Corporate Social Responsibility in the Textile Industry in Russia: From its Origins to the Present Day

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of entrepreneurial activity focused on sustainable development. Scientific problem: It is traditionally believed that the concept of CSR originated in the United States in the mid-20th century and appeared in the modern Russian Federation only with the advent of transnational corporations at the end of the 20th century. However, historical data indicate deep-rooted traditions of socially responsible entrepreneurship in Russia long before their official recognition. The purpose of this work is to identify the practices of social responsibility by textile manufacturers in the Ivanovo region at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and compare them with the current state of the industry and the manifestation of CSR in it. Methods: More than 100 authentic historical documents from the collections of the Ivanovo State Museum of Local History named after Dmitry Burylin were analyzed, and D. G. Burylin’s socially responsible activities were systematized according to the CSR pyramids of A. Carroll and N. Masoud. The results obtained showed that textile manufacturers of the past demonstrated economic, legal, social responsibility and were also engaged in philanthropic activities. This proves that the philosophy of responsible entrepreneurship existed in Russia long before its appearance in the modern sense, which allows us to rethink Russia’s role in the development of the concept of corporate social responsibility. In addition, the authors conducted a comparative analysis of the largest textile enterprises in the Ivanovo region in the 1900s and 2020s. Some lag of modern enterprises has been revealed, both in economic development and in social activity. In this regard, it is advisable for modern enterprises to adopt the experience of the past and continue the traditions of social activity in the textile industry of the Ivanovo region.

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