Corporate social responsibility during the crisis: historical aspect and Russian Arctic practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of a new coronavirus infection and the need to combat it everywhere contributed to the more active implementation by companies of their policies in the field of corporate social responsibility, the growth of social investments in healthcare and education, and the development of corporate volunteering. Such an increase in activity was also observed earlier — during periods of other crises and disasters, when companies significantly expanded their social orientation, moved to a new level of interaction with employees, consumers and communities to solve acute problems of a critical period, retaining these new elements in the future already in its current activities. The aim of the work was to study the practice of implementing corporate social responsibility during periods of various crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process of work, scientific methods of content analysis, logical and comparative analysis were used. The study contributes to the scientific discourse on the problem of the relationship between the theory and practice of corporate social responsibility, its implementation during periods of various crises. The practical significance lies in the possibility of applying the results obtained in the practice of initiating and implementing by business structures, including Russian Arctic companies, their policies in this area (including now, during the Ukrainian crisis, in conditions of geopolitical and geo-economic uncertainty). It is obvious that the still existing uncertainty in the manifestation of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of new unprecedented changes in geopolitical and geo-economic conditions caused by the Ukrainian crisis, suggests continuation of the study of these issues and requires additional research on corporate social responsibility, as well as its practical implementation by companies, carrying out their economic activities in the Russian Arctic.