Corporate Social Responsibility in Albania. CSR Process Implementation in Albania: Top-Down or Bottom-Up Approach?

The chapter aims to trace a state-of-the-art development of the corporate social responsibility and sustainability debate and practices in Albania, a postcommunist country that, in the last few decades, has made drastic political and economic changes. Rapid urbanisation, higher economic activity and population growth place multiple pressures on environmental and social problems. In the last decade, to create an enabling environment for the promotion of CSR, the Albanian government—with the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) and the support of UNDP—has developed a National Action Plan for CSR. Currently, the implementation process of CSR policies by the Albanian government seems to be accelerating due to the EU accession process, creating a competitive advantage with a high CSR performance over other Balkan states. Starting from these premises, the chapter introduces a literature review aimed to point out the institutional factors that influence CSR diffusion and identify the gaps that should be filled in order to improve the knowledge of CSR in Albania. Secondly, the work addresses the practical implementation of CSR, focusing on some cases relative to both large and small-sized enterprises, in order to point out the barriers faced and evaluate the potentials of the top-down and/or bottom-up approaches adopted by Albanian companies.