National Responsible Business Award to Promote a Sustainable Management in Lithuania

Sustainability in Lithuania has not been ‘the most relevant goal’ to be reached by companies for a long time. On the contrary, the last years have witnessed an increasing attention on the topic, both at business and National level. Since its first announcement, the National Responsible Business Award - the first initiative of such a kind supported by the public authorities in Lithuania – has drugged the commitment of national and international companies on such a prestigious award, and encouraged them to introduce the principles of social responsibility in their activities. The Award has been introduced by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, under the United Nations Development Programme in Lithuania. The aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the topic, also comparing the results of the winner companies in the three categories, over the time. This work will also compare the research conducted by the National Ministry in 2008 with the one conducted by two academics in 2010, on the same topic, in order to enhance the evolution perceived across the time. The last part is dedicated to the tools applied in the country to sustain and develop the social responsibility among the businesses. For this reasons in this paper we presents the global compact network in Lithuania and the responsible business’ network. Last, through the project ‘clear wave’, we offer a critical analysis of the National CSR Award.