is to educate specialists who will be able to manage their business in a responsible way, bringing benefits not only to their business but who are also capable of integrating social, environmental, and ethical components and who have the capacity for innovation. The survey on corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship was conducted and analysed in 2014.