Economic and social functions of big business in the region (experience of Rostov region's analysis)

The purpose of this paper is to examine an economic and social role of major businesses in the life of the region and see how much successful businesses impact the characteristics of quality and living standards of the population. Interaction of business with government authorities means that major business should deal with number of social problems at the local level, which is the definition of the social responsiveness of business. The paper considers programs for participation in regional development, charitable activities, staff support in education, medical treatment, parenting, sports, etc. through the example of the large enterprises of the Rostov region, both Russian and with foreign participation. Rostov region is a region with mostly large companies, i.e. it is a region with prospective resources, raw materials and processing in the framework of vertical integration, with ports, assets for businesses diversification, which have become attractive in the years of economic growth. The paper provides an analysis of the four Rostov companies (according to headquarters location): "Yug Rusi", "Aston", "Agrokom" and "Gloria Jeans". They are large, vertically integrated structures belonging to the food and light industries that are on the list of the two hundred largest private Russian companies according to Forbes in 2013. The socially responsive activities of the five well-known multinational foreign companies considered the most "advanced" in the development of socially responsive business are analyzed in this paper. The analysis has shown that the social functions in most companies - big business - are manifested in the form of in-house social policies aimed at serving company's interests in staff development, positioning of the company in terms of the quality of its products, as well as inclusion into the local municipal programs. In all fairness, it should be noted that corporate social responsiveness in foreign companies is formulated more clearly and manifested in particular educational, environmental and sports projects, as well as projects to support families and parenting and improve employees' health. Even though there is a real need for it and its significance is clear, corporate social responsiveness is not generally accepted, at least at the present stage judging by the maturity of approaches to the social function of business in Russia. It is important to note that currently the interaction of big business and the government is not always transparent, not all of the conditions of these agreements are made public or available for system analysis to identify the real impact of big business on the social processes in regional development.

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