Introduction

Corporate social responsibility is one of the terms that has become commonplace in recent years. Over
the last decades it has been introduced to the business world. The term describes a concept whereby
organizations incorporate the interests of whole society and take responsibility for the influence and
results of their activities on stakeholders: employees, shareholders, managers, customers, government,
communities and the environment in all aspects. It is often said that CSR began in the early 20 th century
that encompassed the process of charity but nowadays it is no longer defined how much money an
organization spends on charity, but on activities that improve the quality of our lives. As we can see the
concept is quite comprehensive. As students of Caucasus University, School of Business, we have been
introduced to the course of CSR and for practical use of learned theories, we decided to make our
presentation, to “investigate” and research CSR activities of one of the successful Georgian companies-
Adjara Group. We will evaluate its activities considering 1) Global Compact pillars (Human rights, labor
conditions, environment and anti-corruption activities) and 2) stakeholders (employees, consumers,
competitors, NGOs, Government)

Why Adjara group?

Adjara Group is a leading Georgian company in hospitality and lifestyle development. It has gained
worldwide recognition through developing and managing lifestyle brands. Under this group there are 4
main business units such as: Rooms Hotels, Stamba Hotel, Holiday Inn and Fabrika. Historically
speaking, the concept of CSR has not been part of Georgian corporate culture. It is slowly becoming
recognized and adopted by various enterprises and still remains a new concept. Luckily the same can’t
be said for Adjara Group. This company is building a modern Georgian business which holds social
responsibility and its policies and business practices reflect a commitment to making a positive impact
in communities around the country. What is more important, the company very well realizes the
importance of CSR and takes social responsibility for its corporate actions.

CSR activities evaluation

Human Rights

To begin with, Adjara Group is a member of Global Compact - the United Nations initiative to
encourage businesses worldwide to align their strategies and operations ‘with universal
principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption’. Starting with Human
rights and its 2 principles: Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of
internationally proclaimed human rights; and Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in
human rights abuses, Adjara Group proactively uses them in practices and the company’s internal code
is based on Georgian law and international standrards. Every employee has their rights and they are
protected regardless of their religion, cultural, political beliefs and ethnicity. Furthermore, they are
protected during the hiring processes or during job employment. Adjara Group shows transparency and
if any kind of questionable case appears, it is discussed in compliance with Georgian law and is regulated
by Heads of Departments. During the research one thing that paid our attention to, was the practice
that the company uses for its employees in order to receive staff feedback. Adjara Group has installed a
special thing – “Wish Box” that collects wishes to Companies from staff, their opinion, complaints, ideas
for improvements and even messages for confidential information as sometimes employees face ethical
dilemmas, see something unethical is happening in the company but are not able to talk about it aloud.
The box is then opened by appropriate department- HR department and such information is flowed
accordingly. Adjara Group is developing continually and has already planned to collaborate with
Georgian government to perfect laws and regulations more.

Labor

Based on labor and its principles, Adjara Group works perfectly with labor standards and requirements.
Potential employees have the opportunity to get aware of their human and labor rights by the help of
HR conducted training. During the hiring processes future candidates are introduced to the internal code
of the company they should obey and also they realize the mutual responsibilities that will be formed
between two sides. The company protects its workforce by providing health insurance, employees have
medical insurance packages and laundry systems for their uniforms. Adjara Group strives to create a
diverse and inclusive workplace where every employee will be respected, empowered and rewarded.
Equality in terms of gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation is the key to the company’s corporate
culture. One interesting fact about labor is that the company has initiatives to hire even disabled
workers and also victims of domestic violence. Adjara Group promotes gender equality. You will not face
traces of discrimination on the bases of gender, therefore the company employs more and more
women. If we look at these figures, the proportion very well describes the gender equality within the
organization. Board of directors: 6 men (60%) and4 women (40%), Executive team: 14 men
(74%) and 5 women (26%), Total number of management positions: 43 (100%) Men in
management positions: 25 (58%) Women in management positions: 18 (42%), Total number of
staff: 1300 (100%) Number of female employees: 715 (55%) Number of male employees: 585
(45%). Adjara Group supports women on high managerial levels and even provides training for
them to move forward with their career.

Environment

Being environmentally friendly is one of the mottos for Adjara Group. It has done series of
environmentally friendly activities. The company passionately shares the following principles:
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and Principle
9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. For
instance, Adjara Group implemented water, electricity and waste recycling procedures. Adjara
Group has invested in a series of environmentally friendly electric cars to mitigate air pollution
and set up Electric Vehicle Stations – EVS’s- in the parking spaces of Rooms and Stamba
Hotels. Moreover, instead of disposing of used kitchen oil, the company sends it from all
properties to an ISO certified company for recycling purposes. Also they collaborate with the
LTD “Tissue Paper” that produces napkins from recycled paper. They have installed special
green boxes in all office buildings informed all employees to support this action. The
organization decreased electricity usage at Holiday Inn Tbilisi hotel by installing the energy
efficient light bulbs in 80% of the building space. Beside this, Adjara Group is part of “Green
Engage” program that helps hotels with saving environment and ensures green idea
implementations on the property. As a part of “Green Engage” they perform trainings on being
more efficient and exchange ideas with staff in this direction. They always participate in the
earth hour to support the mutual cause. Interestingly, the organization has committed to using
electric powered boilers in our two upcoming hotel projects to decrease co2 pollution. This
action will lead to a significant increase in the utility bill but they are willing to make this
sacrifice and promote a greater environmental responsibility.

Corruption

Adjara Groups practice of anti-corruption is in accordance with 10th principle: Businesses should
work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. Therefore, the company
often conducts public meeting with government officials and media representatives. They
enthusiastically share future development plans transparently. Every year Adjara Group conducts
financial and tax related audit, the audit results are of course transparent and free for public that
highlights there is no presence of corruption in the company.

To sum up Adjara Group fosters our trust through implementing positive and high ethical
standards through corporate actions. We think that the company is compatible with UN
Guidelines on Business and Human Rights. Such big corporation like Adjara Group should
continuously inform and show the importance of being socially responsible. We think the
company is a positive example and should take more and more actions that advance societal
goals.

Stakeholders

One of the important factors of business success is to build relationship between stakeholders.
Who are stakeholders? Stakeholders are any constituencies in the organization’s environment
that are affected by an organization’s decisions and actions. These groups have a stake in or are
significantly influenced by what the organization does. In turn, these groups can influence the
organization. Adjara Group is the company which pays a great attention to this relationship. The
relationship between Adjara Group and its stakeholders are based on transparency and fairness.
These stakeholders include internal and external groups. The internal stakeholders are: founder&
executive Directos: Temur Ugulava ( Founder), Valeri chekheria (Chief Executive officer),
Levan Berulava (Managing Director), also managers, 68 managers, 14 directors of functional
departments and 5500 employees, among those employees are 100 professionals, The
construction team includes engineers, craftsmen, builders, operators, artisans and many other key
technical staff members, who ensure that Adjara Group’s quality standards are guaranteed and
effectively implemented. The external stakeholders are: consumers- Adjara Group provides
consumers with hospitality services: hotels, hostels, cafes, restaurants, Casino – Aviator, local
vendors, rooftop swimming pools, Chocolaterie & Roastery, Shio Ramen, along with galleries
and exhibition spaces. Restaurants created by the company combine international gastronomic
talent with fresh, locally sourced produce. In addition, the company tries to increase long-term
profits and foster the trust of its consumers. Competitors- the hospitality sector is developing
more and more in our country, the capital city Tbilisi holds leading position in terms of the
number of accommodation units that are in competition with Adjara Group business units, those
competitors are: Sheraton Hotel, Radisson Blu, Hualing Tbilisi- Hotels and Preferences,
Ambassador Tbilisi with its casino, restaurants and Flamingo Lounge, Marriot Hotel, The Iota
Hotel, the Biltmor Hotel, in other regions of Georgia main competitors are: Rixos Hotel, The
Radisson Blu resort Tsinandali, Katchreti Ambassador, Radisson in Gudauri. However Adjara
Group with its successful strategies and vision manages to gain recognition, brand image, to
provide premium services and to keep the competitive advantage with its core values.
NGOS- Adjara Group is interested in cooperation with NGOS, for instance, in 2017 the
company participated in the meeting organized by “CIDA” on sustainable development
projects of regions. Government- Adjara Group intensively participates with Georgian
government. In the next 2 years, they are planning for example to collaborate with Georgian
government, provide them with maximum information regarding the customer-employee
relation issues to help in perfecting the laws and regulations in this direction. Moreover the
company often arrange open-meetings with government officials. In 2018, when hotel
Stamba was opened, The Head of Government visited this hotel in the building of the former
Soviet Samshoblo Publishing House on Kostava Street in the company of the capital's Mayor
Kakha Kaladze, Head of the National Tourism Administration Giorgi Chogovadze, Founder
of Adjara Group Temur Ugulava, and Adjara Group's CEO Valeri Chekheria. Media- Adjata
Group communicates with media, shares the company’s future development plans to ensure
transparency of their processes. If you visit official site
https://adjaragroup.com/category/news/ you will meet news of company’s main events,
meetings, interviews and etc.

Now we want to mention and consider different interests of abovementioned stakeholders.

Identifying those interests are important because it is fair to everyone, it creates bridging
social capital for the community, increases the credibility of company and increases the
chances for the success of the effort. Founders, directors and managers main interests are:
salary, share options, job satisfaction, statues. Directors of Adjara group of course act in ways
to increase profits in accordance with CSR activities but not in any ways that are against
ethical norms and standards. Employees main interests are: appropriate salaries, wages, job
security, job satisfaction and motivation. Every employee wants to be recognized and
appraised for his or her individual contribution to the company. Consumers main interests
are: reliable quality, value for money and good customer service. The service for Adjara
Group hospitality is not of course low, because customers pay money they want to receive
back something valuable for their sake. Competitors of Adjara Group of course have their
own interests too. Competitors as we mentioned above are always affected by Adjara Group
performace. They want to increase their market share, brand image in the eyes of Georgians
or foreign tourists, gain their loyalty through competitive strategies and offering new and
exclusive services apart from Adjara group. NGOs themselves have their own interests: they
care for sustainability, sustainable development for the region, provide advocacy and protect
human rights, they want all employees and staff members of Adjara group to be protected
under employment or hiring processes, also it cares for the initiatives and activities that
Adjara group does for the environment and society. Government itself cares for the business
development, hospitality sector growth, that results in more and more new jobs in private
sector, more tourists in Georgia and tax receipts. Furthermore it cares for less corruption and
more transparency to avoid bribery or extortion in private sector. As we noted, each
stakeholder has a different interest and the business organization cannot treat all
stakeholders equally. In addition, the decisions to continue operations are based on the
primary objectives of the business survival and profit maximization among others.