The role of corporate social responsibility in social entrepreneurship

The debates on the differences between social enterprises and commercial enterprises are related to task performance and the way that social mission is accomplished by involved parties. However, commercial entrepreneurs must pursue both economic and social issues, but primary mission will be to acquire financial independence by investing and creating value for stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility has an undeniable effect on both society and businesses, but this practice depends on the companies availability to get involved which is at the discretion of the managers and shareholders. This study is based on a quantitative research, aimed to evaluate specific aspects of CSR policies developed by 79 firms from N-W part of Romania. Corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship have distinct conceptual approach, but both have an indubitable effect by valorizing social opportunities.Corporate Social Responsibility, social enterprise, social value, enterprises.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

According to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations, in 1966, the human being who enjoy his civil and political rights, enjoy in fact that “humanitas dignitas” (human dignity), since these rights derive from this. That is why this Covenant stipulated that the States parties are obligated to assure both the recognitions of these rights and their exercise and juridical protection

The Observance of Human Rights and Freedoms in the Extradition Proceedings at National and International Levels

The fundamental rights and freedoms contained in international documents may be the object of the denial of an extradition request as independent exceptions, even if they are not covered by extradition treaties. The right to life is a fundamental human right whose protection must be achieved in the extradition proceedings. By Law no. 30/1994, Romania ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by the Council of Europe

Organizational structure as a factor of development of corporate social responsibility in Romanian companies

The role of corporate social responsibility for the development of fundamental basis of social-economic interaction on sustainable development basis is significant for the existing corporate relations in the global economy. Corporate social responsibility means a voluntary initiative of separate corporations to implement a system social policy in the interests of society in general through the implementation of socially significant obligations established by laws, ethical standards, adopted rules of behaviour. In this regard the importance to study the corporate social responsibility phenomenon is that corporations with their socially significant behaviour predetermine social values in society in general and determine the vector of its socio-economic development. Considering the fact that the system of corporate social responsibility is based on labour relations incorporated into social-economic mechanism of a corporation and the mechanism in its turn is based on a company’s organizational structure the impact of an organizational structure on the corporate social responsibility practice is investigated in the research. The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of organizational structures of a company on the development of the systems of corporate social responsibility and to reveal differences in the corporate social responsibility systems of companies with different types of organizational structures. To achieve the aim of the study a theoretical review of approaches to understanding the essence of organizational structures and models of corporate social responsibility has been made. To analyse organizational structures we have used a synthetic approach that differentiates the structures into two types: mechanistic (with a high level of hierarchy and division of labour) and organic (flexible and better adapted to the rapid change of external conditions, including the emergence of new technologies). The hypothesis of the research is the assumption that companies with organic organizational structures are more progressive in the development of corporate social responsibility systems and the introduction of the principles of corporate social responsibility into their business practices. The study is based on social and ecological reports of Romanian companies that have more than 249 employees. The case-study method, interviewing, the tools of economic-mathematical analysis of data have been used in the research. While analyzing the contemporary status of the corporate social responsibility in Romania and 87 results of the questioning of the representatives of the Romanian companies we have come to the conclusion that despite the type of the organizational structure the key factors of the development of the system of corporate social structure are a company image and its reputation at the market, practice of purchasing (e.g. the compliance of the ethical code of a company by business partners and suppliers), the assessment of human rights in the company by business partners and industry trends of sustainable development. At that, the hypothesis that companies with mechanistic and organic organizational structures differently assess the role of the factors of corporate social responsibility. Thus, for companies with mechanistic organizational structures, image and reputation at the market, assessment of human rights by business partners, procurement practices, motivation and competence of personnel, and the absence of discrimination in remuneration of men and women are of fundamental importance in the development of corporate social responsibility systems. Companies with the organic type of organizational structure significantly appreciate the image and reputation at the market, as well as the level of internationalization of a company, the use of ECO labels, industry trends of sustainable development and production efficiency. As regards the advantages of the introduction of corporate social responsibility principles in the activities of companies, we have discovered that the differences are mainly observed in the average estimates of the analyzed factors in favour of companies with organic organizational structures. Results obtained in the investigation allow us to construct a profile of corporate social responsibility of companies with different types of organizational structures, to identify the advantages of the development of the system of corporate social responsibility and to make strategic priorities of socially oriented activity of a company more detailed. And further studies will be devoted to this aspect

Legitimacy and innovation in social enterprises

This article examines the interrelationship between legitimacy building efforts – the different ways in which social enterprises (SEs) conform to stakeholder expectations – and types of innovation – the different approaches by which they create social and economic value through product, process and business model innovation. Using a multi-case study research design of twenty SEs in Scotland and Romania, we find that the SEs adjusted their approach to legitimacy building depending upon the types of innovation and stakeholder involved. Also, while all SEs pursued pragmatic and moral legitimacy through conforming with their stakeholders’ expectations, the type of innovation shaped the way in which they prioritised one form of legitimacy over another to deal with the tensions involved in pursuing legitimacy with heterogeneous stakeholders. This finding underscores the importance of innovation type when explaining how SEs balance the tensions involved in trying to conform to a wide range of heterogeneous stakeholders with different expectations

Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibilities

Abstract This article emphasizes the meaning of social entrepreneurship and that of corporate social responsibility and the role held in social value creating process. There are several opinions regarding the distinctions between social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility considering the implications, the impact and the stimulus. This article will point out our approach regarding Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility based on our research made in Cluj County from northwestern part of Romania, by highlighting their characteristics and the way that both processes influence the social environment. The research was made using two types of questionnaires which were applied to commercial enterprises and NGO's with social purpose

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2019 : a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2·72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·66–2·79) in 2000 to 2·31 (2·17–2·46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134·5 million (131·5–137·8) in 2000 to a peak of 139·6 million (133·0–146·9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135·3 million (127·2–144·1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2·1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27·1% (95% UI 26·4–27·8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67·2 years (95% UI 66·8–67·6) in 2000 to 73·5 years (72·8–74·3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50·7 million (49·5–51·9) in 2000 to 56·5 million (53·7–59·2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9·6 million (9·1–10·3) in 2000 to 5·0 million (4·3–6·0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25·7%, from 6·2 billion (6·0–6·3) in 2000 to 7·7 billion (7·5–8·0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58·6 years (56·1–60·8) in 2000 to 63·5 years (60·8–66·1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

According to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations, in 1966, the human being who enjoy his civil and political rights, enjoy in fact that “humanitas dignitas” (human dignity), since these rights derive from this. That is why this Covenant stipulated that the States parties are obligated to assure both the recognitions of these rights and their exercise and juridical protection