Doing Well by Doing Good

Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) aims to contribute to economic, environmental and social progress and to avoid and remedy adverse effects related to a company's operations, products or services. Numerous international initiatives emphasise the due diligence of companies in complying with these principles and extend them to the entire corporate supply chain. Corporate responsibility is now also increasingly being incorporated into national and international legally binding regulations. This empirical study on the use and impact of RBC concepts on the competitiveness of Austrian companies shows that while the majority of Austrian companies have already implemented RBC concepts, systematic integration and monitoring of RBC to the extent and level required by reporting and due diligence documentation in supply chains has so far only taken place to a limited extent. The study proposes a number of measures to strengthen implementation, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).