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TERRA ECONOMICUS

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  • How companies in the timber industry are entering a «new era» of social responsibility

How companies in the timber industry are entering a «new era» of social responsibility


TERRA ECONOMICUS, Vol. 23, No 4

Citation: Kurbatova M.V. (2025). How companies in the timber industry are entering a «new era» of social responsibility. Terra Economicus 23(4), 103–118 (in Russian). DOI: 10.18522/2073-66062025-23-4-103-118

Acknowledgment: The research was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation, project № 25-18-20080, https://rscf.ru/en/project/25-18-20080/, grant of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Science Foundation.

The issue of corporate social responsibility has been a significant topic in economic literature for several decades. A new wave of interest is associated with the involvement of businesses in sustainable development goals implementation and integration with the ESG agenda. This study takes an economic approach: social responsibility is viewed as a discrete structural alternative to the internalization of externalities, related to the reimbursement of full social costs by firms. We analyzed the social responsibility practices of leading Russian companies in the timber industry. We considered its most important aspect – businesses’ participation in solving the socio-economic problems of the regions where they operate. Companiesʼ annual reports and sustainability reports provide the empirics for the study. The main research question is whether change in corporate rhetoric and reporting signify a transition to a “new era” that implies a shift in the relationships between business, government and local communities toward territorial development. Otherwise, the new form is hiding the old content. We identify interrelated groups of factors that determine social responsibility of timber companies: (1) industry-specific; (2) territorial; (3) size and structure of ownership; (4) the features of relations with authorities. The paper shows that in the “new era” companies are acting in traditional areas of regional support. The reporting standards being introduced make the submission of relevant information more formalized and standardized. Thus, various activities are misrepresented as a part of social responsibility programs. This misrepresentation includes both company’s investment in its own assets (production infrastructure, human capital) and the positive external effects of its activities on local population. Only some of these activities can be interpreted in terms of internalizing external effects, i.e. compensating not only private costs but also social costs.

Keywords: social responsibility; timber companies; internalization of externalities; local public goods; specialized assets; business-government interaction
JEL codes: D21, D62, L73, M14


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Publisher: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606