CSR prize goes to Spain

Cutting Tools S.A.L. of Amorebieta, a Spanish producer, and Knipex-Werk C. Gustav Putsch KG are the winners of the 2014 Eisen CSR Awards, which were presented to the companies within the context of this year's International Hardware Fair in Cologne. This was the second time that the German BHB retailers' association and fair organisers Koelnmesse have awarded these prizes to innovative companies that combine economic success with social responsibility and environmentally compatible operating methods.This year the four-member competition jury chose to make the award to two companies at once, Knipex and Izar Cutting Tools. They gave as the reason for their choice the fact that both of these winners have been exemplary in achieving almost complete integration of CSR (corporate social responsibility) into the core business of their company's operational activities, which meant that they stood out equally clearly among the great number of excellent entries to the competition. Moreover, both have been successful in accepting and implementing the challenge of integrating all three dimensions of sustainability, ecological and economic as well as social, into their entrepreneurial business processes.In the unanimous opinion of the jury, Izar Cutting Tools is an employee-owned company that openly supports an operational and strategic business management built on ethical guidelines and the basic rationale of CSR. Izar defines its CSR policy commitment, which is thoroughly revised every year, as a relationship between the company and society based on the needs of stakeholders (employee-owners, customers, suppliers, individuals, society), always taking into account that the company must give back to society at least as much as it receives, in terms of the human resources, infrastructure and services, that allow the company to develop its activities in an efficient way. Izar tries to contribute continuously to sustainable growth through providing an adequate response to all three dimensions of CSR:Economic: understood as the outcome of the results linked to the stakeholders' interests.Social and environmental: eco-­friendly.Social cohesion: showing concern for the employees in the factory, responding to their ex­pectations and desires, while encouraging the integration of minorities with the clear ob­jective of creating a satisfied workforce and local society.