WHICH COMPANIES ARE THE LEADERS OF RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS IN RUSSIA?

The main research question of the article is: What socio-economic features are characteristic of leaders of responsible business in Russia? The study used methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data of the national Russian EPS-rating for 2023. The results of the analysis showed that the modern leaders of responsible business in Russia are large manufacturing companies with developed social policies. The leaders of the national rating of responsible business in Russia, according to the national EPS-rating for 2023–2024, are characterized by the following major features. 1. By type of activity, manufacturing companies, as well as transportation and storage, are leading the way. However, companies in other fields of activity are represented. 2. In terms of annual income, most companies are large businesses: more than 86% of the leading companies in the EPSrating have an annual turnover of more than 2 billion rubles, including 36% of companies with more than 10 billion rubles. 3. In terms of the number of employees, most companies belong to the group of large enterprises (more than 77% have more than 250 employees), 38% have more than 1 thousand people. 4. In terms of the average monthly salary of employees, all companies pay employees above the average salary in the subject of the Russian Federation (more than 96%). More than half of the ranking leaders pay employees’ salaries equal to or exceeding 2 average monthly salaries in the region. Thus, the main result of the study is the conclusion that the leading companies in the EPS-rating belong mainly to industrial sectors (Appendix 1) and they share the following common features: this is a large industrial business both in terms of the number of employees and in terms of annual revenue, with an average annual employee salary higher than the regional average. Consequently, an increase in the number of enterprises responsibly conducting business activities will have a comprehensive positive impact on socio-economic indicators at both the regional and federal levels and contribute to the achievement of national sustainable development goals. The existing measures of state support in the Central Federal District allow responsible business to receive various preferences from the state in conducting business activities and there is a tendency to scale the best practices of state support for responsible business in the Central Federal District throughout Russia. This research should be continued in future works and a more detailed and comprehensive study of Russian and international socio-economic policies and successful practices of responsible business conduct.