Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an integral part of firms’ strategies in their effort to increase their positive impact on society. This study investigates the impact of a CSR initiative, known as “The LAB Project”, implemented by the TITAN– Sharrcem Company, on the rural community of Hani I Elezit in Kosovo. The LAB project aims to support the establishment and operation of agricultural and food-related start-ups and, most importantly, to ensure their sustainability. The sample of the study consists of 174 area residents. This research examines local residents’ perceptions about a) the TITAN-Sharrcem operations in the area, b) the LAB project’s main contribution to the local community, c) the project’s overall performance, d) the profitability of the start-ups created by the project, and e) the project’s effect on the community’s quality of life. Overall, the results reveal that the project has set the foundation for the community’s sustainable development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research on the effect of such initiatives in the region.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Rural Entrepreneurship, Community Development
The purpose of this research is to investigate the views of young farmers regarding individual dimensions of vocational training as applied to students of the Vocational Training Institute (VTI) of the American Farm School. Processed data arriving from specially formulated Likert-level questions revealed that young farmer students find it absolutely necessary to participate in training programs governed by experiential learning methodologies, while recognizing that these processes are linked to their knowledge and skill improvement for developing a firm future professional consignment in the agrifood sector. To that extent, experiential learning applications would subsequently assist program participants to cultivate and grow a better understanding for innovation, which undoubtedly affect the path of agribusiness investment sustainability. Although current national sectoral progress has taken significant steps ahead, still not being enough satisfactory in terms of competitiveness. However, there has to be always tension to gradually organize and execute professional experiential learning methodologies from specialized educational organizations to concretely reach out higher levels of improvement in rural development alongside with other eminent and specialized important factors.
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