Corporate Social Responsibility: Business Opportunities in Latvia

Introduction Social problems are the main factors damaging society that have occurred at all times and almost everywhere in the world, even in prosperous societies. Social inequality is a reflection of the economical, political and cultural structures in society. Today almost every individual has to face different forms of social problems – the conditions that at least some part of the society views as being undesirable. The list of social issues is vast and not uniform from place to place. Social problems without any doubt affect the whole society negatively not only the people whom it directly touches. Moreover, it is important to comprehend that social issues within a society affect its interactions with other societies. The way a nation deals with the issues in society may also affect its relationship with another nation that deals with the same problem differently. It is crucial to minimize the social problem distribution in order to improve the overall relations between the members of a society. Nowadays Latvia, as many countries, is experiencing serious social issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, ageism, unemployment of people with disabilities and youth unemployment. It is a real danger for a society’s sustainability. Social problems must be recognized and tried to solve. It definitely is a difficult task to do, taking into account that these problems have developed in a long period of time. Therefore, the goal is not to overthrow the current system, but to achieve a remarkable evolution in terms of behavior within it. One way to start minimizing problems within a society is by benefiting it. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), undoubtedly, is not going to solve all of the world’s problems. If it were possible, there would not be social problems anymore. However, CSR is certainly the first step to diminishing the social issues.